My heart beat once, then twice, like a drum shaking my chest. Dominic didn’t look at me at all. Instead, his eyes were ahead, on the offices behind me, and when he was two feet away from me, he moved to the side like I was nothing but a bump in his way and moved past me without so much as ahi.
My poor heart. I broke and broke and my entire body felt numb within seconds. I wanted to turn, to follow him, to demand he freakinglookme in the eyes at the very least.
Instead, I swallowed hard, and holding the documents in my hands tightly, I somehow made it all the way to my desk without tripping over my feet.
“Look who’s back,” Eva said breathlessly. “Finally. This place is so fucking boring without eye candy.”
“Totally,” Patricia grinned.
“Where do you think he was?” Hunter asked, while I opened my journal and pretended to write something in it while my focus remained on not letting those tears fall. I would not cry, not in front of my friends. Not in front of the whole damn office. Not for Dominic Dane, who wouldn’t even bother tolookat me. After over forty days.
“You got it bad for him,” said Eva, and I looked up so fast, she grinned widely.
“What?” I blurted, but at least the panic pushed the tears back without my even having to think about it.
“You got it bad for Mr. Hottie Hot,” she said.
“Everybody’s got it bad for him,” Patricia said.
“Oh, I saw you freeze,” Eva continued, squinting her eyes at me.
“We all froze,” Hunter said, and as much as I wanted to give both him and Patricia a thank-you smile, I knew I would just make it worse.
“I don’t have anything for anyone,” I forced myself to say. “I was just surprised. He hasn’t been around for a long time, and he looked…bad.” No, he looked good. Like a freakinggod, with those eyes and that hair and those bruises. Who looks goodwith bruises?
What the hell was wrong with me?
“Right? He probably fought a berserker,” Hunter said with a nod, crossing his arms in front of him as he leaned back on his chair.
“Or a wendigo,” Patricia said. “Or kelpies. His hair could have been wet.”
“Nope—dry as a bone,” Eva said. “I saw him. Smelled him, too.” Falling back on her chair, she closed her eyes and smiled like she was in a trance. “One of these days, I’m going to nail that guy. You just wait.”
Hunter laughed. Patricia laughed. Itriedto laugh, too, but ended up sounding like I was screaming instead.
“What do you think he’s like down there?” Patricia said, lowering her eyes to her desk.
My blood was so heated, I was afraid I was going to start melting soon.
“He’s probably big,” Hunter whispered. “I mean,reallybig.”
“And he’s probably controlling, too. A proper dominant. I knowexactlywhat he needs in bed,” Eva whispered. “I would submit to himlike that.” And she flicked her fingers.
“Please,” Patricia said, rolling his eyes. “Guys like that are in constant need of affection, trust me. They’re all tough on the exterior, but mashed potatoes on the inside.”
Hunter turned to her, appalled. “Mashed potatoes?Woman, you’re insane!”
“You clearly haven’t had as much experience as you say you’ve had,” Eva said. “Trust me—he is notmashed potatoesin any way.”
“What the hell do you even know? I’ve been fucking since before you were born,” Patricia said, which made them laugh again. And I tried, too, but for the second time, they looked at me like they were sure I had issues.
And I did. My God, I did have issues. So many issues. But they wouldn’t stop talking.
“You’rethirteenyears older than me,” Eva reminded her, rolling her eyes.
“I lost my virginity at twelve,” said Patricia.
“You lost your virginity at nineteen,” Hunter said. “You told us the story, remember?”