by Piper Rayne
“Six days and counting. Let’s make the most of them,” I say.
He flips the lock and turns off the lights before carrying me to his bedroom.
I’ll face reality in six days. But who’s counting?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Dominic
* * *
“You’re late from your meeting, and your wife left you lunch.” Ash follows me into my office.
It’s Thursday, and although Val and I have been enjoying one another physically all week, we’ve been careful not to cross that line. Whoever’s bed we fuck in, the other person leaves to sleep in their own bed afterward. At this point, I look forward to seeing her in my home at the end of the day, which means there’s going to be a transition period once she leaves.
“Thanks.” I take the bag and walk into my office, where I set it on my desk.
“She said it’s probably her last time seeing me?” Ash sits in the chair on the other side of my desk.
I loosen my tie and glance at the Trading Post bag. I couldn’t meet my brothers today because of a meeting with a client I couldn’t move. I pull the container from the bag. Just as I thought, it holds the lobster mac and cheese I eat every week.
“Is that a smile?” Ash asks.
I straighten my lips. “No.”
“It is so. You’re smiling.”
“She brought my favorite meal.” I told her this morning how I wouldn’t be able to make my usual lunch with my brothers. I sit down and pull the plastic cutlery from the bag. “Don’t you have a lunch of your own to go to?”
“Answer my question.”
“What question?” I pop the lid off the pasta. Condensation drips from the lid.
“About why I’m not going to see Val again?” She crosses her arms.
I take the fork and dig into the pasta because if it gets too cold, it will suck.
“Dom?”
I finish chewing and swallow. Ash won’t like this, but so what? She works for me. “Ryder returns this weekend, and once that happens, we’re going to get an annulment.”
“What?” Her mouth drops open.
“You knew the circumstances.”
“But—”
“This time is being deducted from your lunch hour right now.”
She waves me off because she’ll take as long as she wants. “You leave early every day now, which you never do. She brought you lunch. Your brother’s Instagram has a picture of the two of you at the wedding and you both look so happy.”
“There’s a picture of us on Instagram?”
“That’s what you got from what I said?” She drills me with an exasperated look. “You clearly love her.”
“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.” I raise my hand, wiping my mouth. “I don’t love her. I mean, I do as a person, but I’m not in love with her. There’s a difference.”
“You’re either blind or you’re stupid, because you do love Val. You have for the past two years, and if I knew your history, probably longer than that. Why are you so afraid to admit it?”
“Ash, this is personal.” It’s clear from my tone that this is not something I’m going to discuss with her.
She stands. “Fine. Don’t talk to me. I shouldn’t care if you’re going to throw away your chance at happiness.”
She storms out of my office, and I watch her grab her purse and stomp off toward the elevators. Once she’s gone, I pull up the Instagram app I barely use. Sure enough, I find the picture under Enzo’s account. Annie probably posted it though. There’s the two of us, and I’ll admit, we do look happy.
Me: Thanks for lunch.
Val: You’re welcome. I had hoped for a quickie in the copy room.
Me: I would’ve happily obliged.
Val: Maybe another time.
Me: I’ll hold you to that.
My chest constricts because I know there won’t be any other time for us. If it doesn’t happen in the next couple of days, that’s it.
Val: Have a great day. Enjoy the Mac N Cheese.
Me: I’m leaving the office at three today.
Val: :( I won’t be home until late. Rehearsals.
Me: I’ll stay up.
Val: :)
I put my phone on the desk and stare at the meal she came all the way uptown to bring me. Yeah, come Sunday, there’s going to be some adjustment needed because I’ve done the one thing I promised myself I wouldn’t do again—I’m invested.
Any trader knows that you have to balance the risk with the reward, and Val proved last summer that she’s too much of a risk. So what the hell am I doing?
Since I know Val won’t be home until late, I decide to stay at the office. It’s not like I don’t have a shit-ton of work to do. Ash was right, I’ve been leaving early lately—early for me being five or six o’clock.
