“What?” She gawked at him, wondering if she’d heard wrong. “I . . . we used condoms, and that’s like ninety-nine-point-something percent effective. I mean, that’s what they do, right?”

He ran his thumb over her bottom lip while nodding. “Of course.” She smiled, thinking he was just overly cautious, when he added, “But we had the . . . mishap on the last round.”

Their last round . . . Oh God, she remembered it now. They had been in a position that she’d never imagined was even possible. It involved him standing and her legs draped on his chest while he held her arms and lifted her up and down. Wow, she felt like a world-class porn star just knowing that she’d done that. Her fond memories took a bit of a dive as she recalled the “mishap” in question. Dominic had cursed when he’d pulled out and found that the condom had ripped at some point. She had been so boneless by that point that she couldn’t have cared less. Until now. “Oh no,” she whispered. “Oh crap, I had forgotten about that.” Studying his calm face, she asked, “Do you think anything leaked out?”

The ass had the audacity to chuckle at her question. “Um, I’d say some probably got away, babe. I mean, I don’t want to brag or anything, but my boys are probably kick-ass swimmers.”

Gwen rolled her eyes and dug her elbow into his stomach. She felt a small glimmer of satisfaction when she heard him groan. “You’re not helping, you know. Can you be serious for just a minute?”

Dominic gave a resigned sigh before saying, “I’m sure it’ll be fine, Red. No need to get all worked up over spilled milk or in this case . . .”

“I get it,” Gwen rushed to cut him off. She quickly did the math in her head and felt a little better. “I think I’m in a good place cycle wise. I mean, I just had my period so I haven’t hit the midway point yet.”

Scratching his head and looking adorably confused, Dominic said, “Babe, I have no clue about women’s cycles. I’ll leave that to you. Just promise me one thing,” he added, suddenly looking serious. “Don’t keep it from me if something should change. I can handle anything but lies.”

Gwen melted back against his chest, enjoying the feeling of his arms holding her close. It had been so long since she’d had a man holding her in the early morning hours. Mac had never stayed the night with her, so she’d never experienced this with him. She had no idea what would happen between them once they left this bed and started their day, but for now she wanted to pretend, if only for a while, that he wanted her—for more than one night.

*   *   *

Gwen made it to her office at Danvers International with just moments to spare. It wasn’t as if there was a time warden standing at the elevator to punch them in and out, but she always tried to be diligent in arriving before nine each day.

She had just put her purse away and was checking her e-mail when someone tapped on her door before swinging it open. Crystal walked into her office and leaned against the corner of her desk while Mia followed, closing the door behind her. They both had identical, expectant looks on their faces. Gwen decided to sit quietly and see who broke first. Finally, Crystal blurted out, “Well?”

“Well, what?” Gwen asked as she pretended to study her computer intently.

Mia tried her hand next. “So . . . er . . . did you do it?”

By this point, Gwen was fighting hard not to laugh as she said, “Do what?” in a bored tone.

“Hell’s bells, Gwen!” Crystal snapped. “Did you get laid or not?”

“Way to blurt it right out there, Crys.” Mia rolled her eyes. Pointing to Gwen, she said, “Look at her—of course she did. I’ve never seen her looking this relaxed.”

Crystal had just opened her mouth to make a comment when there was another knock at the door. “Yes,” Gwen called out, wondering who else could possibly be dropping by this early. Most of her coworkers tended to hole up in their offices with cup after cup of coffee until at least noon.

Gwen almost swallowed her tongue when Dominic strolled in looking like sex-on-a-very-big-stick. He gave her an intimate smile that had her panties melting. “Hey babe, I know you were running late this morning so I thought you might not have had time to stop for coffee.” He lifted his hand, holding up a white cup. He walked past her friends as if they weren’t even there and put the cup in front of her. Then, he dropped a kiss on her shocked lips before whispering in her ear, “It’s decaf . . . just in case.” When she continued to sit there, staring at him dumbly, he tapped her chin. “See you tonight? I’ll make dinner.” Without waiting for a reply, which she seemed unable to give, he straightened and nodded to Crystal and Mia as he walked past. “Ladies . . . have a good day.” With that, he was gone and Gwen would have thought that she had imagined the whole thing if not for the cup of coffee sitting in front of her.

“Wait. . . . Did that just happen?” Mia asked looking shell-shocked.

Fanning herself, Crystal said, “Well, if the orgasm I just had is any indication, then hell, yeah, it did. Gwen Day, I hate you!”

Gwen felt the urge to kick herself. It wasn’t as if it were the first time that a man had brought her coffee. Mac had done that in this very office before. But something about Dominic’s visit had felt so personal . . . so intimate. Even with her friends looking on it had been as if they were the only two people in the room. And dammit, he had even bought decaf on the outside chance that she was to get pregnant. That thought alone should have her freaking out, but strangely, it felt too good to have someone watching over her. He had even mentioned cooking dinner for her as if it was a foregone conclusion that they would be together that evening. When Crystal huffed loudly, Gwen focused on her friends and stated the obvious, “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“You don’t need to know right now, Gwen,” Mia added softly. “He came for you this morning. You didn’t have to wait around on pins and needles wondering if he’d call. He laid all of his cards on the table for you.”

“He looked at you like he was going to eat you right where you sit for breakfast. It was so hot, I was practically spitting fire watching you two.”

Gwen gave up all pretense of playing it cool and sagged against her chair. “Last night was amazing. I don’t know what I was expecting, but he was so far beyond even my wildest dreams. We . . . you know . . . for hours. Every time I thought I couldn’t last another moment, he proved me wrong. I—I thought it was just the one night, but now . . . I’m not so sure.”

“Oh, sister.” Crystal winked before walking over to put a hand on her shoulder. “It appears he’s thinking way beyond that. Now, do yourself a favor and lasso that stallion and have the ride of your life.”

Mia gave a thumbs up. “Yep, exactly what she said. You deserve someone who actually focuses all of his attention on your needs, and I think he’s just the man for the job. It didn’t bother him at all that we were standing here. He homed in on you immediately and didn’t let anything distract him from his goal. Tonight, march right over to his place and take him up on his dinner offer.”

“And dessert.” Crystal grinned. “It’s always good to take a gift, so stop and pick up a can of Cool Whip on the way home.”

Gwen laughed with her friends and felt as giddy as a teenager before her first date. Somehow Dominic made her want to be that carefree again. She longed to go back to the days when she hadn’t been disappointed and let down by every man she dated. Why did she always have to be the one in the relationship willing to give everything to make it work while the other person just treaded water until something or someone better came along? For once, she wanted to be number one. It wasn’t as if she needed to be worshipped twenty-four/seven, but dammit, was it too much to ask for a man to just want to make her happy? She wanted to come home at the end of the day and feel like she’d actually been missed while she was away. In the past, she mostly came home to an empty apartment and a lot of excuses.