Dominic’s hands stalled in the process of opening the fried rice. He knew a brush-off when he heard one and apparently they were right back to that again. Well, he’d be damned if he was going anywhere before he knew what was going on with her. “Nah, that’s okay, babe. I’m fine with anything you want to watch. We can take our cartons to the coffee table and eat while we watch your movie.”

“But, you don’t even know what it is,” she blurted out, looking more than a little rattled.

“Doesn’t matter, baby. I don’t have to be in control all of the time. If you have something you want to watch, then that’s what we’ll do. I like most anything.” She wrinkled her nose up in a way that told him that she was stumped as to what to do next. He just ignored her plight and started taking their food to the coffee table. “Can you bring some drinks with you, babe?” he called over his shoulder. He was a little concerned about her sudden change in behavior, but he was also amused over her less than subtle attempts to get rid of him. She really should have figured out by now that he was more than a match for her in the stubborn category.

A few moments later, she settled next to him on the floor. Without a word, she picked up the television remote and flipped to one of the women’s channels. He managed to choke back a groan. He wouldn’t give her the pleasure of knowing that his hair was officially standing up. No self-respecting man watched that shit. As luck would have it, the movie was just starting so he was in for two hours of something called Monster-in-Law. “I just love this movie,” Gwen enthused from next to him.

“If you’ve already seen it before, maybe we should watch something new,” he suggested, hoping to God that she would agree.

When she turned those big eyes on him, he knew he was screwed. He’d do anything she wanted when she looked at him like that. “Or we can watch it,” he relented. “I mean there are probably parts you missed when you watched it before.”

“You’re right,” Gwen said around a mouthful of Kung Pao chicken. “I must have seen this like fifty times, and I always catch something new.”

Fifty times? What the fuck? Dominic looked down at his can of Diet Coke and knew he was going to need something stronger. “Baby, I’m going to run to my place and get a couple of beers.”

As he stood to leave, Gwen pulled her eyes from the movie and said, “I bought some for you at the market the other day. They’re in the refrigerator.” She seemed to wince as the words left her mouth as if she’d said the wrong thing to admit that she’d been thinking of him. What was going on with her? Maybe she was having a bad case of PMS, which would pretty much answer his question about the baby possibility. Before they went to bed tonight, if she let him stay, he’d ask her. Not the PMS question because he valued his nuts, but if she’d taken a test. If Gage was right, then she might know by now.

He walked back over to drop a kiss on the top of her head. “Thank you, baby, I appreciate that.” Truer words were never spoken, he thought as he twisted the top off his Heineken. Hell, maybe he should have brought the whole six-pack back to the table. It appeared that Gwen was already ticked at him over something so looking like an alcoholic probably wasn’t going to hurt his case much more. “Hey, isn’t that Jennifer Lopez?” He pointed his chopsticks toward the television screen.

“Yep,” Gwen nodded, “and she’s going to get involved with Michael Vartan. Damn, he’s so hot.”

All right, this was getting just downright annoying. Now she was lusting after some guy on television? Hello, wasn’t he sitting right here? If she mentioned the guy’s ass next, he was turning the fucking movie off. He shook his head, thinking how absurd it sounded even to himself that he was jealous of an actor—one who wasn’t even that good-looking. Knowing it was petty, he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “I’ve always loved Jennifer Lopez.”

Not seeming the least bit perturbed, Gwen gave him a saucy grin, saying, “You just love her big butt. I think we’ve already established that as your favorite female body part.”

When his cock sprang to attention at her comment, it almost felt wrong to him. He shouldn’t be getting hard in the middle of a chick flick, should he? Wasn’t that the equivalent of cursing in church or something? As a man, he was supposed to feel only disdain when watching these kind of movies. It was technically not the movie causing the wood, though—it was thoughts of Gwen’s ass, bent over the very table they were eating on while he drove into her hard and fast. Yeah, so not what he should think when it was clear she didn’t have sex on the brain right now. “You have all of my favorite parts,” he joked as she returned her attention to the movie.

When the guy in the movie went jogging down the beach without a shirt, he could have sworn that he caught Gwen panting. He decided he officially hated this frigging movie and breathed a sigh of relief when the first commercial started—until it was a two-minute spiel about not letting your heavy flow keep you from enjoying your life. Immediately followed by something called Summer’s Eve for that “oh so fresh feeling.” Holy shit, he thought, Gage was right—these commercials were so informative that they were downright horrifying. He hadn’t realized that he was scowling until Gwen said in an amused voice, “You know, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

Leaning back against the couch, he made an effort to wipe all traces of unhappiness from his face. “This looks great, babe, and I’m learning so much. By the end of this movie, I’ll be able to hold my own in any feminine hygiene discussion. You’re really doing me a favor,” he added with a wink.