Gwen took a few sips of her rapidly cooling coffee while she pondered Mia’s reassurances. Finally, she admitted, “I’m afraid to believe that something this good could be happening to me. I haven’t exactly had much success with my past relationships. Usually, I end up doing everything I can short of proposing to make it work and it just always seems to go into a downward spiral that I’m helpless to stop.”
“We’ve all had relationships like that,” Mia grimaced. “You just have to realize something that takes that much energy to hold on to wasn’t meant to be in the first place. You know I went through some tough things when Seth and I started out, but from the beginning, he was always different. I felt it, and I’m betting you do here as well. I’m not suggesting you go and profess your love today . . . but stop acting as if someone is holding a stopwatch over your head and just enjoy getting to know Dominic. I have seen nothing from him to indicate that he’ll be packing his bags if two pink lines don’t appear on that white stick in a few weeks. Heck, you’ll probably both have a drink and a big laugh over the scare before having some amazing sex to celebrate.”
Gwen felt her heart lighten for the first time in days. Could Mia be right? Who said that a relationship had to begin in the typical first date dinner and a movie manner? She had to believe that fate had led her to this point in her life, and it was up to her to embrace the opportunity. She needed to put all the fears from her mind and just focus on how much she loved being with him. They had jumped the gun a bit on that part with the whole sex even before the first date, but she couldn’t pretend to regret that. She might love his company out of bed, but dear Lord, the man could do things with his body that she had only dreamed about.
She had no idea what the future held, but he was hers right now and maybe that was all that mattered. Looking ahead and trying to avoid a relationship disaster had never helped her before, so trying to live for the day might be worth a shot.
Chapter Seven
Dominic walked through the door of East Coast Security on Monday after a lazy weekend spent largely with Gwen. He had left early that morning to get a start on looking through the security feeds from the weekend. He planned to take a break in an hour and pick up a coffee for her. He looked forward to that stolen moment in her office each morning. If he was being truthful, he had more than a couple of fantasies involving bending her over the desk and burying himself deep inside of her while he palmed that amazing ass.
His head was still in the clouds—or on Gwen’s ass—when the sight of Mac sitting in a chair in front of the row of monitors brought him up short. “Please tell me that Ava hasn’t already kicked you out,” he asked warily.
Mac looked up, giving him a lazy grin. The bastard looked entirely too content for this early in the morning. Mac turned his chair to face him, crossing his ankles, and reclining backward. “Nah, I’m still in her good graces. I decided to go ahead and come in when she said something along the lines of ‘have mercy.’”
Dominic chuckled¸ knowing full well what the woman must have meant with that comment. After waiting for years for the woman he loved to finally return his feelings, Mac probably hadn’t let her out of bed much in the last week. He was damn glad it had finally worked out for his friend. Now, though, he needed to tell Mac about the new development in his relationship with Gwen. The other man had given him his blessing on pursuing her, but he might not have expected it to happen so soon. Heck, he hadn’t expected it himself, but he sure wasn’t complaining. “We could have swung another week here without you, man. I hate that you had to come back from your honeymoon so soon.”
Mac took a sip from the cup sitting at his elbow while Dominic settled into a seat beside him. “Ava had some meetings scheduled this week that she hated to cancel without more warning. Everyone really helped her out by taking over for her on short notice last week. We figured we’d take some time off in a few months when things are a little less hectic.” Looking blissfully happy, he added, “It’s all gravy anyway because I have my woman in my home and in my bed for good this time. I could give a shit if we never take a vacation because every day with her is paradise to me.”
“Go ahead and leave your man card on the desk because that is the most pussified statement I’ve ever heard from a dude before.” Both Dominic and Mac jerked around in surprise to see Gage smirking in the doorway. “If you getting married means we have to take up knitting and just generally turn into chicks, then I’m gonna need to do something drastic at night to get the testosterone flowing again.”
Dominic had to turn away until he had his laughter under control. Gage was loud and irreverent, but damn, he was funny, for the most part. He had always provided the comic relief in their group, even in the hellholes of Afghanistan. He’d seen very few things through the years that could bring Gage down for long. He was a glass-half-full kind of guy.