Forget Me Not (2 page)

Dominic almost wished he smoked. Now would be a good time. He didn’t seem to relax as much as he used to when he came home from his trips.

“I was thinking that maybe we could go to the coast for a couple of days, just the two of us,” Keely said. “Remember that little beach house we rented a couple of years ago? I called and it’s going to be available in a couple of weeks.”

“When?” Dominic asked as he tried to remember everything scheduled on his calendar. Could he afford to spend a couple of days at the beach?

“The end of the month?”

“I’ll be in Tokyo at the end of the month.”

“The beginning of next month?”

“New York again.”

“The fifteenth of next month?” Keely whispered, his voice growing quieter, less enthusiastic.

“London.”

Keely pulled away, dropping back down to the mattress. “Never mind. It was a stupid idea anyway.”

Dominic’s eyes burned dryly. He turned and stretched out next to Keely, pulling his lover into his arms. “I’ll see if I can reschedule some stuff.”

“It’s okay. I understand,” Keely whispered, but his eyes said differently. There was a quiet acceptance in them that left Dominic feeling empty and drained.

“I promise, Keely,” Dominic said. “I’ll find a way for us to be together.”

Keely James stared at the picture in the newspaper, tears of grief sprouting to his eyes. It was a photograph of Dominic Loudan and a blonde woman named Sophia Russo at a gala event at the local art museum held the night before.

It really was a flattering photo of both Dominic and Sophia. They had their arms around each other, laughing at something the cameraman said to them. They looked happy. Why shouldn’t they be? According to the newspaper article, Dominic was sure to ask Sophia to marry him any time now.

The only problem Keely had with the whole thing was that Dominic belonged to him. Keely had been Dominic’s live-in lover for the past five years. They shared everything…their home, their life together…their love.

So why was Keely seeing Dominic’s name paired with some slinky blonde runway model instead of his? Because they were both men? He had heard the arguments from Dominic time and time again.

Dominic was basically in the closet.

Oh, he had no problem being with Keely, introducing him to his closest friends and family. He just didn’t want Keely involved in the public side of his life. He said that people wouldn’t understand two men living together, that they wouldn’t want to do business with someone that was openly gay.

In the beginning, Keely had understood. He had just been happy to have Dominic in his life. But as time went by, Dominic had been in his life less and less. There were more business trips without Keely, more business dinners without Keely, and finally, more everything without Keely.

He hadn’t even seen Dominic in over a week, and they lived together. Presently, Dominic was off on some business trip, coming home briefly for this gala event but staying in a hotel. While Keely stayed at home, waiting for Dominic to remember he existed.

Keely stared at the photo again before dropping the newspaper down on the desk. His heart ached. Dominic hadn’t even called him to say he was in town, much less come home to see him. He wondered if Dominic even remembered that he had someone waiting at home for him.

He knew he was fooling himself. He had held on far too long, not wanting to let go of the man who owned his heart. But the truth was sitting there in black and white. His relationship with Dominic was over.

Keely let out a little hysterical laugh as he wondered if Dominic would even notice if he were gone… probably not. He had Sophia to keep him company. He didn’t need Keely.

He knew he was a glutton for punishment as he reached for the phone and dialed Dominic’s cell phone. He just couldn’t give up on five years without trying one last time to salvage something.

“Hello?”

“Dominic?”

“Hey, baby,” Dominic replied, his voice filled with tension. Keely instantly felt like he shouldn’t have called, like he was a bother to the one man he was supposed to mean everything to.

“Are you busy?” That was a stupid question. Dominic was always busy.

“I have a meeting in about…ten minutes. What’s up?”

“Well, I haven’t seen you in nearly a week. You haven’t even called in two days. I wanted to make sure everything was okay. I was worried about you.”

“I’m fine, Keely. I’ve just been busy. You know that.”

