by A. K. Evans
I hadn’t made any noise, but he knew I was there. He looked up at me and his face softened.
Dom’s eyes traveled the length of me before he stood and walked over to me. Once he was standing in front of me, he brushed his knuckles down my cheek and whispered, “You look beautiful.”
Despite having so many questions I wanted to shout at him regarding his mood swings throughout the day, I refrained from doing so. And even though I had a bandage on the side of my face near my eye that made me seriously question just how beautiful I could possibly look, I simply accepted Dom’s compliment and replied, “Thank you.”
The truth is, I didn’t know if I’d get this opportunity again. I wanted to enjoy tonight for everything that I hoped it would be. I still planned to talk to him about what happened, but I was going to give myself this first.
“This top is Elle’s. She was kind enough to let me borrow it,” I shared.
“I’m happy the two of you got along. She’s a really sweet person and she’ll be a great friend,” he remarked.
While I didn’t disagree that Elle was probably an incredible friend, I didn’t want to admit that I was unsure I’d ever be able to offer anything of value to a friendship.
“I can certainly see that, but I knew I liked her the minute I heard she enjoyed reading. Oh man, what I wouldn’t give to have someone to talk with about my favorite books,” I sighed.
“I’m sure Elle would love that, too,” Dom said as he reached for my hand and squeezed. “But you should know that I’ll listen to you talk about them.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I don’t picture you as the type to sit around discussing romance novels.”
“I’m not, but I’d do it for you.”
I shook my head. “It’s not the same. While I appreciate your willingness to do so, it’d be so much more fun to talk to someone who has read the book. I’m not certain I can convince you to do that.”
Dom laughed and indicated with a shake of his head that having him read the books was not something that was going to happen.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Tonight, we’ll have to go in the truck. I had planned to take you out on the motorcycle tonight, but I think we’ll have to do it another time. You’ll need to wear a helmet and I imagine it’s going to disturb the stitches. So, we’ll just wait for you to heal and then I’ll take you out on it.”
My shoulders slumped. I had ruined the plans for tonight. Maybe we were still going out, but I’d ruined our first date.
Dom noticed my mood shift because he implored, “I really hope you’re feeling upset because you aren’t going to be getting a ride on the bike tonight and not because the idea of another date with me saddens you.”
He couldn’t be serious. Why would he ever think that I wouldn’t want another date with him?
“I was looking forward to a ride on the bike with you,” I admitted.
His face changed as he agreed, “Me too.”
We stood there in silence a few moments until Dom held his arm out indicating I could walk ahead of him toward the door. I grabbed my jacket, walked to the door, and we left.
Dom took me to an incredible restaurant that served authentic Mediterranean food. I hadn’t ever had it before and was a bit overwhelmed with the options, so Dom suggested a few dishes and we split a couple appetizers. I knew I hadn’t ever had so much food in one sitting and felt truly indulged.
As if the overabundance of food wasn’t enough to make me feel spoiled, Dom proved to be the best date. He made me laugh and we had excellent conversation. I was surprised to learn that the guys he worked with were some of his best friends and that they all referred to him as the life of the party.
When I asked him why he’d gotten that title, he replied, “What’s the point of being here if we aren’t going to really live and enjoy life?”
It was the truth. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t always that easy.
We finished dinner, Dom paid the bill, and we were now in his truck on the way to the second part of our date.
Dom pulled into a parking lot at a shopping complex and I was utterly confused. After he turned off the truck, he turned to look at me and asked, “When was the last time you went bowling?”
“I’ve never been bowling.”
“What? Okay, this is going to be more fun than I thought it would be.”
A few minutes later, we were inside the bowling alley. A little more than half of the lanes were already taken by groups of people wearing the same shirt. Dom explained that they were league bowlers who compete against each other through the course of the season. They competed for weekly and seasonal cash prizes and sometimes have a pool for strikes and spares. Mostly, he stressed that a lot of the bowlers did it for the good time with friends.
After reserving a lane for the two of us and renting our shoes, Dom helped me select a ball. While I put the bowling shoes on, Dom entered our names into the computer.
I had to be honest. I was so excited to learn how to bowl and it surprised me considering I’d never really thought about doing much outside of working and reading. Even if Dom hadn’t promised me a second date, I knew this was something I’d never forget.
Dom was an amazing teacher. He taught me how to hold the ball and how to roll it. He explained how the arrows on the lane worked and how I could use them to improve my chances of knocking down pins.
My first ball was a gutter ball, but I knocked down eight pins on my second try. I was so proud of myself and it was clear that Dom was, too. Six frames later, I knocked down all the pins and had my first strike.
“Strike!!” I shouted, jumping up and down.
Dom came over and engulfed me in his arms. “Congratulations!”
A few minutes later, we had finished our first game. Dom had kicked my butt, but I didn’t mind. I had just had the most fun experience of my life.
“Want to play another game?” he asked.
“Can we?” I returned, my voice hopeful.
