Her heart expanded as she watched him. Dominick looked like a big kid himself as he played all the interactive games in the store, tossed sponge footballs and exclaimed over some toy he’d had when he was a kid. She had explained the reason for their trip to an attentive salesclerk, who spoke to the manager and offered to deliver any toys that Dominick purchased to the charity.
“Isn’t this place great?” Dominick asked her, his arms wide. “Let’s start shopping, Vee.”
“Do you have a budget?” she asked, ever conscientious about spending someone else’s money.
He sobered slightly, then tugged on her ponytail. “Not when it’s for something so special.” He picked a doggie chew toy from a nearby shelf and offered it to Winslow. The Pekingese sniffed the toy suspiciously, then took it into his mouth.
It was a side of Dominick Violet had never seen before. In that moment, she loved him so much, her chest hurt.
* * *
DOMINICK FELT ridiculously pleased when the ugly little dog took the chew toy without snapping his hand off. But it was nothing compared to the feeling that swelled in his chest when he looked at Vee. Over the year that she’d worked for him, he’d learned to trust her judgment and her integrity. But since arriving in Miami, he’d seen a different side of her—a sexy, daring side.
Together, it was a powerful package.
They walked around the store and, using the needs spelled out in the newspaper article as her guide, she pointed out age-appropriate gifts, working out quantity details with the salesclerk. Dolls, trucks, books and games of every sort were removed from shelves and stacked into carts as they went along. Violet handled everything methodically and efficiently, with a warmth and sense of kindness that, strangely, fueled his lust for her even higher.
And when an alien voice in his head whispered that perhaps what he felt for her was more than lust, he dismissed it as holiday sentimentality.
And later, when they left the store and Violet took the time to have Winslow’s picture taken with Santa and Dominick experienced that recurring pressure in his chest, he dismissed it as holiday sentimentality.
And finally, when they discovered a temporary ice skating rink that had been set up indoors for Christmas and she turned a glorious smile his way, Dominick rubbed his breastbone and started thinking he was experiencing a cardiac incident.
“Let’s go skating!” she cried.
He balked. “Um…I don’t know how.”
Her eyes widened, then she grinned. “I’ll teach you.”
He started to protest. The idea of hobbling around on blades, losing his balance and landing on his backside on a sheet of cold, hard ice didn’t rank high on his life list. Doing all of those things in front of Violet held even less appeal.
But her eyes were so big and luminous, how could he refuse her? Besides, she had learned to bungee jump, paraglide and ride on a zip line, all at his urging, so he owed her one.
At least one.
“Okay,” he said, relenting. They rented skates and fastened Winslow’s leash to the outer railing. Then she gave him a minilesson, teaching him how to balance, how to start out by walking on the ice to get the feel of it.
“Lean on your left foot, then push out diagonally with your right foot.” She demonstrated, making it seem easy as she glided along, looking impossibly sexy in her prim black suit and white ice skates. She was an enigma, this naive young woman in a grownup body, so mature in some ways, so innocent in other ways.
She laughed and skated circles around him, obviously delighting in his awkward antics. He leaned forward, then backward, then flailed like a windmill before falling spectacularly and landing on his back.
Her lovely face appeared over his, her ponytail hanging down. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “But I’d rather jump out of a plane.”
She laughed and put out her arm to help him to his feet. He was surprised that she could counter his weight and still maintain her balance. Once he was stabilized, she stood in front of him and held his hands, then began to skate backward slowly, pulling him along.
“Bend your knees,” she said. “Relax.”
“I’m trying,” he said, thinking that her hands were as soft as the cashmere robe he’d bought the other day. “Where did you learn to skate?”
“My grandfather taught me. He grew up in Wisconsin, so he skated and played hockey.” She smiled. “He was pretty good.”
Her cheeks were pink from the exertion, her freckles prominent. “So are you,” he said.
She shook her head. “Not really. But my grandfather always took me skating at Christmastime.”
