CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Talking Things Through

We kissed for a good twenty minutes. Mari grew frustrated and eventually hit me in my butt. Surprised by this action, I turned and smacked her across the face. Before I could apologize, or even realize what I did, she ran off into the other room. I looked at Nikki and she smiled a little.

"Can you go in the living room and watch them?" I pointed to the back door where Dom was pressed against the glass in awe. "We need to talk and I didn't want the kids to hear if we were to fight."

"You guys going to stay in the kitchen?" She questioned. She walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer.

"We'll probably go upstairs in my room. You can't hear anything from there in the living room." She nodded and started to the door. She walked in the other room and I walked to the back door. I opened it and Dom looked at me.

"What was that all about?"

"What?" I asked.

"You and that girl kissing." I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Do you want to talk or not?" I questioned. He nodded and I motioned for him to go upstairs. "My room. I wouldn't want the kids to hear if we were to yell." We walked into my bedroom, closed the door and locked it. I walked over and sat on my bed while Dom stood.

"Letty." He started. "I'm really sorry about today. Something came up. I tried to call but I didn't have your number."

"I called this morning and left it on your answering machine. You had it."

"Mike must have gotten to the answering machine before me. I'm gonna have to talk to him about that." I nodded and sighed.

"What about last night?"

"I thought you were going to take longer with Mia and Leon. I decided to walk around the diner to check on things. When I walked back around Mia said you had already left and that I should get home." I nodded. That was believable but I wasn't sure if I should believe it.

"What came up today?"

"Work."

"Where do you work?"

"Garage."

"Then I want you to explain this." I stood up and ran my finger over the collar of his shirt. He pulled it away and looked at it.

"You." I shook my head.

"Dom, you've known me how long and when have you ever seen me wear lipstick? How can that be mine?"

"Letty, I work in a garage. That's paint. I did a paint job on an SUV." I felt bad. I looked at his collar a little more and it was paint.

"How is it from me then?"

"I was going to give you the car." I closed my eyes a little and sat back down. He sat down next to me and smiled a little.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so used to you cheating on me. I jumped to conclusions." He nodded and I frowned. "Forgive me?"

"You forgive me?" I nodded a little and he grinned.

"But you're going to have to talk to your kids about it. Mari's mad at both of us right now and DJ didn't know you were supposed to come today." He nodded and smiled a little. He rested his hand on my thigh boldly. I looked at his hand and he squeezed gently.

"Sorry for slapping you." I knew he was sorry. Duh, he'd only done it out of anger.

"Just don't do it again." Should I have forgiven him so easily? I shrugged it off. I grabbed him by his collar and kissed him roughly but passionately. He grinned and kept kissing me. When I pulled away he licked his lips and swallowed.

"Strawberries." I shook my head and pushed him back on my bed. I climbed up on top of him and kissed him. I sat up straight and pulled off my shirt. He grinned and I leaned back down, kissing him again.

I jogged down the stairs wearing a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. I had expected that since it was after eleven, the kids would be in bed. Nikki was sitting on the couch, half asleep.

"Sorry, I didn't know we were gonna talk for so long." I lied. Her eyes opened and she grinned at me. "It's late."

"I know. I put the kids to bed for you. DJ's in James' room. There was an extra bed in there so I figured, what the hell. After that I realized there was a whole other room." I nodded and flopped down next to her. "Mari went to be around 9 and the boys about 10."

"That's good. Thanks for putting them to bed." She nodded and looked down at what I was wearing.

"You look cute in boxers." I smiled a little.

"Um… it's late. You've been drinking." She nodded and chuckled a little to herself. "Why don't you stay in the guest room since DJ is in James' room."

"I wouldn't want to be in the way."

"You won't be. The guest room has it's own bathroom. I'll let you borrow something to sleep in. Then I could give you something clean to wear home tomorrow." She nodded.

"Okay. I'll stay. Did you two have fun?"

"We just talked." I reached for her bottle of beer and took a drink.

"So, who's was it?" I choked on the beer, almost spitting it at her. "Thanks for swallowing."

"You could hear us?"

"Clearly." I blushed. I was going to say something to defend myself but I changed my mind. "How about bed time?" She offered.

"Okay." I accepted. She chuckled and I stood up and turned toward the stairs. Dom was sitting near the bottom step. "How long have you been there?" I asked. He stood up slowly and smiled at me.

"I followed you down." I sighed and Nikki followed me to the stairs. Nikki's eyes wandered up to Dom's face. He tilted his head to the side and kissed my neck softly.

"Oh crap. I forgot I have to go home. My brothers supposed to be coming over in the morning. I need to be there to let him in." She turned to the door.

"Well, do you want me to take you home?" Dom asked her politely.

"It's kind of far."

"I don't mind. Letty and I could bring you your car tomorrow afternoon or sooner if you need it." Nikki smiled a little and nodded.

"That would be nice then." Dom moved passed me to the door. Nikki reached into her pocket and tossed me her house key. "I have a house key under my front mat." I nodded and held onto her keys.

"Baby. I will see you tomorrow. We should meet at the diner around one or so." I nodded and smiled. "Then it's a date." Dom kissed me one last time and then left with Nikki. I just went upstairs and fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed. I was tired.

I am soo sorry for taking so long to update. I swear this chapter was a lot longer when I had it written out by hand. It was long. It just didn't work out so well when I typed it. Sorry. I'll try not to take so long for the next few chapters. Only a few more chapters left in this story. :teardrop: But, no worries… SEQUEL baby! Lol. The sequel will be later, when the kids are grown up a little. I'm not good with kids. Nope.