10. Chapter 9
Lulu
M y heart is broken and I feel like I'm partly guilty. I don't know why I have to jump into things all in, like my life depended on it. My friends keep giving me looks of pity, even though I haven't said a word about what happened between me and Dominic.
Thankfully, the morning is filled with conference activities and I immerse myself into all of them. I feel like a big changed has happened inside me. I no longer feel that despair I used to when I thought about my sex life. Dominic brought a spark into my life that I didn't have before.
I don't want to think about him right now. Someone else was at the recreation desk this morning and I bit my tongue and kept myself from asking about him. Something occurs to me. I should probably pay him for all the outings we went into.
If I see him again, I will do that. That way it's more transactional and not romantic. But oh, how I wanted it to be romantic and not just some dirty vacation sex. The thought makes me choke on my drink. That's exactly what I wanted, wasn't it? Why am I complaining now?
Because it didn't turn out into one of my love stories. Where the heroine gets her Happily Ever After. Someone sits down next to me at the table I'm at and places a drink in front of me.
"I think you need this."
Sam is a good friend, but right now I don't feel like talking to anyone.
"So he wasn't the love of your life. Big deal. It's vacation sex."
"How did you…"
"I know you, Lulu."
"Its partly my fault."
"The hell it is."
"I was expecting too much. I wanted…forever."
Sam looks at me with genuine surprise in her face.
"Oh shit, you were serious about this."
"Yeah."
I pick up the drink she brought me – a strawberry daiquiri – and take a sip. It's cold and almost gives me brain freeze, but I need this little bit of alcohol right now.
"I saw him. He was with a bunch of handsome men and looking spiffy in a suit."
"What? Where?"
"The hotel restaurant."
I take a big gulp of my drink and this time it does give me brain freeze, so I grimace with the pain. Sam puts her hand on my forearm to keep me from getting up.
"Don't do it."
"I need to talk to him."
"Please, you need more alcohol for that. At least finish your drink."
"I might not be able to find him later. I gotta go!"
I pull my arm away from her and get up, almost tumbling the chair behind me. I run out of the conference room and towards the hotel restaurant. I zoom by people and they give me weird looks in return. When I get to the restaurant the host at the front stops me with a look.
"Hello, we're a bit busy at the moment. There's a thirty minute wait."
"Um, I'm meeting someone."
"Name."
Seriously, what is wrong with this guy? This isn't some three star Michelin restaurant.
"Dominic Parker."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were meeting with the owners. Let me take you back to their table."
A cold chill goes through me. The owners? What the hell?
I follow him as I try to steady my nerves. When we approach I see three handsome men seated with Dominic, who has his back to me. The men facing me give me a warm smile. They're twins. Dom did mention something about that.
"Gentlemen, miss…"
He looks at me with one eyebrow up and I hurry to give him my name.
"Louise Jones."
I'm finally in front of the table and Dom is looking at me with surprise.
"Lulu, what are you doing here?"
"Is this your secret friend, Dom?"
One of the twins pulls my hand into his and gives me a kiss on the back of it. It's a little creepy actually.
"Would you stop that, Dean."
"You can sit with us, if you like." The twin says.
They pull up a chair and I don't know why, but I sit there with four gorgeous men with their attention all focused on me.
"Dominic, the host said you were the owners?"
"I can explain."
"You lied to me!"
"I didn't. I work for the hotel. Just not in guest services. I was having a little vacation from work."
"I'm such a fool. I believed in you and thought we had something special."
"Lulu, we do."
"Then why didn't you come after me the other day?"
"Maybe we should go somewhere more private."
"I offered to support him if he moved to Boston with me." I say to his brothers.
"So this was serious for you?" The twin closest to me says.
"I guess it was all one sided."
I get up from my seat and run out of the restaurant, Dom at my heels. I go towards the elevator and frantically push the button as if that would make it move faster. Surprise, it doesn't.
"Lulu."
Tears are falling down my face and I'm getting angry because he's witnessing this moment of weakness and vulnerability in my life. As soon as the doors open I step into the elevator, but he does as well. My heart is broken in a million little pieces and I don't even know what to do about it.
We get off at my floor and I wonder why I'm letting him follow me all the way here. Am I going to listen to him give me excuses? When I'm in front of my suite's door I try to pull out the keycard from my purse but my hands are trembling too much.
He takes the purse from me and gets the key out. The door unlocks for him and he opens the door wide so that I can get past him. I hurry inside and kick myself internally because I shouldn't be letting him anywhere near me.
I take my shoes off, pour myself a drink from the mini bar, take a sip and then go to the bedroom where I fall into bed and start crying earnestly. Things weren't supposed to be like this. Behind me I hear rustling and then the bed dips as the weight of Dom's body is registered.
He plasters himself against my back and puts an arm around my waist. This just makes me cry harder. He holds me tight and makes soothing sounds, his warm breath against my ear.
"After our parents died, I gave my everything to the companies they left us. I knew I could make them proud and I worked as hard as I could to make that happen."
"It became an obsession. Until a week ago, I spent most of my nights in my office in a small cot I brought in. My apartment doesn't feel like a home, and it hurts to go there."
"It's been hard without them, even with my brothers to support me. So when they forced me to take some time off I knew I wanted to spend that time in a role that was at least related to the business. I gave the recreation desk guy some time off and stepped into the role."
"What I didn't know was that I was going to meet this amazing woman that would come to steal my heart."
I tense at the words. Does he really mean them? Is he just playing me for some more sexy times with me? He places a kiss on my ear and it makes me shiver.
"You've changed everything for me, Lulu, but I was a coward and wasn't ready to take the steps that would keep me from losing you."
"I'm ready now. I don't want to spend another day without you. Marry me, beauty. Make me the happiest man in this earth."
I can't believe what I'm hearing. I turn around to face him and see that he's very serious about what he's saying.
"You've gone from not wanting to talk about a relationship to asking me to marry you? That's crazy."
"I know, sweetheart, but I promise you, I'm an open book now. Say you'll be mine. That you'll move here and build a family and a future with me."
"You hurt me."
"I'll spend the rest of our lives making it up to you, I promise."
"I should make you suffer."
"Oh, what would you do?"
"I should take sex off the table until we get married."
"Wow, you're so mean. Would you really do that?"
"Maybe."
His head moves forward and his lips touch mine gently. They are warm and soft and mine and I immediately open my mouth to let my tongue frolic with his, just the way I like it.
"You know you're going to have to buy me a ring, right?"
"We'll go tomorrow, then on Sunday I'll fly out with you so I can help you pack."
His words ring true and my heart finally starts to melt once again for him.
"I love you, Lulu."
"Good, because I love you back, Dominic."