Watch Over Me (Danvers #7)(61)
Looking at his watch, Dominic asked, “How last-minute are we talking?”
Mac popped the last of the doughnut in his mouth. “We need to be there at nine.”
“But that’s only thirty minutes from now,” Gage scowled as he snagged a doughnut.
Dusting the crumbs from his shirt, Mac said, “Yeah, Seth said he’d understand if we couldn’t make it. Apparently, there was some mechanical issue with their company plane, and the brothers ended up landing here instead of Charleston. Since we’ve been trying to get a meeting with them, Seth thought it might be a good opportunity.”
“We can make it.” Dominic nodded as he got to his feet. “I’m going to run a cup of coffee up to Gwen and see if she’s here yet with my phone. How about picking me up out front in fifteen?” Dominic heard Gage making the sounds of a whip cracking as he walked toward the door. Just as he was opening it, he heard him shout; then a loud thud sounded. Fucking Gage. When would he learn to keep his chair firmly on the floor? No doubt, Mac had flipped him backward.
Dominic was still grinning when he walked out of the cafeteria and almost plowed into Gwen as she was walking through the lobby with Crystal. “Whoa . . . morning, babe. Sorry. You were almost wearing your coffee.”
When he leaned down to give her a kiss, she phone-blocked him. Or rather, she somehow stuck his cell phone in his face, before his lips could connect with hers. “Good morning,” she replied in a voice that sounded unusually shrill. “Here’s your phone,” she added unnecessarily since he already had it in his pocket. She was nervously chewing on her bottom lip, glancing between him and a curious Crystal. “Um—I . . . Do you have a minute?” she finally asked.
He was just opening his mouth to answer, when he saw Mac’s Tahoe pull up in front of the door. “Sorry, babe. I’ve got to run,” he said, pointing to where Gage was now on the sidewalk, flagging him. “We’ve got a meeting across town. If I don’t see you today, though, I’ll stop by when I get in this evening.” Not wanting to risk getting stiff-armed on the kiss again, he rubbed her shoulder briefly before hurrying toward the door.
Gage was still standing on the sidewalk, so Dominic stepped around him and slid into the front passenger seat before motioning the other man to the back. As they pulled away, Gage leaned between the seats, saying, “I thought we talked about the space issue. It looks like you practically pounced on the woman as soon as she walked in the door. I mean, I know you blew it last night with your whole stalking routine, but it’s not too late to reclaim a piece of your manhood.”
“No doubt,” Mac began idly, “I’m gonna hate myself for asking, but what in the hell are you two talking about?”
Before he could answer, Gage jumped in. “I’ve been helping him out with Gwen. She was all freaked out because our boy here was stuck to her like a second skin. She was beginning to push him away, and I told him to step back and give her some space. Like, be the man and ignore her. I mean that’s second nature to most of us born with a penis. Well, actually, I’m questioning even that on Dom because he lost all of his manliness by crying over a girlie movie that he insisted on watching with Gwen last week. The poor girl took off without telling him a few days later. Hell, she probably drove to the nearest truck stop just to feel the testosterone again. Then she comes home last night and he’s standing outside her apartment door, trying to look through the peephole. He’d already banged on her neighbor’s door to find out where she was.”
Dominic frowned as Mac looked at him with a mixture of pity and surprise. “Bro, is that true? I mean, I can overlook the stalking thing because I’ve probably been guilty of that with Ava, but what’s this about crying during a movie? Don’t you know if you feel that coming on, you get up and go to the bathroom? That’s usually the one place women won’t follow you.”
“I didn’t cry!” Dominic snapped. “I just pointed out that Jane Fonda was trying to kill her soon-to-be daughter-in-law and that the girl should jump ship before she had to put up with that for life.”
Wrinkling his nose in confusion, Mac asked, “Are you talking about Ted Turner’s ex? What’s the movie got to do with her?”
“Thank you!” Gage crowed.
“Fuck you both.” Dominic glared at his friends. “I might have embarrassed myself slightly by making a few comments during the movie, but I wasn’t even remotely close to crying like asshat here is trying to insinuate.”
Mac chuckled for a minute before saying, “All right, I’m gonna let that part go for now. But I have to ask you, man, why in the world would you be taking relationship advice from speedy dick back there? His idea of a long-term commitment is buying the woman dinner first.”
“Hey!” Gage protested. “I’ve had girlfriends before. I mean, come on, I’ve dated way more than either of you have so don’t you think I probably know more about women?”
“Relationships?” Mac laughed. “Have you ever gone out with a woman without sleeping with her? And if that miracle actually happened, did you ever attempt to see her again or did you go ahead and delete her from your phone?”
Dominic turned in his seat to find Gage once again looking around nervously as he had in the office earlier. “Of course, I have,” Gage snorted. “I’m just not sitting around crying over my feelings all of the time like you two.”