Dominic switched off the bedside lamp and settled into the chair beneath his blanket.
Darkness softened the room.
For several minutes neither spoke.
Then Liv said, “Dominic?”
“Yeah?”
“If you knew you liked me, why all the women?”
Silence followed.
She immediately regretted asking.
Then his voice came through the darkness.
“Because wanting someone I couldn’t ethically pursue didn’t magically make me good at being alone.”
Liv stared at the ceiling.
It wasn’t a perfect answer.
That was why she believed it.
He wasn’t rewriting himself into a misunderstood saint.
He wasn’t claiming every photograph, every date, every rumor had been false.
He had lived exactly the life she thought he had lived.
He had simply kept one boundary she hadn’t known existed.
“Does that bother you?” he asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
“That’s fair.”
“Stop saying fair every time I say something you don’t like.”
“Would you prefer a formal objection?”
“Go to sleep.”
“Yes, boss.”
Liv laughed into the pillow.
When she woke, gray morning light filled the room.
For one disorienting second she didn’t remember where she was.
Then she saw Dominic.
He was asleep in the chair with his head at an impossible angle, one leg stretched toward the desk, the other half beneath the blanket.
The sight did something unexpectedly tender to her.
She sat up quietly.
His phone rested on the desk.
Beside it was a hotel notepad on which he had written one sentence sometime during the night.
Ask her only after it’s official.
Liv looked away almost immediately.
It wasn’t meant for her.
But she couldn’t unsee it.
Dominic woke a few minutes later and grimaced as he straightened his neck.
Liv tried not to smile.
“Historic adversity?”
“I may never turn left again.”
His phone buzzed.
The humor disappeared from his face.
He checked the message, then held the phone away from himself.
“It’s done.”
Liv’s stomach tightened.
“The reporting change?”
He nodded.
“Effective today.
You report to the operations side of the company.
Same title.
Same salary.
Same team responsibilities.
I have no direct authority over your performance evaluation or compensation.”
He paused.
“You’ll get the documentation separately.
