Gerri let her talk without interrupting until Opie had nothing left to share with her.
“I’ve known Dominic for a long time. He’s a shithead for sure. I can’t believe you let him out of your date. I gave you a lot of money to win him.”
Opie’s eyes grew wide as shame washed over her. “I am so sorry. I promise I will pay back everything you gave me.”
Gerri squeezed her hand. “That’s not the point. He owes you a date. A proper date, and you can’t let him out of that obligation.”
Opie wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I don’t want him going out with me because he has to.”
“I do. He made a business deal, and he needs to follow through.”
Opie frowned. “This isn’t what I wanted.”
“I know what you wanted, but you have to know how to talk Dominic’s language. Men are such imbeciles most of the time. They only understand one language.”
Despite feeling gut wrenched, Opie smiled.
“There, that’s better. Now tell me what you had in mind for this date, and I will make sure he is there with an apology on his lips.”
Opie shared her date idea. Gerri agreed that it was perfect. The silver-haired matchmaker called and paid for an Uber and sent Opie on her way.
Lou wasn’t home when she got there. That didn’t seem strange, but combined with the men’s clothing on the porch and the goodbye letter on the table, she knew Lou’s night had gone no better than hers. After calling twice, she gave up, knowing Lou would call her as soon as she could. She needed a shower and the work more than she needed to babysit Lou. Between the shoot at the Rochester House, the wedding, and the auction, there were a lot of pictures to edit.
After taking a shower, she sat down at her computer, but before she could get started, a loud banging came from the door. The guy Lou left with stood at the door.
“I’m here to see Lou,” he said.
“She’s not here.”
“Do you know when she’ll be back?”
She loved Lou but didn’t have the energy to be her social secretary right now. “She left for a while.”
“What do you mean she’s left? Where did she go?” He clenched his hand against the side of his leg.
“I mean, she took off, and I don’t know where she went. I can’t say it any plainer.” Opie walked from the door into the living room.
He followed her, sitting on the couch.
“Are those your clothes on the porch?” Opie asked.
He nodded.
“Do you want to see the note she left?” Opie reached for a folded paper on the coffee table. “I got home around ten and saw this.”
She handed him the letter.
“I’ve called her twice. She’s not answering, so I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m sure she’ll call whenever she gets settled.”
He handed back the note. “She didn’t leave a note for me?”
“Nothing that I saw. Did she call you?”
“We didn’t exchange numbers.”
Dumbass
“Look, leave me a number where I can reach you, and when she calls, I’ll give it to her.” Opie left the room and returned with a pad and pen.
Ford wrote his number, talked with her about Lou for a few more minutes, then left.
It must be nice to have the guy you spent the night with interested in what happened next.
She made a pot of coffee and sat back at the computer while it brewed.
“Damn it,” she said out loud. The memory card was still in her camera. She found her bag and thought it strangely light when she picked it up. The camera wasn’t in her bag.
“Damn it,” she said again. She never put the camera back into the bag. It was still in Dominic’s hotel room.
It would be easy to call the hotel and be connected to his room. It was after all her camera, and she didn’t think he would keep it. He was a jerk, not a thief. But what if he had already checked out and left? In her mind, there was still some hope that he would at least talk to her again.
She dialed the resort, but when the front desk answered, she hung up. It was too hard to talk to him right now. Maybe tomorrow. If she were super lucky, he would leave the camera at the front desk, and she’d be able to pick it up without seeing him at all.
She was alone. Her roommate, and probably a best friend, had left without saying goodbye, and the man she opened her heart to had no desire for anything longer than one night. Her life sucked.
The solution to both these problems would be booze if it were later, but since it wasn’t even noon, she opened a carton of ice cream and settled on the couch to binge sappy love movies. It was a band-aide solution, but at least it was tasty, and she could justify crying.
She’d lost all track of time. The fourth movie had just started when there was a slight knock at the door. It had to be someone selling something.
Her feet tangled in the blanket, and she hit the coffee table with her leg getting to the door. “Who is it?”
The only person she wanted to see, but the last person she wanted to see her. She wore sweats and a baggy stained sweatshirt, her hair was in a messy bun, and her socks didn’t match.
“Um, it’s Dominic. I have your camera.”
She opened her shifter senses and took him in. Of course, he would be handsome and smell good and be fuckable.
“Um, I wasn’t expecting company. You can just leave the camera on the porch.”
“I’d like to see you.”
“Er, well, I’m not feeling all that great. It’s not a good time.”
“Come on, Opie. Please let me in. I need to talk to you.”
Oh, this is about what you need now?
“What if I don’t want to talk to you?”
“I get that. It’s what I deserve. But I plan on waiting out here on this porch until you let me in.”
