Page 167 of Love Among the Ruins
CHAPTERFORTY-FOUR
ELENI
The idea that Dominic was in his office now gnawed away at her already frayed nerves.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that her stomach had been in knots ever since she’d known he’d landed.
Dominic had shared her bed and her body, but the wedding belonged to another time, another universe. She would do well to remember that.
On one of her many trips back from the water cooler, Miranda hissed to get her attention, and when Eleni walked over to her, announced that Hector Galatis had just left Dominic’s office.
“He camehere?” Eleni was shocked. This was the man Dominic had been trying to see in Santorini. That he had come here, to the office, was nothing short of a miracle. “They must have agreed on the deal.” Dominic would be ecstatic. He’d accomplished his mission.
Her heart bloomed at the thought.
“I ... I need to see him about something on the system.” She gulped down the entire paper cup of water, threw it into the waste basket and prepared herself mentally.
Miranda looked nervous. “He said he didn’t want to be disturbed.”
Eleni couldn’t wait a moment longer to see him. “It’s important. Agnes and Isidora can’t help. Give me a notepad.”
“What?”
“A notepad, papers, anything.” So that she looked as if she had a reason to see him.
“Why?”
Because she might need a shield, in case Dominic reverted to his usual grumpy self. She clutched the paper pad Miranda handed her to her chest.
“Are you sure about this?” Miranda still looked dubious, as if Eleni was stepping onto a landmine. “He’s not in a good mood.”
Eleni smoothed down her blouse. Just like she had missed him, the chances were high that Dominic had missed her, too. She had been a bundle of nerves every day, waiting for his return, and if she could have turned back time, she would have stayed with him in Santorini when he’d asked.
That was the benefit of hindsight. Consequences became clearer after the event. That night had meant something to him.It had. Otherwise why would Dominic have asked her to stay?
“I won’t be long, and I’ll take the blame for it.” She sailed into his room not even bothering to knock.
He was on the phone with his back to the door. “I don’t know if you should—” She’d made enough noise opening the door and marching in that he swiveled around in his executive chair mid-sentence and glared at her. Her heart hammered in her chest.
“I’ll call you back.” He slammed the phone down, his face turning hard the more she stared back at him.
“Hello.” She hadn’t expected a fanfare, or him leaping over his desk to come to her. But she hadn’t expected him to sit there looking as if she’d brought the plague with her. The butterflies which had fluttered around in her stomach promptly died and fell to her feet.
A heaviness settled over her. She’d never seen Dominic’s face look so thunderous.
His shoulders stiffened, along with his mouth. If his body language could form words, his would be a screaming news headline. “I gave Miranda strict orders not to be disturbed.”
“She warned me but—”
He looked at her. “But?”
He was breaking her heart just by looking at her. His cold eyes stared her down, as if he dared her to go there—to that happy, blissful place she’d been basking in since that night. She couldn’t erase knowing him, sharing such intimacy, unless she’d had a lobotomy.
But he was back to being the Dominic she had first met. Cold, hard, and with the emotional empathy of a serial killer.
“Sorry, I …”
What?What had she expected from him? She took a few tentative steps back. His gaze fell to the notepad in her hand.
