I give him a brief nod, not trusting myself to remain civil.
Shoving my phone in my back pocket, I follow him from the room. When we get to the end of the hall, he turns toward the stairs while I go for the elevator. Then we both stop and look at each other.
“I’ll meet you there I guess?” I say.
He grimaces. “It’s one level up. Can’t we take the stairs? Only lazy people use the elevator for one floor.”
I cock my head. “So I’m lazy because I don’t feel like hoofing it up one set of stairs?”
I swear I hear him growl. “That’s not what I said. Listen, you already know I prefer the stairs and why. Please, will you take the stairs with me?”
It’s the please that does it. It makes me feel like a complete ass. He basically admitted to being claustrophobic, yet here I am being a dick and demanding we use the elevator. For what reason? Because I feel like I’m losing control and getting my way this once gives me a semblance of it back.
“Fine. The elevator.” He walks over, pressing the button.
I sigh and head toward the stairs. Once I climb three, I turn and look at him.
“Are you coming or not, lover boy?”
His eyes are grateful as he begins to climb the stairs behind me.
When we reach the top, his hand finds my lower back. “Thank you.”
I don’t respond. For some reason, this new, kind version of Dominic is making my stomach feel weird. Almost like he gives me butterflies, but that can’t happen.
Not with him.
Pushing the feeling away, I let him lead me across the ship to our dining room. When we arrive, thankfully they are almost ready for us. I didn’t even realize Dominic had already checked us in.
Once the hostess leads us to the table, Dominic takes the seat across from me. Then he glances at the menu quickly before giving me his full attention.
Me? I’m pretending this menu is the best literary work of art that I have ever seen.
“You can’t avoid me forever,” he whispers.
“I sure can try. That was my goal this trip. Avoid you and Barrett. Somehow my sister ended up fucking me on that.”
“Am I really that bad?”
It’s the vulnerability in his tone that has me setting down the menu and giving him my full attention. I take him in. He looks softer somehow. Not the normal macho persona he puts off any other time I’ve seen him in a crowd. I mean, I have gone out of my way to not spend any time with him without a huge group of people between us.
After a moment, I finally speak. “You aren’t as bad as I thought so far, but it’s only day two. That could change. Let’s try to stay civil and maybe by the time this trip is over, we will both come out unscathed.”
“Is that what you want?” he questions.
“Isn’t that what you want?” I throw back at him.
He shrugs. “I want you to have a good time. I’ll follow your lead on how to make that happen.”
“I can take care of myself, Dom.”
He gives me a sad smile. “I know you can, baby doll. You don’t have to always do it alone though. I’m your partner in crime this trip. Use me.”
I don’t respond, letting the conversation drop. Thankfully the server comes over then. The rest of dinner is a quiet affair, me stuck in my thoughts while Dominic looks like he’s walking on eggshells.
It’s not until I’m lying in bed later that night that I realize what he was saying.
He said he would follow my lead. So do I really want us both to be awkward all trip or do I think we can become friends?
