Page 13 of Dominic

To my surprise, Dom answered immediately and emphatically. “Absolutely I’m afraid of her. That woman is vicious on a whole other level.” He came toward me and leaned on the fence across from me, a smile still tugging at his lips. “Do you know she actually had Falcon’s bike painted pink?” Now, the look of horror on his face as he thought about what he obviously saw as some sort of desecration was so comical I couldn’t help but giggle. It was embarrassing. “It’s not funny.” His eyes got wide and he shook his head. “A man’s bike is sacred.”

“I’m so sorry.” I continued to laugh, unable to stop. I seemed to do a lot of that lately. Laughing. With every outburst of merriment, I felt lighter. Freer. “I imagine it was quite horrifying for him.”

Dom snorted out a laugh before schooling his features again. “For all of us. I know I have PTSD just thinkin’ about it.” He shivered as if someone had walked over his grave. It was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen.

The next thing I knew, I was on my ass in the grass laughing until tears streamed down my cheeks and my belly hurt. Dom sat next to me, putting his arm around me. Without thought, I leaned into him. He pulled me close and kissed the top of my head affectionately.

“You’re a remarkable woman, Annie. I’m glad I met you.”

I looked up at him and smiled. “There’s nothing remarkable about me. I can barely even read.”

“Right. You forget you’re living with me. I see you every single day. You love to read.”

I shrugged, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear to give myself a moment to decide what to say. I knew I was blushing furiously. I loved the feel of him next to me. As I looked up at him, I was sure my heart was in my eyes because I had no filters around him.

“Calista and Evelyn have been helping me. I’m getting better, but I’m pretty slow at it.”

“Uh-huh. I also happen to know English isn’t the only language you’re learning to read. Elena says you translated her menu into Spanish on your own.”

“It wasn’t all correct. And I tried to tell Tito the other day how much I loved the fries he made me and got my words mixed up. I told him it tasted like dung.”

Dom barked out a surprised laugh before he was laughing nearly as hard as I had been before. I couldn’t help but gaze up at him in wonder. If I looked at him with hero worship, it was because he truly was my hero. Not only when he defended me at the contest, but how he’d helped me adjust to my new life.

“I’d loved to have been there for that, honey.” He wiped tears from under his eyes as he continued to chuckle.

“It was embarrassing!” It had been, but Marge had laughed so hard at the indignant look on Tito’s face all of us had ended up all smiles and with stitches in our sides from laughing too much. Tito had hugged me and told me how proud he was of me for learning his language so quickly. Even if I slipped up, I was trying to learn to communicate effectively with the people in my life. His praise had made the slipup worth the small embarrassment. And, really, as Marge pointed out, what was there to be embarrassed about? So I’d messed up a word. What harm had it really done? Tito knew I didn’t think his food tasted like dung. Spanish wasn’t my first language. I’d never been exposed to anything other than English.

“I’m sure it was. But I don’t think you remember it that way.”

I smiled up at him. How did he already know me so well? We’d only known each other a month but I felt like hesawme. I wasn’t someone for him to control or to use until he was done with me. Dom saw me for the person I was. I think he enjoyed my company almost as much as I enjoyed his. I also thought he saw me as a daughter or something and I didn’t think I liked that thought.

Did I remember the incident between me and Tito as being embarrassing? “No. But I honestly didn’t realize it wasn’t so bad until just now. Sometimes, you make me rethink my perception of things.”

“Good. You’re too hard on yourself and I’m pretty sure that has everything to do with where you were raised and who you were with.” He shifted so he was sitting on one hip, resting the wrist of one hand over his bent knee. “Now, it’s my turn. Can I ask you a question?”

“You can ask me anything.” I have no idea why, but my stomach started fluttering with nerves. But these were different than any other time in my life. Usually any similar feelings I had were associated with dread. What I felt now as Dom looked down at me with too-knowing eyes had nothing to do with dread and everything to do with anticipation.

“How do you feel about me? Staying with me? Me being all up in your personal space?”

I frowned slightly. “I never thought of it as you being in my space. If anything, I’ve been in yours.” Then that familiar dread stabbed through me. “I-I’m sorry. I thought… I t-thought I was supposed to stay in your home.” My breath started coming in short gasps and my chest hurt. I tried to push myself to my feet, but Dom held me down.

“Stop, Annie. Remember perception?” When I nodded miserably up at him, Dom pulled me closer, wrapping his other arm around me. “Honey, I don’t want you to leave. In fact, if you tried, I might have to lock you in the house and keep you laughing until you begged me for mercy. No. You need to be right where you’re at.”

“I don’t understand what you mean, then. You’re not in my personal space.”

“No? We spend nearly every evening together. Every time we see each other in the compound during the day we end up spending the rest of the day together. You seem to like my company as much as I like yours.”

“I do.” I reached out and touched his chest through his T-shirt, picking at the material. I realized then, I did that a lot. Picked at his shirt. It was a habit I had when I was nervous. Aboutanything. If Dom was there, I was always within arm’s reach. I’d reach for his shirt and bunch my fingers in it. Dom didn’t seem to mind he was my anchor.

“Good. Do I frighten you?”

“What? No! Dom, no. I could never be afraid of you.”

“Are you absolutely sure, honey? I never want to frighten you. Ever. You understand me?”

I frowned, not sure where he was going with this. “I understand, but you don’t scare me. At all.” I huffed out a breath. “I mean, you intimidated me when I first met you, but only for a minute. You give off a safe vibe. At least to me.” Yeah, I was babbling again. “Sorry. I’m sure that’s way more than you wanted to know.”

“No, honey. That’s exactly what I wanted to know.” He reached out and stroked a finger down my cheek. “You remember the day we met?”