Dominic (Made Men 8)

Maria nodded her head. “One.”

Dominic stopped his lips from coming any closer.

Okay … “Two.”

His lips went slightly closer but not close enough.

Final answer … “Three.”

Again, just a little bit closer, but his lips hadn’t yet touched hers.

“Fine!” she grumbled, giving in. “Four.”

Winning, Dominic’s lips finally fell on hers in a kiss that had Maria’s breath disappear, despite having fucked the man all night.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Matthias came back over, breaking up their kiss rather rudely. “But what happens when we fucking find out there really are damn ghosts in there and that Blue Manor actually is fucking haunted?”

“Well”—Maria turned back around to look at the manor that her gut had told her to buy ever since she had first seen it—“we’re not going in to find the money; we’re going in to make a home.”

Epilogue

The Call

The cherry blossoms were at the height of their beauty. Sitting on a bench, a blossom fell onto her lap, already beginning to die.

Taking out her cell phone, Maria dialed a number that she was never going to dial again ….

“This is Kayne Evans. Leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

Beep.

Listening to her ghost for the final time, it no longer brought any feelings of missed chances, regret, rage, or grief.

Nothing was there anymore.

“It’s been a while,” Maria began. “I came to see the cherry blossoms. It’s beautiful, Kayne. I remembered the day I came here with you one year ago, and you told me there was a lot about you I didn’t know. Not only did you deceive me …

“You deceived Leo.

“You deceived Nero, Elle, Chloe … every student you had into believing you were a good person.

“I put my heart on the line and thought you were worth giving everything for …

“When you went out for that jog, I fell back asleep, planning a future with you. It was a future that would have lasted as long as the cherry blossoms do, because none of the time I spent with you was real. Even if you hadn’t been a cop and just been a teacher, it wouldn’t have lasted.

“You told me you loved me. There wasn’t any more truth to that than any other lie you told me. I was a coldhearted bitch, yet I believed you. At least I wasn’t the only woman who’d been taken in by that lie. Bristol believed you, too, didn’t she? How many others were there who believed in your lies? At least you won’t be around to spread your lies any longer. At least your son will never be hurt by you or your lies.

“Your love was as fragile as the cherry blossoms and lasted just as long. What I have with Dominic will last years, growing through the seasons and, year by year, grow stronger. That’s real love, Kayne … and not what I had with you.

“When I hang up, I’m deleting your number. I don’t need to call anymore. I don’t even have the regret of thinking I loved you. That’s how little I care about you and how much I love Dom.”

Taking a breath, she finally said the last words as she let her ghost go. “Good-bye, Kayne.”

Dominic stood under a cherry blossom tree far behind his wife. He watched her sitting on the bench.

Hearing the ding, he pulled the cracked phone out of his jacket pocket, seeing the call and voicemail.

He brought it because he knew Maria would call, knowing she and Kayne had visited here one year ago. She hadn’t called Kayne’s phone in so long, and he feared what she might say.

Holding the phone in his hand, he finally let it go ….

As the phone fell in the trash can, he walked to his wife and sat down beside her.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Maria said as the blossoms showered down on them.

He placed his hand on her … “It is.”

“I love you … so much,” she whispered, placing her hands over his tatted one that rested on her expectant belly, tears brimming her emerald eyes as she stared at her name written in beautiful cursive letters on his neck.

Dominic didn’t need to listen to the message, because the wind that carried the cherry blossoms had whispered it to his soul.

“I love you, too, princess.”

Epilogue

Daddy

Dominic held the little hand in his as they entered the school and pretended to be strong.

“Daddy ….”

Feeling his hand tugged down when they grew nearer to the classroom that he once sent Katarina off to, he bent down to look in his daughter’s eyes.

“Do I have to go?”

As badly as he didn’t want her to go to kindergarten, he had to. “Yes, you do, my angel.”

She looked at the classroom with her little dimpled cheeks. It was full of kids, already running around.

Dominic turned her cheek with a soft finger. “What is it?”