Twenty Three

“Grace.” I stirred as the voice that I missed so much filled my head. If only he were really right beside me. “Grace.”
I could feel someone gently tapping me, I shrugged it off.

“Go away.” I heard myself reply with a strained voice.

“Grace it’s me, Dominic.” As he shook my shoulders lightly again, my eyes snapped open and went on to pierce into his. Being careful of the little figure sprawled beside me, I sat up, giving off a loud yawn.

“You are back already? I thought your trip was a week.”

He reached for my hair and swept off a strand away from my face. My heavy eyes followed him as he stood straight. “I hurried it and came back as soon as possible.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have bothered. Ruby is fine now.” I carefully got off the little bed and reached for the covered plate on the table not so far from her bed.
As my mouth begun to munch on the cake that had been hidden from plain sight, my eyes went back to Dominic whose eyes on me suddenly made me conscious of the fact that I must look like shit.

It had been a day since Ruby’s breakdown. And according to my fear, it had to do with her heart ache. So, for the past day, I have been busy tending to her that I hardly had any time for myself.

“I came hurriedly for her and for you.” My eyes flickered to the plate in my hand and by the time my head was up, Dominic’s figure had overpowered mine. “You were crying Grace.” His hands reached for my arms and they engulfed them lovingly.
“No one has ever cried for Ruby. Not even her mother. I had to just come down and ensure you were fine. And with what I am seeing,” He took a minute to observe me. “,you don’t appear to be fine.”

“I…” I didn’t know what to say.

“Come, you need to shower first.” Putting down the plate in my hand, Dominic grabbed my hand and walked me quietly out of the room. Taking one last look at the peaceful looking girl, I closed the door behind me.

“How was your trip?” I asked as my eyes watched his back bounce its way into my room.

“You need to bathe first, talking is for later.” As he closed the door behind me, I felt his hand work its way to my gown.

“Dominic, what are you doing?” I frowned, my words stopping his hands.

Looking up at me, he said, “Helping you get your clothes off?”

“Why? I am sure I can do that myself.” My legs took a step back, giving him room to stand up.

“Grace, I owe it to you to take care of you just like you have taken care of my daughter. So,” His hand caressed my cheek to my delight. “,let me take care of you. You truly deserve it.” He punctuated his statement with his rare smile.

Feeling all bubbly inside, I bit my lip to avoid a huge smile from spilling out. ”Well, if that is what you think,” I finally replied nonchalantly.

“No, tell me what you want.” I pointed to my chest, the mild perplexity in my brain already evident on my face. “Yes...” His voice had begun to draw. And anytime his voice dragged that way, I knew my hormones were in trouble. “... tell me what you want.”

“I… I guess I want to shower and…” I looked on dreamily. “… take a long, long sleep on my bed.” My eyes went to his. “In your arms. Your strong, firm, warm arms.” My hands went on to grab onto those arms of his. A short smirk played on his lips after my confession.

“Well, Miss Sands, that can be arranged.”

“But I would like to take off my clothes myself, please.”

“Well, that is a shame, because I planned to do that myself. But if it is what you want, I am fine with it.” Throwing him a tired smile, I made my way to the bathroom.

After I had closed the bathroom door after me, my hands reached to take off my gown. But my eyes soon flickered back to the mirror that my eyes had earlier momentarily looked into. Dropping the ends of the garment in my grasp, my hands went over my chest as I stared in awe at the red painted words in front of me. “Mr. Powers, you need to see this.”

I heard him groan. “ Dominic. Call me Dominic.” As the door clicked open behind me, I turned to face him. “What is…?” As his eyes traveled ahead, they squinted. I walked to his side and we both stared at the small fonted but boldly written words.

*** WHORE***!

“Did you notice anything out of the ordinary while I was away?” Dominic’s voice brought me out of my bewilderment.

I adjusted my stance. “Well, I did hear a door close suddenly. I thought it was Ruby, but when I got upstairs, she was still sleeping. But I did notice your door was a bit ajar. Before I could investigate, Ruby started…”

He nodded understandably and my eyes went back to the words. “Hmm.” I heard him.

“Who do you think could have done this?”

Exhaling slowly, he replied, “I do not know.”

As my hands went on to grasp his arm, I recalled the message I had gotten earlier. “Funny, I got a text message that sounded threatening earlier.”

A short frown on his face, he looked down at me. “What message?”

“The person threatened to kill me if I do not leave you.” Instead of saying something, his free hand went on to cup my cheek. As he trailed through my skin, he looked on thoughtfully.

“Are you sure you are fine?” His eyes burrowed into mine with worry. I nodded in response as I silently savoured the feel of his fingers against my skin. “You are sure?” He repeated.

“Yes I am. I know it can be quite scary when one is being threatened, but honestly speaking, I am hardly scared.”

He threw me a smile. “I find that easy to believe. You are quite a fierce woman when you need to be.”

“Well, thank you for the compliment sir.” I held on tighter to his arm and leaned into it. “So, any suspects in mind? Probably one that knows you have a stairway in your bathroom?”

“I really can’t say.”

“You don’t think it might be one of your ex-girlfriends? I mean, I am all over the tabloids or whatever they are called. One of your exes might be angry or…”

“Jealous?” He completed my sentence.

