Page 28 of Cross Check My Heart
Lilly reaches up to trace my jaw, watching me closely as she nods.
“You’re right. I’m not okay. Or maybe, at least, I wasn’t okay, but I’m starting to be. It almost seems kind of silly that I feel a bit lighter after oversharing with you.” Her eyes widen as her hand drops from my face to cover her mouth in horror.
“Oh. My. Gosh. Isn’t it like some major rule of dating tonottalk about your past relationships right after meeting?” She groans, burying her face in her hands. I can only laugh, pulling her hands away to see her face.
“I think normal dating rules went out the window the moment we decided to keep seeing each other in secret.”
“Well then, I’m gonna need you to share something personal to even out the field.” She pauses but continues before I can answer. “But maybe next week. Learning my dad is your coach and my trauma dump seems like a lot for one night.”
“So, we just schedule weekly trauma dump sessions until everything is all out in the open?”
“Weekly trauma dump night with the hot neighbor sex friend has a much better ring to it than date night with the guy across the hall.”
I quirk an eyebrow at her and smirk. “You think I’m hot?”
This time when she laughs, it’s as if she’s lighter, and for some reason, that makes me happy.
Dom and I spent most of the night curled up, talking. After I unloaded about Cam, it felt like taking a breath of fresh air. Paige will flip a tit if she ever finds out that I talked about my ex while naked, in bed with a guy. Normally, I probably wouldflip out as well. Except it felt natural talking about things with Dominik.
Whenever we talk, he gives me his full attention. At one-point, his phone went off with a text alert and he didn’t even look at it. When I told him it was okay if he wanted to check the message, he simply shrugged and said, “if it’s an emergency, they will call.”
It was a new feeling to experience having someone’s undivided attention. Well, someone that isn’t Paige. Which was exactly why I avoided her and shut myself away last week. If I had told her that I was doing okay, much like Dom did last night, she would call bullshit. It’s not that I’m trying to keep what happened between Cam and I from her, it’s my family’s reaction.
Last night helped me realize something. I haven’t told Paige about my family’s reaction to the breakup because she would be disappointed in them. Much like I am. I thought we were closer than this as a family. That considering how dad left us all, we would all pick each other over everyone else. They’re showing me how wrong I was about that, and that almost hurts more than the actual break up.
I had hoped that Dom would have been too caught up in the whole Cam thing to notice the comments I made about my dad not being around. At the same time, it wasn’t actually that shocking that he didn’t miss them. So, I gave him the cliff notes version.
I then asked if we could save the detailed Daddy issues for another time, and we spent the rest of the night talking about lighter topics. We told each other some drunken college and summer vacation stories. When he told me that he has never been to Cape Cod, I freaked out.
Being able to go from practically crying in his lap to laughing until tears of joy were spilling out was oddly comforting. After dinner with my dad, I was convinced there was no way we couldsee each other again. That is, until he tempted me with keeping us a secret.
Hanging out with him for the past three days felt like we had known each other longer. If we were talking, none of the conversations felt forced, but we could also sit in silence and not feel awkward. Hell, he didn’t even mind when I spaced out and started working on my book again.
Add in the fact that Dominik is blowing my mind in bed. Yeah, convincing myself to keep seeing him wasn’t actually difficult.
At some point last night, we had fallen asleep with me using his chest as a pillow and half my body draped across him. That’s where I still am. Only now his arms are wrapped around me, holding me so I have nowhere to go. As my alarm starts going off, I move to push myself up to shut off the stupid sound blaring from across the room, except he holds me tighter. Laughing, I reach up to kiss his cheek as he opens his eyes slightly, peeking down at me.
A sleepy smile spreads across his face as he holds me to him with one hand on my ass, the other tracing my bottom lip.
“Good morning, Sunshine.” Gently, he tilts my face up to kiss me. The kiss itself is short, but when he pulls back with a contented grin, he doesn’t let me go. Laughing lightly, while trying to ignore the fact that I have morning breath, I start trying to wiggle out of his grasp.
“You have to let me go so I can turn that alarm off.” He groans, squeezing my ass one more time before releasing me so I can roll off the bed. At one point, when we got up for water, I remembered to charge my phone and set an alarm. Even though I very rarely sleep past eight o’clock, I still set an alarm out of habit. Plus, I didn’t want Dom to be late to practice because of me. Especially since we didn’t fall asleep until sometime around two in the morning.
After silencing the alarm, I turn back toward the bed. Dominik had pulled the covers up over his face. I can’t stifle the giggle that escapes, causing him to pop his head out from a small opening in the blanket. He looks like a giant burrito, and the sight has me bursting out in laughter.
“Are you laughing at me, Sunshine?”
“Yes.” I squeak out, still laughing at the fact that this hunk of a hockey player looks hysterically adorable wrapped up like this. “You’re a Domorito!”
“Domorito?” His face scrunches with confusion. Calming myself from laughing, I try to nod seriously.
“Yes. A Domorito. Like a burrito but mixed with your name.” He shakes his head, but the movement is restricted due to the blanket he has wrapped around his face. Which, of course, sends me back into a laughing tizzy as I head back toward the bed.
“Domorito…” He trails off, watching me intently as I make my way back toward him. When I get close enough to the bed, he reaches for me with the blanket in his hands and pulls me under the covers with him. He curls into me, running kisses over my shoulder while covering us both fully with the blanket. I don’t miss how he inhales deeply when his nose reaches the base of my neck.
“Did you just…give me a nickname?”
I chuckle, curling back into his warmth. “Garrett said you don’t have any nicknames outside of Dominator.” I turn slightly to eye his shadowed face. “Which I’m going to guess has to do with how you play on the ice.”
