I rolled my suitcase in front of The Happy Place. I’d expected to see Gran at the counter, but Kimberly was here too. There were a few patrons inside, browsing books.
I loved the bookstore. I’d spent hours upon hours here as a kid, when my aunt and uncle had too much going on at the house. That happened often, considering they had six boys. Kimberly and I would come here after school. My grandmother set up a corner for us where we did our homework. If she wasn’t here, one of the employees took care of us. I grew up surrounded by the smell of books and, in winter, the cozy fire.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Kimberly.
“Gran said you were stopping by. I thought that was interesting. You usually come to The Happy Place when you need extra love.”
I bit back a laugh. That was 100 percent true. I was surprised my cousins didn’t ‘accidentally’ show up too.
‘Kimberly,’ Gran exclaimed. ‘Don’t rush the poor girl. Let her tell us what’s on her mind in her own time.’
I stepped behind the counter between my grandmother and my sister.
“We heard you dropped by Liz’s bakery yesterday.”
My face exploded in a grin. “I knew it. She spilled the beans.”
‘Don’t blame Liz. She tried to keep it a secret, but she didn’t stand a chance. I fed her my apple pie,’ Gran explained. “I could see right through her. She did put in a good effort, though.”
Kimberly crossed her arms over her chest. “Why you didn’t you tell me you’re seeing someone?”
‘Who is he, and since when are you dating him?’ Gran grilled me.
I sighed, leaning against the desk. “I’m not dating him.”
‘Then what’s the deal?’ Kimberly asked.
I took in a deep breath. “Don’t panic, but Malcolm is also participating in the charity event.”
My sister turned white.
My grandmother gasped. “When is that man going to leave you alone?”
“He hasn’t done anything. He was just there.” I wasn’t going to tell them about the semi-threatening conversation. Knowing Malcolm, he was just trying to make himself feel better by putting me down. “On the evening of the first event, he was there with Francesca.”
Kimberly lightly gripped the edge of the desk. ‘I’m so sorry. Reese, why didn’t you say anything?’
“I didn’t want to worry you. Anyway, long story short, Dom pretended to be my boyfriend that evening.”
Kimberly’s eyes bulged, and then she burst out laughing, “You’re joking.”
‘No.’
Gran said nothing.
“Wait, why would he even do that?” Kimberly asked.
“It doesn’t matter. One thing led to another, and he offered to keep helping me with the ruse this weekend. That’s why we drove together. I thought we could use the road trip to get to know each other a bit and set up a story.”
‘Oh my God, you’re serious?’ Gran asked, sounding shocked.
Kimberly pointed at me. “All right. I’m going to need to know exactly why he offered to be your fake boyfriend and all the details from the weekend.”
‘Want to go for coffee later?’
‘Girl, we have coffee and cookies right here,’ Gran cut in.
‘Yeah, and we’re both extremely curious,’ Kimberly added, bouncing from one leg to the other.
“Let’s go sit down,” Gran said.
We sat on a small couch at the far end of the room. There were several spread throughout the shop, encouraging readers to sit and thoroughly inspect the books before buying them.
“What’s his full name?” Kimberly asked, grabbing her phone.
“Dominic Waldorf.”
“That name is familiar. Let me google him.” She tapped the screen a few times. “Holy shit. Waldorf Fashion. They just named him the city’s most eligible bachelor.”
“Kimberly, since when do you read gossip magazines?” Gran asked.
‘I don’t. I got wind of him because he’s a respected CEO. Usually they grant that distinction to athletes or actors or something.’ She turned to me, an eyebrow raised. ‘You sure about the fake part? Because the man is hot.’
I laughed nervously. I wasn’t sure how to explain everything. “Look, I simply wanted…’ I sighed. ‘Honestly, it was kind of childish, but I wanted to flip off Malcolm in a way.”
‘Ha, the revenge date. I approve,’ Kimberly said with a grin.
‘Revenge date? What do you mean?’ Gran asked.
‘Malcolm was there with her, and I couldn’t bear facing them. He thought I was single and was trying to make a joke out of it. Or possibly pity me. I’m not even sure what it was. I think Dom just… well, he probably pitied me, too, but it all turned out for the best.’
‘Right,’ Gran drew out, obviously unsure of my explanation.
‘That explains the charity evening. But why would you pretend for a whole weekend?’ Kimberly asked. My sister was nothing if not thorough.
‘Look, it’s hard to explain without sounding ridiculous. I’m not even sure why Dom went along with it. But I’m grateful he did. The weekend would have been excruciatingly painful otherwise.’
Kimberly moved next to me. ‘You should’ve just backed out of the weekend or sent me instead.’
