The question took me a bit off guard, but it made me smile anyway.
“There’s nothing wrong with being nice to people. There’s nothing wrong with helping people, either.”
“It is when they wouldn’t do the same for you.” He leaned down and kissed my butt cheek again, lingering for a moment.
I sighed. “It doesn’t have to be about them at all. For me, it isn’t. It’s about me. I feel good when I’m doing something for someone. And I don’t really care what they think, anyway.”
“You don’t?” He sounded surprised.
“Not really. I mean, I do care, and it does sting when someone blocks me for no reason.” I tried to give him a look, but when I turned my head, I found him staring at my freckle still, smiling at himself.
“You mean me,” he said.
“Yep. And also others. Like that guy Malcom. We talked a couple times, and he was so nice, and then all of a sudden, he refused to say hi or even look me in the face.”
Since Dominic was practically lying on my legs, I felt it clearly when he froze. It only lasted a split second, but I felt all of it. So, I looked down at him again.
“What was that?”
He looked up at me from under his lashes, on the way to pressing his lips to my ass again.
“What was what?” he mumbled, and it didn’t suit him to play dumb at all.
“That,” I said. “You froze. Why did you freeze?”
“I didn’t—”
“Yes, you did.” Was he jealous or something? Was that it?
But, no, he didn’t look like it.
“It’s nothing,” he mumbled, planting another kiss on my freckle before he pushed himself up to the pillow again. So easy to rearrange my body against his chest, it was like we’d been doing this for years. I fit him so perfectly. His arms wrapped me into a warm cocoon, and I instantly breathed a little easier.
“It’s something, all right,” I mumbled, not half as interested in it as a second ago.
“I just warned him, that’s all.”
It was my time to freeze now. I looked up at Dominic, but he kept his eyes on the ceiling.
“Warned who? Malcom?” He nodded. “Warned about what?”
“About you, Teddybear.”
Well, shit. I snuggled myself closer to his chest and his arms around me became tighter. “What exactly did you say to him?”
“Nothing. I just saw you guys talking, so I pulled him aside one day and I told him I’d cut his dick off and feed it to him if he hurt you in any way.”
I groaned, pressing my forehead to his chest. “Are you kidding me?!” What the hell? That’s why Malcom didn’t even say hi to me anymore and turned bright red every time we crossed paths?
“It was just a warning. I never told him to stay away—he made that decision himself.” God, he didn’t even sound regretful. Not even a little bit.
“Of course he did!” I raised up on my elbow to see his face. “You intimidate people, Dominic. You know that! And that wasn’t a warning—it was a threat.”
“Hmm,” he mumbled, then pulled my head closer until our lips met. Every worry and bad thing melted away from my mind in an instant. So not fair.
“Poor Malcom,” I whispered, but I was smiling because, though it pissed me off that he’d had the guts to threaten the only guy I liked at the office away from me, there was still a big part of me that loved it. Loved what it meant.
“No, he’s a smart guy. I didn’t really expect him to back off right away, but he obviously knows what’s good for him.” And he pressed another kiss on my cheek.