He smiled. “So tell me about this magical Christmas you always dreamed of.”
“We’d have a tree with lots of ornaments, carols, gifts and…snow.”
He raised his eyebrows. “In Atlanta?”
She shrugged. “A girl can dream.”
Violet had a fanciful imagination, but she seemed to keep a lid on her dreams. Maybe because she’d always been disappointed?
“I’ll let you in on a secret,” he murmured.
“What?”
“Santa’s bringing you a gift.”
“Oh, you have a direct line to Santa?”
He grinned. “I’m his secret shopper.”
Her eyebrows went up. “You don’t shop, not even for your girlfriends,” she protested. Then she blanched. “I mean…I wasn’t implying…that I’m your girlfriend. I meant the other women in your…life.”
Dominick fought a belly laugh, watching Vee squirm over semantics. “Just for the record, I don’t have a girlfriend. And you’re right—I don’t shop…usually. But I made an exception for you.”
Her eyes lit with interest before she turned wary. “What is it?”
“I can’t tell you,” he said, feeling mischievous. “And no peeking.”
“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “In that case…”
She let go of his hands. He reached for her, but she skated away from him, in front of him, doing little turns and maneuvers that always kept her just out of reach. It gave him a taste of what it was like not to have Violet…and it left him feeling empty.
He lost his balance and landed smack on his back again. He lay there and groaned, but the hard landing must have knocked some sense into him, because he decided one thing: despite what Vee had written in that letter about boring places to have sex, the one thing he didn’t want empty tonight was his bed.
16
VIOLET COULDN’T HAVE imagined a more wondrous Christmas Eve—watching Dominick buying all those toys, knowing that so many underprivileged children would wake up with something special tomorrow morning, going ice skating and laughing at his good-natured attempts to learn, then sharing a romantic meal together. Even Winslow had warmed toward Dominick, lying with his head on Dominick’s foot during dinner at an outside café.
Her feelings toward Dominick were running full tilt. Everything he did, everything he said, reinforced her desire to be with him. And after today, after the way he’d looked into her eyes, she was even starting to think…starting to hope…
Well, a girl could dream, couldn’t she?
He said he didn’t have a girlfriend. And he’d bought her a Christmas gift, after all—which was more than her parents had done.
When they returned to the hotel suite, her mood was buoyant and her heart was pounding. When the door closed behind them, Dominick kissed her in the entryway, a thorough exploration of her mouth that took her breath away. Then he cupped her face.
“Stay with me tonight, Vee.”
In his room…in his bed. She knew if she did, she wouldn’t be able to hide her feelings for him afterward, wouldn’t be able to pretend that she was cool with a sex-only relationship, with an occasional booty-call.
But she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life kicking herself for not jumping at this opportunity to find a way out of herself, no matter how remote the possibility that Dominick felt the same way about her. And she didn’t want to wake up Christmas morning all alone.
She nodded against his hand, and was rewarded by the desire that flared in his eyes. When Winslow barked at their feet to remind them of his presence, she excused herself to settle him into her room. Once there, Violet stared at herself in the mirror, marveling at how much she’d changed since she’d arrived in Miami. And it was all because of Dominick.
In hindsight, maybe underneath the relentless teasing, maybe he’d been attracted to her all along, just as she’d been holding a torch for him. Why else would he have invited her to Miami for Christmas instead of one of his women friends? He might have hoped that she’d sleep with him, but he couldn’t have known for sure. The other girls would’ve been safer bets. And any of them would’ve been more gung ho about the extreme sports classes than she’d been.
Violet pulled out a turquoise-colored silk teddy and black panties from the handful of lingerie that she’d grabbed before she’d left, then released her ponytail and arranged her hair around her shoulders. Violet nodded at her reflection. Yes, Dominick had to have feelings for her. She couldn’t have misread his cues all day…all week…
Violet smiled. “Merry Christmas to me,” she whispered.