WindSwept Narrows: #13 Charity, Faith & Hope

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “I guess I’m forgiven,” Faith murmured, sinking before her computer and getting back to work. Working was simple. It was logical. Even as she worked, the girl part of her drifted to Dominic and her reaction to his presence. Worse, his kiss. Not that she hadn’t spent way too many nights thinking about kissing him and a lot of other stuff, she thought, ignoring the warmth spreading through her.

  Chapter Twelve

  She had finished cleaning the computers remotely, her gaze on the clock. Each number ticking past made her a little more antsy. People began leaving for the weekend. Ryan stopped at her cubicle, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. She wasn’t sure why a lot of computer guys seemed awkward. When she first began taking classes, she thought it was some genetic thing built into them. They were fine in a group of males, but throw in a female who didn’t act male, and they suddenly forgot how to talk or even think unless it was about code or machines.

  “Off to have a wild weekend, Ryan?” She asked, deciding if she didn’t want him standing at her shoulder all afternoon, she’d better begin the conversation.

  “Oh…no…nothing much planned…you?”

  “She has her whole weekend plotted out for her, thanks for asking,” Dominic leaned against the partition, arms crossed over his chest.

  Faith spun to the voice, that warm feeling spreading a little too far. He had changed clothes and that made her frown. She couldn’t remember seeing him outside of a suit or fancy evening clothes. Pale brows knit together, her gaze beginning quickly at what looked like a pair of boots, very nice square toed leather boots; jeans that seemed to cling to every one of his muscles. A plain cotton button down shirt was topped with a black leather jacket that stopped at the tops of his thighs.

  “Umm…Ryan…this is…”

  “Dominic Matthews,” he said easily, his head tipped, barely acknowledging the younger man.

  “Yes…nice to meet you. See you Monday, Faith,” Ryan looked over his shoulder once as he went down the corridor.

  Faith glared at that ever present feral grin. She could swear she saw his eye teeth grow a millimeter. She turned her shoulder toward him, her hands moving expertly over the keyboard, her screen going dark. She brought her tongue out to bring necessary moisture to lips she’d spent most of the morning chewing on.

  “That really wasn’t necessary, Dominic,” she told him, glaring at the casual shrug he offered.

  “Did you wear a jacket?” Dominic pushed himself lazily to his feet, extending his palm when she turned to face him, still sitting on the rolling chair.

  “I…no, no…I use the underground…just run from the dorm to the stairs,” Faith stared at her palm lying in the warmth of his and wondered who put it there. “Dominic, why are you here?”

  “I’m here to take you to lunch, Faith,” he said simply, striding with her from the computer section. "Any preferences?”

  “Yes, I want to know why you’re here.” She demanded, pulling on her hand and taking a challenging stance when her tug brought him to a stop in the wide corridor. Her chin was tipped up and eyes defiant. She felt her stomach growl but knew it wasn’t from hunger. He took a step closer, her eyes narrowed warily.

  “You really want to have this discussion in a corridor with people going past, Faith?”

  She always liked listening to him, even when he was lecturing her. He kept his voice low and level, a softly caressing sound that resonated to some feminine part of her. The man was six foot two. It was impossible to miss him. And people who knew her were doing their best to walk past them without staring too badly at them both.

  She shook her head slowly.

  “Then let’s find a place to eat and we can talk,” he looked around the corridor. “Guide us out of here, Faith. My car is parked by the employee living units.”

  Faith looked now and then at the palms clasp between them. “I think you made Ryan nervous.”

  “Good.”

  “He’s a nice guy, Dominic,” she said firmly. “There was no reason to….to behave like…”

  “An alpha male? Sorry, I’m discovering it’s my natural state around you,” he told her, not sounding the least bit sorry. “He needs a woman with a lot less strength than you have. He’d be dead in a week.”

  “I…you…” Faith gaped at him, stumbling slightly at the door to the outside. A shiver went through her when the winds struck, her hands leaving his and cupping her shoulders. Her mind was still working on whether or not his words were complimentary.

  “Which unit is yours? You need a coat,” Dominic told her, following her to the gates and inside. She took off at a light run, climbing the stairs and ignoring the elevator to the top, her thumb shoved against the glass panel before pushing the door open. Dominic stood at the closed door, gazing around the open room.

  “You haven’t done much with this place,” he commented, his gaze following the lightly muscled body across the room. He took the coat from her and held it out to her.

  “It doesn’t feel like home to me,” she said after a long minute, staring down at her fingers as she latched the buttons.

  “You still miss your parents,” he said quietly, opening the door and following her outside. She was quiet so he changed the subject. “So what are you in the mood for? Food wise,” he clarified quickly.

  Faith slid onto the very comfortable front seat of his car, buckling the belt and waiting while he came around the front and moved behind the wheel.

