“It’s not that bad,” Daphne stated.
Lola gave her a droll look. “Between Soph and Dominic, Gray’s cane-wielding nana, my mother, and the best man trying to bone every woman in the room under the age of forty, tonight is bound to be a bigger bloodbath than The Red Wedding.”
I glanced over at Grayson’s best friend, Caleb McMannus. The man was the walking, talking definition of the term playboy. His scandalous affairs had been splashed across every rag mag in the country, but since his family was one of the most powerful old money families in the country, he got away with his hard partying and philandering. After a good month of trying and failing to get Daphne into his bed, he’d finally taken the hint and moved on. And it looked like the night’s unsuspecting victim was a perky blonde member of the waitstaff.
We watched as the waitress he’d been whispering to reared back and slapped him right across the face.
“Ooh!” All three of us winced on his behalf as the girl stormed off.
I couldn’t help but giggle. “That looked like it hurt.”
“Serves him right,” Daphne said with a hint of bitterness in her voice. “It’s about time someone shot him down.”
I was just about to question the change in my friend’s demeanor when a deep, velvety voice spoke up from behind us. “Evening, ladies.”
Damn him and his stupid sexy voice!
I turned slowly, unsure if the sudden trembling in my knees was from all the champagne or the sight of Dom in a suit. The man was sex on legs in just about anything, but in a suit his good looks were damn near lethal. Seeing him like that had always been a weakness of mine. If I were being honest, everything about the man had always been a weakness of mine.
“Dominic,” Lola greeted.
My eyes darted from the stunning man in front of me to my best friend. Her tone was laced with trepidation, and I could easily see the wariness on her face as she looked between the two of us. We were standing in the middle of the room during her engagement party. She shouldn’t have been feeling anything other than unbridled excitement, but my tumultuous past with her brother had put a damper on the evening.
That wasn’t fair to her.
So I made a silent promise to myself and to Lola right then and there. I wouldn’t let my animosity for Dominic Abbatelli cast a shadow on Lola’s wedding. I was going to do what needed to be done in order to make sure my friend didn’t feel a single ounce of the hostility that simmered between her brother and me.
Even if it killed me.
Chapter Three
Sophia
“Hello, Dominic,” I said in what I hoped was a confident tone. It helped that there was an entire tray of champagne sitting right next to me. I plucked another glass and sipped, letting the liquid courage course through my veins.
“Butterfly,” he replied, the endearment causing my skin to prickle, in both a deliciously good way and a seriously bad one. “You look beautiful.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Lola’s and Daphne’s heads jerking side to side like they were watching a tennis match. “Thanks.” I tried to keep the flatness out of my voice. Thank God for alcohol. “You look nice too.”
Understatement. Of. The. Century. He looked so good I wanted to lick him like a lollipop.
“What’s happening?” Daphne whispered in panicked, not-at-all-quiet voice to Lola. Luckily, I was saved from having to validate that question when someone announcing that dinner was about to be served cut through the room.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I moved to the table set up for the bride, groom, and their wedding party, but that relief was short-lived when the chair beside mine was pulled out and Dominic’s deep baritone asked, “Is this seat taken?” He didn’t wait for my response before sitting down and making himself comfortable.
“Guess it wouldn’t matter if it was,” I mumbled into my glass before taking another sip of the bubbly golden liquid.
The clatter of dishes being set down reverberated through the room. I averted my eyes, scanning the other faces at our table in an attempt not to put too much attention on my unwelcome dinner companion.
Lola and Grayson seemed to only have eyes for each other, completely ignoring the first course placed in front of them. Daphne looked to be in the same boat I was, doing her best to ignore the handsome Caleb McMannus who had turned his sights on her after being shot down by the waitress. Grayson’s brother Deacon was simply staring into his whisky like the contents of the glass held the meaning to life.
What a group we were.
With the exception of the loving couple, the rest of us seemed to be the most miserable in the entire room.
I’d been so focused on avoiding Dominic that his whispered words of “I need to talk to you” gave me a start. I hadn’t realized he’d moved in so close until his breath fanned across my skin, making me shiver.
I didn’t want the subtle smell of spearmint or the spicy musk from his cologne to affect me, but I just couldn’t help myself. Despite how much I hated him, everything about Dominic called to the woman inside me. No matter my feelings, that carnal sense of lust never faded away.
I turned to face him. Mistake number one. Those deep amber eyes of his threatened to pull me in, so I quickly looked away. “There’s nothing to talk about,” I clipped in a hushed voice so as not to draw attention. I chugged the last of my drink and waved at a nearby waiter for another. Mistake number two, seeing as I was already starting to feel loopy. I didn’t give a shit. I needed all the booze.
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
My head jerked back in his direction, and I skewered him with my best killing look. “Ya think?” I hissed.
He continued on in a quiet tone, unaffected by the fire shooting from my eyes. “We never talked about it, butterfly. Not once in ten fucking years.”
The rest of the table seemed oblivious to our whispered argument. “I’m sorry,” I started sarcastically. “How rude of me to not want to discuss the fact that you cheated on me!” I whisper-yelled.