She pulled out her hair and ran her fingers through the knots. She took off the sweatshirt and found a cardigan hanging on a chair, and she took off her socks. This would have to do. She didn’t owe him anything, anyway.
Of course, once she opened the door and saw him, her insides turned to jello. “I can’t have you hanging out here. The neighbors might start talking.”
He came in, and she shut the door.
“How did you get over here?”
“Gerri gave me your address and arranged a driver to bring me here.”
Opie scrunched her face. “How does she know where I live?”
He chuckled. “I’ve stopped asking how she knows the things she knows.” He handed her the camera.
She took it and put it on the table. “Um, thanks, but you didn’t have to bring it by. If you’d left it at the front desk, they would have saved it for me.”
He put his hands in his pockets and dropped his gaze to the floor. The dark jeans showcased his powerful legs and firm ass. They also made it impossible to see his big package.
“I suppose I could have, but I, um, well—” he lifted his face to see hers, “—I wanted to see you. You deserve an explanation.”
She crossed her arms and jutted out her chin in defiance. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Yes, you do. I should have said something to you when asked about the future.”
Her throat tightened. “Why didn’t you?”
He stared at the floor again. “I’ve never had strong emotions for someone, not emotions like that, and it scared me.”
“Scared you?”
He stepped back and rested his backside on the door. “You are this incredible woman, and I was afraid of hurting you.”
“Why would you hurt me.”
He snickered. “Because I’m a hard-nose asshole who mostly thinks of himself.”
“True, but I suspected that already.”
He opened his mouth to say something but closed it.
She stepped forward and touched his cheek with the back of her hand. “You’re that way in the business world. Probably becau
se you need to be. I see another person.”
“Who do you see?”
She put a hand on each of his shoulders. “I see a beautiful horse, who is tender, but strong. Forceful, but kind. And above all else—” she stood up on her tiptoes and placed a gentle kiss on his mouth, “—a hell of an excellent kisser.”
“But you don’t even know me.”
“I saw all of you that I needed to see last night.”
He pulled her into him, wrapping one hand around the back of her head while the other rested on the small of her back. She couldn’t stay mad at him right now, even if she tried.
He pulled away. “I would love nothing more than to take you to bed again, but I sat through an hour-long lecture from a certain matchmaker about the importance of fulling my end of a bargain.”
“She can be pushy when she wants to be.” She took his hand and walked him to the couch.
He sat next to her. “Yes, she can. However, in this case, she’s right. I technically think I am supposed to take you on a date, but the idea I have in mind can’t happen until tomorrow morning. Didn’t you tell Wednesday you had something in mind?”
She smiled and motioned to her attire. “I’m not exactly dressed to go out.”
“Well, how long would it take to get dressed.”
She shrugged. “Maybe fifteen minutes.”
“Am I dressed appropriately?”
“Oh, most definitely.”
“Then let’s go do it.”
She hopped up and rushed to her room. She didn’t have time for a shower, but with what she had in mind, a ponytail would work. A pair of black leggings and a tunic top would make the perfect outfit. The last touch; her raspberry Chucks.
Dominic stood scrolling through the pictures on her camera. She’d forgotten about the ones he took of her, and her face burned when she remembered.
“Please tell me the pictures you took were hideous,” she said.
“No, they were good. You’re very photogenic. In fact, all the pictures you took were good. I like the ones at the old house. Where is that?”
She looked over his shoulder. “That’s the Rochester House. It’s downtown here in Rio City. I should know its history, but I don’t.”
He stopped at the photo she snapped of the fancy car parked in front. “I like this—” he brought the camera closer to him, “—is there a way to enlarge this?”
She took the camera from him and manipulated a few buttons. “Yeah, why?”
He took the camera from her and did as she did, focusing on the two men sitting inside the G-Wagon.
“Do you know who this is?” he asked.
“It’s just two old men. I didn’t have time to get a release from them, so figured I would just blur out their faces.”
The scowl on his face worried her.
“Does anyone know you have this picture?” He asked her.
“I don’t know if anyone saw me take it.”
He handed it to her. “Do you recognize one of those men?”
At first, she didn’t, but as she focused harder, his face became familiar. “That’s Pablo de Torres, but who’s the other guy?”
“That’s Vince Harper.”
She glanced from the camera to him.
“Vince Harper is the CEO of Harper Freight.”
“So, what does that mean?”
“Vince Harper has a reputation for fixing elections in return for favors that will help his company.”
Opie was stunned. “Why is he meeting with de Torres.”
“It is an election year, isn’t it?”
“And he’s running for a seat on the US Senate.”
Dominic turned off the camera, opened the side door, and took out the card. “You need to keep this somewhere safe.”
“I don’t know where that would be.”
He put the camera on the table. “You haven’t shown this to anyone else?”
She shook her head.
“For right now, hide it in the fridge.”
