Without her head moving, Adele's eyes opened slowly. As her eyes focused on his face her mouth twitched then grew into a full-blown smile that reached her eyes. He felt his heart swell; her beautiful brown eyes sparkled with happiness to see him. He felt like he was a mile high at the fact that his presence alone could make her instantly so happy.
"To what do I owe this pleasure Dominic?" she asked sweetly, her voice only giving away a hint of how tired she must be.
"Well, I thought I could take you out to dinner to celebrate your surviving your first week here. I know how by the end of the week, cooking just isn't high on anyone's list of priorities. What do you say? Want to join me for a bite to eat?" Dominic was surprised at how confident and strong his voice sounded as he did not feel either of those things. The way Adele's gaze softened made him think she'd read his fear that she would again reject him.
"I see that look in your eyes, Dominic. I'm not going to get out of it no matter what I say, am I?" Adele spoke softly with a little humor in her voice. He loved that even tired, she let her sense of humor shine through.
"Well, I wasn't planning on hog-tying you and dragging you along if you didn't want to come...but yeah, I really want to have dinner with you, get to know you better."
He followed that comment up with his lop sided grin, the one he knew melted her will to fight him.
"C'mon Dominic, I was just about to leave anyway, so lets go have some dinner."
He waited by the door for her to finish packing up, grab her bag and head toward him. He couldn't resist the temptation of placing his hand on her lower back to guide her out the building to the car park. He loved how his touch made her shiver slightly as she felt the connection between them. He could feel the sparks all the way up his arm.
~ * ~
Adele glanced over at Dominic as he guided her over to a small table in a quiet back corner. She suspected he'd planned this out, arranged this table to be left vacant. How sweet was that? On a Friday night most places would get too rowdy to be able to carry on a conversation. This out of the way table would stay fairly quiet she imagined. She sat in the chair that Dominic held out for her before tucking her bag under the table. She watched Dominic as he smoothly lowered his large frame into the seat opposite her. He caught her watching and gave her a cheeky grin and a wink. She quickly lowered her eyes to her hands resting on the table as she blushed at getting busted checking him out. Silently she repeated her mantra 'I do not need a man' over and over in her head. Maybe if she said it often enough she might believe it because it hadn't even been a full week and she was struggling to stay away from him. For some reason she just melted whenever he was near her. The effect his voice had on her was lethal. How strange she'd never felt like this around any other man before in her whole life.
Dominic rapped his knuckles quickly on the table, as if he'd known he'd lost her.
"Sorry, Dominic, I was a million miles away. Did you say something?"
"No, beautiful, I was just pulling you back to me and away from where ever your mind just went."
"Oh, yeah, when I'm tired I tend to vague out a bit, sorry. How about we grab some drinks?"
"I think since it's the end of the week and all, we should splash out. Would you like some wine, Adele?"
Adele looked up into his face as her mind finished the climb out of the hole it'd fallen in.
"The end of this week definitely deserves a splash out. But I have a confession; I've never really drunk wine before. Could you pick something for me? Only if you don't mind."
"I don't mind one bit Adele, be my pleasure to introduce you to one of the finer things in life."
Adele contemplated the look on Dominic's face. He looked like he was proud to be able to select her drink. He seemed so possessive around her; she would have thought she'd hate it. But she loved it, adored how she felt claimed when she was with him. She mentally shook her head at herself...she did not need a man and most certainly didn't need to be claimed by one.
While Dominic headed to the bar, Adele took her jacket off, slung it over the back of her chair and settled in. She closed her eyes for a moment to rest them...she was definitely going to sleep well tonight. She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. She couldn't believe how much more draining full time work was compared to University had been.
"Are you okay, beautiful?" Dominic asked as he set her drink down in front of her. He ran his hand up her arm, over her shoulder and left it in a possessive grip on the back of her neck for a few moments before he dropped it away and moved over to his seat.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just worn out is all. I only finished Uni last year, so this is my first full time job--I think it's going to take me a bit to get used to the hours."