Page 55 of Miss Treated

Professionally, it made sense to wait until the audit was over before allowing the relationship to become romantic. But truth be told, waiting for the audit was an excuse to avoid exposing vulnerability. I was projecting my distrust onto him unfairly, but I couldn’t help wondering what the catch was. When would the other shoe drop, and I’d see the darker side of Dominic, just as I had with Joel?

There I went again, comparing. But I’d only been in one relationship and had never so much as kissed another boy. Maybe I truly was a pessimist. But I didn’t want to be. I wanted to believe in love.

Perhaps it was time for me to let go of my insecurities at dinner tonight and make a real effort to trust Dominic. He’d called himself a one-woman kind of guy and claimed he was willing to wait. Perhaps it was time for me to believe it.

In my office at Chambers Tech, I pushed back from my desk and glanced at my phone. Four o’clock. I’d go downstairs, grab a coffee, and then get a couple more hours of work done before I returned to my hotel to get ready for my dinner with Dominic tonight. Thus far the tedious matching exercise between vendors and payments hadn’t revealed anything amiss, but I needed to look closer at the refund checks. I would do so over the weekend.

While standing in line at the Starbucks trying to decide between my usual latte or an iced coffee, the sound of a familiar chuckle caught my ear. I’d have known it anywhere. I turned to see Dominic seated in the far corner facing away from me. Across the small table from him was a beautiful blonde. She seemed familiar. Ah, yes, she was the same blonde he’d been with the night of the charity ball. Had to be.

No big deal, Kelsey. He was having coffee with an attractive woman who he’d been out with on a date. One who was reaching across the table and touching his hand. One who was now standing and embracing him and kissing him on the cheek.

Still, I didn’t react. They could be mere friends. I could be overreacting out of jealousy. Until she turned to leave and said over her shoulder, “I expect lasagna the next time I come over for dinner, Nic.”

He laughed. “You’ve got it.”

My entire body went rigid. Sure, he’d never cooked for another woman besides his family. Sure, he was a one-woman man.

This. This was exactly what I’d been afraid of. How naive of me to have thought I was in any way special to him. Cooking dinners and telling each girl she was the only one was probably his signature move, something he did for every woman he’d ever met. I turned on my heel and bolted out of the coffee shop, intent on getting upstairs and to my office.

But once there, I couldn’t stay at the office. Dammit, I swiped a tear from my eye. I was getting emotional over someone I’d only met a few weeks ago. We weren’t in a relationship, and I had no claim on him. He could do what he wanted.

But he’d made me feel special. And he’d made me believe he truly would wait for me.

Yeah, right. Dominic was the sort of guy who lit up a room. Any room, not just mine. After grabbing my laptop and notepad, I walked out and ran smack into the one person I didn’t want to see.

“Hi there. You heading out for the day?” His sexy smile was firmly in place. But then again, so was the lipstick on his cheek.

“Yeah. I’m driving up to LA.”

He frowned. “I thought we had plans tonight?”

“Sorry, I’ll have to cancel.”

“Wait. You didn’t mention this earlier. Can you explain?”

I tried to lock my door, but my hands were shaking so badly, I couldn’t. “Seems to me you could call up any number of women to go out with instead.”

He opened my door and crowded me inside.

“What is this about?”

I hated the wobble in my voice. “I saw you downstairs at the coffee shop.”

“With Ava?”

Hearing her name did nothing for my mental state. “If you want to see other women, then it’s your right to do so. But do us both a favorite and quit pretending you’re a ‘one-woman guy.’”

He shut the door behind him. “I’m not seeing anyone else. Haven’t since before I met you.”

Lies. I hated how much they hurt me. Because I’d started to trust him. Because I’d pinned my hopes on him to renew my faith that not all men were manipulative assholes. “I saw you the night of the charity ball with the same woman. With her arm around you while you were talking with Shauna.”

His sucked in a breath. “Is that why you said no to a date?”

He couldn’t even acknowledge my right to be pissed? He had to go and dig up the past? “What does it matter? I’ve gotta go.”

“Before you do, I’d like you to hear me out.”

I hated the way my heart hoped for a reasonable explanation. This was how I’d behaved during my entire last relationship. Hopeful that I was overreacting rather than seeing things for what they were. “Fine. You have two minutes.”