Crushed Affections (Dominic and Bella)

Chapter 448 Want to Stay the Night

After a moment, Dominic finally shifted his gaze away from her chest. He said, "The dinner was pretty boring, so I decided to come home early. I'm tired. I'm going to shower and get some sleep. You should rest early, too."

Bella followed him upstairs. As he headed toward the guest room, she called out, her tone light and teasing, "Do you want to sleep in my room tonight?"

Dominic froze, his body stiffening. His eyes were sharp, his expression a mix of restraint and warning, as if daring her to push him further.

Bella pouted. "I just thought the baby should get to feel some fatherly love every now and then. But if you're not interested, that's fine. You can wait until the baby's born to start bonding."

Dominic suddenly smirked, his lips curling with a hint of mischief. "If it's fatherly love you're after, wouldn't it make more sense for me to go in and 'check on' the baby directly?"

Bella prided herself on her newfound ability to tease him, but his comment turned the tables so effortlessly that it left her speechless. The implications of his words were impossible to ignore. Her face turned scarlet as she stammered, "Y-You're awful," before rushing into her bedroom to hide her embarrassment.

The next morning, Dominic was already gone when Bella woke up.

to her texts or calls. The only contact he made was through Carla, giving her occasional instructions, but even those were few

Bella assumed he was just busy. But over time, she began to suspect he was avoiding her. Perhaps he'd figured something out. Or maybe, now that the media frenzy had died down, he no longer needed to keep up appearances

suspicions, she considered asking lan or Leonard. But knowing how close the three of them were,

started laughing. "Instead of trying to figure out

old saying about pregnancy making you forgetful suddenly felt very real. She hadn't even thought of

Sean and returned to her room to dress up, intentionally choosing an outfit

follow her, Bella deliberately acted slightly irritated but didn't say

she was about to call him, he texted her "See the hotel across the street? Come to room 801. Meeting ata hotellike this might work

glanced out the car window. Sure enough, there was a high-end hotel across the street. The idea

if there was a

moment of hesitation,

Jones, why are we going

response was curt. "I'm meeting someone. Wait outside the room. I don't need you to come