“Tell me I’m wrong.”
There it was.
The sentence Liv had avoided for three years.
She could have denied it.
She had become excellent at denial.
She had denied noticing the way he entered a room and somehow changed its energy.
She had denied the ridiculous little spark she felt whenever he leaned over her shoulder to read something on her computer.
She had denied the fact that she could identify his footsteps outside her office.
Most of all, she had denied how much effort it required to keep him at a distance.
But sitting there in an anonymous hotel room while a storm erased the outside world, lying felt strangely pointless.
“You’re not wrong,” she said.
Dominic’s eyes closed for half a second.
It was such a small reaction that anyone else might have missed it.
Liv didn’t.
“How long?” he asked.
“That is absolutely none of your business.”
His mouth curved.
“Fair.”
She pointed at him.
“Don’t look pleased.”
“I’m trying very hard not to.”
“Try harder.”
He looked down, but the smile remained.
That somehow made everything worse.
Liv stood and crossed toward the window, keeping the bed between them like a neutral border.
“So you transferred me because I admitted I’m attracted to you?”
“No.
I started that call before you admitted anything.”
That stopped her.
He was right.
Liv turned.
“Then why?”
Dominic leaned forward, forearms on his knees.
“Because I am attracted to you.”
The words were quiet.
No performance.
No flirtation.
No Dominic Cain charm offensive.
Just truth.
Liv had imagined hearing something like that before, usually during weak moments she immediately blamed on exhaustion or caffeine.
Reality was much more unsettling.
“You date constantly,” she said.
“I date.”
“That’s a diplomatic way of describing it.”
“I date women who don’t work for me.”
Liv’s expression changed.
Dominic noticed.
“You thought I didn’t have that rule?”
“Your reputation doesn’t exactly come with an employee handbook.”
He gave a short laugh.
“My reputation is mostly deserved.
I’m not pretending otherwise.
I’ve avoided serious relationships.
I’ve enjoyed being single.
I’ve made plenty of choices that probably looked ridiculous from the outside.”
“Probably?”
