“What’s wrong?”
Oh no. Did I let my face show my feelings? Grandma Shirley taught me to be careful because I have expressive features. I needed to hide everything except the ones I wanted people to see.
I school myself until I know I’m projecting happy and content. “I was thinking the pancakes would taste better with dark chocolate syrup.”
“Come on, Liza. I deserve better than a fake mask and pat answer.”
Great. It’s too late to hide my feelings. “It’s silly.”
“It isn’t silly if it puts that kind of look on your face.”
“I was thinking I was sore,” I say feebly.
Arching an eyebrow, he gives me a stubborn look. “Elizabeth.”
“I thought you were so good because you had lots of practice over the last ten years,” I say as fast as I can, hoping he doesn’t catch most of it. If he asks me to repeat, I’m going to tell him no, you only get one chance.
Dominic stares at me like I just sprouted a Venus flytrap from my forehead. “Liza… Why do you think that?”
I sigh. He heard every tumbling word out of my mouth. “I saw the articles. It’s impossible not to when I was looking you up time to time.” I’m not telling him I have a Google alert set up. That would be too humiliating.
“I was never as indiscriminate as the tabloids made me out to be,” he says. “I was working such crazy hours and so hard, most days, I just wanted to collapse and get what few hours of sleep I could get. And when I had a woman…” He breathes out roughly. “I’m not going to lie and say I never slept with anyone. But the truth is, I never liked it much. It always made me feel vaguely gross and caused me to rush to the shower. You see me running to the shower every time we have sex?”
I shake my head.
“I want to cover myself with your juices. Shit, I’d do that now if you didn’t have to eat something.”
My cheeks burn, excitement sizzling in my veins. “I don’t have to eat.”
“Oh yes, you do. You lost so much weight.”
“Makes me look fashionable.”
“Bullshit. If you were becoming thinner because that’s what you wanted and it made you healthier and happier, I’d have no problem. But that’s not what’s happening here. As a matter of fact, I’d say it’s stress causing you to lose your appetite.”
I’m surprised at his insight. Most men wouldn’t comment or care. Or just assume I’m trying to become fashionably thin. So I take a big bite this time.
“Besides,” he says, “I’m insecure about your men, too.”
I shoot him a quick glance. His tone is bland, but there’s a crackling darkness in his eyes that shows something different. He probably wouldn’t have said anything, but I recognize it’s a way for us to talk this uncomfortable topic over and bury it.
“First, there were no ‘men.’ There were boys. And second, they weren’t ones I chose, and I only dated them because Mom insisted. None of them meant much to me. Actually, they were all awkward. Imagine a blind date, except your mom did the matching and there’s nothing blind about the date because you know exactly who the other party is, including the parents’ net worth.”
Dominic runs a hand down his face. “Your mom forced you because of me.”
“It had nothing to do with you. It was my choice to give in to her demands.”
“To protect me.”
I squeeze his hand. “Again, my choice. You would’ve done the same.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “We could’ve avoided all that if I’d listened to you back then.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. I was devastated then, but I know it was only right you didn’t let yourself get dragged into my ridiculous solution.”
“Nothing about you is ridiculous.”
“But it was. When I found out what my grandmother was planning to do to you, I ran to Dad. He was the only one who could help me, I thought. He hated Grandma Shirley and would relish an opportunity to mess with her. He offered to fly both of us—and Kristen—to Tuscany, where Grandpa was. Except then we would’ve been runaways. Shirley was incredibly well connected. She would’ve considered it a declaration of war, and made our lives hell. She would have even targeted Kristen, just to show us how much influence she could wield. It wouldn’t have been worth it. And every time we had to ask my dad for help, there would’ve been a price.”