seemed what he heard was exactly what his curvy little bunny had said, he said slowly, “Did you just say something about a joke?”
“Err, yes? I was told that I tell really good ones.” God, what a lie. Actually, Domenico liked to tell Misty he only laughed at her jokes because he loved her.
When she gazed up at him expectantly, Domenico asked bluntly, “Are you high?”
She choked. “I’m not. I’m serious. Let me tell you a joke, and I promise you won’t be cla—” At his narrowed gaze, she managed to stop herself from saying ‘claustrophobic’. “I meant, I promise you would be clapping your hands in laughter.”
Domenico wasn’t amused. “That was fucking lame.”
She ignored that. “So, umm, can I tell you a joke now?”
He shrugged.
But he was also still a little pale, so Misty hurriedly said, “One day, a first-grade math teacher thought about giving her kids an oral quiz…”
‘What do you have when you combine 16 books with 28 books, Matthew?’ the teacher asked.
‘Forty-four books,’ Matthew promptly answered.
‘Correct.’ The teacher moved on to the next student. ‘Sara, what do you get when you have 68 books and 79 books together?’
Sara paused before answering, ‘147 books.’
‘That’s great, Sara.’ The teacher moved to the third student, who had been napping the whole time. ‘Joe, wake up.’
‘Huh?’
The teacher scowled. ‘What do you get when you have 356 books and 293 books together?’
Joe answered sleepily, ‘A library?’
Domenico felt a grin tugging at his lips when Misty actually burst into peals of laughter at her own joke.
When Misty caught the grin on Domenico’s face, she asked eagerly, “You’re okay now? You’re no longer claustrophobic?” As soon as the words slipped past her lips, she knew she had said the wrong thing.
She held her breath, waiting…
But the explosion didn’t come.
She peeked at his face.
Domenico’s thin, beautiful lips had curved into a self-deprecating smile.
“You’re not mad?”
Slowly, Domenico shook his head. “No. I’m not.” The elevator still felt like it was shrinking to him, but he didn’t feel as…cramped as he had been feeling earlier, and he knew the reason behind that. He looked at Misty and found himself admitting to her something he rarely spoke about. “I’m claustrophobic.” Misty nodded, and Domenico privately gave her props for trying to look like she had just discovered that about him.
“It’s a not entirely cured trauma after being kidnapped.” He unbuttoned the first button of his shirt, hoping it would make him feel less like he was being strangled by the hot air around him.
Misty didn’t have to pretend she was shocked. “You were kidnapped?” In their world, Domenico hadn’t ever been abducted – or at least not that she knew of.
“Part and parcel of being a Moretti,” Domenico dismissed. “It’s a long story, but the gist of it is that my brother managed to save me. However, in the minutes that I was locked inside the trunk of the kidnappers’ car—” He stopped speaking abruptly, the weight of the memories making him feel like he was a helpless boy again.
“Owwwwww!”
The cry snatched him back to the present, and Domenico saw his curvy companion taking off her heels.
“I…t-think…I had some kind of sprain…I’m not used to wearing heels like this…” She looked up at Domenico. “D-do you think we could sit on the floor?”
Misty knew she was a shabby actress, but she had to try. The look on Domenico’s face worried her, but she knew mentioning how pale he looked would only have him stubbornly refusing her plea for him to sit on the floor.
“Of course.” Domenico took a seat beside Misty, and after stretching his legs, he told her casually, “You’re a bad actress, by the way.”
Shick. But out loud, she said primly, “I have no idea what you mean, sir.”
He raised a brow. “Sir?”
“Did I also forget to mention