Part Eight

Part Eight.

Dominic closed the door to the shower with a smile. He'd heard what Nicollette had said. He only pretended he hadn't so she would come in. The reaction he got from her was not the one he wanted. He wanted her to come to him, to climb in the shower with him-which was absurd. Dom still hadn't analyzed his feelings for her. If they were even really appropriate to be called feelings.

Her reaction reminded him of one of the romance novels Mia used to read when she was a teenager. He'd read one once when he'd broke his leg and had a cast from his ankle to his hip. In that book, the girl had walked in on the guy naked and had run from the room, embarrassed beyond belief.

Of course, Dominic said to himself, the guy did get the girl later in the book. He got out of the shower and dried himself off. After dressing in his pajamas that Mia had so carefully packed for him, and after bushing his teeth, he exited the bathroom to find Nicollette sitting in the middle of the huge bed, the covers drawn over her and the book she'd retrieved open. Dom noticed she didn't look up or acknowledge him when he walked past the bed to the couch.

Nicollette was set on ignoring him. She knew if she looked at him, she would see him. See him the way he'd been in the shower. She'd been so embarrassed, while he didn't seem to mind or even notice for that matter. He probably thought she'd gone in there on purpose. She hadn't, but once she got in there, it did seem like she'd set it up. Very cliché.

Then she realized why he had nothing to be embarrassed of- his body. He'd probably never had a female reject it. It was hard, muscled perfection. At least in Nicollette's opinion.

Nicollette was embarrassed of her body. She wasn't skinny like so many women were today. She wasn't overly fat, but Riley had left her for a younger, skinnier woman. Well she wasn't a woman at the time, but now she was. Riley had invited Nicollette to the wedding- scheduled the day after she graduated. Nicollette had declined, but her father had sent them a gift in her name.

She could still remember the day she came home from work to find Riley- making love to Heather on the kitchen table. Heather had cried and screamed and ran out the door, while Riley just stood there with a smug look on his face.

"Why?" Nicollette replayed the day over in her head. "Why Riley?"

"She isn't as fat."

"You're cheating on me because I'm not a size 4?" He'd simply nodded and left the room, leaving Nicollette there in the kitchen.

Dominic probably had never had anyone reject him. Or cheat on him either. He had nothing to be embarrassed about. No humiliating past. No ex husbands with 18-year-old wives.

Dominic covered up with the blanket he'd found in one of the closets and closed his eyes, prepared for sleep. He didn't fall asleep until after Nicollette had turned the light out and had fallen asleep herself.

When Dom did fall asleep, it was into a restless sleep. He dreamt of things he didn't understand. He stood in a room holding a baby, but no woman came to take it from him. Then he was standing in front of a headstone, but the name was blurry and unreadable. He tried to wake himself up, but every time he tried, the baby in the dream would start to cry and he'd have to go comfort it.

Nicollette had fallen asleep surprisingly fast. In her dreams, she was happily married to someone. Who she did not know, because the face was distorted. She had a child with this person. He dream started out like that, until a gun appeared. Just a hand holding a gun. The next thing Nicollette dreamed, she was looking up from under the ground. Later she realized it was from her own grave. Someone stood on her grave. She pounded on the ground, and yelled but he didn't seem to hear or see her and soon left. Then the dirt started to cave in around her.

Nicollette bolted upright in the bed, screaming.

Dom finally woke up to Nicollette's screaming. He sat up; saw her sitting in the middle of the bed, screaming. He rushed across the room, sat on the bed and drew her into his arms. By the time he got there, her screamed had been subdued to crying.

"Shh. It's okay. Everything's okay. You're fine. It's okay. Shh." He rocked her back and forth, while mumbling soothing words in her ears.

"It was so awful. I was dead. And then someone was standing on my grave, and I tried to get their attention, but they couldn't see me. They left. Then the dirt started to close in around me," Nicollette said between gasps of air.

"You're alive. You're not dead. You're right here with me. You're fine," Dom replied softly, remembering when Mia used to wake up screaming after Douglass had killed the neighbor girl years ago. He'd done the same thing he was doing now. The only difference was that Nicollette wasn't his sister. And he didn't think of her as a sister. Quite the opposite.

After Nicollette had stopped crying, Dominic moved to go back to the couch. He was rising when Nicollette grabbed his wrist.

"Please stay. At least until I fall asleep," she said just above a whisper. Dom looked at her, his brown eyes showing the affection he was starting to feel for her. "Please Dom." It was her calling him Dom instead of Dominic that made him stay. He sat on the bed, leaned against the headboard and stretched his legs out in front of him. Nicollette moved until she was lying beside him, then snuggled her head into his stomach, her arm going around his waist.

Dom was afraid to move. Afraid that if he did he would regret it for the rest of his life. Afraid she would move away and never touch him again. He didn't know when he'd started to crave her touch, but whenever that was, he wished he had met her years ago. That way he would know her better and would have a better understanding about how he felt about her.

Before he knew it, Nicollette was asleep; her head still nestled on his stomach. He couldn't move now if he wanted to. So he put his arms around her and closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him. For now he could imagine. He could imagine that she was his and his only.