Page 65 of For the Love of the Gods

“Oh. Okay,” I said, and then reached for a sandwich.

“Sonowyou’re hungry,” Dominic noted, his eyebrows raising.

“Yes.”

He got an idea in that big head of his, I could see it in the way his eyes were bouncing in between me and the sandwich and he was forcibly pulling his mouth into a straight line.

I was getting ready to defend the action, but he just dug back into the sandwich and then started crunching on carrots.

Every snap made me want to flinch. It sounded like bones snapping. Too familiar for my comfort, but I shoved it down, along with the dry sandwich Raiden had thrown together.

†

It was close to midnight and Dominic was over half way done with a second book and had made unwavering progress on his plan to completely ignore my presence.

I wish I could do the same, when all I could do was sit there and try not to pay attention to the rise and fall of his muscled chest and his cologne climbing up my nose to burrow into my brain.

Like a little beetle. Or maybe one with wings. No, something smaller, like an ant.

I was losing my mind from boredom, clearly.

“What are you reading?” My voice broke through the silence.

Dominic didn’t so much as twitch. He didn’t look at me either. “A book.”

“I can see that,” I said, sitting up on the couch and pulling my knees to my chest. “What is the title of that book?”

“Tempest Coming.”

Okay, maybe he got a little bit of a break for ignoring me. That book was amazing.

“Hmm. It’s good. I liked the ending. Good plot twist, too.”

Dominic slammed the book shut so hard it could have transferred the ink onto a new page. He looked at me with his accusatory stare—the Dominic special it seemed. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I was.” The words were meeker than I intended, breaking under Dominic’s annoyed scrutiny.

“Holy shit,” Dominic cursed under his breath.

“It is good though.”

“I know.”

Clearly making conversation with him was like pulling teeth. “I liked that author’s other book better.”

Oh, so did he. His eyes flashed and his head barely started moving in a nod before he clamped it down.

“Come on,” I said, lifting up to poke him in the arm. “If we are stuck in here, let me borrow one.”

Dominic's eyes zeroed in on my finger. “Not a chance.”

I sighed and got up, stretching my arms over my head. Dominic made a pained sound. He really didn’t like me in his space. I rounded the couch and headed for his bookshelf. I’d take one myself or I’d start doing destructive shit out of boredom.

“Don’t fucking touch anything,” Dominic warned as I got close.

“Calm down,” I said, even though I fully intended to touch something. Many things. “Just trying to see if anything in here will give me a sneak peek into your personality. You know, the one I haven’t seen.”

Dominic was standing now. I had developed a keen ability to tell where he was in the room. “You’ve seen my personality.”

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