Dominic had met Brett's family several times over the years, including his sister Monica and her on-again-off-again girlfriend, Leslie. If he remembered correctly, Zia's only relative was her estranged mother, who wouldn't be attending the wedding.
"Simple and elegant. That's what we've planned," Zia tossed over her shoulder.
Forty-five minutes later, everyone knew their parts, and it was time to head to the restaurant for dinner.
The church scene had gone far better than Dominic imagined, and by the time they stepped outside, he felt confident Lily had no hard feelings.
Lily pulled out her keys.
Zia turned toward Dominic. "Would you mind riding with Lily? She doesn't know where the restaurant is. I'd like to sneak in fifteen minutes with Brett before all the insanity swoops in."
"Sure." The idea was horrible. Alone? In a quiet car? With the woman he'd fucked in his bathroom and never bothered to call? He couldn't think of a worse idea. Maybe she'd been civil for the last hour, but there was no telling what she might say if she had the chance.
Zia grabbed Brett's arm and skipped off toward his car.
Lily nodded toward a cute silver sports car near the front of the church. A Lexus. A nice one. He was impressed.
She popped the locks as they got closer, and he wrapped his hand around hers to take the keys from her. "I'll drive."
"What?" She stopped walking, her mouth hanging open. "Why? You don't like to ride shotgun?"
"Nope." He stepped to the passenger door and opened it for her, and then he took her hand to help her inside. With a deep breath, he rounded to the driver's door and opened it. He had to lean down and push the button to ease the seat back about a foot before he would be able to fold himself into her car.
Dominic situated himself, further adjusting his seat, and then he reached across Lily's small frame to yank the seatbelt over her body and secure it. "Are you always this controlling?"
"Yes." He started the engine, and it purred to life. "But you knew that."
She pursed her lips, took a deep breath, and turned to stare out the window.
"Besides, I'm the one who knows where we're going. And I wouldn't want you to drive distracted."
She faced him again. "Why the hell would I be distracted?"
He winked. "Women always are."
"You're so cocky."
He pulled out of the spot and revved the engine before heading for the street. As soon as he turned out of the lot, he glanced at her.
She was turned on. Damn. His chest pounded.
Either that or she wanted to take a swing at him.
He was good with either one, as long as the thickness in the air from the standoff came to a halt. So he went for it. Why not? "Stop fidgeting."
She shot him another glare. "I'm not fidgeting."
"You are. You can't keep your sexy ass still, your hands are fisting the material of your skirt enough to wrinkle it, and I've got no doubt if I reached between your legs I'd find out the source of your anxiety."
She gasped. "I take back what I said. You aren't just cocky. You're the cockiest bastard I've ever met."
"That may be, but you're turned on by it, so it can't be all bad."
"If you think we're going to have a repeat performance from the last time we met, forget it."
"Why? It was hot. You liked it. I liked it. Why not do it again?"
"My self-esteem is too high for another bathroom fuck."
"Ah. So now we get to the bottom of it. You're pissed."
"Nope. Never said anything of the sort. Like you said, we had a fantastic fuck, and then we both walked away. What's there to be pissed about?"
He shot her a glance. She had crossed one leg over the other and was rubbing them together. Her fingers no longer fisted the material of her skirt, but she rubbed the hem between her thumbs and pointers. "I should have called."
"I could have called."
"True. But I should have called."
Silence reigned for several long minutes. And then Dominic took a turn into a vacant parking lot that ironically belonged to another church. It was dark out. And it was a Tuesday. No one was there.
"What are you doing? This isn't a restaurant."
He put the car in park and twisted his bulky body enough to look at her. "I'm sorry."
"You don't need to be. It's fine. Water under the bridge. Let's forget it happened and go have dinner." She squeezed her legs together.
"Is that what you want? Really? You want to pretend we aren't still attracted to each other and walk away? Because that idea sucks for me."