Page 80 of Love Among the Ruins
That made her laugh. How he loved that sound.
“I should let you go back to Linus, and meanwhile, I will investigate the inside of your refrigerator.”
“Please do.”
“I won’t find any severed body parts, will I?”
He almost choked. “I would hope not.”
“Because, you can be quiet and moody, and you know what they say about quiet and moody people.”
“I do not know.”
“That’s a conversation for another time,” she said.
She was so talkative. More than she’d ever been. It wasn’t only that, it was the way she was talking, the things she was saying. It was a conversation he didn’t want to end.
“Thank you, Basilia.”
“What?” she shrieked.
He forced his lips into a straight line, cancelling out the smile that threatened to break out, and hung up.
It was a few moments before he could compose himself enough to turn around and face Linus. The man’s gaze burned into him. Dom scratched his chin as he tried to switch off from Eleni and direct his attention back to the matter at hand. But it wasn’t easy. Eleni had done a number on him and that conversation had been quite something. He didn’t care two hoots about last quarter’s figures.
He was starting to think of her more often than he should have. After every Galatis meeting where she accompanied him, her flowery scent would linger with him all day.
But he couldn’t go there. He couldn’t be that man. Hedidn’twant to be that guy, like every other sleazy guy who’d hit on her, like Ioannis had. Mixing work and pleasure was something he frowned upon, but more than that, he couldn’t give his family more ammunition to confirm their beliefs about him.
He had to get his head back in the game.
“Everything okay?” Linus asked, prying for information.
“It was my housekeeper.” Dominic schooled a somber expression as he studied the figures in front of him.
“She had an injury?”
“You were listening?”
Linus bared his teeth into a smile. “That is one thing I cannot do—close my ears.” He folded his arms, sighing. “Believe me, I would love to because my wife cannot stop giving me orders.”
“She’s pregnant. I don’t blame her. Shall we continue?”
* * *
ELENI
Eleni’s grin deepened as she hung up the phone. Dominic was in a playful mood, and she hadn’t expected that. The man had a sense of humor she hadn’t expected.
Feeling joyful, she swiveled on the barstool a few times, before coming to a stop and admiring the view.
The kitchen was bigger than the house she shared with her mother. The house was gorgeous. More beautiful than anything she had seen in her mom’s glossy celebrity magazines.
What a wonderful existence moneyed people had.
Cameras staring down at her from the walls had made her paranoid and she’d wondered if Dominic could see her in the bathroom. To find out, she’d gone against the doctor’s advice and hobbled around the downstairs area, not wanting to be nosy, but wanting to make sure that Dominic’s presence in the house wasn’t all seeing and all knowing.
Thankfully, she’d discovered no cameras in any of the three bathrooms on the ground floor. She didn’t dare venture upstairs in case she set off an alarm or something, and besides, it wasn’t in her nature to snoop around. So mindful was she of not overstepping the line, especially at the home of the billionaire, that she’d needed to check with him before she searched around for food.
Now that she’d called the boss and gotten permission, she could go through his cupboards and fridge freely. She was starving especially since she’d not eaten since this morning.
As expected, there were no severed body parts in the fridge. She made herself a sandwich with some cheese and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl before sitting down at the kitchen island to eat.
Dominic was funny, and charming, and kind. He’d been so good to her, and he didn’t owe her a thing. The thought comforted her because it had been a long time since she’d felt that anyone cared. Stefanos cared, as did her friends, but this, with Dominic, was something new; something warm, soft and bubbly teasing her heart out of its dormant slumber.
Working in Dominic’s company, it was the closest she had come to feeling wanted,needed. To being of use. Him dragging her to meetings, made her feel as if she was doing something. Even if she hadn’t actuallydoneanything of use.
She didn’t like being stuck in the room with Agnes and Isidora, though they were making more of an effort with her ever since they’d discovered she was going to meetings with Dominic.
She didn’t even care if they thought she was sleeping with him.
