My blaring alarm was the worst sound in the world. Because that meant I had to peel my body away from Dom’s and haul ass to the airport. It was still dark outside, and Dom didn’t have to pick up Nate until much later. He’d offered to drive me to the airport just before we fell asleep the night before, and I didn’t say no.

I shook Dom slightly. God, his chest and torso were solid bricks of muscle. Everything I ever imagined about Dom’s body was true. And more. Things I never could’ve thought up in my wildest fantasies. Like how hung he was. How his leg hair bristled against my smooth thighs. How his steady heartbeat thumped through his chest and managed to reverberate through my skin.

It was so warm in my sheets, I never wanted to get up. It’d been so long since I spent a night without the portable heater on. Dom’s body heat was powerful and his presence so undeniably masculine that I found myself realizing that a man—this man, could be what I was craving all along. What I’d been missing since I left Maine. It was more than just sex, too. The sex was amazing, but what I needed more than a physical connection was an emotional one. Dominic Fieri gave me that. I just wish I’d known all of this before booking my two-week-long vacation. I promised myself that the time would pass quickly, and I’d be back in the blink of an eye. That we’d hop back in bed together before I knew it.

But two weeks halfway across the country was a long time to be away.

And I’d be missing Christmas and New Year’s.

What if by the time I came back, he’d moved on to someone else? What if he’d just been after the sex, nothing more?

I couldn’t let these insecurities nag me though. The old me might’ve been bogged down by these questions, but the new me embraced each day as it came.

Besides, my family needed me, and I missed them so much. I couldn’t wait to see Zane’s face when I surprised him later that night. I’d told my parents that I was visiting, but I wanted it to be a surprise for my brother. I knew he was in a grumpy mood lately, and this would be just the thing he needed to revive his spirits.

I shook Dom again and he grumbled awake. He opened one eye and just stared at me. A suspended wink; a half-grin on his lips. “Time to go already?”

I nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. My flight is in three hours.”

“Let’s get crackin’ then.”

The drive to the airport was slightly awkward. Most of the silence was filled with Billy Crosby songs, seemingly on repeat.

“So, about last night—”

“It’s happening again, as soon as you come back,” Dom said, reading my mind. I guess I couldn’t have been that bad, then. “You’ve…bewitched me, Winnie. Ever since I first saw you out on that field, smiling brighter than the sun. I know we barely know each other, but I’m already falling for you. It’s crazy, yes, but it feels…right…somehow.”

“We’ll have to keep it on the down low, though, until the school year is over,” I reminded Dom. “I don’t want people to talk.”

“I don’t mind if they talk, but if it means that much to you, I’ll keep it a secret.”

“Thank you, Dom.” I was relieved that he understood my situation and didn’t take offense.

“Will you miss me?” he asked, like a teenage boy about to say farewell to his first summer camp crush.

“Of course. And Nate, too,” I said. “I’ll call whenever I can. I’ve got a few friends I want to see, and I want to take Zane out to do a few things. And help out my parents. It’ll be a busy two weeks. Very packed schedule. I’m sure you and Nate will be busy too.”

“But not so busy you’ll forget to call?”

“Never. I’ll try to call at least once a day. Dom, this—” I gestured to him and I, “—This wasn’t a one night stand. I feel something special here too, and I want to explore it further when I get back.”

“Just the words I wanted to hear, Winnie.” Dom pulled up to the airport drop-off, and gave me a deep kiss. “I want you to think about last night every night you’re away from me. I want you to remember who’s aching for you to return back to Dallas.”

“I’ll be counting down the days, Dom,” I said, taking my suitcase out of the backseat. I blushed, remembering what we’d done on those seats the night before.

As I rolled my luggage through the automatic doors, my heart twitched, already wishing I was back in Dom’s arms again.