“No. I prefer to meet you.” I smile up at him and tuck a lock of hair behind my ear.
“Alright, mademoiselle. Have it your way.At least you agreed. I’ll send you the details of the restaurant by the end of the day.”
“Thank you.”
“No, mon chéri, thank you.”
With his perfect manners, I’m sure is part of his gentlemanly façade, he reaches for my hand and plants a kiss on my knuckles.I smile when he holds on for longer than appropriate.I’m no fool. The gentlemen's act is to butter me up.
When he releases me and allows his gaze to drift down my body, the real him comes out, but I keep my smile plastered to my face.
“See you tomorrow,” he says, then turns and walks away.
I turn to walk in the opposite direction so I can go to the meeting room, but I freeze mid-stride when my gaze lands on the man standing over in the corner watching me.
At first, I think I must be hallucinating.That’s one thing that’s never happened to me before, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were happening now.
I’ve imagined this moment many times.Seeing Dominic. When I first got out of the hospital and went back to work, my mind conjured him up around the clock.
There were countless times when I saw someone I thought looked like him, then was disappointed to find it wasn’t him, and often the person couldn’t have looked more different.
So, this must be what’s happening to me now.
That man standing in the corner can’t be Dominic D'Agostino.
I wait for him to disappear or for my eyes to adjust and take note that it’s not him.But neither happens and… I think it could be him this time.
He steps away from the wall and shock claws through me when I realize it’s really him.
When he gets closer, tears sting the backs of my eyes and the air squeezes from my body, leaving me the way darkness fills up a room when the lights go out.
My entire body goes rigid and although my throat works, the constriction in my lungs gets tighter with each passing second.
Dominic’s home.
He’s back.
He’s standing right in front of me.
I gaze up into those deep blue eyes that used to remind me of the Mediterranean Sea.Looking at him is a world of difference from looking at Jacques.When I was staring at Jacques, I was mildly aware he was handsome.Looking at Dominic, however, is like staring at a masterpiece.
His full lips part and I remember kissing them, then I remember the last time we were this close.
I was in his bed.
I’d woken up in his arms to a magical sunset with him telling me things would be different for us.
Then days later he left me on my deathbed.
“Candace… hi,” he says, and the smooth, deep baritone of his voice snaps me out of the reverie.Fury constricts my lungs as I remember how he left me.
I was so sick, and I just needed him.
While I was in a coma, he spoke to me in his state of remorse and told me he was going to leave.I wanted him to stay so badly the first thing I asked him to do when I woke up was to stay.Yet, he left anyway.
A tear slides down my cheek feeling cold on my skin.It's a juxtapose against the shiver of heat that works its way down my spine.
“Candace, I--”