Page 46 of Love Among the Ruins
Her head was bowed low, and her shoulders hunched. She wished the floor would gobble her up and keep her somewhere, until that encounter with Dominic had been erased from his memory.
She didn’t even lift her head to acknowledge Agnes when the woman wished her a ‘Good morning.’
Had she really told Dominic how good he looked in black? She vaguely recalled asking him to dance. Or had she? Maybe she’d made that bit up, because she couldn’t have been that stupid.
Dominic was not a man who any woman in her right frame of mind would ever say those things to.
Her palms turned clammy, she couldn’t sit still or focus on her work. Her chaotic thoughts were giving her a mental block. Feeling restless and unable to tolerate it any longer, she went to Miranda and asked if Dominic was free.
“He’s out, at a meeting, but he should be back soon. Is it something I can help with?”
A thought stabbed Eleni hard. She’d broken the girl code. Had she really insinuated that Miranda had the hots for him? And Stefanos, too?
She winced.
“What is it?”
Something you will hate me for.
“I need to see him. Can you let me know when he’s back?” she asked weakly, before going back to her office.
When her phone rang a short while later, she jumped, and when Miranda announced that Dominic had returned, her heart started beating faster.
“I told Dominic that you wanted to see him,” said Miranda trying to be helpful.
Eleni’s heart sank. She’d hoped to go for more of a surprise visit. Now Dominic would be expecting her. He would be ready, with a sarcastic comment or ten at the ready. She shoved her pride deep into her stomach and forced herself to go to him. She knocked on the door, inhaled a long, deep breath, prayed to God, and entered when ordered to. He was removing the cufflinks from his cuffs.
She had been a quivering mess before, and now she was worse as he rolled up his sleeves and flashed forearms she had the desire to lick. Worse than that, a flashback of him all in black suddenly appeared. She didn’t dare to go any closer and stood so far from his desk she might as well have been in the middle of the room.
“Do I smell?” he asked. A touch of lightness in that usually stern voice.
Tentatively she inched a few steps forward. “I wanted to apologize about the other night.” She started to wring her hands. Her nerves fluttery and ready to take off, make a quick getaway. The evil man was going to make her relive it.
“I wanted to say that …” Her eyes clamped on his sinewy forearms, and she lost her trail of thought. “That … uh…” He started to loosen his tie revealing a dusting of golden hairs and the floor turned unsteady beneath her.
“You wanted to say?” Beads of sweat lined Dominic’s forehead, and against his tanned golden face his blue-green eyes blazed like jewels.
That was a very good question. What did she want to say?
Foreplay.
No.Not that.
Forearms.
Not that, either.
She’d accidentally swapped brain cells with Miranda. It had been a long time since any man had triggered this kind of reaction in her. She didn’t understand it. She forced her mouth to work. “I was drunk.”
“Is that what it was?” Those greeny-blues stared at her in amusement.
“I was having fun. It was my …I was drunk.” This was painful—like ripping her nails out with pliers. “I might have said something that … I obviously didn’t think through clearly …”
“Like what?” Dominic placed his hand under his jaw and looked at her as if she were entertainment. All that was missing was popcorn.
“Don’t you remember?” There was hope. Maybe he hadn’t heard; the music was loud and there was a lot of noise.
“What did you think you said?”
