“What?” Dominic asked, not sure he wanted to know if it was worse than what he’d already heard.

“We have to go to Charleston this morning. You know how fun those road trips are when you’re hungover.”

“You can’t be serious! They can’t all still be sick down there. We just got back.” His stomach was threatening to revolt at the thought of being anywhere near an interstate today.

“It’s the Oceanix—Charleston. We’re meeting Asher Jackson there. He wants to show us around the resort and get a feel for what we can do for them. He was impressed when we met yesterday and is ready to make a change. His contract with his present security company is up for renewal next month so time’s an issue. It’s a big operation, and we’ll need to know what we’re looking at staff-wise like yesterday before we put a proposal together. We’re talking big time here, brother, if we pick up that chain.”

“Fuck,” Dominic hissed, feeling like an idiot for getting wasted, especially during the middle of a busy workweek. He never did crap like that. Hell, he was just too old for it, not to mention the pain it caused. “I’ve got to go home to shower and change.”

“We don’t have time. I let you sleep as long as possible. Go hit my shower. I left some clothes out in there. We’re pretty much the same size.”

With no time to argue, Dominic got to his feet and staggered down the hallway toward Gage’s bathroom. He’d been to his friend’s apartment countless times, but he went straight to the door on the left and opened it to find—the laundry room. He couldn’t imagine that this day could get any worse.

Chapter Eighteen

Gwen went from feeling sorry for herself to just being pissed as the red display on her bedside clock showed seven in the morning. She couldn’t believe that Dominic hadn’t showed up or called last night. What happened to all of the support he had promised her a few weeks ago? It seemed that now when it was crunch time, he was nowhere to be found. On the few occasions that she’d allowed herself to think of the “what-ifs,” she certainly hadn’t imagined Dominic taking off. For God’s sake, the man had brought her a bottle of folic acid and obsessively Googled information about early pregnancy. That just didn’t seem like the actions of a man who would panic.

She was still spitting mad when she slammed out of her door an hour later. She debated stopping by Dominic’s apartment but figured he would already be gone to work by now. And truthfully, she refused to chase him down. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know where she lived. When and if he was ready to act like an adult and have a rational discussion, he could come to her. If she had to raise the baby alone, then she would. Heck, she could move back to Columbia where she’d have her family. She had options, but what she didn’t have was the will to chase another man who didn’t want any type of commitment. She wasn’t after a marriage proposal, but being a father was a huge commitment and as of yet, Dominic showed no signs of being ready to make it.

As she was walking to her car, she saw that Dominic’s truck and his bike were still in his parking spaces. So, he was still home, after all. It was unusual for him to be this late going into work, and she felt a moment of worry before she shook it off. He certainly wasn’t concerned about her, that much was painfully obvious.

Of course, as luck would have it, she ran into him outside of the coffee shop in the lobby for the second morning in a row. She had no idea how he had arrived before her. He was still a few feet away, wearing dark sunglasses, but she could tell by the stiffening of his spine that he had spotted her. Beside him, Gage waved, seeming relaxed and thankfully not hostile over their confrontation the previous day. She was debating making a run for it when Dominic said, “Gwen, we need to talk.”

She dropped her eyes to the floor, counting to ten as she tried to control her temper. What she really wanted to say was, “Oh, so now you’re ready to talk?” When she looked back up, she noticed something strange. His pants were several inches too short. He was wearing his usual work attire of cargo pants and a company shirt, but none of it appeared to fit. His muscular chest, arms, and shoulders were always visible, but the shirt he was wearing outlined every taut inch of his upper body. Come to think of it, the pants were also formfitting. Heck, she had to pull her eyes away from his crotch. Those pants were like a spotlight on his impressive length. Oh God, she was staring. Gage was giving her a knowing grin, but she couldn’t tell if Dominic had noticed, thanks to his sunglasses. “I . . . er . . . have to get to work. Maybe we can talk this evening.”

Dominic raised a hand, rubbing at his temple as if he had a headache. “I don’t know what time I’ll be back. We’re going to Charleston as soon as Mac picks us up.”

“Charleston?” Gwen hissed out before she could stop herself. “You seem to be going there an awful lot lately.” She couldn’t remember Mac going that often when they’d been dating.

“We live for that place,” Gage joked before pointing to Mac’s car pulling up out front. “Gotta go, bro. You know how cranky McKinley gets when we keep him waiting.”

“I’ll call you tonight unless it’s too late when we get in. I really don’t know. But we need to talk.” They stood staring at each other for another moment. It felt weird not to at least touch in some way as they usually would. Dominic finally gave her a brief smile before walking off, still rubbing his head. I bet Kandi can make him feel better today, Gwen thought cattily. Maybe the other woman liked her men to wear clothes that were too tight. There was no way Dominic would be working a stripper pole in those pants, though. The seams would blow out within the first ten seconds.

Gwen kicked her foot against the tile floor in the lobby. This was the second official day of knowing she was pregnant, and so far, nothing had changed. She didn’t feel any different and she had no idea where things stood with the father of her baby. Yeah, her life was going so well. It made her long for the days when her hardest decision was what flavor of Ben & Jerry’s to buy for her evening at home.

*   *   *

“Dom, either you packed on twenty pounds overnight or your clothes seriously shrank in the wash, man.” Mac grinned as he looked at Dominic’s too tight shirt.

Gage, always one to volunteer too much information—except for his relationship with Shannon—stuck his head between the seats of Mac’s Tahoe, saying, “He got wasted last night and passed out at my place. We didn’t have time for him to go home and change this morning.”

Mac shook his head as if not believing what he heard. “You got drunk? And on a school night? That’s not like you. What’s up?”

“Well, Gwen is . . .” Gage began until Dominic put his hand up in the other man’s face.

“Mind if I talk here, Chatty Cathy?” When Gage waved a hand for him to go ahead, Dominic pinched the bridge of his nose before saying, “Gwen’s pregnant.”

Mac darted a look his way before pulling out into the Myrtle Beach traffic. “But I thought you said that she wasn’t. Didn’t you tell me that?”

“He did, but then shit got real yesterday outside his apartment and he had a bomb dropped on him,” Gage piped in again.

Dominic’s head was killing him and his body felt like a bus had hit him. He was ready to kill someone, and Gage was setting himself up to be a perfect target with his loose lips. “Shit got real all right, when I saw your boy back there sucking my neighbor’s face.”

Mac’s hands twitched on the steering wheel, causing them all to yell in alarm before he quickly righted the Tahoe. “Gage, what the hell man? You caused this mess? Please tell me you didn’t hit on Gwen!”