Gran nodded. ‘Reese, life is far too short to go through unpleasant moments. Especially when it comes to that asshole.’
I was stunned. Kimberly just blinked. I couldn’t remember a time when Gran had openly sworn.
‘Why are you girls looking at me like that?’ she huffed. ‘Of course, I know how to swear. I just try not to do it around Paisley.’
‘Or around us,” Kimberly said.
That settled, they both looked at me intently, obviously waiting for an explanation. But I didn’t have a good one.
‘It felt like if I chickened out, then he would win, you know?’ I murmured.
‘Why is Malcolm back?’ Kimberly asked, and the hair stood up at the back of my neck.
‘I’m not sure,’ I admitted. ‘Maybe he just wants to live in Chicago. He’s from here, after all.’
‘Let’s talk to Declan. Clearly he didn’t scare him enough last time.’
‘No. I mean it, Kimberly. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t tell you.’
Gran shook her head. ‘Reese, you can talk to us. You don’t have to keep things to yourself. We won’t tell anyone if you don’t want us to.’
‘Thank you. I would appreciate it if you didn’t. You should have seen Malcolm’s face when Dom was next to me…tall and so much more attractive than him.’
Kimberly and Gran glanced at each other, and then Gran narrowed her eyes, pointing at me. ‘I will say just one thing on this topic. This man makes you light up, and we haven’t seen that in a while. Not even when you were with that asshole.’
‘Gran—” I began.
‘Just let me finish. If there’s any chance, any at all, that you have real feelings for him, see if it leads to something.’
I shook my head vehemently. ‘No. That’s out of the question.’
Gran sighed and then looked at Kimberly, who shook her head. ‘No, don’t look at me. I’m supporting my sister no matter what she says.’ Then she turned to me. ‘But for the record, I agree with Gran.’
‘Of course you do. All right, well, I came by to say hi to both of you. But since I’m here, I’ll go upstairs and take care of a few things.’
‘But it’s Sunday!’ Kimberly exclaimed.
‘I know, but I had some to-dos on Friday that I didn’t get to. And I want to start the week with a clean slate.’
‘If you change your mind, we’ll be down here for a few more hours.’
‘Okay.’
They both waved me off, and I headed upstairs.
I loved coming into the office when it was empty. I wasn’t an early bird, but I often stayed after everyone left, especially if I had numbers to crunch.
Gran and Kimberly’s words kept spinning in my mind. Why were they giving me ideas?
I started by looking over the projections for this quarter and moved to checking the bookings for the rest of the year when my phone pinged.
Dom: I tried to make myself a Negroni, but I forgot the steps. Do you have anything going on?
All of a sudden, I found myself grinning from ear to ear, and my heart sped up. What did it say about me that my pulse was erratic just because he wanted to talk to me?
I replied right away.
Reese: No.
He called me in a fraction of a second. In my haste to answer the phone, I nearly dropped it on the floor.
Oh, if Kimberly and Gran could see me now.
‘Hey,’ I said. My voice was a bit shaky.
‘Am I interrupting anything?’
‘Yes, but it’s a welcome interruption because I’ve been glued to my chair for hours.’
‘Doing what?’
‘I’m checking the financial projections for this quarter.’
‘On a Sunday?’ he asked incredulously.
‘Oh, stop being so judgmental.’
‘I’m just surprised. You didn’t seem the type who works on weekends.’
‘I’m not, but I spent Friday thinking about the questions we should discuss prior to the event, and I didn’t get my work done.’
‘I see. So… the steps for the cocktail?’
I seriously doubted that he didn’t remember them or couldn’t at least google them. For some reason, that made me intensely nervous, and I stumbled over my words as I gave him the recipe.
‘Mmm. This tastes good,’ he said a few minutes later. Hearing his groans sent a tendril of heat through my body, and my nipples perked up. ‘But it’s missing something.’
‘They put some lime in it as well,’ I said, just remembering that moment. “It’s not actually part of the recipe that I know of, but it fit.”
‘I don’t have any limes. And you have a good taste for cocktails.’
“I like to play around at the hotel’s bar from time to time. Actually, you know what? I’m almost done with work. I can do the rest tomorrow. I’m going upstairs to have a drink too.”
‘Or you can join me.’
I swallowed hard. ‘Oh?’ I asked noncommittally, playing with a strand of my hair.
‘Yesterday, we spent a lot of time together, but at the same time, it felt like we didn’t spend enough,’ he said, completely taking my breath away.
“Dom,” I whispered.
‘Last night on the porch was real. I want more of that.’
‘So do I.’
‘Tell me when to pick you up, and we can go for a drink.’
