A Little Broken (22 page)

When he finished with her, she moved quickly on instinct, and followed suit – doing her best to keep her lust firmly in her eyes and not in her hands. She used his bar of soap, creating paths of suds on his body, enjoying the sight of his muscles jumping at every motion. When she trailed the bar from around his back to his chest, Dominick sighed. Jessie had been so focused on her task that the sound startled her and she peered up at him, feeling her cheeks color from slight embarrassment. His face was content, his eyes closed, his jaw slack and relaxed. Unable to help herself, she kissed him lightly on the mouth, relishing in him.

“Mmm, what was that for?” When he spoke his voice was low, gravel-like. Sexy, even.

“I couldn’t resist,” she admitted proudly. It was the truth - he may as well know it. When it came to him, Jessie seemed to have very little impulse control. He was her caramel Milky Way, the one that regardless of where she was she’d pick up. He was also her very favorite blanket, the one that comforted her when she was hurt, or sad, who made her feel safe, made her feel good. He was everything to her.

“I love you, Dominick. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to tell you the right way. I’m not even sure if in the shower, right now – this moment, is the right time either, but it feels like it. You mean so much to me. Without you, I would be less of the person I was before you met me,” she blurted, speeding through the words to get them out. When he opened his mouth to speak, she put a finger to his lips, silencing him. “No, let me say this. I don’t want to be with you because you make me better. I want to be with you because you make me
want
to be better. That’s why I’m here…well, not here in your shower, but here at your house. I mean..yeah,” she trailed off, knowing if she continued talking she would be blabbering, and she didn’t want to ruin the moment. She’d bared her heart to him, and even though she wasn’t clothed, she didn’t feel exposed. She felt liberated that she’d finally gotten the way she felt out, laid all the cards on the table, so to speak.

“Jessie,” came his reply, soft on the exhalation his breath. That one word from him, that single utterance of her name, told her everything she needed to hear. “I’ve been living in perpetual darkness since you left. You can’t even understand. I wanted to see you so badly – my uncle has damn near threatened to completely disown and disinherit me if I called one more time to get your schedule. He told me if I truly loved you I had to learn to let you fly, like you needed to fly. But god it was hard, Jessie. So hard, you don’t even know. I got to the point where I was driving to your condo, just sitting on the bottom steps, just so I could be near you. Without you, all the joy in the world has disappeared for me. You have taught me what life really is, what love is. I physically can’t lose you again, baby, promise me. Anything going forward we have to work out
together.
I love you.”

Jessie fought back the tears trying to form. She didn’t want to cry again – it seemed like that was all she did lately. Well, not anymore.

“I promise,” she vowed, voice and face serious, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Move in with me,” he whispered as he rested his forehead against hers.

Jessie didn’t even need to think about her response. “I don’t want to be anywhere else,” she said softly, unwilling to raise her voice and accidentally break the spell. Dominick blew out a breath, seeming relieved at her confirmation. He kissed her lightly on the lips before shutting the water off.

“Come on. Let’s get to bed. I want to hold you, make sure you’re real. I’m still worried you’ll disappear, that you’re not really here, and it’s just my imagination playing tricks on me,” he told her, pulling towels off the rack and handing one to her. After he’d wrapped himself in one, he grasped another, absently holding it out for her. She smiled at the fact he remembered she preferred two towels when showering, one for her body and one for her hair. Wrapping it turban-style high on her head, she reached for the clothes on the floor, but he stopped her.

“No. Not right now, we’ll come back for them, come on.” Dominick led her to the bedroom and they got settled under the covers, still clad in their now damp towels. When she moved to face him, he stopped her and pulled her tightly to him, his front to her back. She allowed her body to relax into him, letting go of the past two weeks without him, her nightmares and terrors. She accepted that she had a long road ahead of her in regards to healing, that right now she simply had a flesh-colored Band-Aid holding her heart together, but she was working on it. She knew that Dominick wouldn’t let her fall, he’d hold her through it all. And, through the night, that’s what he did. She was safe and warm in his arms, and though they didn’t have sex like she’d thought they would, she’d never experienced a more intimate and tender moment. Her last thought before sleep claimed her was that with him holding her this way, she could feel his heartbeat. She grabbed on to the notion with both hands, taking it with her into her dreams as a sword to fight the night.

