Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 179

Chapter 179

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My mind drifted backward, traveling down the timeline of every moment I had shared with this man. The first time we had sex at the resort, the way he had taken me apart and put me back together. The hotel room where he had fucked me until I could not remember my own name. His car in front of Julian’s house, the tight space forcing our bodies together in ways that should have been awkward but were instead electric. The phone calls, the conversations, the way his gaze always held mine.

It was all running through my mind in a flood, each memory sharper tharrthe last, and my heart was beating so fast I was afraid it would jump out of my chest.

And then I blurted it out before I could stop myself.

“Dominic…, I want to be with you.”

His eyes widened. He stared at me in silence for a long moment, the air between us charged, and I felt my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.

“Do you mean that?” he asked.

I nodded, the words spilling out before I could catch them. “Yes. I do.”

The serious expression on his face shifted, cracked, and then broke into a smile so wide and so genuine that it transformed his entire face. He looked happy. He looked happier than I had ever seen him, and the sight of it made something in my chest bloom open despite my better judgment.

He leaned closer, his eyes on my lips, and his mouth touched mine in a soft, tender kiss that sent a shiver down my spine.

And then the doorbell rang.

He pulled away, and I watched the expression on his face shift from tenderness to mild annoyance. I, on the other hand, was frozen, my mind screaming at me.

Celeste. What did I do? What did I just do?

I looked at Dominic, who had a pleasant expression on his face, like the kiss had settled something in him, and I wanted to shake myself.

What did you do, Celeste? You came here to end this. How could you tell him you want to be with him?

My heart was still pounding, frantic and confused, and then the doorbell rang again.

“It seems someone is here,” I said, my voice coming out steadier than I felt.

“You have a visitor?” she asked, her voice cool. “So this is why you did not show up at the airport?”

Dominic smiled awkwardly, turning to look at me with an expression I could not quite read.

“Celeste,” he said, “this is my grandmother. She is the most dearest family member l’have.”

I stepped forward, offering a polite nod. “Nice to meet you, Grandma.”

“Oh, no,” the old woman said, her voice flat. “There is no need for you to call me grandma. I am not related to you. Yes, I am Dominic’s beloved grandmother. And this here is Imelda. Dominic’s beautiful fiancée.”

The young girl beside her flashed me a smile, sweet and practiced, and I felt the ground shift beneath my feet.

“Fiancée?” I repeated, the word coming out hollow.

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