“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. I hear it in your voice and you’re a terrible liar.”
“That’s the second time I’ve been told that today,” I laugh.
“Who else you lying to?”
“Lincoln, but I wasn’t really lying to him. He was just being an ass.”
Dominic takes a deep breath before blowing it out slowly. “Did that conversation have anything to do with me?”
“Why would it? They don’t know what I’m doing.”
“You mean slumming it?”
“Stop it, Dominic.”
He chuckles through the phone. “I’m kidding.”
“Do you want to meet them?” I ask with hesitation. It would be a bloodbath, most likely, and my family would definitely have reservations. And questions. And issues. Still, I can’t deny the leap in my chest that maybe his reaction is because we’re there. To the point where he does want to admit to being serious. To—
“Hell, no.”
My spirits fall like a piece of confetti out of a sixty-story building. “I didn’t think so.” I stand up and get my skirt smoothed back down. “My froyo is melting on the table.”
“That could be fun.”
“What?”
“Melted ice cream. If I would’ve known that was happening, I could’ve added it into my little fantasy.”
Still reeling from the hopes of a few seconds ago, I watch the chocolate treat create a little puddle on the white tabletop. “You should remember that next time.”
“Noted. But, in the meantime, I’m gonna get off of here so I can go get myself off. That little show you just put on has my cock so hard it’s ready to explode.”
“If you came over here, I’d help you out with that.”
“I bet you would.” I hear him groan and he moves. “You have any plans for tomorrow?”
“I’m having lunch with my mom, Sienna, and a couple of my brothers’ wives. There’s a charity thing they want to put together and I volunteered to head the effort. What about you?”
“Working then heading to the gym straight after. Maybe we can hook up late?”
“I’d like that.”
He pauses. “Me too, Cam. Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“Later.” And just like that, the line goes dead.
I pad down the hall and into the master bathroom, washing my hands, teeth, and face. Dressing in the yellow robe that I know now is Dom’s favorite, I climb into bed.
Looking around the white walls, white carpet, and pale pink furnishings, I think back to last night. This time yesterday I was snuggled up in Dom’s bed. His ratty blue comforter, eighties-style wood paneling, and grey shag carpeting that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy is almost preferable right now to lying here alone.
Without him.
“Come on, Cam,” I admonish myself, burrowing in the down blankets. “You can’t expect anything. Not from him.”