Chapter Thirty

Jessie awoke to tears tracing down her face, her pillow soaked from them. She’d dreamt, but instead of her usual nightmare, she’d had a…different one. Her baby boy, her precious son, had come to her as a young toddler, maybe three or four, an age she knew she’d never get to see him. Closing her eyes tightly, Jessie clung to the memory that was trying to slip from her.

He’d crawled into bed with her, her bed from back home, snuggling beside her and petting her face to wake her. When she’d opened her eyes, she was looking into his beautiful face, his eyes so very young but so old at the same time. Somehow, whether because it was a dream or something else, she knew she was looking at her boy, she just knew it.

“Baby?” she’d whispered, so softly, afraid to scare him away.

“S’okay, Mommy. S’okay to let go. I woves you.” His words came out in a childlike slur, so precious and honest, his hand continuing to stroke her face.

When she’d reached for him, to touch him, pull him toward her for a hug, he’d simply gotten up and slowly moved to the bedroom door. Turning to look behind him, he’d smiled at her and waved, before walking through the threshold and closing the door with a soft click.

Scrambling out of bed, Jessie searched for a piece of paper and a pen, desperate to write the dream down before she forgot it. She couldn’t forget it, she just couldn’t.

“Jessie? What are you doing? Are you okay?” Dominick’s voice came from the doorway, and she stopped to peer up at him, feeling guilty that she was caught.

“I’m…um…looking for pen and paper? I just had a dream…” she trailed off, returning to her intent search. “I have to write it down!” she exclaimed, frustrated with the room. After a few moments with no luck, she stood in the silent room, hands on her head as if it could hold her thoughts in place.

Rustling from the hallway brought her head up again and she watched as Dominick came in, handing her a yellow legal pad of paper with a sharpie.

“It was the best I could find in a hurry,” he said, shrugging.

Jessie didn’t care what he gave her. He could have brought her a roll of toilet paper and she would have written it down square by tiny square if she’d had to. Scribbling furiously, she sighed in relief when she’d gotten it all down. Breathing deeply, she set the pad and marker down, turning back toward Dominick.

“Thank you. I just…I can’t forget that,” she mumbled, grateful that he’d hurried to help her. “I know it sounds like a lot of other things about me…nuts…but it was… it was such a
good
dream.” Sighing she sat on the edge of the bed, grasping the comforter and pulling to her, realizing what a spectacle she must’ve been: rummaging loudly through the room, naked. Embarrassment crept into her and she could feel the color flooding her cheeks.

“I’ll take good dreams over bad dreams any day of the week,” Dominick said, a gentle smile playing on his lips. “I’m going to go finish cooking our breakfast…the one I was going to surprise you with in bed. Since you’re up, get that cute ass dressed and come join me. Or, keep acting like a loony toon if you want, it was quite entertaining to watch, especially with you all naked and enticing.” Winking, he darted out of the room before the pillow she threw could reach him.

***

“Where are we going?” Jessie asked, her hand still clasped tightly in Dominick’s as they walked. He’d fed her, literally fed her, breakfast, and announced that it was a perfect day to go for a walk. Since she had the day off, she didn’t really mind going out with no real plans, but she liked to at least know the direction they were headed. It was odd behavior for him, though; he generally drove them when they went out, he’d never gone for walks with her. He always said that the time he spent in New York made him dislike the Florida heat, whereas she enjoyed it. Jessie loved the feeling of the sunrays soaking into her skin, the heat warming her from the inside out.

Jasmine and honey suckle were strong in the air, and she breathed deeply, taking it in the fresh scent and basking in it. You’d never know it had poured cats and dogs the night before, not by the heat or the sunshine, but that was Florida for you. She peered up at the sky for a moment, checking for clouds of signs of rain, yet there weren’t any. It didn’t surprise her, yet she knew it could still rain at any moment. After her long jaunt in the bad weather the day before, she was in no hurry to repeat the experience.

