Page 11 of Frederick
“Not at all. Did you want something to drink? Tea? Coffee? Water? Wine? Something else?”
Dominic smiled but shook his head. He walked toward the living area and when he sat on one end of the sofa, I sat on thechair closest to him. “If you want me to move over to the other side of the room, I will.”
Dominic rolled his eyes. “That’s not necessary.”
We went quiet for a moment before I decided that there was no time like the present to apologize.
“I owe you an apology,” I said. “It is absolutely no excuse, but I was irritated with the assignment, and then to meet you, I really wasn’t expecting to find my One here. I wasn’t thinking clearly, and said things I didn’t mean. I do not think poorly of you. In fact, I’m upset on your behalf, for what Marco and Riccardo are obviously trying to do, which is frame you and others for their doings.”
Dominic snorted. “That doesn’t surprise me at all, actually. I’ve never cared for either of them, and for very good reason. They are absolutely ruthless, and will stop at nothing to get their jobs done. I’ve heard about them taking out entire families, just to get to one person. The fact that they’ve decided that I’m to go down with them for whatever reason is a bit of a surprise, but I wouldn’t put it past them.”
“Why do you think you were chosen? Random name? Did you piss one of them off?”
Dominic shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you, to be honest. I’ve only ever physically seen them a few times in my life. They obviously know who I am because my name ended up in that computer. But I worked in the coven’s marketing department. I’m rather boring for the most part. I still don’t know what Specter Logistics is, and now that I’ve had time to think about it, I really don’t care all that much. I just want to move back to Europe and continue on with my quiet, lonely existence.”
My heart fell. He wanted to return to Europe. Although that meant I would be closer to my parents and siblings again, it also meant I would have to leave the council. Sure, I hadn’t been anenforcer for long, but having the job had given me something to do.
“Where in Europe are you moving to?” I asked.
Dominic looked at me and shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. I was thinking Spain somewhere, but I have to wait and see because I can’t leave anytime soon. I have to wait for everything with the council to clear up before I can even consider going elsewhere. For now, I’m stuck here.”
I tilted my head to the side, studying my One. “You aren’t stuck here,” I told him. When Dominic sent me a confused look, I shook my head. “You don’t have to stay here. You are welcome to go wherever it is that you wish. The council has relocated you and others for your safety. Riccardo was able to kill at least one person helping the council before we were able to capture him. Marco on the other hand, is still yet to be found. The laptop was obviously planted. They wanted us to find it and cause a distraction. And they’ve done that. We don’t yet know what their endgame is, so all I can do is ask that you please stay here until Marco at the very minimum is found and dealt with.”
The thought of Dominic being in danger because Marco could easily get to him made my heart race. I didn’t know if I would ever have the opportunity to be with him in a way that couples were, but I was going to do everything I could to protect him no matter what.
“I’m not in a hurry to return to Spain. As you probably know my parents are gone, and I have nothing and nobody to go back to. I just wanted to go somewhere that it wouldn’t matter if Dominic was there alone. I have absolutely no doubt that it will eventually get out that,” Dominic eyes seem to lose focus and he shrugged. “It’ll get out that you didn’t want me.”
I reached for Dominic’s hand and when he didn’t immediately pull away, I took that, a tiny step in the right direction. I gave his hand to squeeze, and when he looked up atme, I tried to offer a reassuring smile. “Trust me; I regret what I said. I want you. I want to try to figure out how to make us work.” I gestured between the two of us, hoping that Dominic would understand what I was trying to convey to him. When he squeezed my hand back, that gave me hope. Was it working? Even just a little.
Wondering if the return gesture might mean something, I took a chance in making a suggestion. “You know, you are more than welcome to come to Montana.” I held up my hands to keep him from hopefully jumping to conclusions “I’m not suggesting anything, other than a relocation destination. “Is it selfish of me? Absolutely. But there is nobody there other than me, you, and Dante that knows what happened this morning. Even if someone did, they’re not going to hold anything against you. Trust me when I say that my cousins have already chewed my ass out for what I said.”
Dominic eyes widen and immediately I realize what I had just said. “So more than just you, me, and Dante no, what you said this morning.”
I winced. “Yes. Secondhand, yes. I needed advice, and they’re all mated, so I was hopeful that they would have some suggestions on how to win your trust enough to wear. You would at least talk to me.”
“Here I am. This doesn’t mean I’m ready for there to be in us though.” Dominic side and his shoulders slumped. “I will be three-hundred in just over two years’ time.” Dominic moved at me and shook his head. “I’m old Frederick. I don’t have the desire to try and make something work at this point in my life.”
“I’m only a century behind you. I’m not asking for you to move in, although I can’t say that I won’t in the future. Perhaps you will like Montana. If not, am happy to follow you to Spain. My parents live there, as do my siblings. Well, at least some ofthem. Francis and Martin both are off on adventures looking for there forever.”
“How many siblings do you have?”
I smiled. “I’m the middle child of five. My parents are Edmund and Dorothea. They had my oldest brother Aldwin, followed by Martin. Then can me, and then after me was Emmett. Emmett is the only one of us thus far that is mated. They have a few kids, and that makes my parents very happy. Francis is the baby and I don’t think he has ever thought about finding his One.”
Dominic smiled. “The baby by how much? Is he still really young?”
I snorted. “No. He’s eight years younger than me, so he still closer to two-hundred than he is one-fifty.”
Dominic chuckled at my response. “I am not saying I am willing to move to Montana. But I will consider it.”
Inside I was jumping for joy. That wasn’t an outright no. It was a possibility, and I could work with possibilities.
“I would have to find somewhere to stay first,” Dominic said.
“There are places on the mountain that you could stay,” I told him. “My place is a three-bedroom, and I know there are a lot of cabins that are available off of the mountain if you don’t wish to be near the council.” If I could get Dominic to Treasure Ridge, I felt I had a better chance of getting the opportunity to start at least somewhat of a relationship with him. I could see Dominic getting ready to argue, so I did everything I could to reassure him I meant nothing by my offer. “I’m not going to try anything,” I told him. “I might have been a complete idiot this morning with my words, but I am a gentleman and would never do anything inappropriate,” I told him.
“You’re telling me that you would invite me out to Montana for a visit. During this visit, you would not try anything with me?” Dominic asked while raising an eyebrow in question.
“I would behave. Of course, I would offer to show you the area, and see if you possibly wanted to go out for a date. Beyond that I wouldn’t try anything else.” I really hoped I was getting some sort of opportunity to try with Dominic. He didn’t have to give me a chance, but hopefully the fact that he was here now meant that he would.
