Chapter 35
Closing my laptop, I follow another path to a set of stairs that will take me up to a second-story deck. I take them two at a time until a smoky gas barbeque comes into view. Peeking through the windows, I spot him standing at a wide marble island, squeezing bright yellow lemon slices over a platter of enormous prawns. I gently tap on the window, grinning. He’s surrounded by more than enough food to feed two people.
“Come on in!” he calls through the glass.
“This smells like heaven!” I gush, glancing around the shrimp and crab legs strewn out across the counter. He has a dish towel thrown casually over his shoulder, like Top Chef, but way more handsome. He looks relaxed and totally in charge of his kitchen.
I love this version of him, I realize. It’s sexy as hell.
“Tell me you’re game to stay. Everything’s fresh from the fish market. Caught today.” He holds an enormous prawn out to me by the tail.
I grab it from him, ripping the body off with my teeth and tossing the tail into a nearby bin. I feel ravenous. Then I suck the garlic off the tip of my finger, keeping one eye glued to him while I reach for another.
“You must be hungry.” He laughs, leaning in for a kiss.
“Oh my God.” I cover my mouth while I chew, fighting the urge to smother him in more kisses. There’s nothing sexier than a guy who can hang up window blinds and cook like this. “That tasted like it came from a five-star restaurant. When did you get home?” I reach for another. It feels like we’re playing house.
Besides the platter of shrimp, there’s a plate of buttery spiced corn cobs, and something simmering on the stove, in addition to whatever is under the hood of the grill outside.
“A while, but I didn’t want to interrupt you. You looked like you were on a roll down there.” He grins at me, and I smile back, wondering what I must’ve looked like when Dom peered over the edge of the deck to see me typing away so feverishly that I didn’t even notice he was there. “That whole kaftan thing must have had the intended effect on your writing. You look gorgeous in that, by the way.”
I twirl in a circle with my arms out, giving him a full view. Silky fabric sashays around my hips, swirling gently around my ankles as I come to a full stop. “I love it so much,” I admit. “It’s the sweetest gift I’ve ever been given. Even better because it means you appreciated my drunken rambling at Cliff’s the other night. You didn’t find all that a bit silly?”
“Never.” He draws me in for a long hug. “You look as good as I imagined when I picked out that color for you. Compliments your best feature perfectly.”
“And which feature is that?” My heart starts pumping harder.
“Your eyes. They’re my favorite color. Like the ocean — when she’s feeling a bit feisty.”
God, I want him all over again. Right here on the counter, if I could.
“I’m glad I’ve done justice to your vision. There’s only one problem.”
He raises both eyebrows at me, waiting for me to spill it.
“Now that I’ve officially gotten a feel of what it would be like to live in that silly dream of mine, writing in your garden all afternoon, I might need to stay forever.” I pop another shrimp in my mouth. “I was able to pump out a few thousand words today, bringing the script to a much more manageable place than where it was before. It has me hopeful about finishing it before I have to go back to New York. Maybe even diving into a round of revisions, if there’s time.”
“I meant what I said about you being able to come here any time. I’m gone most days, so the place would be all yours. But, even when I’m here, I’d love to see you more.”
He plants a light kiss on my cheek, making everything in me stir. Wanting more. Then he bends over to open a small wine fridge behind the counter. “White or red?”
“Um, white?” I stare at all the food. And a real kiss , I want to add.
He pulls a chilled bottle of something out of the fridge and grabs two tall stem glasses from the shelf behind him. Then he gets to work opening the bottle, pouring just a tiny splash for me to taste. Exactly like in a fine restaurant.
I drain the glass and smile at him, holding it out for more.
“It’s delicious. Crisp and refreshing. But you’re going to have to order a pizza or something for yourself. I could devour this whole spread solo.” I lick my lips while he laughs.
Dom has transformed from a handyman who owns a townhouse with missing blinds into a Top Chef cooking fine food and pouring amazing wine in the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure what to think of it. While he’s been busy putting the pieces of my life back together, I still need to figure him out. So many things are still a mystery to me, but he never wants to talk about his life very much. I’m starting to wonder why.
“Honestly, you are living most people’s dream here. If my life could look like this every day — writing film scripts in a garden, while dressing like this.” I shake my bangles. “And drinking wine that tastes like it was poured down from heaven, you might never be rid of me.” And I totally mean it.
“Then drink up. And cheers to that.” He holds up his glass while winking at me. “Here’s to making this trip all about new beginnings. And leaving old lives on the shelf.”
We clink our glasses together, then both take a sip.
He grabs the towel off his shoulder and uses it to pull a pot of boiling crab legs off the stove, then opens the lid to release a cloud of steam.
I look around the great room. It looks far too beautiful and curated to have been designed without a professional. There’re silver photo frames scattered throughout, and a custom white driftwood coffee table nestled between an enormously oversized leather sofa that could easily fit fifteen adults across it. I have so many questions for him, namely what he does all day to afford a lifestyle like this. We’ll work our way up to the elephant in this palatially sized room, but I decide to start with an easy question.
“What can I do to help?” I step closer to assist him. Our bodies brush, but I don’t move aside when an extra rush of blood pounds through me. I can’t remember the last time a man’s mere presence threw all my senses into a frenzy. Just the proximity of Dom standing nearby is enough to make me feel reckless, with us all alone in a big empty house like this.
“Just keep me company. Take a seat. Drink some wine.” He waves some steam away with the lid of the pot.
“Can I ask you another question then?” I perch myself on a nearby bar stool.
“Anything,” he says.
“The other night, you asked me what type of life I would choose off a shelf. I never asked you the same question. But you look like you have everything you could ever want right here.”
“I do have an amazing life . . . But the life I’d choose is more complete than the one I’m living.” He gives me a sad kind of smile, putting his hands on his hips, as if debating whether or not to tell me. “I used to think I’d be fine all alone. I have my friends, my chosen family, but I’m starting to realize that there may be a few holes that I’ve never really been able to fill.”
“So, if you get to wake up every day surrounded by that ocean you can’t get enough of, in a home that you love, and you own this little slice of paradise in the midst of it all, what else is missing? You seem genuinely happy. What else could you want?”
“Ah, well, that’s an excellent question.” He smiles. “Not everything is so black and white though. Plus, I don’t actually own this place.”