necessary.”
Through the Fire
69
Dominique moaned involuntarily as
Brandon’s large hands massaged her neck and
back. “Oh, that feels good.”
“What was that Dominique? Are you with
a man?”
Damn Brandon and those exquisite
hands. She swatted them away. “I’m not with a
man, Mom. That’s…er…that’s the television.”
Brandon snickered behind her and she
elbowed him hard in the stomach, pleased to
hear his low groan of pain before he retaliated
by biting her on the neck.
“You were talking to the television?”
Olivia was asking unbelievingly.
Dominique reached back and popped
Brandon upside the head before answering her
mom. “No. I just got out of the shower and was
moisturizing myself. I was talking to myself.”
“If you say so. I didn’t know you had any
close friends in Texas.”
Dominique bit back a sigh of regret. She
hated keeping secrets from her mom. “Listen
Mom, I have to get dressed. I love you, Mom.
I’ll see you later. Bye.” Face flaming red,
Dominique quickly disconnected her call.
“What was that Dominique?” Brandon
teased. “I’m not a man? What am I? Chopped
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SERENITY KING
liver, perhaps? Or maybe your boy toy?” He
turned her in his arms to face him.
“Stop kidding around, Brandon. I think
my mom suspects something.”
“So what if she does? It’s about time, as
far as I’m concerned. When are we going to tell
our families the truth Dominique? I refuse to
live a lie like last time.”
“Soon. We’ll tell them…soon. Can we talk
about this later? I need to get dressed and get
over to Domino’s house.”
“How are you getting there?”
“Rental car. I’ll drive over. Are…are you
going to be there as well?”
“I take it you don’t want to drive over
together?”
“You know we can’t just yet. When I tell
them, I want to tell them everything at once.
And I don’t want to put a damper on everyone’s
weekend. Look, this is a happy occasion for
Diamond. Throwing our crazy lives into the mix
will just ruin her celebration. Let’s face it, the
people we love don’t need any more stress right
now, especially after that entire episode with
Alisha. It would also mean that I would have to
go into the entire episode about the baby, and
Through the Fire
71
I’m just not ready to do that yet,” she
murmured.
“You’re right. But we are man and wife,
and we are going to be together, Dominique.
Get dressed,” Brandon added, some of the
sternness leaving his voice as he looked into her
suddenly unhappy eyes. “You need to get going
if we’re going in separate cars. I’ll be along
later. We don’t want to arrive too close together
or your family and mine will become
suspicious.”
Dominique encircled Brandon’s neck with
her arms and brought his lips down to meet
hers. “Thank you. I’ll make it up to you, I
promise,” she murmured against his lips.
“You bet you will, just as soon as we get
back to this hotel room.” He kissed her deeply
then forced himself to release her. “Enough of
that, or we’ll both miss the damn barbecue.”
“You’re right,” she said and turned to go.
“Oh, my God!”
“What!”
“I forgot my clothes; hence the reason
why I’m wearing your t-shirt.”
Brandon burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny. What am I supposed to
do? I can’t go down to my room in your t-shirt,
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SERENITY KING
and the only thing I have here to put on is my
ball gown. What am I going to do?” Her voice
was panicky.
“Calm down. We’ll figure something out.”
“What was I thinking? There’s nothing to
figure out. I’ll have to put on the gown and
hope I don’t run into any family on the
elevator.”
“I would offer you my sweats but you’d
still need shoes. Looks like you’ll have to put on
what you were wearing last night and hope for
the best,” he agreed.
“Hope for the best,” she mimicked. “Gee,
thanks. Where’s my