Authors: Serenity King
like an electrical charge that made every one of
her senses quiver. Didn’t he
know
that? But he
was still talking to Chad.
Chad glanced over at Felton, too. “Yeah,
seems he’s fixated on my sister.”
“Oh?” Brandon said in a voice that
spelled danger. He looked at Dominique.
Please, God, don’t let him do something
crazy.
“Chad exaggerates,” Dominique said.
“Felton was just being… Felton. A regular pain
in the behind, that’s all. I’m hungry. Let’s get
something to eat.”
“I’m hungry, too. Come on, honey,”
Alisha said to Tristan.
90
SERENITY KING
Dominique gave Alisha a silent thank
you. Somehow she had a feeling Alisha knew
something was going on and was acting as her
buffer. Thank God for good relatives.
“Tristan, can I have a word with you?”
she heard Brandon ask.
“Sure,”
Tristan
said,
somewhat
reluctantly. “Go ahead, Beauty,” he told his
wife. “I’ll be along in a minute.”
“Okay. Come on, Dominique, that’ll give
us a little time to play catch up,” Alisha said.
“I’m
right
behind
you,
cousin,”
Dominique said, then peeked at Brandon from
underneath her eyelashes.
What did he need to talk to Tristan
about? She wondered. She didn’t have time to
wonder long because everyone else left Tristan
and Brandon alone and followed her and Alisha
to where the food was.
“So, are you going to tell me what’s going
on between, you and Brandon?” Alisha
whispered to Dominique.
“There’s nothing to tell,” Dominique
whispered back.
“Yeah, right.” Alisha giggled.
“It’s complicated,” Dominique said softly.
Through the Fire
91
“When you’re ready to talk, I’m here” was
all Alisha said.
* * *
“What is it, Brandon?”
Brandon waited until everybody was out
of hearing range before he replied.
“Did
something
happen
between
Dominique and that guy before I got here?” he
asked quietly.
Tristan rolled his eyes. “You mean other
than the fact that he told all of us he’d slept
with Dominique last night?”
“What the hell? That lying bastard!” A
few people turned to stare as Brandon raised
his voice.
Tristan motioned his brother to calm
down. “Dominique said the guy was lying.
Apparently their fathers have been trying to get
them together for years. Neither Dominique
nor Chad seems to care for him much.” A
thought occurred. “Hey, wait a minute. How do
you know he’s lying, Brandon?”
“Because I do. Besides, Dominique’s not
that kind of person,” Brandon said, not meeting
Tristan’s gaze.
92
SERENITY KING
“You
know
this
from
personal
experience?” Tristan questioned.
“I know this because I’ve worked with her
before. She’s too classy for that asshole.”
“Hey I agree with you, but somebody
needs to tell that to him. Seems to me he’s
made up his mind that they’re going to be a
couple. I could tell that from one meeting with
him.”
“He can unmake-up his mind or I’ll damn
well do it for him. What’s his name?”
“Uh…Sheldon, I think. No, wait, it’s
Felton. I don’t have a last name, though. I’m
sure Domino would know it, or Chad. Or better
yet, ask Pop. I’m positive he’ll know. He and
Chad have been thick as thieves lately.”
“I know. Do you have any idea what the
hell it is he does for Pop?” Brandon asked.
“No clue. What’s going on between you
and Dominique? And before you lie to me, your
body language is giving you away. Not to
mention you blowing a fuse at the mention of
her father wanting her to get together with the
creep.”
Brandon shook his head and looked into
his brother’s eyes, “Always the agent, Tristan.”
Through the Fire
93
“No. I’m always your brother. I know you.
So spill it.”
Brandon sighed deeply. He’d wanted to
tell his brothers what was going on from the
beginning. He should have told them. They’d
always been close.
And therein was the problem. Once he
did confide in them, he’d have to deal with their
anger and hurt that he hadn’t been honest from
the beginning. “I can’t get into it now,” he said
evasively. “Tristan, can you do me a favor and
check this guy out for me?”
“I’ll get on it right away. Is something
going on that I should be worried about?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
“Okay,” Tristan said, admitting defeat.
“Another thing, I hate to ask this but
could you please not tell Alisha what’s going
on?”
“That will be very easy since I don’t have
a clue what’s going on,” Tristan snapped. “But I
won’t say anything about checking out this
Felton fellow, if that’s what you mean.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. I promise
to explain…soon. ”
94
SERENITY KING
“Make sure that you do. Well, seeing as
how I’m not going to get any more information
out of you now, I might as well go join my wife.
At least
she
talks to me.”
“Please, Tristan, we both know you’re
anxious to get back to Alisha. Me choosing to
maintain my privacy has nothing to do with it,”
Brandon snickered. “The way you two go at it
I’m surprised she’s not pregnant with twins by
now.”
“From your lips to God’s ears, brother,”
Tristan chuckled.
“Wait a minute. You want to have a
baby?”
Tristan blushed. “Well, yes. I’m not
getting any younger you know. Now all I have
to do is convince my wife. She refused to be
pregnant walking down the aisle with Diamond
and her anorexic model friends. Now that the
wedding is out of the way we can get started
again.”