“Do we need to be going somewhere? Can’t we just…be?” he asked her, sounding coy as he spoke.

Arching an eyebrow, she said nothing, not answering him. He was acting peculiar, and it was both exciting yet perplexing. She wasn’t sure what to do with this side of him; he almost seemed nervous, fidgeting, as they strolled down the immaculately kept sidewalks. Deciding to not worry too much about it, she kept pace with him, stopping every now and then to peer in the boutique windows. There were some quaint touristy shops, full of sand, sun, and orange gifts, some higher end clothing shops – you could really buy the same things at the mall, if you took the time, but it was good for the tourists – and a few other random shops sprinkled in. After a moment, she realized that they were walking the back way to the diner.

Her steps became familiar. She’d walked this same street many times – usually at night – after her shift at work. Come to think about it, this was the same sidewalk that she’d met Dominick, when he’d pulled up and hung out of his car to talk to her.

Just as she came to the realization, he stopped abruptly, the tension in his arm jerking her to a halt as well. Confused, she turned back to him.

“What?” she asked him.

“We met here,” he said so softly she barely heard him.

“Yeah, I just noticed that too…neat, huh?” she said with a smile. He always seemed to be thinking what she was, generally at the same times.

Dominick’s eyes met hers for a moment, and without notice, he dropped to his knee on the sidewalk. Jessie felt her mouth drop open, shocked, and she used her free hand to cover it. Didn’t she just think that they thought the same, at the same times? She was wrong…she never saw this coming. Was he about to..? No. He wasn’t about to ask her to marry him, was he?

Pulling out a black jewelry box, her inner questions were answered. She started to tremble, the hand she still had in his jerking from it. The other morning walkers and pedestrians had stopped moving, starting to crowd around them. Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, she took a deep breath, trying to determine if she was dreaming. Just as she was about to say something, Dominick beat her to the punch.

“Jessie, I know I haven’t known you that long, but I feel like it’s been forever. Since the moment I met you, here, on this sidewalk, I’ve wanted to be with you. I’ll admit, at the time, I didn’t think you’d give me the time of day. You stood here, giving me the ‘don’t talk to strangers glare’ and you were beautiful. I’ve seen you hurt and sad, and I’ve seen you happy, smiling, and laughing. I can’t even tell you which I find more gorgeous to me.
You
are gorgeous to me. If I’m honest, you deserve more than I can give you, you deserve the world and beyond. I can’t give those to you…but I promise that not a day will go by that I won’t try. I want to make you happy every day, yesterday, today, and every day in the future.” He paused for a moment, taking a steadying breath before continuing, “Jessie Barbara Braden, will you honor me by becoming my wife?”

Before she could answer, he opened the box, revealing a marquis-cut, brilliantly sparkling diamond in a white metal setting. She couldn’t tell if it was white gold or platinum, but the stone was flawless and completely unique. Jessie had never seen anything like it.

The sound of her tears hitting the sidewalk seemed loud among the hush of the world around her. Glancing through blurry eyes, she saw passerby mirroring her, their hands over their mouths, others with their hands clasped tightly around them, anticipating her answer. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the same elderly couple that she’d seen on the way to the coffee shop with Dominick for their first outing together. The gentleman caught her eye and nodded, still clutching his frail wife’s arm, leading her around the corner.  Jessie turned back to Dominick, still on his knee, holding the ring up in offering to her. She lunged down into his arms, nodding, crying, and laughing.

He hugged her tightly, standing, and swinging her around, his joyful masculine cheer filling the streets.

“She said yes!” he yelled for everyone around them, his voice proud and cheerful, matching the enormous smile that had filled his face. He set her down and pulled the ring from the box, delicately placing it on the ring finger of her left hand. The fit was perfect, the gem seeming huge on her small hand. Jessie was surprised it fit and looked up at him, putting her question plain on her face.

“I used string to measure your finger the night two nights before you left me,” he informed her, his tone wilting a little at the sad reminder. “I ordered the ring the next day and by that night, you were gone.”