Page 82 of Between Love and Loathing
She sighed and combed her small fingers through her hair before she admitted, “You didn’t meet me for our meeting and then my mother called to tell me my bakery was a frivolous decision and that I never really had any design taste. With both of you doing what you did, I started to believe it.”
Fuck. I’d forgotten our meeting only because I’d gotten an urgent call. I knew I owed her the explanation, but it hurt to rehash the story. “My turn for a secret?”
She shrugged, her big eyes glassy with unshed emotions welling up. I sighed. “Natya and I did most everything together years ago. I trusted her. Too much. She was partying a lot, coming to work hungover, not doing her job. I’d left my team in her hands for a week while I worked on another build and she’d assigned extra work to a former employee of mine, Susie. She’d been on my team for years, knew the job well and probably had Natya feeling threatened.”
“And?” Clara asked softly.
“Susie was supposed to look over blueprints, not go to a site when I was out of town one week, but Natya hadn’t paid attention to my notes. She’d been out late the night before and insisted Susie just go to the site.” I cleared my throat and combed a hand through my hair, hating to relive the story. “I should have made it more clear. Anyway, Susie tripped and fell on a loose stair, breaking her hip and arm. She pretty much had to learn to walk again. Today, she fell again and her family called.”
“Oh, Dominic.” There wasn’t disgust in her face like there should have been. I’d dropped the ball on my job and wouldn’t forgive myself for it. Yet, there was only sympathy in her eyes. “Is she okay?”
I waved off her concern. “Fine. She’s better than fine. She runs half marathons still at sixty. They just wanted me to know because I have her on my insurance. I pay those bills and always will. When I heard, I had to stop over there and make sure she was fine.”
“You were taking care of someone?” She chewed her lip and then whispered out, “I’m sorry all that happened to you.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t explain it better in a text but I don’t really intend to explain shit to anyone except you.”
She chuckled and slumped against the opposite hallway wall. “I wish you would, Dominic. It’d make things a lot easier. I probably would have dealt with my mother better too had I known you weren’t just ditching me.”
“I’m sure you dealt with that woman the way she deserved.”
She groaned. “I hung up on her after she told me she wants me home and dating someone of”—she waved at me—“social and financial wealth if not you. And I’m sure if she does that, I’ll be bored, again.”
“Again?”
“Most dates I go on, she plans. Minus Noah. And all of the guys are—” Her lips thinned, as if saying her next words would pain her.
“Go on, little fighter.”
“Terrible. Most of them have a passion for how they make their money but they always look at me with pure apathy. Probably a lot like…” She tilted her head and looked at me. “Well, probably like you have in the past.”
Her assessment caused a bark of a laugh to jump out of me. “Like me, cupcake? Do you think I look at you with apathy? Or like I want to fuck you against that wall?”
“Dominic,” she whispered out. “Okay, well now it’s different. And honestly, your mouth is filthy, which is not a good thing considering in a few minutes we have a meeting with colleagues.”
“What if your boss wants to be a few minutes late to the meeting?”
“My boss should only care about his resort reopening and I should only care about my bakery. Not screwing around. We need to get our minds out of the gutter.”
Was she trying to convince me or herself? “My mind went down the drain the moment your bakery became a part of this resort, and I knew I’d have to see you every day. Let alone date you every day.”
“Fake date,” she corrected and smiled. “For the good of your sterile resort. Remember?”
I fucking hated that word. Yet, gone was the frown on her face as she smiled so wide, and I thought that I didn’t hate it at all. “Clara, stop playing with me. Your fake boyfriend doesn’t like shots at his ego right before a meeting where I’m about to ask my employees what’s wrong with the resort.”
She glanced around with her wide eyes as I hovered over her. “So it’s really for that? You want feedback? Because I have it.”
“Do you?” I growled, not really giving a shit at this point. I’d stepped close and could smell some sweet dessert in her hair, something fruity in her lip gloss. All I wanted now was to taste her again. “Tell me then.”
Her eyes lit up as she gripped my shirt and pulled me close. “You could add tiny accents of color through the resort. Like all the rooms would have just a hint of blue here and there or gold or whatever color dependent on the floor they were on. Or you could name the sections of the resort and color them that way? Maybe the frames? Or the pictures. Just a tiny hint of something.” Then, instead of indulging in making out with me in that hallway, she shot off the wall and bounced with the same excitement she had when she baked.
“You want me to change everything in a few weeks’ time?”
“Don’t make it sound impossible.” She scoffed. “You built this from the ground up, right?”
Getting a compliment from her about this place shot through me like a damn hit of the most addictive drug. “Are you saying you’re impressed?”
“And definitely don’t make me stroke your ego, Dominic. You get that from everyone.” Didn’t she know I only wanted it from the people who wouldn’t give it to me?