At six-thirty, I close my computer and get my stuff together because I’ve pretty much succumbed to the fact that I’m a pussy now and want to be home when Val arrives.
I reach the elevator as Nell approaches from the opposite side of the office. She’s given me space since she found out about Val, but I still catch her walking by my office and peering in way more than necessary.
“Hey,” I say, waiting for the elevator to open.
“Good evening, Mr. Mancini.” She nods, but it’s so dramatic she might as well have bowed.
“Cut the shit.”
“You are technically higher up than me.”
“You don’t work for me, and I might have more years here, but we’re the same.”
“You could’ve told me you were getting married.” She pouts.
The elevator dings and the doors glide open. We both step in. “I was about to. It happened in Vegas.”
I could tell her the truth, but I’ll use my impromptu marriage as an excuse to get her off my dick.
“I’m not opposed to a more secretive arrangement.” She steps closer, and I freeze. I’ve never been put in this position, a woman coming on to me after knowing I’m already in a relationship.
“Nell.”
“What? I think there’s a reason you didn’t tell me.”
I step back and hit the elevator wall. “I assure you I just hadn’t had the opportunity.”
She’s so close, her tits are a millimeter from pressing against my chest. The elevator doors ding and open on the ground floor, and I turn my head, ready to make my escape.
There stands Val in her dance gear. Her bag slips off her shoulder and falls to the floor with a thud.
“Val!” My voice is high and shocked and makes me sound guilty as fuck.
She picks up her bag and stares me down.
“We were both working late.” Nell saunters out, touching Val’s arm lightly as she steps past her. “Bye, Dominic. See you tomorrow.” She waves, and her smirk makes it appear like she’s the winning bidder and I’m the prize.
I step off the elevator. Val and I stare at one another wordlessly until Nell is out the doors of the building.
“Nice,” she spits out like venom.
“It was nothing,” I say like every other man probably does when it actually is something.
“I asked you for one promise! And here I thought you’d actually keep your word and not see anyone else.” She spins on her heel and rushes to the door, pushing it open with force.
“You said you had to work until seven.”
She stops and studies me. “So that’s a pass for you to fuck around behind my back?”
“I wasn’t fucking around,” I grind out between clenched teeth. “Do you really think I’d do that to you after what happened with Max? Jesus, just when I think maybe we’re getting somewhere.” I throw up my arms, pissed off that I constantly get such low expectations from her.
“I don’t know what you’d do because the fact is you were screwing her.”
“I made you a promise.”
She steps out onto the sidewalk, stopping before she hits the street. Her shoulders deflate and she circles around to look at me. “I jus
t…”
I approach her cautiously, just in case I ever do want to father a child someday. “Why do you find it so hard to believe that I wouldn’t do that to you?”
She swipes at a tear and looks away. “I never know where I stand with you.”
“You stand on the first pedestal. It’s always you, Val. Always.” My hand cradles her cheek. “I stopped things with Nell as soon as you came back into my life.”
She nods, and her hand holds mine to her cheek. “Take me home?”
I step closer to her while raising my hand for a taxi. “Always.”
The taxi stops at the curb, and I open the door for her to slide in first. She tries to stay on the far side, but I pull her along the vinyl seat toward me.
“Tell me what you want me to do to you when we get home,” I whisper in her ear. My lips travel along the soft skin under her ear.
“Show me how I’m number one.”
Her lips find mine. I’m not opposed to public affection, so I kiss her back, sliding my tongue between her lips. Our kiss starts slow and easy. My finger runs up her thigh and she parts her legs, allowing me access. Her leggings are thin enough that I should be able to get her off in here, then I’ll really take care of her back at the house.
I glance at the cab driver, who has AirPods in and is speaking animatedly in a language I don’t recognize to someone on the phone. He’s not paying us any attention.
“Dom, we can’t,” she whispers so softly I barely hear her.
