Watch Over Me (Danvers #7)(27)
“Yeah, it’s still not looking too good with Crystal, either. So, the pay-to-play route is pretty much all he’s got right now,” Dominic added helpfully.
“Who’s Crystal?” Mac asked as he kicked a chair out for Gage to sit in.
Before Gage could answer, Dominic said, “That’s the girl with the tramp stamp from the parking garage who kneed him in the family jewels. I will add, though, that I’ve since discovered that she’s Ella’s sister and is not a tramp.”
Gage propped his feet up on the desk in front of him, letting the chair rear back on two legs. “And tell us, Dom, how did you find out that information? Are you friends with Crystal—or maybe you have friends in common with her?”
Dominic gritted his teeth, knowing he had asked for the sarcastic innuendo from Gage. He should have kept his mouth shut and minded his own business. Problem was, all of them were so close that they stayed entirely too involved in one another’s lives. A fact that he usually liked. Mac was looking back and forth between them, clearly trying to figure out what he was missing. He refused to sit here and squirm while Gage continued to throw out hints. “Crystal is friends with Gwen, okay?”
“Um . . . Okay,” Mac drawled out. “So, you’ve been talking to Gwen then? Have you guys been on a date yet?”
Dominic studied his friend carefully but saw only curiosity in his gaze. He knew Mac was crazy about Ava and had dated Gwen for only a short while, but it still made things rather awkward. He was absurdly grateful that they’d never slept together because that would have been hard to get past. From what both Gwen and Mac had said, their relationship had barely progressed past kissing. Even that made him feel crazy jealous if he dwelled on it. He might not own Gwen’s mouth, but he felt pretty possessive of it.
Before he could answer Mac’s question, Gage jumped in. “Oh, I think you could say that those pesky first date nerves are all behind them now. In fact, I believe they are quite . . . blissful together . . . Almost orgasmic. Wouldn’t you say, Dom?”
Dominic popped up his middle finger, giving the other man the universal go-to-hell symbol before turning back to Mac’s questioning stare. “Boy, that was fast,” he said, unable to mistake Gage’s meaning. “I was only away for a week, so when did this new development occur?”
He saw Gage open his mouth to speak so Dominic hurried to answer first. “The evening I returned from Vegas.” He winced knowing how that sounded. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to be the one to answer. Hell, Gage probably couldn’t have made it sound much worse.
Mac’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Really? How did that happen? I thought you were waiting until the opportunity presented itself?”
“Oh, it presented itself all right,” Gage chimed in, looking vastly amused.
Dominic glared at Gage. “Just a little advance notice, I’m going to kick your ass when we’re done here. And at least I have a new development in my love life. Last I heard, you were no closer to getting a date with Crystal.” Turning back to Mac, he added, “Gwen . . . approached me. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail here because frankly that would be strange, but we’re sort of together now.”
“Don’t forget the kid part,” Gage tacked on. At any other time, Dominic knew that Gage would be scanning through the security feeds without paying the conversation around him much attention. He seemed to tune into his surroundings only when he could spill the beans on either Dominic or Mac. Lately it seemed to be Dominic’s life that provided all of the office entertainment. He hoped like hell at some point in the future the other man had a serious relationship because Dominic planned to rain hell down upon him.
Mac’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head at this new piece of information. “Kid? Man, I’ve only been gone a week,” he reiterated. “Even you, Dom, couldn’t have had a kid that fast.”
Dominic grimaced as he shook his head. “No, I haven’t and I’m dearly regretting unloading on the mouth-of-the-South over there in a moment of weakness. I swear you two had better never mention that you know any of this to Gwen.”
“No danger of that,” Gage huffed. “I only got the highlight reel. You wouldn’t answer any of my important questions.”
“No one answers the questions you ask, brother, because they always involve some part of our woman’s body or if she’s a screamer,” Mac added dryly.
“We had a condom mishap,” Dominic finally answered Mac’s original question. “I don’t think we need to be worried about a pregnancy, but I can’t be certain. If it does, then I’m one hundred percent in.”
“And if she isn’t pregnant? Then what?” Mac asked as he studied him.
“It doesn’t make a difference to me,” Dominic answered honestly. “I don’t think it would be the best way to start a family, and I’d like to wait and let things take a more traditional route, but either way, I want Gwen in my life. I told you after you broke up with her how I felt, and now that we’re seeing each other, my feelings have only grown stronger. It’s crazy, I know, but she’s it for me, man. I knew it in my gut from the first moment I saw her. I screwed around dealing with a case of denial, but that’s over now.”
“I’m happy for you, bro,” Gage said sincerely, surprising both Dominic and Mac. “I think we’ve all grown tired of finding a stranger in our bed the next morning.”