Dom grinned at me and we started our second game. I did much better the second time around. I didn’t get another strike, but I did manage to get three spares and I celebrated every single one of them. My score improved from our first game, even though Dom still won.
When we got back to his place, Dom told me to go change and get comfortable in warm clothes. He wanted to spend some time with me out on his deck and, since it was the beginning of November, it was starting to get pretty chilly. Thankfully, Dom had a fire pit, and by the time I joined him outside, it was already warming the space.
Just as I was about to sit down on the lounge chair next to the one he was sitting in, he held out his hand to me and called my name.
I placed my hand in his and he gently tugged me down into his lap. Dom wrapped one arm behind my back while the other rested on my outer thigh. My head fell into the crook of his neck. I loved how it felt being there with him.
“How did you like bowling?” Dom wondered.
“I’ve never had so much fun before in all my life,” I admitted. “Thank you so much for giving me something real that is worth remembering.”
His arms tightened around me.
“It meant a lot to me, too. I’ve been wanting to take you out for a long time…since that day you were nearly kidnapped.”
I pulled my head back to look at him. “Are you serious?”
There was no hesitation when he responded, “Absolutely.”
It warmed my heart to hear that our date was something that he had been looking forward to just as much as I had.
I cuddled back into him and we sat there in silence for a while. I took the time to consider just how lucky I was that Dom had come into my life. As worried as I was that this would come crashing down around me, I also had to admit that since he’d been around, my life had never felt better.
Even if I had only been rescued that night and never seen him again, I would have always remembered what he had done for m
e. But he came back into my life when he walked into the diner and I didn’t want to waste the opportunity to grab hold of him. I struggled with it initially, but Dom’s persistence and gentleness were hard to overlook. And over the course of the last week, I experienced luxuries I never imagined I would. I no longer went to bed hungry or worried about where my next meal would come from. I didn’t have to sleep in a car, freezing and dirty. I had someone who would watch out for me and make sure that I wasn’t taken advantage of like Ryan tried to do today.
On that thought, I suddenly froze.
“You okay?” Dom asked.
I used one hand to push away from his chest and sit up in his lap.
“How did you know where to go today when you found me at Ryan’s apartment?”
Now it was Dom’s turn to tense up. He closed his eyes and let out a breath. When he opened them again and looked at me, he warned, “I have a confession to make.”
I swallowed hard at his words. Just as I thought my luck was turning around, he had to say those six words. I had no idea what to expect.
“Please don’t get angry at me, Ekko,” he begged.
I didn’t like where this was headed. “Just tell me, Dom.”
Dom took in another deep breath and admitted, “I’ve been watching out for you ever since the night of the attempted abduction.”
“What? What exactly does that mean?”
“I knew when you lost your apartment and moved in with him. I already knew that you spent a lot of time at the library. I also knew that you were killing yourself working over the last three weeks or so. And the night before I came into the diner to eat, I sat in my truck in the parking lot of the library making sure nobody went near your car.”
He had been following me all this time. I wasn’t sure how to feel. On one hand, I knew I should have been grateful that I had someone looking out for me, but I had been through so much over the last few months. He had known about all of it. That’s the part of me that wasn’t sure if I should feel creeped out by it.
“I don’t understand,” I started as I stood up. “You’ve been following me? You know everything I’ve been through the last couple of months. You know all of that and I feel like I don’t know anything about you.”
“Ekko, it became clear to me over the last week that I don’t know everything about you. If I did, what happened this afternoon would not have happened. And I’m an open book. I’m not hiding anything from you. If there’s anything you want to know, all you’ve got to do is ask.”
I felt myself getting choked up. He’d been so kind to me over the last week, but something wasn’t sitting right with me. Since he deemed himself an open book, I decided to take advantage. “So you knew that I had been struggling for months and you waited until I was living out of my car to offer help? Obviously, you don’t owe me anything, but I don’t understand why you wouldn’t have approached me sooner. Were you just waiting it out until I was so beat down, broken, and desperate that I’d take anything you were offering no matter what it cost me?”
“Is that what you think?” he countered as he sat up straighter on the lounger, his legs falling off to either side. Clearly, I had insulted him. “Ekko, I wanted to wrap you up in my arms and bring you home with me the night I met you. But you were involved with someone else. I watched out for you because I wasn’t convinced the man you were with was doing his part to make sure you were safe. Obviously, I was right about him. And I fucking hated watching you go to work and kill yourself day in and day out. But no matter how much I hated seeing it, I refused to get involved when you were with someone else. The minute I realized you were no longer with him, I stepped in.”
“I haven’t been with Ryan for months,” I whispered.
Dom’s body went rigid.
I ignored it, started pacing, and added, “I haven’t wanted to be with him for a long time, but I was so desperate that I lived there because I had nowhere else to go. It was awful. I would come home some nights and have to listen to him in the next room with another woman.”
He winced.