His face turned hard as a storm built in his gaze. “There was more to it than that, and you know it.”
I had to squeeze my eyes closed against the pain. I picked up my glass and drank hoping to expel the memories of that night. Unfortunately it didn’t work, and that horrible fight began playing on a loop in my brain.
Tossing my backpack on the floor just inside the front door of the apartment I shared with Lola and Daphne, I reached into the back pocket of my jeans and pulled out my cell that had been vibrating angrily for the past hour.
There were an ungodly number of missed calls and texts, all from Dominic. Exhaustion seeped into my bones as I answered, moving into my tiny living room and collapsing onto the couch.
“Jesus, butterfly. I was just about to send out the search party. I was getting worried.”
Just the sound of his voice helped soothe me after the shit day I’d had. “Hey, baby. Sorry I didn’t answer earlier. I got stuck working another double.” The diner on campus where I waited tables barely paid minimum wage, but the tips were enough to make up for that. It was just that, between work and studying for finals, I was barely getting any sleep at night. And if I wasn’t doing either of those things, I was with my two best friends, hosting a radio show for our campus station. Too bad that didn’t pay any money.
“Another one?” he asked incredulously. That was his go-to tone whenever it came to discussing my job. “Baby, you do too much. You’re going to burn yourself out. If you’d just let me—”
“Dominic,” I said sharply. “Don’t.” I knew he was gearing up for a conversation we’d had on countless occasions. And it always turned into a fight.
“Will you stop being so goddamned stubborn for two seconds, Soph? I can help you. Why the hell won’t you let me?”
Usually I would’ve had a better hold on my temper, but with nothing but coffee fueling me, and having slept less than four hours the night before, I lost the tenuous hold on my calm and snapped. “Because!” I shou
ted through the line. “I’m not going to let you pay my way through school just so you can feel like more of a man. My father didn’t raise me to be some kept woman who depends on the guy she’s dating to take care of her. I can take care of myself. I don’t need you or your trust fund to get me through.”
I knew I was being rude for no reason, but I was tired, frustrated, and I hadn’t seen the man I loved in too long. It was a deadly combination. I’d always had a short fuse, a character flaw that came from being raised by a stubborn alpha male, and unfortunately it chose that very moment to combust.
He never understood where I was coming from when it came to the topic of money. He’d grown up in a family that had more money than they knew what to do with. And while he worked his ass off at his father’s investment firm, he didn’t understand struggling, or living paycheck to paycheck like I did. My father was a proud man who refused to take handouts, and he’d raised me to be the same.
“Are you fucking kidding me with this bullshit?” he growled. “I get that you’ve got a lot on your plate, Sophia, and that attitude of yours comes out when you’re tired, but your’re dangerously close to saying something you can’t take back.”
Again, I knew I was in the wrong, but like I said—character flaw. When I felt backed into a corner, my claws came out whether I liked it or not. “So I’m not allowed to have a problem with you trying to control my life, is that what you’re saying?”
“Of course it’s not!” he barked. “For fuck’s sake! I’m only trying to help. If you aren’t studying, you’re working. If you’re not working, you’re studying. I can’t remember the last fucking time I saw you. I love you and I miss you. I just want to relieve some of that burden. I’m not trying to control your life. Is that really what you think?”
“Maybe it is.” It really, really wasn’t. But along with my short fuse, I also had a habit of saying shit I didn’t mean when I was in a mood.
Dominic’s voice dropped ominously low as he asked, “If that’s what you really believe, then why the fuck have we been doing this? Why put ourselves through the strain of the past four years living on two separate sides of the country?”
At the sound of his words, my chest squeezed so tightly I found it hard to breathe. Self-preservation kicked in, and before I could think, I found myself saying, “Maybe we shouldn’t anymore. If that’s how you feel, then maybe we should just call it quits. That way you don’t have to deal with the hassle of a long-distance relationship.”
I brushed away the tears that had started trailing down my cheeks, thankful that at least he couldn’t see them or hear them in my voice.
“Shit. Butterfly, that came out wrong. It’s not what I meant. I don’t want to call it quits, baby. I don’t want to fight with you. I’m sorry. I just miss you so goddamn much. I hate that you’re so far away.”
I didn’t want to either, but my pride refused to let me waver. “Then this is the perfect solution,” I retorted. “Now you’re free to find someone closer who’ll have no problem letting you pay their way through life.”
“Sophia….” My name on his tongue sounded like a warning. “Don’t do this.”
“It’s already done,” I replied, my tone flat and emotionless as my heart withered. I swallowed down the lump in my throat and moved quickly to end the conversation before I lost control. “I have to go.”
“Butterfly, don’t—”
“Goodbye, Dominic.” I hung up before he could say another word and powered my phone off. Then I walked woodenly into my room, curled into a ball on my bed, and cried my eyes out, all the while questioning what I had just done.
“Soph?” His touch on my shoulder brought me back to reality with a start, and my gaze jerked to his. “Where’d you just go, butterfly?”
I gave my head a shake and mumbled, “Nothing,” before snapping up the glass of wine in front of me that a server had just filled. Thank the Lord. Wine’s much more potent than champagne.
