Page 96 of Love Among the Ruins
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
DOMINIC
His brother might as well have draped an “I’m home!” banner across the front door.
Dominic’s gut clenched at the sight of the black SUV outside his house, especially knowing who was inside. He was still trying to get over what had happened between him and Eleni in the office earlier.
The way he’d lost his mind and his senses. The mistake he’d almost been about to make.
Her lips, full, luscious, like everything about her. He’d been tempted to kiss her.
What the fuck had he been thinking? The woman now lived in his head rent free. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her in case he did something else that was stupid. It had taken restraint to walk her up the three flights of stairs then leave her.
Now he had to deal with this. He hated that Alexander had turned up unexpectedly, but more than that, if he were honest with himself, he hated that Alexander’s arrival likely hastened Eleni’s exit. Andthatwas something he detested above all.
He opened the door, preparing himself. His brother wasn’t stupid. Basilia had been their housekeeper for years. They knew her family. They knew Eleni wasn’t a part of that family.
“Hey!” Alexander’s voice came from the direction of the kitchen, and when Dominic entered, his brother was sitting on a bar stool around the island, stuffing his face with the leftovers from last night’s takeout. “This is good shit.” He stood up and wiped his mouth before giving Dominic a bear hug.
Dominic fought the desire to throttle his neck. “It’s not shit.”
“Damn right it’s not.” Alexander quirked a brow at his brother. “You don’t usually get takeout.”
Dominic breathed out slowly. “I must have known you were on your way.” How many more things would he have to lie about with Alexander around?
“Have you already finished for the day? I wasn’t expecting to see you until late this evening.”
“I came home to see what you were doing here. Would have been nice to have some notice.”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“You have.” Dominic wiped a hand over his face, an image flashing through his head of Eleni meeting Alexander. What would she have thought? She’d obviously been smart enough to come up with a reasonable excuse for her being here. “What are you doing here?”
“Like I said, I was in the continent, so...”
“Doing what?”
“I had some business in London, then a couple of things to take care of in Paris. And while in Paris, it was easy to come here and see how my little brother was doing. Quit always being so uptight.”
“You shouldn’t have bothered.”
Alexander looked suitably taken aback that he stopped eating for a few seconds. “Are you pissed about something?”
“No, really. You shouldn’t have wasted your time.” Dominic counted to five slowly, then hit him with it. “You’ve been talking to Hector.”
“That again ...” Alexander rolled his eyes before refilling his plate.
“As if that doesn’t suck on its own, hearing it from Hector first sucks big time.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“The fuck you were. Why would you do something sneaky like that?” And then it hit him like a bolt of lightning. “You’re here to meet with him.”
“I’m not.” The defiance was too strong, too forced.
“Dad put you up to this?” Dominic demanded to know.
Alexander got up and strode over. “I’m not, I swear. We’ve known the man, we’ve done business with him before, we move in the same circles. I’m allowed to call him and see how he is.”
