Page 161 of The Dominator

“Sorry, Tommy. Your girl put dinner out for everyone. Everything’s cool here. No problems at all.”

I hung up, shaking my head. Then I got a text from Tia that instead of crashing early it looked like Tessa’s boys were being dropped off at our place for a few hours.

Tessa was overwhelmed and her mother-in-law couldn’t watch the kids tonight. Luc was at the hospital with a bit of spotting so Sarah was with her. I shook my head. Feeding my men, babysitting my nephews? My heart swelled for her. I needed to give her a good life. I needed to keep myself in the right headspace to be good for her. And for that, I needed out of this life.

I’d gotten the call as I was falling asleep and I told Sarah I’d happily keep the boys overnight if she wanted me to but she said Tessa didn’t want that. They knew Tommy’s house was extra secured so they wanted them here but it was just for a few hours. She had Bianca’s Aunt Joanne drop them off on her way to work (she was a nurse at a hospital on the nightshift) and was going to have Sarah pick them up in a bit. I put movies on and built Lego structures with them.

I let Antonio, the older of the two, play on Tommy’s laptop on a kids’ game website and Lucas was content in my lap with a pop-up book. The time went by quickly and I gave them a bubble bath and put them in their PJs and around 11:00 Sarah got there to pick them up. They were quiet and subdued, not like the typical active baby and toddler. They must’ve sensed something was amiss. They didn’t really know me, and it was probably way past their usual bedtimes, too.

Apparently, Tom had woken up and Lisa was by his side. Luc was being put on bed rest. As I was helping Sarah put the boys into their car seats in her van, I saw Tommy’s car pull in and Dario’s car behind him.

When Dario got out of the car, he pointed at me accusingly. “You! Follow me. We need to have a conversation.”

My brows shot up in surprise. I glanced at Tommy. He narrowed his eyes at me. He motioned toward his brother with a hard expression on his face, so I said bye to Sarah and followed.

Dario marched downstairs and directly to the games room and the Ms. Pacman machine. He was giving me an incredulous look and pointing at the high score list and my #2 spot.

I started to laugh, feeling immense relief. Mr. Angry Intense brother was back, but this time, it was funny. I stepped up beside him. I was only a few hundred points shy of his high score. I’d beat out everyone else, taking the previous spot #2, which had said Marco. Spot #3 had said Polo. And now those were spots 3 and 4.

Tommy was behind me. “Dex ratted you out.”

Dex was coming down the stairs.

“See if I feed you dinner again!” I harrumphed.

Dario waved his index finger accusingly at me while Dex laughed and pouted simultaneously.

“I’m hot on your heels, boy!” I teased Dario and took off up the stairs behind Tommy as he called out to me.

“Tia, c’mere here baby.”

I saw Dex challenge Dario to foosball as I followed Tommy upstairs. He pulled me close once we got to the kitchen.

“How are you?” he whispered in my ear.

“I’m okay. How ‘bout you?”

“I’m good. I just want to tell you a few things, then I’ll order us some dinner. Chinese okay?”

“I ate already but I saved you some food.”

“Dare wants Chinese. We have to work late and sort some shit out. You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah.”

“What’d you make me for dinner?”

“I made one of Sarah’s lasagnas. You can eat it for lunch tomorrow, maybe?”

“Sounds good, babe, even if your lasagna’s better. You gonna cook me dinner every night?” He was nibbling on my earlobe and sending shivers up and down my spine.

“Yeah, most nights. If you want. We can do one takeout night a week, maybe a pizza night, one eat out at a nice restaurant together, and the rest I can cook.”

“Oh,” he chuckled. “Laying down the law, huh?”

“Yeah,” I giggled.

“You’re the boss,” he said as he kissed my throat. “Except I’ll cook Sunday mornings.”

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