“And then what?”
“There was a sheriff at the auction. Do you know him?”
“That would be Washington Bender.”
“Then we’ll go take it to him.”
She went into the kitchen and searched the refrigerator for the best place to hide it. The butter dish had no butter at the moment, so she hid it there.
“Now,” he said, “where are we going on our date.”
She closed the refrigerator door. “We can’t go out now. We should contact Washington.”
“If no one knows you’ve taken that picture, then no one would suspect it’s here at your house. Trust me. It will be fine until morning.”
She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know. It’s weird.”
He took her in his arms. “I’ll be with you the whole time until we take it to your friend. Will that make you feel better?”
There was no reason to feel anything other than safe with him. “That would be good.”
“Okay, then where are you taking me?”
She opened it and checked to make sure it was still there. “If you think it’s okay, then we’ll go, but first thing in the morning, we need to turn that in.”
“We will. Now, where are we going?”
“To The Lindy.”
“What’s that.”
“A swing dance club.”
He held open the door as she walked through. “Woman, you are speaking my language.”
Chapter Eleven
Opal
For a Sunday night, The Lindy was busier than Opie thought it would be. They got there early enough to avoid the cover charge and took advantage of an informal lesson the club offered.
After a dozen times of stepping on Dominic’s feet, she started to get the hang of the counts, twists, and steps. She felt silly each time she made a mistake, but he laughed them away and told her she was doing better than he had the first time.
When the lesson was over, they found a hightop table in the back and ordered drinks. Opie didn’t like not knowing what to say, but it was awkward. The previous night still hurt more than she wanted to admit, and no matter what he said, there was a small piece of her that worried he wouldn’t be in her life after tonight. But if that was the case, she wanted to make the most of this night.
“Do you go out dancing?” he asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“I go out with my roommate sometimes or my assistant, but I spend most of my time there watching the others.”
“Your roommate is the one who came to the auction with you?”
“Yeah, her name is Talalula, but we all call her Lou.”
“I assumed she was your assistant.” His fingers drummed the table in time with the music.
“She helps me out. Zari, my assistant, is working on developing her own business.”
“Was she the one with you when you were in New York?”
She had a drink of her cocktail. “I forgot that’s where we met.”
“You got a little feisty with Ronnie if I remember correctly.”
“That client was such an ass. I hated that job. He didn’t know what he wanted until we suggested stuff to him. Then he didn’t like what we were doing.”
Dominic scanned the club. “Looks like it’s filling up with more people. Good thing we got here when we did.”
She watched the people around her. Couples and groups of friends. Everyone’s energy level was contagious. Dominic was better than any shifter she’d been with before, but how did he feel? Was she misreading all his cues?
“You shouldn’t feel guilty, you know?”
She shook her head and stopped daydreaming. “Excuse me?”
“You shouldn’t feel guilty about Ronnie. You told me earlier, you felt guilty for taking his money. He doesn’t make business decisions just to be nice.”
“Have you known him long?”
“It feels like a lifetime.” He bounced his leg with the music.
It made her smile to see how much he
wanted to get back out to the dance floor.
She put her hand on his. “Hey, are you okay?”
He looked at her like he didn’t understand what she was saying. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You can’t sit still. Do you want to dance?”
A large smile spread across his face. It reminded her of a kid when they first see all the presents under the Christmas tree. “I know several different styles of dancing, but there’s something about swing dancing that draws me in. Maybe it’s the music or the steps. I don’t know.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?” She lifted one eyebrow.
“Huh?”
How could this smart guy be so dense? She cleared her throat. “Dominic, would you like to dance with me?”
She hopped off her chair and held out her hand.
He pursed his lips and batted his eyes. His voice came out in a falsetto tone. “You want to dance with me? I thought you’d never ask me.”
Opie giggled and led him out to the dance floor. The song ended, but the brass instruments of the live band played a bright fanfare announcing the next song and dancers around her clapped and whistled.
“This must be a fan favorite,” she screamed into his ear.
He nodded. “You ready?”
“I don’t know, do you have any feeling left in your toes?”
He bent his head back and chuckled. When he put an arm around her waist, she was ready this time and stepped back, staying on the balls of her feet to facilitate twists and twirls.
It was easy to follow his lead this time. They’d done this enough that she recognized the pressure changes in his hands when he wanted her to step left or right. His upper arm tensed when he wanted to spin her around. And he closed his eyes when he brought her close to him.
“Are you ready for a lift?” he asked.
She stopped moving, and the couple next to them ran into her. “Are you serious?”
“Of course. I think you’re ready for it.”
She shook her head and headed back to the table. “I think you’re crazy.”
He took her arm and stopped her from stepping off the dance floor. “We won’t try anything too crazy. A simple lift.”
Wild Horses in Love Page 10
