WHO IS TOM?

**Rebecca’s story**

I didn’t even feel it when my eyes filled with tears. And they were tears of amazement and joy. It was so good to see again. To receive the sunlight again, to see the colors.
“It’s an actual miracle, Rebecca,” he rejoiced with me. I could finally see his eyes and the sincerity in them. Now I realized he was really Dominic Stone.
“You really are... Dominic Stone...” I gave voice to my deeply hidden thoughts. The corner of his mouth arched into a seductive smile, revealing perhaps the sharpest teeth I had ever seen.
“And you still had doubts...” I blushed when I felt Dominic’s palms cup my face and wipe the tears with his fingers. I still couldn’t believe I could see him so clearly. His features, the shape of his face, his deep eyes. And to think that all this time he had been my eyes and how patiently he handled every situation. Since I was recovering so quickly, maybe I could finally get back to my life.
I kept sobbing, gazing at him. He was there in my face. Just a touch away.
I would have loved to have dipped my hands in his perfect hair to tousle it a bit. Not to mention I wished for a lot of things so forbidden right now.
Slowly, my eyes adjusted to the dim light in the room. I was searching for my wheelchair as I was dying to go to the window to enjoy the sun and everything on the patio. Dominic could sense my nervousness.
“Dominic, please help get me to the window. I wish I could see everything,” I asked him enthusiastically, displaying perhaps the widest smile I’d had in a long time. And it was so genuine.
In that one second, I found myself carried in his strong muscular arms. He didn’t take long to think about it and immediately placed me in the wheelchair and pushed me by the window as I had asked him to. My God, how I missed everything I was already seeing outside. And his arms. It was like I was breathing again every time Dominic carried me close to his heart. I kept begging mine to stop racing so hard. It was actually impossible for Dominic not to feel it pounding like crazy when he held me. He was having this crazy effect on me. I wonder if I have some kind of effect on him too...
The moment I saw outside, my breath stopped, and I could hardly recover. Keeping in mind that he was also so close to me, everything became so hard to bear.
The sun was shining so beautifully that I would have loved to go by the pool and have a cup of coffee. I’d forgotten about being tired and everything. The fact that I was seeing it was to be celebrated. Dominic watched me in silence. I turned my wheelchair towards him and for the first time, I met his eyes. “Dominic, I know I said I was going to rest, but I really wish we could go by the pool and have coffee. Do you think that’s possible?”
It was the first time I’d seen his smile in its fullness and my God how enchanting it was.
“And what do you think would stop us?” But he didn’t wait for my answer, turned my chair and we walked outside.
Even the wind breeze felt different. Although the sunlight was bright, it didn’t bother me. Not seeing was an absolute torment, so I enjoyed every little thing that was to enjoy.
“Okay, here we are. I’ll go in for a bit and make the coffees and I’ll make some lemonade as well to cool down the heat” If he meant the heat of the sun, that was easy to cool down. But if it was the heat inside that burned hotter with every look, every touch, that was impossible to quench unless…
That sinful thought made me blush at the tip of my nose, but I could have blamed the heat. Dominic wasn’t gone long, but when he returned, my eyes were singing at the sight of steaming coffee and cold lemonade.
“Wow, this looks so good!” I exclaimed, attempting to keep my eyes on the drinks because I thought he looked fantastic, too. He really was an attractive man. I knew him from TV, but I never imagined I’d be standing so close to him. Much less in his home and under his protective care. I was a lucky woman. Already, after two sips of coffee and almost the whole glass of lemonade, things had loosened up. I now had the chance to act like a genuine fan.
“Dominic?” I began the conversation, sipping once more eagerly from the cold lemonade. He turned his hypnotic gaze to me and I felt him pinning me in my chair. Even though I couldn’t feel my legs, it was impossible not to feel shivers in my lower abdomen... and God, between my thighs again. Was he doing it on purpose?
“Yeah...” His response was passionate and with many intended meanings.
“Tell me about yourself!” Maybe he wasn’t expecting the question, but I really wanted to know.
“What do you want to know?” His face relaxed.
“Everything, how you started your career, how quickly you ascended, what movie you enjoyed filming the most...” The questioning would have gone on, but did I have the guts to ask such a personal question? What on earth could happen to me? “If you are seeing someone...”
It was the first startled reaction I had seen on his face. I wondered which question he felt that way?
“Well, I’m 30 years old and I’ve been in the film industry for about twenty years, which means I had my first role when I was only ten. I remember playing an adventurous boy, the son of a circus performer. It was a fantasy with animals talking to the boy and the kid was not happy that they got locked up and used for shows. So he set them free. Imagine what happened next,” he narrated dreamily, laughing fondly at his own memories.
I couldn’t help smiling too. Since my imagination was so overflowing, I was already imagining him in this role. “Hey, you know, that very role propelled me. Then I got other and other roles and at the age of twenty I got my first more serious part, so to speak, in a thriller,” he explained, seemingly wanting to get rid of the stigma of being a little boy who acted in children’s movies.
“I wasn’t laughing on purpose. I imagined you and that’s how I smiled. And now, what is the role that has kept you so far from home?” I noticed immediately how the colors in his cheeks changed. As if he didn’t want to talk about it. But he did anyway.
“It’s a romantic drama...” And just like that, he had touched on the very subject that really interested me.
“Speaking of romance... I hope I’m not being too intrusive...”
“No, you’re not at all. Don’t worry, I know what you want to ask me, so I’ll spare you from asking me again if you feel embarrassed. The answer is no. I am not seeing anyone” Somehow his statement stirred up a lot of feelings in me. From relief to intrigue. I wondered why he was single with how handsome he looked.
And as soon as he answered, I felt the need to change the subject. It was not something to talk about with a strange man, even though it was definitely stopping being so strange to me.
“Tomorrow I have another appointment with Dr Catherine. I have a feeling we’re going to become good friends.”
“Definitely. And being my agent, Nick’s fiancée, I really must introduce you to them more appropriately.”
I really liked the idea.
“I hope I can get back on my feet by the gala you want to take me to. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you...” I didn’t even know where that thought came from, but it was the truth. Dominic was getting dangerously close. He invaded my personal space, but I didn’t move an inch. I was breathing him so deep.
“Rebecca, you couldn’t possibly embarrass me. In case you didn’t know, or haven’t looked at yourself lately, let me tell you one of my truths. You are a beautiful woman” I didn’t think I’d be blushing again by the end of the day. But Dominic had a way of saying things that made me feel warm all over my body. When he backed away, I breathed a sigh of relief and swallowed so hard I almost choked. “But until then, you really need to rest.”
So as not to prolong the ordeal, I agreed. And he interrupted all activity and helped me up to my room.
“It’s been a day full of pleasant surprises, and I hope tomorrow will be the same.”
“It definitely will be. Now you need to get some rest” And saying that, he turned towards the door to leave. Only I had one more question. I hadn’t quite believed everything Catherine had told me, and Dominic still owed me a conversation.
“Dominic...who’s Tom?”