She had just put her purse away and was checking her e-mail when someone tapped on her door before swinging it open. Crystal walked into her office and leaned against the corner of her desk while Mia followed, closing the door behind her. They both had identical, expectant looks on their faces. Gwen decided to sit quietly and see who broke first. Finally, Crystal blurted out, “Well?”

“Well, what?” Gwen asked as she pretended to study her computer intently.

Mia tried her hand next. “So . . . er . . . did you do it?”

By this point, Gwen was fighting hard not to laugh as she said, “Do what?” in a bored tone.

“Hell’s bells, Gwen!” Crystal snapped. “Did you get laid or not?”

“Way to blurt it right out there, Crys.” Mia rolled her eyes. Pointing to Gwen, she said, “Look at her—of course she did. I’ve never seen her looking this relaxed.”

Crystal had just opened her mouth to make a comment when there was another knock at the door. “Yes,” Gwen called out, wondering who else could possibly be dropping by this early. Most of her coworkers tended to hole up in their offices with cup after cup of coffee until at least noon.

Gwen almost swallowed her tongue when Dominic strolled in looking like sex-on-a-very-big-stick. He gave her an intimate smile that had her panties melting. “Hey babe, I know you were running late this morning so I thought you might not have had time to stop for coffee.” He lifted his hand, holding up a white cup. He walked past her friends as if they weren’t even there and put the cup in front of her. Then, he dropped a kiss on her shocked lips before whispering in her ear, “It’s decaf . . . just in case.” When she continued to sit there, staring at him dumbly, he tapped her chin. “See you tonight? I’ll make dinner.” Without waiting for a reply, which she seemed unable to give, he straightened and nodded to Crystal and Mia as he walked past. “Ladies . . . have a good day.” With that, he was gone and Gwen would have thought that she had imagined the whole thing if not for the cup of coffee sitting in front of her.

“Wait. . . . Did that just happen?” Mia asked looking shell-shocked.

Fanning herself, Crystal said, “Well, if the orgasm I just had is any indication, then hell, yeah, it did. Gwen Day, I hate you!”

Gwen felt the urge to kick herself. It wasn’t as if it were the first time that a man had brought her coffee. Mac had done that in this very office before. But something about Dominic’s visit had felt so personal . . . so intimate. Even with her friends looking on it had been as if they were the only two people in the room. And dammit, he had even bought decaf on the outside chance that she was to get pregnant. That thought alone should have her freaking out, but strangely, it felt too good to have someone watching over her. He had even mentioned cooking dinner for her as if it was a foregone conclusion that they would be together that evening. When Crystal huffed loudly, Gwen focused on her friends and stated the obvious, “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“You don’t need to know right now, Gwen,” Mia added softly. “He came for you this morning. You didn’t have to wait around on pins and needles wondering if he’d call. He laid all of his cards on the table for you.”

“He looked at you like he was going to eat you right where you sit for breakfast. It was so hot, I was practically spitting fire watching you two.”

Gwen gave up all pretense of playing it cool and sagged against her chair. “Last night was amazing. I don’t know what I was expecting, but he was so far beyond even my wildest dreams. We . . . you know . . . for hours. Every time I thought I couldn’t last another moment, he proved me wrong. I—I thought it was just the one night, but now . . . I’m not so sure.”

“Oh, sister.” Crystal winked before walking over to put a hand on her shoulder. “It appears he’s thinking way beyond that. Now, do yourself a favor and lasso that stallion and have the ride of your life.”

Mia gave a thumbs up. “Yep, exactly what she said. You deserve someone who actually focuses all of his attention on your needs, and I think he’s just the man for the job. It didn’t bother him at all that we were standing here. He homed in on you immediately and didn’t let anything distract him from his goal. Tonight, march right over to his place and take him up on his dinner offer.”

“And dessert.” Crystal grinned. “It’s always good to take a gift, so stop and pick up a can of Cool Whip on the way home.”

Gwen laughed with her friends and felt as giddy as a teenager before her first date. Somehow Dominic made her want to be that carefree again. She longed to go back to the days when she hadn’t been disappointed and let down by every man she dated. Why did she always have to be the one in the relationship willing to give everything to make it work while the other person just treaded water until something or someone better came along? For once, she wanted to be number one. It wasn’t as if she needed to be worshipped twenty-four/seven, but dammit, was it too much to ask for a man to just want to make her happy? She wanted to come home at the end of the day and feel like she’d actually been missed while she was away. In the past, she mostly came home to an empty apartment and a lot of excuses.

Mac had been one of her better dating experiences until the last few weeks of their time together. After that, the pattern had become all too familiar—knowing there was something going on, but wanting to believe that it was just her imagination. God, she had grown to hate those alarm bells that inevitably went off in all of her relationships. The warning bells that told her she was hanging on to a sinking ship and no amount of paddling would ever make it right again.