Lured (Team Zero #1) by Rina Kent

I pause. He hasn’t. He was always honest. “Maybe you did. How would I know?”

He lifts a shoulder, then smirks. “With my child growing in your womb and everything, you have to trust me on some level, don’t you think?”

“Dom! Are you serious or having some mind game?”

He closes the small distance and brushes his lips against mine. “Dead serious, Cam.”

I stagger backwards and fall limp against my seat.

He is serious.

There’s no mischievousness or calculations. He wants me to stay. My heart kind of grows wings and sears towards the burning sun.

I already thought I was in too deep for this man, but hell, I think I really am in love with him. Like, I can already see our baby girl – because, I’m totally having a girl – running and jumping around and Dom groaning and picking her up. I’ll be waiting for them with lots of kisses and…

The image shatters.

“I can’t stay,” I say with so much defensiveness that Dominic’s jaw clenches. So I quickly blurt, “I have to study. I can’t and won’t abandon my dreams and just be your baby mama while you’re out there being a hot shot doctor slash researcher slash every freaking title possible. Ten years from now, you may become the health minister. Hell. You can even strive to become the prime minister.”

“I never wanted you to quit your studies. Whoever suggests that is an absolute bastard with an inferiority complex.” He cuts his steak but doesn’t bring the piece of meat to his mouth. “Like your French lawyer.”

“Hey! I would meet the French lawyer in college. He’d cheer me on.”

“Until he realises you’re way smarter than him and develops an inferiority complex. He will start cheating on you with a dumb bimbo to feed off his male ego. You will eventually find out and your pride won’t allow you to stay with him. You will leave the sorry bastard in a heartbeat.” He’s being calm like all this scenario is a reality. It’s his way to erase the French lawyer idea from my mind, I’m sure.

“So I’m saving you time and stress. I would never ask you to choose between your dream and me.” He meets my gaze. “You can have both.”

My lips part. “How?”

“Study here. We have brilliant law schools in England.”

I mull Dominic’s words. The aromatic scent of pasta beckons me and I dive in. It’s divine. I didn’t realise I was this hungry. There’s a funny taste. Not sure if it’s the sauce or something else. Perhaps it’s this restaurant’s special spice.

On second thought, I’ve been detecting a similar taste in some of the takeouts I order when Dominic isn’t home.

While I take a mouthful of my pasta, I shake my head. “I love England, but I’m not interested in British law. I want to be an asset to my country.”

“A nerd and a patriot. How admirable.” His tone is detached. I’m sure he doesn’t find any of this admirable.

I pause eating. My head becomes lightheaded as if I drank alcohol. Weird. I focus on Dominic. “I can’t leave my parents. I might be a rebel, but that’s supposed to be just for the summer.” I sigh. “I miss them and I miss my reading spot at the top of the hill. You should come to see it. The view is magnifique.”

Dominic takes his sweet time chewing the piece of meat, seeming the most relaxed person on earth, but his shoulders stiffen. “Glad to be a good fling, Camille.”

I hate it when he calls me that. It’s like he’s building a wall between us.

I reach out and clutch his warm hand. “You’re not a fling. It started that way, but you shot right up.”

His gaze snaps my way. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. You’re such a bastard who refuses to follow a ‘fling’ rules.”

His lips tug. “Rules were never my thing.”

“Figured.” I stroke the back of his hand with my thumb. “I meant it earlier. I am in love with you. I want to see where this goes. We will be in different countries but maybe –”

He removes his hand from under mine. “I won’t do the long distance thing. We’re too physical for that.”

My throat closes at the thought of not being able to touch him whenever I want. It’s torture.

“Give me time to think about it?” I ask. There needs to be a middle ground to all of this.

Definitely.

Hopefully.

Dominic pauses, to irritate me or to think, I have no idea. “I’m not the patient type.”

“Try for me.” I take his hand in mine again, lift it and kiss the palm. “Please.”

“If I wait, will the answer be favourable to me?”

“You can’t always have what you want, Dom.”

“Sure I can. I will only wait if the answer is yes.”

“Stop being so difficult and just try to be patient.”

“Depends. The answer will be yes, right?”

“Dom!”

“Instead of waiting…” he trails off, his voice darkening with both playfulness and seriousness. “I will marry you, chain you to my bed, fuck you, and put as many babies in you as possible. You will be bound to me for eternity and there will be no talk about any hypothetical fucking husbands.”

My jaw almost drops to the floor. I want that.