“Yes,” she added. “A mutual friend set us up. And there was a connection at first sight.”
“Oh, isn’t that romantic!” Anne who had been circling, joined the group and beamed at the two of them. “And this was when?”
“Two months ago,” Caroline answered her, counting the time from when he first contacted her rather than when they actually met.
“And Dominic never said a word,” Anne repeated still evidently shocked by the news.
“He’s entitled to a private life,” Russell told his daughter.
“Yes, but surely you would tell your partners about your marriage,” Anne said directly to Dominic. “In some ways it affects all of us.”
“How so?” Caroline asked.
“Come on, Anne, nobody wants to talk about that stuff now,” Steven said casually taking hold of her elbow and giving it a slight squeeze.
Anne huffed and then turned to Denny. Instantly she sighed and rolled her eyes. “You couldn’t have at least shaved for the occasion? Really, Denny, sometimes you can be almost disgusting in your appearance.”
“Sorry.” He tipped the beer to his lips in a sort of toast. “Congratulations anyway.”
“Thank you. But tell me more about you,” Caroline urged him. “Dominic said you were working nonstop on some important new program for them.”
There was silence and Caroline got the impression that tense glances were being traded.
“Yes, Denny,” Steven said. “Please tell us what you’re working on. I’ve been trying to get budget figures and projections on this latest endeavor for two weeks and I can’t because you won’t tell us what you’re doing. You stay locked up in that cell of yours. You won’t even come out for air.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He shuffled his feet and took another sip of beer.
“You’re supposed to be making sure our product is perfect before we make our presentation at the committee hearing next month,” Steven scolded. “That better be done.”
“The program is foolproof,” he snapped. “I was working on something else. It doesn’t matter. I’m done with it.”
“What? You said what you were working on was important.”
Caroline looked at Dominic. She’d never heard that angry tone in his voice before. His face was sterner than she’d seen in the last two weeks.
“It doesn’t matter,” Denny repeated.
“Boring. No one wants to hear about work, now. This is supposed to be a party,” Anne said gaily.
Time for a change in topic, Caroline agreed. “When did the three of you become partners?”
“Actually, it was Denny and Dominic for a long time before I came on the scene and bought in,” Steven explained.
“You mean until
“Right,” Steven said tightly. “As for how Denny and Dominic met…you won’t believe this but I don’t think I even know that story. You guys started Encrypton twelve years ago, but how did you originally get together?”
“Forget that, Steven,” Anne interrupted him, patting his arm. “No one cares how Denny and Dominic met. This party is about getting to know Caroline. I understand you’re a writer.”
The party continued and Caroline made the rounds and chatted to each of Dominic’s employees. Deciding she needed a break and probably a bit of freshening up, she made her way upstairs. A few people lingered on the second floor loft, but not many. She smiled at them and made her way to the guest bedroom to check in on Munch, who had been quarantined.
Munch immediately left her warm spot on the bed to greet her mistress. She stroked the animal’s head until the dog decided she’d had enough and returned to the bed to continue her nap. Caroline shut the door behind her and headed for Dominic’s room. Her room, she mentally corrected. Her home, her bedroom, hers. It was going to take some getting used to.
She opened the door, but stopped when she saw Anne with another woman by the window.
“Caroline! Oh, good. I don’t think you’ve met Serena.”
The woman turned and smiled graciously. She was older, perhaps late forties, with dark hair pulled back into a severe bun. She looked tidy, if a bit conservative, in a navy blue suit.
“I’m Mr. Santos’s assistant. I’ve been with him for a number of years.”
Caroline shook Serena’s hand. It was a loose grip, and Caroline noted that the polite smile didn’t quite reach the woman’s eyes. She didn’t think it was personal, more like Serena wasn’t the type to smile easily. She imagined that she and Dominic worked well together.
“We were just up here swapping recipes. Serena makes a burrito with homemade salsa that is simply to die for.”
“You’ll have to share.”
The older woman’s head dropped once formally. “I’ll send the recipe home with Mr. Santos tomorrow.”
“I hope you don’t mind us sneaking away up here. But this view…” Anne turned back to the window and sighed.
“Of course not. The view is incredible. When I first saw this house, I wasn’t thrilled with the design, but living in it I can see what the architect was trying to accomplish.”
“Openness,” Anne answered.
Caroline smiled. She didn’t want to correct her but there was more to it than that. Any big house with large rooms provided a sense of space. This house was about freedom.
“We’ll get out of your way,” Serena told her.
“I did want to freshen up a little. I must be a mess.”
“Oh, no. Not at all,” Anne crooned. “Maybe just your lipstick. You look a little pale. We’ll leave you to it.”
Yeah, Caroline thought. She and Anne weren’t going to be buddies.
It was shame, too. For the most part, Caroline was a loner, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to make friends in her new life. And there was the fact that Steven and Dominic seemed genuinely close. She’d watched them for a while during the party. Dominic asking Steven work-related questions and Steven firing back with sports news. Eventually Dominic had relented and Caroline learned her husband had an interest in baseball. Pals as well as partners. She doubted Dominic had many friends and she wasn’t going to let Anne get in the way of that, despite her feelings.
She was tired, that was all. She would have Anne and Steven over for dinner and give it another try. Sometimes first impressions could be misleading. She made her way to the bathroom and checked herself in the mirror. Deliberately, she added a little blush but left her lips untouched.
Hours later after everyone had left, Dominic opted for a hot shower to unwind. When he came out of the bathroom to find his bed empty he was surprised.
It was late. After midnight. In the past few weeks, he’d learned that his wife liked to go to bed early.
He considered it his first compromise. He preferred to work to one or two in the morning, but if he wanted to make love to her he was going to have do that first, sleep for a while, then work.
And he definitely wanted to make love to his wife.
Just thinking about her made him hard despite having had her that morning. And three times the night before. He might have been worried that he’d driven her out of his bed with his sex drive if it hadn’t been for the way she welcomed him each time.
In his life he’d never known such pleasure. Or escape.
But tonight he was going to play it differently. He planned to kiss her on the cheek and roll over like a good husband. She was obviously tired from the stress of the past two weeks. Anne’s party certainly hadn’t helped things. He was going to shelve his desire and show her his unselfish side.
Only his wife wasn’t there to receive his noble gesture. And where was Munch? That was the trick. The two had become inseparable. Find the dog and he’d find his wife.
And he did.
Munch stood on the side of the pool while Caroline drifted up and down in a lazy sort of backstroke.
“Hi. I was too wound up to sleep so I thought I’d have a swim.”
She wore a simple black suit, but seeing the way it clung to her breasts made the muscle in Dominic’s cheek
