Say Yes To The Fake Date (How To Win At Love #3)

9. Luciana

9

LUCIANA

The next morning, I walk into Dom’s Garage thinking that I have my emotions under control. It took everything in me not to fall into his arms yesterday, and after thinking about it most of the night, I know I made the right decision. Dominic Evans is not good for my heart. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. But no matter how many times I try to convince myself of it, I can’t stop thinking about him.

I walk into the garage and look around for Dom. He’s leaning against a car, arms crossed, and he watches me as I walk over to him. It would help if he wasn’t so damn sexy. I suck in a breath and practically stumble over my own feet when I smell his sexy, masculine scent. I do my best to make my voice sound professional. “Good morning.”

His eyes travel down my body and back up again. I want to tug on the hem of my skirt, but I stop myself and jut my chin at him. “Where do you want to do this?”

His eyebrows practically shoot up into his hairline, and I realize how what I just said must sound. I gesture to the chairs against the wall. “We can sit there. I just have a few questions for you, and then I can get started on your site and you can get to work.”

He walks over to his office and pushes the door open. “Come on, I got you set up in here.”

I hold the strap of my bag tighter to my chest and follow him into the office. He’s standing next to the same desk that was in here yesterday, but it looks completely different. “Uh, what happened here?”

He gestures to the room. “I know it’s probably not like any office you’re used to, but I tried to straighten up.”

I’m looking at the cleared desk. He’d wiped everything down, put a plant on the corner of the desk, and there’s an arrangement of brand new notebooks and pens that haven’t even been opened. I’m about to ask him about it when the chair catches my eye. “Is that a new chair?”

Dom’s cheeks are ruddy. “Yeah.”

I point at it and say the obvious. “It’s pink.”

He’s watching me closely. “Yeah, it’s your favorite color… well, it used to be your favorite color, right?”

When I look back at the chair and stare at it, speechless, Dom continues, “The old one squeaked every time someone sat in it. And it was covered in grease. If you were to sit down in it, you would ruin any outfit you would be wearing.”

He bought me a chair. I try not to let the emotion take over, but how can I? This is the Dom I remember. He was always looking out for me. “Dom, this meeting is going to take thirty minutes, max. You didn’t have to do all this.”

He takes a deep breath and puts his hands on his hips. “I was thinking. I mean, this is an office space that no one uses. You saw it yesterday; this desk was a catch-all, and it hasn’t been used in months.”

He pauses, and I wait for him to continue.

He slaps his hands together and then leans on the desk. “Well, I thought until you get things figured out, you may need a place to set up shop. You can work out of here. Set up appointments, work on websites, do… whatever you need to do.”

My heart is thundering in my chest. I’m doing my best to keep that wall up around my heart, but he’s making it really hard. I should tell him no, turn around and walk out of here, and be done with all of this. I push my hand through my hair and let out a breath. “I’m supposed to be paying you back, Dom, not digging myself even more into debt.”

He lifts his shoulder in a shrug. “We used to be friends—”

I don’t even try to hold back the spurt of laughter. “We were more than that, and you know it.”

He takes a step toward me. “Yeah, we were a lot more than friends, and I fucked it up. Trust me, I know, Lucky. And I know I can’t fix the mistakes I made, but I can at least try to make things easier for you while you’re here.”

I’m about to say no, but Dom takes another step toward me, and now we’re so close that I can’t even concentrate. He puts his hand on the desk beside me, blocking me in. “I’m guessing that you’re having trouble working at your mom’s house. I mean, I may be wrong.”

The look I give him tells him that he’s absolutely right. Since I’ve been home, my mom has been pressuring me to give Ray another chance, and it’s been impossible to get anything done. “No, you’re right.”

He taps his hand on the desk. “So work here. You’ll have the office to yourself. I told the guys to use the restroom out in the bay. No one will disturb you… I can put in a phone line if you want me to.”

I reach up and put my hand on his shoulder. “No, don’t do that.”