Damn!
He sounded upset. Dominic hated for Keely to
nag
as he called it. “How was the thing at the art museum last night?” Keely wondered briefly if Dominic had been cut off when he didn’t reply right away. “Dominic? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Look, Keely, I have to go. I’ll call you tonight and we can talk then, okay?”

Keely’s heart dropped. He knew Dominic wouldn’t call. He hated emotional scenes. He would wait a few days to see if Keely would stop
nagging
. “Yeah, okay. I love you, Dominic.”

“Yeah, me, too, Keely. I’ll talk to you tonight.”

Keely listened to the sounds of silence as Dominic hung up the phone. He hadn’t even said good-bye. It seemed to always be like that. He just never had time anymore. Keely knew that he was busy, that his business was important to him.

But wasn’t Keely important, too?

He hung up the phone and looked around the beautiful home he lived in. It was a grand showpiece. It was very modern, all black and white and chrome. Everything in it was perfect, right down to the last spoon.

And Keely hated every inch of it.

Funny, it was Dominic’s pride and joy. He loved the house and everything in it. He had even hired a professional interior designer to decorate it. Keely had offered to spruce the place up, but Dominic wanted it done just right. Keely hadn’t had a say in any of it, not even their bedroom.

Just one more thing to let Keely know he would never be a permanent fixture in Dominic’s life. He felt like banging his head against a wall. He couldn’t figure out why he had stayed so long. There had been so many signs that he wasn’t wanted.

Dominic hadn’t even made it to Keely’s college graduation ceremony six months ago. He had been on a business trip to New York and couldn’t come home. He had promised to make it up to him. Keely was still waiting.

He could count on both hands the number of times he had actually seen Dominic in the last six months. Oh, he called when he could, and sent flowers when he forgot. But none of that made up for not being there.

Someone once said that any relationship could make it for the long haul if they could make it five years. Dominic and Keely’s five-year anniversary was two weeks away. It didn’t look like they were going to make it.

Maybe it really was time to cut his losses and move on. He was tired of going to bed alone every night, not having someone to talk with and spend time with. He was tired of not being important enough to matter.

Keely nearly jumped out of his chair when the phone rang just a few minutes after he had hung up. Maybe it was Dominic. Reaching quickly across the desk, he grabbed the phone.

“Hello?”

“Keely?”

“Mom?”
Shit!
It wasn’t Dominic.

“Keely, you need to come home, honey.”

Dominic hung up the phone, staring at it for several moments. He knew that he needed to spend some more time with Keely, but he really was busy. His business was on the verge of becoming a multimillion-dollar endeavor.

He had worked very hard to get to this point, nearly all of his life. He just needed a little more time and all of his dreams would come true. He would have the business he had always dreamed of, the money to live a nicer life, and the man that he loved at his side.

It was all within his reach. He could almost taste it. Now, if Keely would just give him a little more time to get it done. The telephone calls from him were starting to become tedious. He always wanted to know the same things. When would Dominic be home? When would he call? What was he doing?

Dominic was starting to get apprehensive every time that Keely called. How was he supposed to concentrate on work when Keely was calling him constantly, nagging him, and demanding his time? Didn’t he understand that Dominic was working to make a life for both of them?

Shaking his head, Dominic slipped his phone back into his suit pocket. He was going to have to call Keely back tonight and hear another long, drawn-out story about how much Keely missed him and wanted him to come home.

Keely was sure to get emotional. He always did. He loved Keely to the bottom of his heart, but sometimes he wondered how they had ended up together. Keely was about as opposite from Dominic as he could possibly be.

Dominic was conservative. He wore suits at work, slacks and dress shirts off of work, and silk pajamas to bed. Keely didn’t work, so that didn’t matter, but he usually just wore jeans and shirts. And Dominic wasn’t even sure he had ever worn anything to bed.

Dominic preferred aged whiskey and fine dining. Keely liked backyard BBQs, and he didn’t drink. Dominic drove a 2012 Cadillac. Keely drove a ten-year-old Jeep. Dominic didn’t tell people he was gay. Keely didn’t seem to care who knew.

