The Doctor Who Has No Closure - Victoria Quinn Page 0,82
now he was passionate about his craft to the exclusion of all else. “Well, that’s everything.” I rose from the chair. “I’ve got to head back to the medical office to do some billing. Let me know if you need anything, and I’ll run back over here.”
He nodded as he chewed his mouthful.
I turned for the door.
“Baby?”
He never called me that during business hours, so I immediately turned back around and looked at him, loving the way that nickname fit me like a warm blanket.
“Free tonight?”
“If I weren’t, I would make myself free.”
I offered to cook him dinner because I didn’t want to go out when I’d rather have some privacy. As much as I loved talking to Dex across the table while we enjoyed our date, I already knew everything about him, and he knew everything about me.
I just wanted to be with him.
That was a part of our relationship I hadn’t gotten to truly enjoy, our bodies wrapped around each other in bed, our faces close together on the pillow, his naked and hard body at my fingertips. I wanted the intimacy, to feel his heartbeat against my palm, to kiss him whenever I felt like it, to appreciate him as my man.
Yes, I wanted to make love, wanted to feel him inside the moment he kissed me, was ready to jump through all the stages of a relationship and get to the finish line because I already knew how I felt about him.
I wasn’t going to wait out of principle, to make myself look like a good girl, when Dex had turned me into a bad girl a long time ago.
But if he wanted to wait, I would wait.
I would wait forever.
I decided to make something easy, pasta, garlic bread, and a salad. Dex wasn’t a picky eater and chose to work off his diet on the treadmill instead of restricting his food, so it was easy to throw something together.
The food was almost finished when a knock sounded on the door.
“Come in.” I put on my oven mitts and pulled the pan out of the oven that held the garlic bread. Then I turned the sauce down on low so it wouldn’t splatter everywhere. I untied my apron and tossed it on the counter before I turned to the living room. “Hey—” I stilled when I looked at Dom, not Dex.
I just assumed it was Dex because it was seven o’clock on the dot.
Shit.
Dom stood with his hands in the pockets of his jeans and glanced at the wine bottle and two glasses on the dining table. The apartment was small, and it smelled like an Italian café, so he probably deduced that I was cooking. “Expecting company?”
“Yes, actually.” I’d told him I was seeing someone, so I wasn’t going to lie about it. “Dom, I’m sorry if I hurt you. That was not my intention, but it just didn’t work out, okay?” We went out two or three times, and while we clicked, it didn’t matter after Dex told me how he felt. All those feelings just disappeared, and I couldn’t even recall having them in the first place.
“Were you seeing him when you were seeing me?” He was a really good-looking guy, totally ripped, and was pretty easygoing, so I didn’t understand why he was so upset about this. He could replace me in a heartbeat.
We were never exclusive, so I didn’t know why the question even mattered, but I told him the truth. “No. Dom, you’re a really gorgeous dude. You could find a better woman than me right now if you just go out to a bar and meet someone.”
“I told you I’ve done that whole bachelor thing, and I’m tired of it. I want something real.”
“Dom, that’s so sweet, but like I said, there’s somebody else.”
“If you weren’t seeing him while you were seeing me, then did you just meet the guy?”
I was trying to be patient because I knew how it felt to be heartbroken, but I really didn’t have the time for this. “Dom, this is really not the best time. Can we talk about this later?”
“I’ve already tried talking to you, and you keep blowing me off.”
Now, I lost my temper. “Because we’re over, Dom. I don’t know why we need to sit down and have an hour-long conversation about it. I like somebody else, I want to be with him, and that terminates our relationship. That’s it. Period. We went out a couple times, Dom.”