Through the Fire (9 page)

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.

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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.

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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.

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“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.”

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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. ”

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“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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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