Page 12 of Kidnapped in Dark Waters
He certainly wouldn’t share with his boss or anyone else how physically attracted he was to Dominique. There was no reason for anyone else to know that. After all, nothing would ever come of it.
THE NEXT MORNING, Luke got up at eight and took a long, hot shower. He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept this late. He dressed in a pair of jeans and a dark green polo shirt and then left his place and headed to the police station.
His plan was to check in with Daniel and then eat lunch at the café around noon. He had no idea if Dominique would be working or not, but he was vaguely surprised to find himself looking forward to seeing her again.
Daniel was in his office and after knocking on the door, Luke entered. “So, how did it go last night?” Daniel asked.
“It went.” Luke sank down in the chair across from his boss and then shared the events of his time with Dominique. “I’ll saythis, she’s unlike any woman I’ve ever met before. She’s very strong-minded.”
“I have a feeling all three of Mystique’s daughters are strong-minded. I know Angelique is. I think they all had to be in order to grow up with their mother’s reputation hanging over their heads,” Daniel replied.
“Yeah, it had to have been tough for them,” Luke replied. He certainly knew how it was to grow up with people gossiping about a parent. He’d known from a very young age the terrible reputation his mother had around town.
“I know this isn’t a duty you wanted, but I appreciate you going full speed ahead with it. The last thing I want is another dead body and I really don’t know what Pierre is capable of if he were to catch Dominique spying on him.”
“I don’t want to find out,” Luke replied darkly. “Anyway, I just figured I’d check in and let you know how it went last night.”
“All I can say is keep doing what you’re doing,” Daniel replied.
“That’s what I intend to do. I’ll spend however much time in the swamp I need to in order to keep the lovely Dominique Santori alive.”
“‘The lovely’?” Daniel raised a dark eyebrow.
The heat of a flush filled Luke’s cheeks. “I think we can agree that all the Santori sisters are quite lovely.”
Daniel grinned and shook his head. “Take note, my friend. First, you notice how beautiful they are and then before you know it, they have you wrapped up in love knots and you can’t imagine being without them.”
Luke laughed. “That’s not about to happen with me. Dominique is nothing like the woman I intend to eventually marry. She’s just a job to me and she’ll never be anything more.”
Chapter Four
Dominique sat at a booth next to a window in the café. It was her day off and Angelique was supposed to be meeting her for lunch. Dominique was grateful that she didn’t have to work that day because she was tired after the very late activities of the night before.
Sunny appeared at the booth. “So, who are you meeting for lunch today? I hope it’s a very hot man who is madly in love with you.”
“Don’t I wish,” Dominique replied drily. “You know there’s no man in my life right now.”
“And I also know how much you’d like to change that,” Sunny replied.
“Yeah, well I’d also like to change my brown eyes to blue, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon,” Dominque said, making her friend laugh. “I’m actually meeting Angelique for lunch, but she’s apparently running late.”
“While you wait for her, would you like me to bring you something to drink?”
“A diet cola would be great.”
“I’ll be right back with it.” Sunny left the booth and Dominique looked at the clock on the wall. Angelique was fifteen minutes late, which was unusual because normally she was quite punctual.
She looked out the window where the early August sun was bright in the sky. But she knew from reading the weather on her cell phone that the sunny skies weren’t supposed to last and rainwould move in later. She hoped the weather didn’t interfere with her plans for the night.
Sunny returned with her drink and at the same time Dominique’s phone rang. It was her sister. “Dominique, I’m so sorry, but I’m not going to be able to make it for lunch,” she said.
“Is everything okay?” Dominique asked.
“Everything is fine except the girl I hired to run the store today didn’t show, so I can’t leave. Again, I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize, sis. We can meet for lunch on another day.”
“Yes, but I really wanted to talk to you today,” Angelique replied.
