Chasing Heartbreak (Dark Love #6) - Kat T. Masen Page 0,3
chest, I turned to find Dominic standing beside me, carrying his own bottle of liquor. I’d considered myself a reasonably tall woman if compared to Charlie or Adriana, but Dominic towered over me, much like Lex.
“Why, thank you.” I smiled politely and ignored Eric’s words and noticed the label on the bottle—Dom Perignon.
“Dominic Kennedy.”
“Kate Hamilton,” I followed and extended my hand to shake his. “Yes, your brother has um…”
“Warned you to stay away?” He snickered with a disturbing laugh. “Referred to me as weird geek with no personality? Actually, to be precise, a brick wall would be more fitting.”
“Eric wouldn’t say that,” I lied.
“You’re not the best of liars.”
“I’m not lying.” I almost busted out laughing at this incredibly gorgeous stranger and hid my smile behind my glass. “Perhaps an extension of the truth is more on point. Besides, Eric is complicated.”
Isn’t that the goddamn truth?
“He dragged you to this?”
“He didn’t have to twist my arm or anything. It’s not like I was busy.” I cover my mouth again as a slight cough escapes me. Telling Dominic I wasn’t busy is the same as telling him I’m single, wide open for anything, literally. “It’s all work and no play these days.”
Dominic pursed his lips with a slight nod. He motioned to me to follow him to a secluded part of the garden with beautiful trees surrounding us and an old oak chair.
“Sit, please.” He gestured.
I took a seat, pushing the bottom of my dress aside to avoid it getting caught in my heels. As I sat beside him, the smell of his cologne was intoxicating—masculine with a hint of dominance—or maybe it was forever since I smelled a man so good, and even longer since I last slept with anyone. My mind did a mental calculation, but the numbers went too far back that I can’t even compute. No wonder Eric and Charlie were always trying to set me up on dates. My personal life was beyond tragic.
Silence crept up between us, and only the rustle of the trees could be heard. The only thing we had in common to discuss was Eric.
“So, I can only imagine growing up with Eric would’ve been fun.”
“Not really.”
“He’s complicated.” I carried on to keep the conversation flowing. “But I have to hand it to him, he knows how to have fun.”
Dominic forced a smile, not looking impressed with the conversation swaying toward his brother. Okay, this was getting worse. I need to try a different angle.
“What do you do for a living?”
“A bit of this and that,” he responded flatly.
“Right…” I’m tapped out. It was like pulling teeth out. How could a man so incredibly sexy be so dull? A moment ago, we had light-hearted banter, and now it’s crickets. Eric may not have been so wrong in his brick-wall analogy.
I raised my glass toward my lips and downed the champagne in one go. I thought of a reason to excuse myself, and the best I could come up with was to use the bathroom, which wasn’t far from the truth.
“Listen, Dominic, I, uh…”
“You’re beautiful,” he confessed as he poured more champagne into my glass, which caught me by surprise. “I’ve heard Eric speak about you to my mother. You’re the CEO of the Lexed office in Manhattan.”
“And London,” I mumbled in an uncertain tone. “And, um, thanks for the compliment?”
Dominic laughed, the lines around his eyes creased slightly. “Too left field?”
“Left field, or maybe just wasn’t expecting it. It’s been a while, hearing a compliment like that. So, thank you.”
“You’re telling me you don’t hear such compliments daily?”
“Well, not really. I spend most of my days in the office or with clients. It would be highly inappropriate to be complimented in such a way and would have a serious breach of workplace protocol. Like I said earlier, all work and no play.”
“All work, no play,” he repeated in a low voice. “Interesting.”
“How so?” I asked, curious about his sudden interest in my personal life. “Let’s be honest, Dominic, we’re both adults. Working long hours then crawling back to my apartment at some godawful hour means I have no personal life. I’m not a dating person, although Eric will argue that in a heartbeat. And so, with that said, work has become my life. I don’t have time for relationships unless a man understood my lifestyle, and so far, that’s come up empty.”
I’d laid all the cards on the table, unsure why I’d gone this far. I blamed the champagne plus my empty