The red wine had a faint sweetness to it that I appreciated as I all but chugged it down.
“I can still tell when you’re lying,” he murmured, this time even closer than before. When I turned back, our faces were barely an inch from one another. It would’ve been so easy to lean in and press my lips to his. I still remembered how they felt against mine, how he could start a kiss so soft only to take it somewhere carnal a second later. “You get that little wrinkle between your eyes right here.” The tip of his finger gently stroked the skin between my eyes.
I sat frozen for several seconds before my brain reengaged and I pulled back, casting a furtive glance around the table. “Okay, look,” I whispered, leaning in closer. “This is how this is going to go. You’re my best friend’s brother, which means you’re going to be a part of her big day, which means I’m going to be stuck having to breathe the same air as you on occasion whether I like it or not. Because I love her and want this to be the best time in her life, I’m going to agree to put our past aside and be civil. But I am not doing this for you. Are we clear? I’m doing this for her. So please, don’t make this any harder than it already is.” Despite starting out strong, my voice turned weak on that last sentence, belying the pain I still acutely felt.
I watched with awe as Dominic’s face grew soft, making him even more handsome. “You know, no matter what you believe, I didn’t do any of this to hurt you, butterfly.”
“Please,” I pleaded. “Stop calling me that.”
“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll stop calling you that if you stop avoiding me like I have the plague. We work in the same building, for Christ’s sake. Can you at least pretend you don’t want to set me on fire every time you see me?”
Oh, if only he knew what I really wanted to do to him every time I saw him. But that would give him all the power.
“Okay, deal.” I extended my hand and successfully warded off a shiver when his large fingers engulfed mine in a shake. Quirking a brow, I gave him a skeptical look and said, “But this is for Lola… right?”
He grinned a sexy Cheshire cat grin that showed off his perfect white teeth. “Whatever makes you feel better, baby.”
I was fucked.
Chapter Four
Dominic
Christ, I didn’t think I’d ever get used to how beautiful my butterfly was. Even ten years later, she was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen. As I watched her throw her head back in laughter from across the room, my dick stirred in my pants. The rest of dinner had been relatively uneventful, and the night was progressing without any drama. Now I stood away from the crowd, silently sipping my bourbon, my gaze tracking her every movement as she mingled with everyone she knew.
She wanted to be civil for the sake of Lola. I’d give her that play. For now. But I’d waited ten years to get her back. It was safe to say I was running out of patience.
I saw the way her eyes darkened and heard the catch in her breath when I got close enough to whisper in her ear. That catch and that heat in her gaze had nothing to do with being surprised. I still got to her whether she was willing to admit it to herself or not. Just like she got to me.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop it. Right now. I’m not above begging.”
At the sound of my soon-to-be brother-in-law’s voice, I tore my attention away from Sophia to find him examining me with trepidation. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The hell you don’t. You look like you’re planning a hostile takeover and getting off on it. I swore to Lola that nothing bad would happen tonight, and I plan on keeping that promise. That means I’ll hogtie your ass and throw you in a coat closet if I have to.”
I laughed and clapped him on the back. “Will you relax, man? Everything’s going great. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“Nothing to worry about?” he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “You have met those women, right?” He tipped his chin in the direction of my sister, Sophia, and their third Musketeer Daphne. They’d been best friends for
as long as I could remember so I totally understood Grayson’s point. Those three were trouble with a capital T.
“Okay, fine. I’ll rephrase that by saying you’ve got nothing to worry about from me. I’m perfectly capable of behaving myself.”
“You’re an Abbatelli,” he mumbled flatly. “I don’t think you guys know the meaning of behaving yourselves.”
I chuckled into my tumbler before taking a drink, relishing the way the amber liquor blazed a trail down my throat to my stomach, warming my insides. “We come by it honestly.” I let out a loud laugh at his pain-stricken expression.
“God, deliver me,” he grumbled, looking up at the ceiling.
From the corner of my eye, I caught Sophia on the move, skating through the crowd and disappearing from sight. Before Grayson could say another word, I spoke up. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to find the restroom.”
He called after me as I began walking away. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
Sophia
I pushed through the swinging wooden door and found the ladies’ room blessedly empty.
I rested my palms on the cool surface of the vanity and took several calming breaths before looking at my reflection in the mirror. I’d been just fine—well, maybe not fine, but I’d been dealing. Then the asshole had to go and laugh. And that sultry, deep sound skated across my skin like velvet. Dominic always had the sexiest laugh.
“Get your shit together, Vaughn,” I hissed at myself. “It was just a laugh. Just a stupid laugh. He’s not hot. He’s a jerk.”
God, even I didn’t believe the lies coming out of my mouth. He was still the hottest man I’d ever laid eyes on. I’d been far from celibate in the past ten years, but I still found myself comparing every man I took to bed to Dominic Abbatelli. And unfortunately, they all came up lacking.
He’d ruined me for all other men. Multiple orgasms were a thing of the past. Hell, if I wanted to get off at all, I had to take the reins from the dude and guide us both there.
Tempting Sophia Page 3
