Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“I can’t fold on my vision for The Squawker just because sales slump in the short term. Change takes time.”
I considered pushing more, but I sensed Dominic was only a few words away from putting those big walls of his up again. I decided to save that argument for another day. After all, if we were going to pursue anything between us, I needed to learn to separate personal time and work. “So what power does your dad have over the company?”
“As much as he wants, unfortunately. Strictly speaking, I’m basically a hired CEO working to manage a business he purchased.”
“So he could fire you?”
“He wouldn’t do something quite so obviously bad for the family image. He’d be more likely to quietly move me to another project and take over managing The Squawker himself.”
“So your dad could be my boss?” I asked. My throat was suddenly dry at the thought. I’d forgiven Dominic for whatever role I thought he had in my expulsion from Columbia. His dad, though? He was still the devil incarnate, and I didn’t want to work for him. I wouldn’t work for him. It was either assasination or quit, and I wasn’t much of a quitter. I wasn’t exactly assassin material, either.
“Only if I fuck up. Like giving him reason to think I’m not taking this job seriously because I’m fucking an employee.”
My cheeks went red. “Well,” I said. “Thankfully we haven’t slept together then. Right?”
He got up and started to pace the room. He looked so impossibly good–like he was built to chop logs or hunt wild animals with his bare hands. “There’s no use in pretending, Darcy. I’ve been treating you differently because of what you are to me.”
My stomach did a little swirl at his words. “What am I to you? You told Marcus what we did was nothing. You called it a mistake.”
He paused his pacing, running both hands through his hair. “Because I wanted to believe that. But it’s bullshit.”
I swallowed. “So you didn’t mean what you said?”
“I wish I did. But no. I can’t stop thinking about you. I have every reason in the fucking world to put you out of my mind and keep moving forward, but I can’t. Every time I try to focus on what I thought was important to me, you are right there in my mind.”
I didn’t answer right away. Dominic looked like he wasn’t even expecting a response. He turned his back and started making himself some kind of drink from a bar against the wall.
“What if I feel the same way?” I asked. “I’m not saying I do, either. I honestly don’t know how I feel. All I know is I thought I wanted to prove I have what it takes to be an amazing writer and make a difference. I thought nothing mattered more, but I keep making decisions like I don’t believe that–like maybe exploring whatever is between us might matter just as much, if not more.”
He turned, leaving his drink behind. “We can’t explore anything, Darcy. He’ll find out. My father is a lot of things, but he’s not stupid.”
“Neither are we. All we have to do is avoid each other at work, right? We’ve already proven we can do that. I mean, yeah, Elizabeth and Farhad were kind of prying for information about us yesterday. But that’s because they saw us at the party together, not because of something at work. Besides, I think us having feelings and pretending we don’t will be just as suspicious as if we were actually acting on our feelings. Maybe more so, because we both have all this pent up… yeah. I’m just saying we could do this. If you wanted to,” I added in a more quiet voice.
Dominic was breathing hard and staring at me. I couldn’t read his expression. But then I didn’t have to, because he was closing the distance between us in a few long strides. He climbed on top of me, careful not to bump my ankle as he planted his hands on either side of me. “In a few seconds, it’ll be too late to change our minds on this. Are you sure?”
My heart was pounding at a million miles per minute. My stomach felt like it was auditioning for the circus and I could barely think straight. Still, I nodded quickly. “I’m sure.”
Then he kissed me, and all my doubts and fears were blasted away in that warm contact. Kissing him felt familiar. It felt like I’d been kissing him my whole life, and his touch on me was comfortable and reassuring.
He moved his body as our lips met, lifting my legs and spreading them with his weight until I could feel him pressing against me, his hard length digging between my legs through our athletic shorts.