“We’ve all had relationships like that,” Mia grimaced. “You just have to realize something that takes that much energy to hold on to wasn’t meant to be in the first place. You know I went through some tough things when Seth and I started out, but from the beginning, he was always different. I felt it, and I’m betting you do here as well. I’m not suggesting you go and profess your love today . . . but stop acting as if someone is holding a stopwatch over your head and just enjoy getting to know Dominic. I have seen nothing from him to indicate that he’ll be packing his bags if two pink lines don’t appear on that white stick in a few weeks. Heck, you’ll probably both have a drink and a big laugh over the scare before having some amazing sex to celebrate.”

Gwen felt her heart lighten for the first time in days. Could Mia be right? Who said that a relationship had to begin in the typical first date dinner and a movie manner? She had to believe that fate had led her to this point in her life, and it was up to her to embrace the opportunity. She needed to put all the fears from her mind and just focus on how much she loved being with him. They had jumped the gun a bit on that part with the whole sex even before the first date, but she couldn’t pretend to regret that. She might love his company out of bed, but dear Lord, the man could do things with his body that she had only dreamed about.

She had no idea what the future held, but he was hers right now and maybe that was all that mattered. Looking ahead and trying to avoid a relationship disaster had never helped her before, so trying to live for the day might be worth a shot.

Chapter Seven

Dominic walked through the door of East Coast Security on Monday after a lazy weekend spent largely with Gwen. He had left early that morning to get a start on looking through the security feeds from the weekend. He planned to take a break in an hour and pick up a coffee for her. He looked forward to that stolen moment in her office each morning. If he was being truthful, he had more than a couple of fantasies involving bending her over the desk and burying himself deep inside of her while he palmed that amazing ass.

His head was still in the clouds—or on Gwen’s ass—when the sight of Mac sitting in a chair in front of the row of monitors brought him up short. “Please tell me that Ava hasn’t already kicked you out,” he asked warily.

Mac looked up, giving him a lazy grin. The bastard looked entirely too content for this early in the morning. Mac turned his chair to face him, crossing his ankles, and reclining backward. “Nah, I’m still in her good graces. I decided to go ahead and come in when she said something along the lines of ‘have mercy.’”

Dominic chuckled¸ knowing full well what the woman must have meant with that comment. After waiting for years for the woman he loved to finally return his feelings, Mac probably hadn’t let her out of bed much in the last week. He was damn glad it had finally worked out for his friend. Now, though, he needed to tell Mac about the new development in his relationship with Gwen. The other man had given him his blessing on pursuing her, but he might not have expected it to happen so soon. Heck, he hadn’t expected it himself, but he sure wasn’t complaining. “We could have swung another week here without you, man. I hate that you had to come back from your honeymoon so soon.”

Mac took a sip from the cup sitting at his elbow while Dominic settled into a seat beside him. “Ava had some meetings scheduled this week that she hated to cancel without more warning. Everyone really helped her out by taking over for her on short notice last week. We figured we’d take some time off in a few months when things are a little less hectic.” Looking blissfully happy, he added, “It’s all gravy anyway because I have my woman in my home and in my bed for good this time. I could give a shit if we never take a vacation because every day with her is paradise to me.”

“Go ahead and leave your man card on the desk because that is the most pussified statement I’ve ever heard from a dude before.” Both Dominic and Mac jerked around in surprise to see Gage smirking in the doorway. “If you getting married means we have to take up knitting and just generally turn into chicks, then I’m gonna need to do something drastic at night to get the testosterone flowing again.”

Dominic had to turn away until he had his laughter under control. Gage was loud and irreverent, but damn, he was funny, for the most part. He had always provided the comic relief in their group, even in the hellholes of Afghanistan. He’d seen very few things through the years that could bring Gage down for long. He was a glass-half-full kind of guy.

Mac cupped his hand over his cock, making a rude gesture before saying, “I’ve got your man card right here, pretty boy. If you ever find a woman you don’t have to pay by the hour, you might have some feelings to discuss.”

“Yeah, it’s still not looking too good with Crystal, either. So, the pay-to-play route is pretty much all he’s got right now,” Dominic added helpfully.

“Who’s Crystal?” Mac asked as he kicked a chair out for Gage to sit in.

Before Gage could answer, Dominic said, “That’s the girl with the tramp stamp from the parking garage who kneed him in the family jewels. I will add, though, that I’ve since discovered that she’s Ella’s sister and is not a tramp.”

Gage propped his feet up on the desk in front of him, letting the chair rear back on two legs. “And tell us, Dom, how did you find out that information? Are you friends with Crystal—or maybe you have friends in common with her?”

Dominic gritted his teeth, knowing he had asked for the sarcastic innuendo from Gage. He should have kept his mouth shut and minded his own business. Problem was, all of them were so close that they stayed entirely too involved in one another’s lives. A fact that he usually liked. Mac was looking back and forth between them, clearly trying to figure out what he was missing. He refused to sit here and squirm while Gage continued to throw out hints. “Crystal is friends with Gwen, okay?”

“Um . . . Okay,” Mac drawled out. “So, you’ve been talking to Gwen then? Have you guys been on a date yet?”

Dominic studied his friend carefully but saw only curiosity in his gaze. He knew Mac was crazy about Ava and had dated Gwen for only a short while, but it still made things rather awkward. He was absurdly grateful that they’d never slept together because that would have been hard to get past. From what both Gwen and Mac had said, their relationship had barely progressed past kissing. Even that made him feel crazy jealous if he dwelled on it. He might not own Gwen’s mouth, but he felt pretty possessive of it.

Before he could answer Mac’s question, Gage jumped in. “Oh, I think you could say that those pesky first date nerves are all behind them now. In fact, I believe they are quite . . . blissful together . . . Almost orgasmic. Wouldn’t you say, Dom?”

Dominic popped up his middle finger, giving the other man the universal go-to-hell symbol before turning back to Mac’s questioning stare. “Boy, that was fast,” he said, unable to mistake Gage’s meaning. “I was only away for a week, so when did this new development occur?”

He saw Gage open his mouth to speak so Dominic hurried to answer first. “The evening I returned from Vegas.” He winced knowing how that sounded. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to be the one to answer. Hell, Gage probably couldn’t have made it sound much worse.

Mac’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Really? How did that happen? I thought you were waiting until the opportunity presented itself?”

“Oh, it presented itself all right,” Gage chimed in, looking vastly amused.

Dominic glared at Gage. “Just a little advance notice, I’m going to kick your ass when we’re done here. And at least I have a new development in my love life. Last I heard, you were no closer to getting a date with Crystal.” Turning back to Mac, he added, “Gwen . . . approached me. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail here because frankly that would be strange, but we’re sort of together now.”