Chapter 9
ROSE
This lie was getting out of hand, I realised, as I paced up and down the living room! Now Grammy Cora was involved, and I couldn’t stop panicking. She’d have the two of us tied up and rolled down the aisle before we knew what was happening.
I know Maplewood seems like an ordinary small town from the outside, but the truth is that we’re a mob town.
We’re run by the mafia that pretends to be the town council, and it is made up entirely of meddlesome, grandmotherly old women who like to stick their noses in everybody’s business.
And Grammy Cora was the mafia boss, if ever there was one.
She had made it her personal business to find a match for every single person in the town because she wanted the next generation to stick around instead of moving away for greener pastures and turning Maplewood into yet another abandoned, ghost town like so many others in North America.
Grammy Cora took Dom’s single status as a personal affront and considered it the biggest failure of her matchmaking skills.
From what I’d heard over the years, she had introduced him to all the eligible women in their circle, but he had remained stubbornly single.
I didn’t want to be dragged into their games, especially when Dom wouldn’t even look me in the eye after what we’d just been doing.
I wasn’t dumb. I recognised a man who was backpedaling hastily after a mistake.
And that’s exactly what it was. A mistake.
A glitch in the matrix. A man like Dominic Carlisle could never want someone like me.
He was clearly having a cerebrovascular incident when he asked… no, ordered…me to indulge myself.
I was a fool to believe he meant it.
Never again, I swore. The sooner we got hold of Joe and figured out what was happening, the sooner I could get back to normalcy. How dare he try and break into my house?
Trevor was still on his phone, speaking to Dom’s security team, while the housekeeping staff set the table for dinner. For one. As soon as Trevor got off the phone, I gestured at the dining table.
“Aren’t you eating with me?”
“Sorry, babe. I have a hot date tonight,” he replied regretfully. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning to escort the two of you to Mrs Carlisle’s door since I like my head attached to my body, thank you very much.”
“Ugh, I don’t think I can eat anything after this,” I grumbled. “Do we need a restraining order against Joe?”
“Well, first we need to find him so we can find out why he broke in. Can’t take a call on the RO until that happens.”
“Fine. Please let me know if you find anything. I’m heading to bed,” I replied wearily, ignoring his protests as I went back to my room.
It was very sweet of Dom to order my favourite meal, especially since I had no idea he knew what I liked. But there was nothing worse than eating alone, in state, at a massive dining table that could easily seat twelve people on your first night in a new place.
Sweetpea came up to me, complaining about being left alone, and I was glad to see he hadn’t taken his rage out on the room for a change.
It seemed my cat was as intimidated by my surroundings as I was.
I picked him up and crooned sweet nothings in his ear, as I carried him to bed.
After I petted him for a bit, I got out of bed and had a quick shower in the en-suite bathroom.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the scene in Dom’s bedroom.
Had I really been as bold as that? And how far would we have gone if Trevor hadn’t interrupted us?
I didn’t think either Dom or I were in any state to stop before it went too far.
He might not be interested in me romantically, but in that moment, Dominic Carlisle had wanted me as much as I wanted him.
I towelled myself dry and got into the only pyjamas I had packed, which happened to be hole-free for a change. It was time to forget what had happened and focus on getting home as soon as I could.
I got into bed with a pretty notebook and a pen, and decided to outline the next series I was planning to write.
My editor wanted an exotic billionaire romance series with the characters jetsetting all over the world, and I wondered how I was going to write that when I had never so much as stepped out of Maplewood.
I was an armchair traveller because my budget only allowed me to afford fancy travel magazines that went to places I never could.
I pulled up the online edition of one of those magazines on my iPad, and pored over the pretty pages for a while, trying to pick between St Tropez and Amalfi as a setting for my next book. I was close to giving up in despair when there was a knock at my door.
“Come in,” I called absently, with my head still bent over the iPad.
“You didn’t eat your dinner,” said Dom, and I looked up in surprise.
“I’m sorry?” I stammered.
“You didn’t eat your dinner,” he repeated. “I thought you liked spaghetti and meatballs.”
“I do…But…Well, I wasn’t hungry,” I replied, not wanting to admit that I didn’t feel comfortable eating all alone in that massive room.
“I haven’t eaten either,” he said quietly. “Care to join me?”