Usually I can keep my shit together until we reach the elevator of my condo at least, but I’m desperate to show her that Nell means nothing to me. I push my finger into her center, and she bucks into my hand.
“Just relax.” I kiss her jawline then capture her lips.
I try to position us so that the cab driver will think we’re just making out, but she’s squirming as I apply more pressure to her clit. Her breath hitches, the thin fabric acts as a barrier so that she doesn’t get the ultimate relief she’s seeking, and she circles her hips and presses her body closer to mine. I bite her earlobe and her body sinks into mine.
“I’m going to mark you tonight. When you look in the mirror tomorrow, you’ll know I was there and know whose bed you belong in.”
Her hand slides down my arm, gripping my wrist.
“Go ahead.” I grant her the permission she’s looking for.
Using her hips and the pressure of my fingers, she gets off, controlling her movements and the pace. Her ass rises off the bench seat, and I watch her eyes flutter shut, the pink of her cheeks turning bright red, and her body falls back down as the orgasm takes over. She’s so damn breathtaking when she comes—even if it is silent by necessity. No wonder I never get enough.
Her head falls to my shoulder, and she slides her hand in mine as though she didn’t just see stars or fireworks behind those eyelids. As I’m composing myself, she tilts her head and presses her lips to the hollow of my neck.
“I’m sorry for questioning you,” she murmurs.
Her apology should make me happy, but that time bomb is still ticking toward Sunday, and when it blows, it’s going to shatter me to pieces.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Valentina
* * *
“Gia, it’s okay. It’s just a fun recital for the parents.” I kneel down to eight-year-old Gia’s level.
“Why have you been dodging me?” Lulu says from her seat, sipping her iced coffee as it rests on her big belly.
“I’m not dodging you.” I stand, moving Gia back toward the rest of the girls in her class. My employee Libby is demonstrating the dance one more time. “You shouldn’t be worrying about me. You should be worried about why my goddaughter is so stressed.”
The answer to that question is in the classic cliché that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
“She’s a perfectionist. Blame Vinny. Anyway, I figured you got the annulment and needed some time to yourself because that’s usually how it goes down with you. Imagine my surprise when I stop by your parents’ store and they brag about their new son-in-law.” She slurps her iced coffee, judgment resting deep in her dark eyes.
“I was going to tell you,” I lie. I would never tell Lulu. She hates Dom.
“No, you weren’t.” She pins me with a stare. “I get that I’ve given you hell over the years about the guy, but you can’t go through this alone. You cannot manage the Dominic Mancini waters solo. You get blinded by his beauty and that dick of his and forget that he’s a shark until he swallows you whole.”
I glance behind me to make sure none of the kids heard her. The last thing I need is for one of them to go home, say the word “dick” and tell their parents they heard it here. The music is on as they run through their ballet positions on the other side of the studio though, so we’re safe.
I blow out a breath, watching the girls practice for the recital that’ll start in a few hours and wishing my best friend would’ve felt too sick or too pregnant to come torment me. “I’m thirty-six. I get that I was once blind, but I’m all eyes-wide-open this time around. Trust me. Plus, it’s a mutual agreement between the two of us.”
Just the thought of waking up in Dom’s bed this morning shoots tingles along my flesh. I can’t think much of it. We were both spent last night, and when I slid to the edge to return to my room and he put his arm around my waist telling me to stay, I knew it was a bad decision. Lately, I can’t seem to make any good ones.
Lulu looks bored. “It’s the same story on repeat with you two. Always is.”
“Just relax, we’re friends.”
“You and Dom are many things. Friends is never one of them.”
I glance at her. “That’s not true.”
She pretends to yawn before grabbing my hand to help her out of the chair. “He’s already sunk his claws into you. I’m too late. Damn, before all these kids, I would’ve sensed something was wrong, but any time I thought about it and was going to call you—bam, it’s three days later.” She touches her stomach. “Now I’ll have another one to keep track of.”
