Page 8 of Exile
“I’m going to stop you right there, Kitten. We are going out tonight. This date is the one thing I’ve been looking forward to all week. Seeing your gorgeous face is the reason I get up early in the morning to buy coffee instead of making it at home. So shut your pretty little mouth unless it’s to tell me how excited you are about our date.”
I feel my mouth drop open in shock as I nod mutely at his words. The way he’s looking at me can only be described as intense, but the slight upturn of his lips tells me he knows exactly the kind of effect he is having on me.
“Ah, um, yes…sir?” There I go glitching again. I can’t seem to carry on a normal conversation with him any time he’s in front of me.
“Good girl.” Dominick flashes me a panty-dropping grin before swiping his coffee off the counter. He tips his head to André in thanks and throws some cash in the tip jar before following Eric and Dane out of the coffee shop.
I turn around after he leaves, eyes wide, cheeks flaming hot, to meet an also stunned André’s shocked expression.
“Um, when did that happen? Since when does the hot grumpy cop talk?”
“It happened this week. You'd know that if you bothered to come to work more than once a week.” I roll my eyes at André and turn back to the counter to serve the next customer, barely being able to contain the smile threatening to bloom across my face.
CHAPTER FIVE
SERENA
I’m in my bedroom, standing in my underwear, chewing on my fingernails while I debate my clothing options. It’s almost 7:00 p.m. and I’m no closer to deciding on what to wear when I hear the doorbell ring.
“Shit!” I hiss out in panic as I stare down at the pile of clothes on my bed.
I hear Mom call out that she will get the door, and I grab a dress at random to throw on, frantic to not leave Dominick alone for too long with my mom and Mrs. G. Fortunately, my hair and makeup are already done, so getting dressed is the last step in the process. I just didn’t expect to look at everything in my closet and hate it. Looking at my ripped jeans, college hoodies, Brewed Awakening t-shirts and the small assortment of dresses leftover from my high school days made me realize how little I’ve done for myself since my parents’ accident. Aside from high school graduation I haven’t had an occasion to dress up for in the last two years.
I take a quick look in the mirror, scanning over my appearance. I pick a black skater dress that is kind of plain but hugs my figure in just the right way, showing off my curves and my legs, which are my best assets. It laces at the front, and I loosen it a bit to show off more cleavage, hoping to distract Dominick from my teenage wardrobe with my tits. I’m mildly freaking out about how much older he is than me, and I hope he won’t take one look at me and realize he’s too mature for me. On my way out of my bedroom, I shove my feet into a pair of black booties and grab a jacket to fight off the autumn chill that has begun to settle in.
As I descend the stairs, I hear voices in the living room. Oh no, they’ve already got Dominick in the house. I send up a quick prayer, hoping that Mom hasn’t already broken out my baby pictures. I round the corner and stop at the sight of my mom gazing adoringly at Dominick from her seat on the couch while he takes a bite of one of the muffins she and Mrs. G baked today. They were trying out new recipes, and apparently Dominick gets to be the guinea pig taste tester. Mrs. G is standing next to him with an expectant look on her face, holding a glass of milk for him to wash down the muffin with.
“Wow, Mrs. Malcolm, this is really good,” Dominick says with a mouthful of muffin.
“Call me Laura.” Shit, she likes him. She’s already on a first name basis.
“These are amazing, Laura.” Dominick corrects himself before polishing off the rest of the muffin and accepting the glass of milk from Mrs. G.
“Hey, sorry! I was just finishing getting ready. I’m ready to go.” When I speak, Dominick turns and rakes his gaze all over my body. The heat in his stare causes goosebumps to erupt all over my flesh and the way he licks his bottom lip before making eye contact with me causes me to forget how to breathe. The way he is looking at me is entirely too carnal for my mom to be in the room, but I’m too stunned by his smolder to do anything but stand there.
“Serena, you look beautiful, and now that I’ve met your mom, I know exactly where you get it from.” The smile Dominick unleashes is blinding, and I can see the hearts in my mom’s eyes already. Mrs. G looks like she is smitten too, the way she stands behind him with her hands clasped under her chin.
A blush creeps across my cheeks as I stammer out a quiet, “Thank you.” My mom and I do look a lot alike. I may have my dad’s darker complexion, full lips and curly hair, but my gold eyes, button nose and the freckles that dot along my face are all from Mom. Dominick reaches out for my hand before placing a gentle kiss along the back of it while shooting me a discreet wink.
“Alright you two, go have fun! Get on, get out of here.” Mrs. G begins shooing us towards the front door. You’d think she’s the one that has had the dating dry spell by how excited she is for us to go out. Dominick takes my coat and helps me into it before leading me to the front door.
“It was nice meeting you Laura and Mrs. G?—”
“Call me Gloria!” Mrs. G interrupts him, before he gets out the rest of his goodbye.
“Gloria, it was lovely to meet you,” Dominick corrects himself. “I’ll have Serena home safe and sound. You ladies have a good night.”
Dominick ushers us out the front door with Mom and Mrs. G hovering behind us, watching our departure. I should consider myself lucky they aren’t trying to come along on our date. As the door closes, I hear my mom call out, “Have fun, kids. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do! We won’t wait up!” Just when I thought I was done being embarrassed for the night, she had to get one more comment in.
“Sorry about that. I know they’re a lot.” I bite my lower lip as I look up at Dominick, hoping he isn’t already regretting this night. The smile he gives me is nothing short of panty-melting. Before I realize what’s happening, Dominick leans in and places a gentle kiss on my cheek as he wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. I find myself easily nestling into his warmth, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Don’t worry about it, Kitten, I like your mom and Gloria.”
I feel my heart swelling with that declaration. “You are totally going to make it into her journal, you know,” I say without thinking.
“Her journal? Does your mom keep a suspect log of every guy that takes her daughter out?” He asks with an incredulous laugh, and I realize I’ll have to explain Mom’s condition to him if he’s going to be coming around more. I freeze on our walk to his car as I process how I am going to explain our situation. I’m so protective over Mom and it’s just been us, Mrs. G, and Kai for so long. I worry about people taking advantage of her if they know about her memory loss, so I don’t often mention it to outsiders.
“Hey, where did you go?” Dominick stops and turns to me, lifting my chin to look up at him so he can look me in the eye.