“Ekko, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
I could feel my emotions bubbling to the surface. “Of course you didn’t. Because you chose to just watch me from afar instead of approaching me. You were the first good thing to walk into my life in years and I had no idea how to reach you. Even if I had researched and figured it out, I’m not sure I would have done anything with that. You’re everything you are and I’m the complete opposite. Do you know that I thought about you every day for months?”
I paused, attempting to prepare to go another round, but I couldn’t because a sob escaped me. I heard movement and the next thing I knew Dom’s arms were around me. My hands fisted the sides of his shirt as I planted my face in the center of his chest. With one arm planted firmly in place around me, Dom used the other one to comfort me further by running his hand up and down my back. He pressed kisses to the top of my head.
In between the kisses, he croaked, “I wish I knew you weren’t with him, Ekko. I’m sorry. I fucked up.”
Dom held me a while as I settled myself down. Finally, I took a step back and looked up at him.
“It’s not your fault,” I murmured. “There was no way for you to know. I just wish you’d walked back into my life sooner than you did.”
“Please tell me you know that I would not have ever left you in that situation if I knew that you were going through it alone.”
I did. That’s just the kind of person he was. Maybe I didn’t know everything there was to know about him, but I knew that. “I know,” I said softly.
One of Dom’s hands came up to the side of my throat. His thumb stroked back and forth along the skin there. Quietly, he shared his frustration with himself and the situation, “I can’t believe I could have had you in my life months ago.”
I couldn’t say that I didn’t understand his frustration. I did. Completely. But I had also been through enough in my life to know that bad things happen. We can only do our best to accept those things as they come and then move past them. I didn’t want either one of us to be consumed with regret.
“You have me here now, though.”
He grinned and said, “Yeah, I do.”
Then, he lowered his mouth to mine, as I pushed up on my toes, and kissed me. We stood outside on Dom’s deck by the fire and kissed for a long time. Our tongues explored one another’s mouth while our hands roamed each other’s body. Dom’s hands were at my hips, running up along my sides, down my back, and over the curve of my ass, where he squeezed and pulled me tighter to him. Feeling his erection pressing into me as we kissed and touched, I grew more and more turned on. My hands were just as greedy as his, running along his well-defined biceps and shoulders, down over his chest, and back up around his neck, where I held on tight, afraid he might let go.
He eventually tore his mouth from mine and rested his forehead against mine. Out of breath, he managed to plead with me, “Sugar, invite me to stay in my bed with you so I can hold you tonight.”
I pressed a kiss to his lips, smiled against them, and demanded, “Stay with me tonight.”
Dom returned the kiss, put out the fire, and followed me upstairs.
Then, he spent the rest of the night in his bed holding me close to him. Together, we spent a good portion of our night kissing and touching, but somehow, refrained from going any further. I had a feeling, though, that the next time the opportunity arose, it wouldn’t be so easy to deny ourselves the pleasure.
It was finally Saturday.
This meant it was also moving day.
After everything that happened on Thursday between the showdown with Ryan and my incredible date with Dom, I didn’t think it was possible to have any more excitement in my life. Apparently, I was wrong.
I woke up yesterday morning, wrapped up in Dom’s arms and instantly knew it was a place I never wanted to leave. While the revelations from the evening before could have easily ruined our night, I was happy t
hat they didn’t. When I took the time to consider everything, I realized that Dom’s heart was in the right place. Maybe he didn’t go about it the right way, but he did it for the right reasons and I chose to see that instead of faulting him for his methods. I certainly wasn’t perfect, and I knew if I’d made a mistake when I had good intentions, I’d want to be forgiven.
As I laid there in his arms, though, I realized I still had questions. They were questions to which I really hoped I’d get answers.
With my body pressed to his side, my head resting in the crook of his arm, and my arm draped over his abdomen, I was so comfortable and didn’t want to move. I did as little as possible and tipped my head back so I could look up at him. I was surprised to see that Dom was awake, looking down at me. The second our eyes locked, his dimples came out in full force. It was quite a sight to see first thing in the morning and I had no doubt it was something I could easily get used to waking up to.
“Good morning,” I greeted.
“Morning, sugar,” he replied. “How’d you sleep?”
“Better than ever.”
Dom moved his head so that he could lean down and press a kiss to my forehead. It was such a simple gesture, but it was so incredibly sweet.
“We need to talk,” I blurted, killing the moment.
I watched as his brows lifted in question before he stated, “That doesn’t sound good.”
Pressing my hand to the middle of his abdomen, I lifted myself up beside him and confirmed, “It’s not bad, but I have some things that have been bothering me that I’d like to talk to you about.”
Dom placed his palms in the bed at his hips and sat up. He slid back so his back was against the headboard and encouraged me, “Okay, let’s hear it.”
“Alright, so I’m not sure if this is the right thing to say or do since I’m not a hundred percent sure just where this thing between us is going. That said, I’ve dealt with more heartache and disappointment in my life to know that I’m not willing to set myself up for failure again.”