I laugh and lead her down the hall to my office. Libby has the girls under control, so I decide to take this conversation somewhere more private. “I’m good with it this time. I mean, we’re in a different stage of our lives, we’re different. There was an understanding from the get-go—”
“Do you hear yourself?” she asks as she settles into a chair.
I do hear myself and I know I’m making excuses, but the truth is, I’ll suffer the heartbreak just to have him while I can. That’s always been the way I feel when it comes to Dom. Pathetic maybe, but I’ve never been able to give up the hope that maybe this is the time it will work out.
“Lulu, enough.” I’m curter than I mean to be.
She rears back, her legs wide open with her belly between them. She’s the biggest she’s been of all her pregnancies and I kind of wish she’d go into labor right now before I have to piss her off even more. “What?”
“You know the reason why I’m with Dom, so don’t pretend you don’t. I know I’m probably making a huge mistake, but it’s my mistake.” I point at myself. “And don’t worry, I won’t call you to pick me back up if things go south.”
She mocks offense. Lulu is hard to offend. “Of course you’re gonna call me and of course I’m gonna be there for you. But it’s also my responsibility to warn you in advance because otherwise I’m a shitty friend.” She inhales a deep breath, clutching her stomach. “You think I don’t know. I do.” She points at herself, wiggling to the edge of the chair. “Truth is you and Dom are blind as bats. That’s what makes it so damn frustrating. You two are the ones who don’t know, but everyone around you does.”
She stands, and I move from behind my desk to help her up because she’s sweating now. “Lu, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just Braxton Hicks. Had them two nights ago.” She shucks my hands off her. “Listen, you’re wasting your life if you two won’t be real with each other,
and if Dom was here, I’d tell him the same. But he likes to play hide-and-seek from me because every time I see him, I call him out on his bullshit.”
“Calm down, you’re scaring me.” She’s sweating even more now.
“Oh shit.” She grabs her stomach with both hands and bends at the waist. “I’m not so sure this is false labor.”
Right as she looks at me with resignation in her eyes, water drips down her legs, puddling below.
“Yeah, not false. I have to get you to the hospital.”
Lulu is oddly calm. “Damn, I thought I had time.” She stops at the doorway and digs through her purse. “Let’s call Vinny, because it’ll take him a while to get here. I’ll drop Gia off at Nonna’s, and then if you don’t mind, you can drive me over to the hospital.”
“Mind? Of course not. Where’s the boys?”
“At my in-laws for a few weeks. They offered since the baby was due soon and I’m too smart to turn them down.”
Lulu waddles out of my office, and Libby must notice something is amiss when we reach the studio because she tells the girls to keep out of our way.
Gia, being her mother’s little replica, ignores the instructions and runs over to us. “Mama, is it time?”
Lulu pats her head. “Yep, so grab your bag and I’ll take you to Nonna’s.”
“But what about the recital?” Gia whines.
Lulu looks at me. “I don’t know, baby. Maybe if your brother comes fast.”
“Lu,” I warn. Even if she delivers in record time, she’s not going to be attending the recital this evening.
She rolls her eyes as though I’m shooting down a viable plan. “I’m sure I’ll see pictures and video.”
Gia crosses her arms and pouts. She’s so her mother, it’s uncanny.
“Don’t do that, Gia,” Lulu says. “I have to call your dad.”
I snag the phone from her hand and run through her contacts, clicking on Vinny. It goes to voicemail. As Gia is standing statue-still with a pout that would give a professional British nanny a hard time, Lulu is encouraging her to grab her bag. Vinny’s obnoxious voicemail where he pretends he’s actually answered the phone but hasn’t, plays in my ear and I wait for the beep. Libby is trying to get the girls back in order and to stop running over and asking questions about what’s happening. My dance studio has turned into a disaster—and who decides to step into the mix at this moment? You guessed it. The one and only Dominic Mancini.