They were about as different as they could be. The only thing they really had going for them was their deep abiding love for each other…and the sex. Sex with Keely was unlike anything he had ever experienced. And something he never wanted to go without.

Dominic’s eyebrows furled together as he tried to remember the last time that he had made love to Keely. He knew it had been awhile, but had it been so long that he couldn’t even remember it?

Maybe Keely was right. Maybe it was time to go home for a little while and spend some time with him. If he could just get through this last series of meetings, he could schedule some time to go home, maybe even a couple of days.

“Mr. Loudan, Mr. Murphy wants to discuss the Sharpten merger with you. He has a question about the stock credit for employees,” Karen, Dominic’s assistant, said as she walked into the room after knocking briefly.

Dominic let the air out of his lungs in a deep sigh. “Okay, get him on the phone.”

“Okay. Oh, and Bruce wanted to know if you have had a chance to go over those documents he sent over?”

Dominic shook his head, picking up the file. “No, but I have them right here.”

Karen turned to leave, stopping when Dominic called her back. “Karen, would you order some flowers and have them sent to Keely? Something nice…maybe some red roses.”

Karen nodded at Dominic. “Anything on the note?”

Dominic thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I’ll call him tonight and give it to him myself.”

“Okay. Is there anything else?”

“No, that will be all for now,” he replied as he shook his head. “Thank you, Karen.”

Dominic watched Karen walk out of his office, feeling thankful that he had such a competent assistant. She knew of his relationship with Keely. He didn’t know if she approved or not, but she never let her personal feelings interfere with her job performance.

Sitting down at his desk, his eyes briefly went to the framed picture he had of a family reunion the year they had met. Keely had come to the reunion as the guest of one of his cousins. They had hit it off almost immediately. When family picture time came, Keely had been included.

Dominic loved that picture. It showed everyone in his family that he cared for…his parents, siblings, grandparents, and most importantly, Keely. He had a smaller version that he carried everywhere with him in his wallet.

As he looked at the picture, he wondered how he had been so lucky to find someone like Keely to share his life with. He was just about perfect. It didn’t matter to Dominic that they had different likes or dislikes, that they dressed differently, or even that they didn’t drive the same type of car.

What mattered to Dominic was that Keely was always there for him, welcoming him home with open arms. Hell, he had made their house into a home. The house that they lived in had been his first major purchase after getting his business running good.

The minute he saw it he knew it was perfect for them. He had bought it without even talking to Keely, surprising him when the sale had gone through okay. He had even hired an interior designer to decorate it for Keely. He had the woman order everything brand new and only the best quality. He was very proud of it.

Dominic picked up the photo of Keely, questioning why he was sitting in his office when he really wanted to be home wrapped in Keely’s arms. He really missed him. Keely was gorgeous, all five foot ten of him, from the top of his strawberry-blond head to the bottom of his sexy long legs. Even his sea-green eyes were hot. They sparkled every time that Keely looked at him.

In a word, Keely was breathtaking.

Glancing over at his calendar, he wondered if there was any way to fly Keely out to see him, even if it was just for a few hours.
Crap!
He was booked for meetings for the next week. There really wasn’t any way he could get out of them. But hell, it was just a week. He could either fly Keely out to see him or go home for a couple of days. Either way, he could still see Keely.

Grabbing his pen, he quickly circled the two days at the end of the week to spend with Keely. He should have everything all done by then. And then they could have some time alone together.

Besides, it would get Sophia out of his hair. That woman drove him crazy. She just couldn’t seem to get it that he wasn’t interested in her. They had met at a cocktail party he had gone to through a business associate. Things had just kind of spiraled out of control after that.

Before he knew it, he was escorting her to all of these movie premiers and gala openings, like the one that Keely had mentioned at the art museum. He hadn’t wanted to go, much less take Sophia, but before he had known what was happening, he was standing on the red carpet as her escort.