Love the Second Time Around Novel

| was surprised that Louis was already referring to Mitch by his first name.

Still, if anyone could get my brother out of this mess, it was most likely Mitch who had easily managed to get him

out on bail.

| returned to my room once Louis settled in his.

Having woken up early this morning as well, | was exhausted.

My anxiety of Louis keptrunning on overdrive the entire day. Now that things were starting to look up, the

tiredness had caught up to me, and my eyelids drooped dangerously.

| could not even be bothered to wash up and immediately lay starfished on the bed.

Just as | was about to enter dreamland, | heard a knock on the door. Thinking it was Louis, | opened the door

without asking who was outside.

Instead of my brother, Dominic was standing outside my door with two carrier bags in his hand.

He walked in like it was his own home.

| closed the door and asked, “Why are you here?”

“Benjamin bought sfood; I'm just the delivery guy,” he stated.

Once he placed the bags on the table, | sat down and got ready to dig in.

There were two containers in the bag. One held clam chowder and the other, a generous serving of sweet potato

casserole.

| blinked several times, pleasantly surprised that Benjamin had boughtsof my favorite foods.

The delicious aroma of the food tantalized my senses. | did not realize how hungry | had been until | took my first

bite of food.

| suddenly thought of Louis. Wondering if he had eaten anything, | stood up, about to head to his room with the

container of chowder.

“Hey, what are you doing? Can't you sit still while you're eating? What are you, a kid?” Dominic grabbed the

container from my hands and placed it back on the table.

—

“Your brother has his share. Just dig in.” He must have realized what | was thinking and mollifiedbefore |

needed to explain myself.

| enjoyed my food in peace after knowing that Louis had a share too.

Meanwhile, Dominic sat oppositeand crossed his legs, staring intently at me.

It would have been difficult to concentrate on eating if not for our intimate past.

Once | finished eating, | asked, “Have you eaten? You have gastric problems. Don’t starve yourself.”

My timing may have been a little late, but that did not invalidate my concern. Still, Dominic found fault with my

question.

“I don’t care for your faux concern. If you were truly worried, why didn’t you share your chowder with me?”

His statement silencedfor a moment, and | could only mumble, “My saliva is in it. Wouldn't you mind?”

“I don’t mind at all. I've tasted more than that, wouldn't you agree?” said Dominic provocatively as he scooted

closer to me.

| blushed furiously at his words.

| can’t let him stay here any longer. The memory of his words remained fresh in my mind. | would not be able to

resist his advances now that he was physically able again.

Clumsily, | stuffed the empty food containers into the bags and pushed them into his hand. In the next instant, |

was shoving him toward the door.

“Go back to your room. | want to get ssleep.”

Alas, | was no match for his strength. Dominic tossed the items into the trash can and draggedto the bed.

He pulleddown so that we were sitting side-by-side before pressinginto the bed with his weight.

“Dominic, don’t play around. My brother's still in a lot of trouble, and I'm not in the mood for any of this with

you,” | said seriously and tried to block him with my hands.

“Oh? So what you're saying is that you'll be in the mood once your brother's matters are settled?”

| choked at his inference, wishing I could grab those stupid words and stuff them back into my mouth.

Excuses tumbled out of my mouth carelessly. “No, no. I'll never be in the mood regardless of the state of his

affairs. We're not in a romantic relationship anymore, and we shouldn't engage in silly affairs.”

“Making love is a silly affair? And anyway, whoever cup with a rule that people should only sleep together if

they're in a relationship? I’m sure there are plenty of couples out there banging their way to happily-ever-after.”

The man’s confusing logic leftslack-jawed. | could not cup with a suitable retort.

Instead, | chose to keep quiet, deciding that the less | spoke, the fewer chances | had of putting my foot in my

mouth.

Hmm, that’s not right, though; he’ll take my silence as tacit agreement.

| deeply regretted my decision to let him into my room.

The two of us remained silent for a good long while. To his credit, he kept his hands to himself the entire time.

| whined, “You should head back. | got up at five this morning, and I'm exhausted. | barely got three hours of

sleep last night.”

“Sleep then. Can't sleep if I'm here?” Dominic raised a brow teasingly.

Resigned, | turned to the other side and brought the sheets up and over my head. Out of sight, out of mind.

Somehow, this grated on his nerves. He pulled my sheets down to look at my face.

Stubbornly, | held on to my sheets, scared that he would try to pull something on me.

“Are you trying to suffocate yourself to death? Don’t sabotage me. There's only two of us here, and I'll have a lot

of defending to do.”

Damn it! You annoying jerk!

His bright smile irked me. | closed my eyes and attempted to shut him out.

My exhaustion must have caught up tothen as | fell asleep like a log shortly after that.

When | woke up, it was already well into the night. A lamp shone dimly in the doorway, and Dominic was gone.

| got up in a daze, staring at my phone for what seemed like an eternity.

| felt like | had been dreaming for the past few hours of a hand clasping mine.

It was a warm and comfortable grasp, and it madefeel safe.

| must be dreaming. There was only Dominic around, and he wouldn't hold my hand while | slept, right?

Chucking those thoughts to the back of my mind, | checked my phone and realized that it was past nine.

| had slept for about four hours. Now that | felt slightly recharged, | wondered how Louis was feeling. The urge to

check on him weighed on my mind, though | was worried that | would disturb him.

| freshened up in the restroom before leaving my room.

| had decided to seek out Mitch first since | had yet to inform him of my encounter with Queenie in the afternoon.

Once | located the room, | rapped twice on the door, which opened quickly.

Instead of Mitch, | stood face-to-face with Dominic. Did I confuse the room numbers?