Page 84 of Restore Me

I give him a playful jab in the chest that probably hurts my finger more than it bothers him. “Shut up. You’re the one who pulled me in here. I was trying to get some work done while you weren’t around to distract me. Little did I know you were lurking in a storage closet like a creeper.”

His smile spreads and so does the warmth in my chest. I love making Dominic smile. Over the past few weeks, I’ve realized that putting a smile on his face is more satisfying than making him scowl.

“Are you happy with the molding in the rooms down here? It’s not as ornate as the ones you selected for the suites upstairs, but I think it looks good.”

I nod. “Yes, the guys did an amazing job with the installation. It went in a lot quicker than I expected.”

Which worries me. Not for the project, anyone in real estate can tell you finishing a renovation early is a good thing, but for the relationship we’ve just started that we both agreed would end when the project does. I can’t help but wonder if the deadline still stands if we wrap early.

It’s your damn deadline, don’t you think you should figure that out?

I should, but the truth is I don’t want to think about ending things at all. Every time I’ve tried to picture going back to life without Dominic, my heart sinks inside my chest. It hasn’t even been a full month, and I already can’t imagine going to sleep without him by my side.

If Dominic catches the note of distress in my voice, he doesn’t let on. Instead, he gives me another easy smile and nods in agreement, pleased that his team is moving through the remaining list of tasks so quickly. Maybe he hasn’t thought about what this particular professional advancement means for us.

Or maybe he’s not opposed to ending things early.

I shut that thought down, focusing on the handsome man in front of me instead. He’s talking animatedly about some aspect of the project, completely unaware of the list of ways to slow this project down I’m currently compiling in my head.

“…but Andre can handle that because I have plans tonight.”

My eyebrows raise in surprise. This is the first I’m hearing of any plans. “You do?”

“Yes.” He states simply, hands cupping my ass through the fabric of my dress. “I’m taking you out to dinner.”

“Oh really? How’d you manage to rent out the rooftop again so soon?” I wrinkle my nose to let him know I’m only half-serious. “Please don’t tell me you sold your soul to Sebastian Adler.”

He pinches my left cheek, and I gasp. “No, smart ass. We’re going out in public, to a restaurant with other people.”

“Dominic…” I can’t bring myself to say the words because he knows, he knows this has to be private. We can’t go out to dinner like a normal couple even if part of me wants to do exactly that.

“Two of those people,” he continues, dropping a kiss at the corner of my mouth to erase the frown forming there. “Will be Mal and Chris.”

“Chris?” My frown gets deeper. There’s only one Chris I know and readily associate with Mal’s name. A bastard from college who broke her heart into a million little pieces then went to med school on the other side of the country. “As in Mal’s Chris from college?”

It’s a dumb question and I already know the answer to it, but I’m holding out hope for a miracle. Dominic dashes it with a simple nod. “One in the same.”

“I didn’t realize you were still in touch with him.”

Chris was the resident assistant on Dominic and Eric’s hall during our freshman year of college. He was two years older and the object of Mal’s affections well before they started hooking up during his senior year. They were only together for a few months before he pulled the rug out from under her. I don’t even know everything that went down between them, but I do know he’s the last person on Earth she would want to have dinner with tonight.

He shrugs. “Chris and I have always been cool. He just moved back to New Haven and he’s been trying to get in touch with Mal for weeks, but she won’t take his calls. I told him I would help him out.”

“What does he have on you?” He gives me a confused look, and I laugh. “He must have something big on you to make you willingly participate in this whole charade. Mal will probably slice both of your balls off before she hears a word he has to say.”

Dominic winces at the mention of a knife coming near his balls but looks otherwise unbothered. Brave man. “He doesn’t have anything on me. I just…he wants to apologize to her, and I think it would do both of them some good to have closure after all these years.”

“But if he’s been reaching out and she hasn’t answered, maybe she doesn’t want closure. Maybe she’s over it.”

One of his hands slides up, resting on the small of my back. “Or maybe she’s being stubborn and…”

“He really hurt her, Dominic.” I search his face. “Do you know what it’s like to have your heart ripped out like that? To be shattered by someone and left alone to pick up the pieces?”

The tortured expression etched into his features answers my question with a glaring certainty that steals my breath. My God. Who is the woman that hurt Dominic badly enough to put that look on his face, and why do I want to kill her for daring to own a part of him and throwing it away?

“Yeah, angel.” His hands fall away from me as he takes a step back, schooling his features into a more neutral expression. “I have, and I know what it would mean to me to have that person own it. To hear them say they’re sorry for hurting me even if they didn’t mean to.”

Emotion clogs my throat. My heart is breaking for Dominic, Mal, and all the people waiting on an apology that might never come. Except Mal’s apology is closer than she thinks, and even though I don’t agree with his tactics, Dominic’s logic is sound.

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