I swallowed. ‘God, I love the sound of that… but I’m terrified.’
‘Of what?’
‘Getting hurt.’
‘Reese, I wouldn’t hurt you.’
‘No, I know, or maybe not intentionally, or… God, I’m babbling.’
He chuckled. ‘That’s okay. Let’s take it easy and share a cocktail over the phone, like you suggested.’
I laughed nervously. ‘Right! Yes. Let’s do that.”
But now that he’d brought up the idea of spending time together, this felt different, more intimate. I didn’t want to hang up.
I probably looked a bit stupid walking up the stairs to the bar, holding the phone to my ear. We weren’t even talking, but I could feel him on the other line. I heard him take a few sips and two deep breaths as I went to order—we couldn’t carry on a conversation if I slipped behind the bar to prepare my own drink.
“Wait a second, this place is packed. I’ll just ask Tom to make me one.”
I held the phone to my chest and flagged the bartender. ‘Tom, make me a Negroni, please. You know how I like it.’
He nodded, and I went to the table we usually kept for ourselves. It had a permanent tag on it that said Reserved. I liked to come here from time to time. The building wasn’t very tall, so I only had a view of the rooftops of the nearby homes and other smaller buildings. A few trees peeked up from between the buildings—a smattering of green among reddish and brown tiles.
One of our servers brought me the drink only a few seconds after I sat down.
‘I like the service in the hotel. It’s so fast,’ I said into the phone.
‘Got your drink?’ Dom asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Then cheers, Reese.’
‘What are we toasting to?’
‘A completely unexpected friendship. No, that’s not the right word. Acquaintanceship?’
‘I never even knew that was a word,’ I replied, laughing as I took a sip.
‘I’m not sure it is.’
‘So what did you do today?’ I asked him.
He hesitated for a bit, then said, ‘I visited my dad.’
‘Oh, that’s sweet. So he also lives in Chicago?’
‘Yeah.’ His tone was a bit quiet.
‘You don’t want to talk about it?’
He seemed to hesitate again. ‘No, I do. He’s housebound and doesn’t get much social interaction. Since Mom passed away, the only person who’s around him full-time is his nurse. We play chess once a week.”
That was even sexier to me than those muscled and tattooed arms.
“Who plays better?” I asked.
“Lately, I do. But I let him win from time to time. Not too often because then he catches on.”
Oh, be still my beating heart. ‘That’s incredibly thoughtful,’ I said.
‘So you’ve been working since I dropped you off?’
‘No. I was downstairs at The Happy Place with my sister and my grandmother. We were… chatting.’
‘Your voice changed. Are you hiding something?’
I blushed from head to toe. ‘N-No.’ And now I was stammering. Good God, I was a wreck when I talked to this man. ‘I told them about you and our game of pretend. They were shocked and then proceeded to tell me that I should go ahead and act on my instincts if there was something between us.’
Why in the name of all that is holy did I tell him that?
‘Good to know your grandmother and sister are on my side.’
I snorted. ‘Dom, there are no sides here.’
‘What did you tell them?’
‘That I didn’t want to confuse things.’
‘Reese.’ His voice was dangerously low.
I sipped from my drink, needing the liquid courage. It was loosening my tongue. I wondered if Tom made it stronger than usual. Then I remembered that I didn’t eat much today. Yep, that would do it.
I couldn’t believe it. I was tipsy while talking to a guy I was attracted to but wanted to stay away from. That was going to work out in my favor for sure.
‘I haven’t eaten much today, so I’m blabbing even more than usual. Just ignore me if I say something stupid.”
‘Not at all. I like knowing you intimately.’
Tendrils of heat curled through me before pooling between my thighs. I swallowed hard.
‘Did you see the email from Monika?’ Dom asked, and my stomach bottomed out.
‘Oh no. I haven’t checked my emails. When did she send it?’
‘A few hours ago. She’s got it all mapped out.’
I grinned. ‘Let’s hear it.’
I braced myself as Dom went on. ‘She’s proposing another evening event instead of a day of activities. She could only find one space on short notice, so she can’t offer more than one option. It’s Friday in two weeks.”
“Let me check my calendar.’ I pulled it up on my phone and scrolled to that date. ‘Friday is good.”
“For me too. Though she pointed out that it’s understandable if someone can’t make it.’
‘So we’d have an easy way out,’ I said.
‘Do you want that?’ His voice was now a whisper, a little apprehensive.
‘No, I don’t,’ I replied just as tentatively.
God, what am I doing? What are we both doing?
I wasn’t ready, and he clearly wasn’t either.
So why couldn’t we stay away from each other?
