“Have you thought that you may have to completely cut your mother from your life until something changes?” Gwen asked hesitantly. She felt wrong about suggesting something so drastic to her friend, but it pissed her off that a mother would speak to her child in the way that she did. It wasn’t as if Gwen’s own parents were calling and professing their love every day, but they’d always been supportive of her choices, saying that even making mistakes was a part of life. In fact, she’d never appreciated them more than she did at this moment.

“I kept thinking that when enough time had passed, she’d accept that I wasn’t going back to Bill. I’ve tried to show her when she visits that I like the life I have now. I’ve even tried to talk to Daddy about it when she wasn’t around, but that’s basically useless. He knows that she’s wrong, but there is no way he’s going to bring her full attention down onto him. He just says the same crap about ‘you know how your mother is.’ Well, duh, we all know how she is, but that doesn’t excuse her.”

“Honey, I think you need to talk to Ella,” Gwen suggested. “You know that Mia and I are both here for you, but Ella is your sister. She knows your mother better than we do and might have some suggestions. She would also want to be there to support you in whatever decision you make—don’t you think?”

Crystal wiped the moisture from her eyes, and Gwen was relieved to see that she looked better. “You’re right,” Crystal admitted. “She would want to know. She’ll probably be really pissed that I haven’t told her how bad it’s gotten. She doesn’t like being left out of the loop for her own good. Poor Declan has caught a lot of hell for trying to do that even though he meant well. My sister is the quiet, shy one, but when she’s really angry, you had better run.”

When Crystal stood, Gwen followed her lead. “Want to go down to the lobby for coffee before the day starts?” she asked, thinking she could surprise Dominic with a cup. Since she’d already run into Mac this morning, there wasn’t much reason to keep avoiding the East Coast office. Dominic was always taking care of her and just this once, she’d like to give him a little of that back. She’d have to work through lunch to make up for her conversation with Crystal and her coffee delivery, but she was sure it would be worth it.

*   *   *

Dominic was on his way to pick up Gwen’s coffee when he met Gage outside of the office. Looking down at his watch, he raised a brow at the other man. “Need a little extra sleep this morning or were you researching more chick products?”

“I knew that conversation was going to come back to bite me in the ass,” Gage grumbled as he gave Dominic a dirty look. “No doubt you’ve already told Mac and anyone else in the vicinity all about it.”

“Nope,” Dominic smirked, “but the day’s still young, my friend.”

Shaking his head, Gage asked, “How are you so chirpy this morning? You couldn’t have gotten any more sleep than I did. Ohhh, wait. Let me guess. You had a certain hot, little redhead to get you going this morning.”

Dominic didn’t bother telling him that he’d seen Gwen only when he got to the office. Torturing his friend was far too amusing. “Awww, what’s the matter, buddy? No one working the corner near your house this morning?” Lowering his voice to make sure he wasn’t overheard, he added, “I hope you’re triple bagging it. They’ve been known to fall off before.”

Dominic wanted to laugh when Gage unconsciously readjusted himself as if checking to make sure his dick was still there. Giving him an evil grin, Gage said, “So, did you ask Gwen when she’ll know if she’s pregnant? You know Kandi probably won’t wait for you forever and you don’t want to lose such a talented woman do you?”

Even though he wanted to cringe at the thought of the ex-stripper he’d gone out with for a while, he refused to give Gage the satisfaction. Instead, in a voice so sincere that he was proud of himself, he said, “She promised to give me a couple more weeks. She’s it for me man, the woman of my dreams.”

There was complete silence for all of twenty seconds as Gage stared him down before bursting into laughter. “Stop screwing with me before I’ve had my coffee.”

*   *   *

Gwen locked herself in the bathroom, dropping the two cups of coffee that she was carrying in the sink. She had just turned the corner to Dominic’s office, when she’d spotted him standing a few feet away talking to Gage. Not wanting to interrupt, she’d stepped back and stayed out of sight as Dominic had teased his friend. The smile that had been on her face had quickly slid away though when she’d heard Gage say her name. The conversation that had followed had been the all too familiar story of her life—with the exception of a possible pregnancy. Apparently, yet another man in her dating life was bored with her and ready to move on to greener pastures.

Why had she let herself begin to believe that they had something more between them? What had she been thinking? A man who looked like Dominic would always get plenty of attention from women. Not only was he handsome and sexy, but he was also charming and kind. And dear heaven, if a woman was lucky enough to discover how talented he was in the bedroom, then she would likely sell her very soul to keep him. What made her think that she could compete?

Dammit, he had led her to believe that he was just as interested in her as she was in him. Okay, maybe she had been the one to initiate sex, but after that, it had been all him. He’d turned into Mr. Wonderful, and she had fallen for it. Now she was convinced there wasn’t a woman around who could hold out when Dominic Brady turned his full attention on them. The ass! This was all his fault. Why couldn’t he have left her alone? So what if they had a condom mishap. He could have told her to call if there were any issues and left it at that. Nooo, he had to continue sexing her up at every opportunity and making her believe that he genuinely cared about her. She was well and truly tired of being treated like she didn’t matter. Maybe the best thing to come out of the overheard conversation this morning was that she could now turn the tables and be one step ahead. She would be the dumper this time and not the dumpee.