“I thought you were going to eat in your study,” I pointed out.
He just shrugged in reply, and I tried to tell myself it meant nothing.
“Give me five minutes to change out of these PJs?”
“Come as you are,” he replied. “We’re not formal around here at all.”
I called myself a fool for following him out to the living room, but it was just dinner.
And he hadn’t eaten either. The formal dining table was empty when we got there, and Dom nodded his head towards the kitchen island, which held two plates and silverware, along with steaming bowls of spaghetti and meatballs.
“There’s tiramisu in the refrigerator,” he said, as I climbed on one of the barstools and he took the one across from me.
We ate in silence until Sweetpea jumped onto the stool next to mine. He hissed a warning at Dom, who merely rolled his eyes at him and went on eating.
“Do you have enough cat food for him?” he asked suddenly, and I nodded.
“I packed more cat food and treats than clothes,” I said with a laugh.
Sweetpea put a paw on my arm, clearly begging for food, and although I knew he was supposed to be on a diet, I couldn’t resist giving him a meatball. He scarfed it down while still glaring at Dom.
“How’s your leg?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“I’ll live. But I can’t make any promises about that hairball if he attacks me again,” he said sternly.
Strangely, his words didn’t frighten me as much as Joe’s had. I knew Dom would never hurt an animal. I had known him almost all my life, and though he was considered a shark in business circles, I had never seen him be anything but kind to the people around him.
“That hairball can slice and gut you in seven seconds, so I wouldn’t make any threats around him if I were you,” I replied dryly.
Twenty minutes later, I was licking my spoon and wishing I hadn’t eaten so much pasta and tiramisu. At this rate, I’d need new clothes very soon.
Dom set his spoon down and cleared his throat.
“About what happened earlier…” he began awkwardly, but I cut him off.
“It meant nothing.”
“Right! So I’ll just…” he gestured towards his room, and I nodded, rising to put my plate and spoon in the sink.
“Sure. I’ll get to bed as well. Goodnight, and thank you for letting me stay with you, Dom. And for everything else,” I replied.
“You don’t have to thank me,” he said gruffly. “Aunt Polly did a lot more for my mother and me when my Dad died.”
Of course, he had to remind me that he was only doing this because of my mom, I thought bitterly, as I carried Sweetpea back to my room. I spent the whole night tossing and turning in the unfamiliar bed, and woke up heavy-eyed and exhausted.
I slathered on some makeup and got into my usual uniform of skirt, tee, and cardigan for breakfast with Grammy Cora.
Of course, Dominic would look fresh as a daisy while I felt like a swamp witch, I thought, as Trevor rang her doorbell.
I straightened my spine and forced myself to look away from his broad back.
I needed my wits about me if I didn’t want to be forced into an unwanted marriage before my first cup of coffee.
Grammy Cora greeted me warmly before she turned to her grandson.
“I can’t believe you hid something so important from me, Dom,” she went off, and he held up a hand in protest.
“Gran, don’t even! You know exactly what’s going on here,” he said sternly. “We’re not dating. That was just a lie to force Rose’s ex to leave her alone.”
“Hmph,” she replied, banging her cane into the floor. “It doesn’t have to be a lie.”
“He’s not my type, Grammy,” I said hastily.
“Yeah, she goes for the criminally inclined,” added Dom snidely.
I turned around and frowned at him because he wasn’t helping.
“I cannot believe you were making your famous lasagna for that twit,” she said, as she led us to the breakfast table.
“That was private,” I said through gritted teeth. “How did it become public knowledge?”
“No such thing as privacy in this town,” she said with a cackle.
“You’re a menace, Grammy Cora,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “You should be running the CIA.”
“I’d rather run this town, darlin’,” she said smugly. “Been doing it for over fifty years now. Now what’s this I hear about that idiot breaking into your house?”
“We’ll know why he did it as soon as we find him,” said Dom, cutting into his three-egg omelette.
“I’m just an old busybody, but do you think it has something to do with his business with the drug dealers?”
I had just taken a sip of coffee when she said that, and at her words, I spewed it all over the table.
“I beg your pardon?” I asked when I stopped coughing.
“Don’t tell me I’m the only one who knows your ex-boyfriend was dealing drugs in Maplewood,” she said primly, and smiled at the horror on our faces.