Swink (Landry Family 5)

Dom smiles. “And that’s all okay with you? If I can get this fixed, I would like to know, for both of us, that we’re solid here.”

Dad pats him on the back, taking Dom by surprise. “You know what?”

“What?”

“I like you. It took a lot of balls to come in here and say what you said. Whether Camilla takes you back or not, that’s up to her. And make no mistake about it, I will always side with my baby girl.”

“Yes, sir.”

“But I do like you. Ford was talking to me yesterday about maybe hiring you on at Landry Security. I think you’d be a good fit.”

I look at Ford who smiles sheepishly back at me. “What’s Dad talking about?” I ask Sienna.

“I guess Ford offered Dom a job.”

“He did what?”

Ford bites his lip and watches me warily.

“So they didn’t tell you Ford and Graham went to the fight . . .” She makes a face and scoots away from me.

Ford now looks away, a mischievous smile on his face. Graham won’t look at me either, but my anger evaporates when Dominic is suddenly standing in front of me. He holds out his large, calloused hand.

“Want to take a walk?”

Looking up at his handsome face, I see the man I’ve been falling in love with for months, even if I was scared to admit it to myself. And seeing him here, after everything, is enough to make me fall in love all over again.

“Yes, please.”

Camilla

THE SUN IS BRIGHT ON my face as we take the path off the side of the house and head towards the tree line. My hand is tucked in Dom’s and he’s holding it like it’s his lifeline.

“There’s a picnic table just beyond those trees,” I say. “We can sit there.”

“Okay.”

We walk quietly until we’re through the trees and at the little wooden table. It has all of our initials carved in it. I sit on one side, Dom sits on the other.

“How do you feel?”

“Better today. How are you?”

“Sad.”

He runs his hands down his face. “Cam, I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorr—”

“No, baby, listen to me. I’m sorry. For a lot of things.”

“I went and was told not to. I see why now. I got you hurt. That’s really hard to live with.”

“Let’s forget about that night, okay? If we’re going back with twenty-twenty vision, I shouldn’t have fought. I was hurt as fuck to start with and was being hard-headed about doing it. It was like I was proving to myself I could. I don’t know. It was stupid.”

“It was stupid.”

He takes my hand and holds it in the center of the table. “Fact of the matter is this: I shouldn’t have pushed you away like I did. I was mad. Maybe that was valid. But . . . I’ve never had someone treat me like you do. With respect. With loyalty. You showing up there to support me just blew my mind. I thought I could tell you to stay home and you would. No one has ever cared about me like that.”