Brandon stared at his brother. “Damn.
You’re serious aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. I think Beauty will make a
wonderful mother.”
Brandon could only shake his head at the
thought of his older brother wanting to have
Through the Fire
95
children. Before Alisha, Tristan had been a
hard man with no interest in what he called
“ankle biters”. Tristan’s love for his wife had
really changed him.
“I never thought I’d see the day,”
Brandon said. “Just goes to show you, love will
bring even the strongest man to his knees. Our
mother will be overjoyed at the thought of a
grandchild. I think she gave up on any of us
getting married, let alone having children.”
“Trust me. She’s made it known to Alisha
and me that she’s expecting a grandbaby from
us very soon. According to her, she wants to be
young enough to hold her grandchild,” Tristan
snorted. “Like anything short of death will keep
Sarah Cameron from holding her grandbaby.”
Brandon laughed. “You’re right about
that!”
Forgetting his brother, he swung his head
around as Dominique’s laughter filled the air.
She was standing on one side of the yard with
Alisha, Asia and Sinjin. Since everyone but
Sinjin was laughing, he’d probably cracked the
joke that everyone thought was so funny,
everyone except Asia. She was looking mighty
displeased with his brother. Damn. He wanted
96
SERENITY KING
to be the only one who could make Dominique
laugh like that.
“Man, you’ve got it bad,” Tristan laughed
Brandon mentally shook himself. “What
did you say?”
“I said you want that woman bad. Don’t
bother to deny it. I can tell by your body
language. What I don’t know is why you’re
keeping your feelings a secret. Unless it has
something to do with her family,” Tristan
added shrewdly. “But if you want Dominique
that bad, go get her and the hell with her father
and anybody else who objects.”
“If you only knew. If I didn’t think
Dominique would get royally pissed, I’d throw
her ass over my shoulder, march her right on
up out of here, take her to my hotel room, and
keep her in my bed until she couldn’t walk
straight.”
Tristan doubled over laughing.
“You’re laughing, but I’m
serious
,”
Brandon said heatedly.
Tristan was not a bit taken aback. “I know
you are. That’s why I’m laughing. People think
you’re the calm and collected one. If only they
could read your mind! Damn man, I guess that
Through the Fire
97
answers my question about what’s going on
between you and Dominique.”
Brandon’s lips twitched. He supposed it
was a
little
funny, at that.
“Come on brother, let’s go join them
before you do something that’ll mess up this
nice little party,” Tristan said, still chuckling as
they went to join the others.
“For sure, I would. Hey where’s
Domino?” Brandon asked.
“In his office. You know that man never
stops working. Besides I think his sister-in-
law’s father is working his last nerve,” Tristan
laughed.
Brandon laughed along with Tristan.
“Does Marcus know that Rafe and Domino are
brothers?” Brandon asked.
“He has no idea. I think Mr. Shaw might
be thinking about running for office,” Tristan
said. “Not sure, but that’s the buzz that’s been
going around.”
“Hmm, interesting,” Brandon replied.
CHAPTER FIVE
Dominique watched Brandon from
beneath her eyelashes. He seemed so relaxed
talking with his brothers. She needed to make
things right with him. He’d been so patient with
her, and she loved him all the more for it.
If only she weren’t starting a trial on a
criminal case the very next week. The attorney
that had been assigned had been in a car
accident. Dominique had been asked to take his
place at the last minute. The word “promotion”
was never used, but all the cues were there, and
at the time she hadn’t even thought about
saying no. Now she wished she had.
She could have packed a suitcase and
gone to stay with Brandon in New York for a
week or more. She needed a vacation. She
hadn’t taken one in a while. Working hard was
how she forgot her problems.
Dominique hadn’t realized it until this
weekend, but she’d also distanced herself from
her family as well. After the loss of the baby and
her relationship with Brandon fell apart, there
was so much pain she couldn’t share with them.
Through the Fire
99
That reminded her, she would be leaving
for home in the morning, and she wanted more
time with Brandon. She looked at her watch.
She’d been here for three hours. That was
enough. Besides, if she stayed any longer, she’d
probably lose her temper and tell her dad
where to get off.
Okay, enough lollygagging, I need to get
out of here and back to the hotel. First I need to
get Brandon’s attention. I don’t have his room
key and I am going to need it for what I’ve got
planned.
She was going to give him the night of his
life.
Grinning at her spur-of-the-moment
decision, Dominique took out her blackberry
and sent Brandon a text message: “
Hey baby!
I’m ready to go back to the hotel. I need your
room key
.”
Before she could think better of it, she hit
the send button.
She watched out of the corner of her eye
as Brandon frowned slightly and took out his
phone to look at the message. Then his face lit
up. He locked gazes with her for a moment then
he dropped his head and started texting back.
100
SERENITY KING
Dominique felt a rush of excitement go
through her at the dinging of her phone. She
opened the text.
“It’s like that is it?”
the
message said. He even included a smiley face.
“Yes,”
she texted back immediately
.
“I’ll call the front desk tell them to leave a
room key for my wife. Is that okay?”
Another