We both freeze, and Dom’s muscles tense under my palm. His eyes burn into mine, and I know I should pull my hand off him, but instead I let my fingers curl into his shirt and I just hold on to him. I want to say to hell with it all and just let him hold me. Just for five minutes I want to forget about anything and everything except how it feels to be in his arms.

He puts his hand on my chin and lifts my face so I’m looking into his eyes. “Lucky.”

I grimace at the nickname, but I look into his eyes. “Do you ever feel like your life is falling apart and you’ll never be happy again?”

His face softens. “Yeah, I felt that way when I watched you walk away. I knew then that I’d never be happy again. Not truly happy. ”

He moves his hand to cup my face, and I tilt my head into his palm. He’s searching my eyes. “You’re the strongest woman I know, honey. You’re going to come out of this… you’re going to find your happiness.”

I start to shake my head, and he stops me by cupping my face in both of his hands. “He won’t hurt you again. I know your heart is broken, but you’re going to heal.”

He has it all wrong. He thinks I’m brokenhearted about Ray, and I’m not. If anything, I’m pissed. I reach up and lift his hands off my face and then move and put some distance between us. “You’re right. I am strong, and I’m going to put my life together, but you’re wrong about one thing. I gave up on happiness when I left this town seventeen years ago. So yeah, I’ll move on… I’ll get my part of the business back and I’ll put my life together, but no, I won’t ever be happy. Not truly happy.”

I pull my bag off my shoulder and pull out my laptop, setting it on the desk. “Thanks for the use of your office. This will be helpful.”

He nods his head, but before he can ask me any questions, I pull out a pen and paper. “Can we go over a few things about your garage now? ”

“Sure.” He gestures to the pink chair. I sit down, and he rolls me up to the desk. He pauses next to me for a minute and then walks across the room and sits down, resting his elbows on his knees. “Let’s do this.”

For the next few minutes, I ask him questions about his garage, and the more he talks, the more ideas I have. “Would you be interested in allowing customers to book appointments online?”

He scrubs his hand through the scruff of his chin. “Is that a good idea?”

I smile softly at him. “It would mean less time taking phone calls. You would have all the things you do on the site, how much it costs…”

He interrupts me. “But parts…”

“Your website would connect to where you order parts, and the price would include that. And every job will have a timeframe so all you’d have to do is make sure that all jobs are entered into the system. You could even have people pay online.”

He tilts his head to look at me. “So they can book online and pay online… so I wouldn’t really have to talk to anyone.”

I laugh out loud. Dominic has always been a loner. Well, except when it comes to his foster brothers and sister and sisters in law. He shows his friendly side to them, but to everyone else, he’s a grumpy, quiet man that keeps to himself. “You know you act like you’re an asshole, but I know you’re not. Not really, anyway.”

He just shrugs, but I’m not letting him get away with it. “Seriously, why do you do that? Why do you hide the real you from everyone?”

“I don’t.”

“You do.” I point my pen at him. “I mean, you’ve shown me and your family who you are, but why do you try to hide yourself from the rest of the world?”

He doesn’t even hesitate. “Because for most of my life, everyone I’ve cared about has let me down. The fewer people I let in my circle…”

He stops talking, but I can easily fill in what he wanted to say. “The less chance you have of getting hurt.”

He shrugs his shoulders. “Do you need anything else from me?”

I want to finish this conversation, but I can tell he’s shutting down on me. “No, I already have your logo and colors. I’ll get started on the website, but I’ll let you know if I have any questions.”

He stands up and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “You going to work here? ”

I look around the space he cleared out for me. “Yeah, I would like to, if you’re sure I won’t be in the way.”

He smiles, and his whole body seems to relax. “No, honey, you’re never in the way.”

He walks out of the office into the bay of the garage, and I watch him go. I let out the breath I’m holding and force myself to get to work. I could sit here and watch Dom work, but that’s not good for me… or my heart.