“Yeah. I…” Realizing I was about to tread on a topic that could be sensitive, I unclasped my hand from his arm. “I think, if we want to figure out this person threatening me, we should first of all make a list of your former girlfriends. Maybe from there we can-”

“A list?”

With his dark look resurfacing, I took a step back before responding. “Yes, a list.”

“Why would I make a list?”

“To figure out which one of your exes is still into you? That wouldn’t approve of you having a girlfriend?”

He took a step forward. “What makes you think I have exes?”

“Well, well, y… you used to date Regina and you were married to Diane. So, you probably had other women too.”

“What…” His head ducked closer to mine. “…makes you think I have had other women?”

I pushed a hand forward to provide a space in between the both of us and then took a step back. “Well, rich men like you never fail to have women around and uh…” I stole a look to read his reaction but his eyes were unreadable still. Not ready to stare fully back at him, I looked away to the side and continued talking.
“Well, you uh... are also good looking. What I am trying to say is that, you don’t exactly have issues with getting women around and probably before getting married you had a lot around and you…”

“Stop it Miss Sands!” His low growl stopped my ranting that was oddly beginning to feel good. Thinking back at the words I was just spewing out, I could easily deduce that a part of me always had a hidden curiosity about his past relationships.
Or to put it in the way it really is in my head; I want to confirm if he is a player or not.
My lips tucked in, I finally brought my eyes to meet his. And they looked… hurt? No, maybe angry?
“In as much as I appreciate you seeing me as a good looking man, I need to ask you, what kind of man do you think I am?”

“Sir?”

“You heard the question Miss Sands. Don’t make me repeat myself.” The fact that he was referring to me officially that too with his stern voice, made it clear to me that I needed to be careful with the words that would come out of my mouth.

“Honestly speaking, I think you are a very responsible man.” I could feel a smile forming at the side of my lips. “You are a good father. I know that because despite being previously blinded by the need to pay more attention to your job, you were ready to set things right with your daughter.”
He motioned at me to go on. “You also uh… can be a child sometimes. Or to put it better, you badly want to feel like a child sometimes. But with your stoic persona and all, you can’t be one. Not to sound creepy but, I noticed the way you were with Regina is different from who you are when you are with me.”
My legs took a step towards him and he stood straighter, his eyes totally into mine and my neck craned to meet his height.
“As I spend more time with you, I see a man who wants someone to be with him for genuine reasons. It seems like opening up your real self to me means you are beginning to trust I am that someone. And I am really glad about that.” I reached for the side of his face. “I really am.”

“That man you just described now, do you really think he has the time to deal with flings or numerous partners for the fun of it?” He asked after few moments of silence. He had slowly peeled my hand off his cheek before asking me the question with his voice on the verge of going coarse.

“I…” I crossed my hands behind me. “No.”

“Are you being honest?”

“Yes I am.” Soberness all over my face, I reached for his arms. “I am sorry I said those words earlier. I guess I have been unknowingly having second thoughts about… you.” He frowned. “I mean, that you would be interested in someone like me felt so unreal. I thought along the line that I probably am one of your…”

“Flings?” His hand found my chin and set my line of sight in accordance with his. “The only fling I have had is Regina and you are not a fling. You are different Grace. I admit the way and manner with which you found your way into my mind is still a mystery to me, but I just can’t help but be drawn to you every second.”

A smile sprouted on my lips as not only his words but his eyes turned soft. He looked like a child at that moment.
“Trust me Grace when I say, you are different. You are special to me.”

“I am?” My voice broke out like I was about to cry. Or maybe I was crying already, I had no idea. I was just so elated at the words I was hearing at the moment. There is this joy that came with his confession.
And even though he wasn’t exactly saying any three magical words or spewing quotes from Google images, I could tell how honest he was being and that made my heart dance.

“You are special to me.” He confirmed and in response, I cried out in laughter before wrapping my arms around his neck.

As his arms circled round my waist, I said, “Thank you Dominic.”

“What for?”

“For not being a player.”

“Uh… isn’t that a weird thing to be thanking me for?”

I chuckled into the thickness of his neck. I knew I sounded silly, but only I knew how much bliss the establishment of that fact brought my whole being. So, I just slightly nudged him and said, “Just say you are welcome.”

“Well,” He dissolved our embrace and stared into my eyes with his blueness looking kind of perky. “,in a way I am a player.”

“What do you mean?” A short cry escaped my lips as he swept me off the floor within a second. “What are you doing Dominic?”

“My plan to put on a show to eventually get your clothes off by myself worked.”

Slightly gasping, I smacked his arm. “You… so, you pretended to be angry at me earlier?”

“Well, yes. But things got serious along the line. But that turned out to work out in our favour didn’t it? Look at us, about to take a bath together.”

Shaking my head even though a huge smile kept playing on my lips , I said, “Mr. Powers, you are unbelievable.”

“Yes I am.” He began to walk towards the bath.

“Wait, are we really going to do this when a lewd, sort of threatening word is just few metres away from us?”

He set me down at the edge of the white ceramic and made to pull off my cloth. “It is just a word Grace. And it is not going to stop me from making love to you.”