Page 16 of Say Yes To The Fake Date

His eyebrows practically shoot up into his hairline, and I realize how what I just said must sound. I gesture to the chairs against the wall. “We can sit there. I just have a few questions for you, and then I can get started on your site and you can get to work.”

He walks over to his office and pushes the door open. “Come on, I got you set up in here.”

I hold the strap of my bag tighter to my chest and follow him into the office. He’s standing next to the same desk that was in here yesterday, but it looks completely different. “Uh, what happened here?”

He gestures to the room. “I know it’s probably not like any office you’re used to, but I tried to straighten up.”

I’m looking at the cleared desk. He’d wiped everything down, put a plant on the corner of the desk, and there’s an arrangement of brand new notebooks and pens that haven’t even been opened.I’m about to ask him about it when the chair catches my eye. “Is that a new chair?”

Dom’s cheeks are ruddy. “Yeah.”

I point at it and say the obvious. “It’s pink.”

He’s watching me closely. “Yeah, it’s your favorite color… well, it used to be your favorite color, right?”

When I look back at the chair and stare at it, speechless, Dom continues, “The old one squeaked every time someone sat in it. And it was covered in grease. If you were to sit down in it, you would ruin any outfit you would be wearing.”

He bought me a chair. I try not to let the emotion take over, but how can I? This is the Dom I remember. He was always looking out for me. “Dom, this meeting is going to take thirty minutes, max. You didn’t have to do all this.”

He takes a deep breath and puts his hands on his hips. “I was thinking. I mean, this is an office space that no one uses. You saw it yesterday; this desk was a catch-all, and it hasn’t been used in months.”

He pauses, and I wait for him to continue.

He slaps his hands together and then leans on the desk. “Well, I thought until you get things figured out, you may need a place to set up shop.You can work out of here. Set up appointments, work on websites, do… whatever you need to do.”

My heart is thundering in my chest. I’m doing my best to keep that wall up around my heart, but he’s making it really hard. I should tell him no, turn around and walk out of here, and be done with all of this. I push my hand through my hair and let out a breath. “I’m supposed to be paying you back, Dom, not digging myself even more into debt.”

He lifts his shoulder in a shrug. “We used to be friends—”

I don’t even try to hold back the spurt of laughter. “We were more than that, and you know it.”

He takes a step toward me. “Yeah, we were a lot more than friends, and I fucked it up. Trust me, I know, Lucky. And I know I can’t fix the mistakes I made, but I can at least try to make things easier for you while you’re here.”

I’m about to say no, but Dom takes another step toward me, and now we’re so close that I can’t even concentrate. He puts his hand on the desk beside me, blocking me in. “I’m guessing that you’re having trouble working at your mom’s house. I mean, I may be wrong.”

The look I give him tells him that he’sabsolutely right. Since I’ve been home, my mom has been pressuring me to give Ray another chance, and it’s been impossible to get anything done. “No, you’re right.”

He taps his hand on the desk. “So work here. You’ll have the office to yourself. I told the guys to use the restroom out in the bay. No one will disturb you… I can put in a phone line if you want me to.”

I reach up and put my hand on his shoulder. “No, don’t do that.”

We both freeze, and Dom’s muscles tense under my palm. His eyes burn into mine, and I know I should pull my hand off him, but instead I let my fingers curl into his shirt and I just hold on to him. I want to say to hell with it all and just let him hold me. Just for five minutes I want to forget about anything and everything except how it feels to be in his arms.

He puts his hand on my chin and lifts my face so I’m looking into his eyes. “Lucky.”

I grimace at the nickname, but I look into his eyes. “Do you ever feel like your life is falling apart and you’ll never be happy again?”

His face softens. “Yeah, I felt that way when I watched you walk away. I knew then that I’d never be happy again. Not truly happy.”

He moves his hand to cup my face, and I tilt my head into his palm. He’s searching my eyes. “You’re the strongest woman I know, honey. You’re going to come out of this… you’re going to find your happiness.”

I start to shake my head, and he stops me by cupping my face in both of his hands. “He won’t hurt you again. I know your heart is broken, but you’re going to heal.”

He has it all wrong. He thinks I’m brokenhearted about Ray, and I’m not. If anything, I’m pissed. I reach up and lift his hands off my face and then move and put some distance between us. “You’re right. I am strong, and I’m going to put my life together, but you’re wrong about one thing. I gave up on happiness when I left this town seventeen years ago. So yeah, I’ll move on… I’ll get my part of the business back and I’ll put my life together, but no, I won’t ever be happy. Not truly happy.”

I pull my bag off my shoulder and pull out my laptop, setting it on the desk. “Thanks for the use of your office. This will be helpful.”

He nods his head, but before he can ask me any questions, I pull out a pen and paper. “Can we go over a few things about your garage now?”

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