  “I never thought I’d see you again,” she blurted out, closing her eyes and waiting. She’d hoped for a little more finesse, a lot more cool, but always fell back to being her.

  “I’m still learning my way around town, but I’m sure we can find some place,” Dominic said, easing the car into traffic.

  “It doesn’t have anything to do with my parents,” she theorized, chewing on her lip in thought. “Why you’re here, I mean.”

  “I’m not in that business any longer,” Dominic said, aware of the wide eyes staring at him at his side. He sighed thickly.

  “You left San Francisco?” Faith cleared her throat, the high pitched question echoing around her. “I mean, obviously, you’re not in San Francisco at the moment, but you’re going back, right?”

  “You know…I thought a quiet dinner…where we could unwind and relax a little before…you’re an impatient little thing,” he said, shaking his head and guiding the car into a parking lot of a high end seafood restaurant.

  “There’s too much stuff in my head, damn it! All of a sudden, out of no where, you show up and want to talk? Talk? After six months? About what?” Faith knew the pent up everything was about to burst free. “You represented a will set into place by my parents. You made that very clear to me. It was business, nothing more,” she ignored the palm he held out to her when he opened the door, glaring at his hand and storming past him to the main door of the restaurant.

  “Two please,” Dominic told the woman waiting at the desk, her smile and palm gesturing them toward the back. He dropped his jacket over the chair and sat down, watching her sulk across from him. Slowly she opened her jacket and shrugged out of it, letting it fall behind her. “Plan on sulking all through lunch?”

  “I might,” came the irritated reply.

  “It doesn’t suit you. I’m used to you bouncing and singing,” he met the wary deep blue of her eyes. “Believe it or not, that vision has been in my memory for the last six months. Are you hungry?” He opened his menu, browsing through the choices. He heard her sigh and open the heavy plastic and leather menu. “How do you like this area compared to San Francisco?”

  “I like it a lot,” she admitted slowly, listening to her stomach as she read through the selections on the menu. He had nice memories of her, she thought, thinking she was positive she heard wrong. “It’s very different. Nice different, though.”

  “Did you skip breakfast? Is that why your stomach is talking to you?” Dominic grinned at the flush of color on her face, her eyes up and on his.

&
nbsp; “You can not possibly hear that,” she hissed petulantly, the menu snapping closed.

  “I think we’re ready to order,” he grinned up at the waiter, giving his order and looking toward Faith. He listened to her request, waiting for privacy before speaking. “How did you chose this area, Faith?”

  “I have friends here, you know that,” she looked at him curiously. “People in the computer section and a few in a little city north of here. Friends I met in college who joined the resort. It’s a nice town and the project is huge. We’re going to have our own apartments and a school eventually. I think we’re planning a slow, insidious take over and before they realize it…” she clamped her mouth shut abruptly. He always told her she launched herself in a conversation like an unaimed ballistic missile. “Sorry.”

  Dominic watched that spark he’d become used to flare back to life in her eyes and then vanish the next instant, one hand twirling the goblet of ice water. He couldn’t remember the last time he was nervous with a woman.

  “There’s nothing to be sorry for, Faith. I like hearing the enthusiasm in your voice. It brings a wild sparkle to your eyes. It sounds like you’re settling in. It sounds like you’re happy,” Dominic said quietly. “You haven’t touched your inheritance.”

  “You watch that?” She asked carefully.

  “All a part of the service,” he said with a tip of his head. “I make sure things are kept diverse. Financial planning is what I did best. I’m relocating that portion of my business to this area.”

  “You’re giving up being an attorney?” Faith stared in disbelief.

  “The knowledge might come in handy some time in the future,” he said with a shrug. “But I’ve discovered I enjoy the money side of things a great deal more. I believe you pointed that out to me several times.”

  “And you told me I had no idea what I was talking about,” she countered quietly.

  “I was wrong,” Dominic saw the doubt in her eyes. “You used to trust me, Faith.”

  “I trust you with the inheritance,” she answered casually. “I know you’re honest, Dominic.”

  “I’m not talking about my career or my work, Faith. I’m talking about me. Trusting me,” he clarified, watching the way she studied him. “Me as a person, as a man.”

  “You want me to trust you,” she said very slowly. “Personally? Like…if you borrow a book from me, I know you’ll return it kind of thing?” She winced slightly when he swore softly. “No…okay…not a book thing…what do you want me to trust you about, Dominic?”

  “Everything, Faith.”

  “I don’t think I know you well enough for that,” she brought her tongue out to moisten the lower lip she had bitten down on.

  She couldn’t tell if he liked that answer or not, her hands moving from the table for the plate of steamy soup. She dropped half the carafe of small crackers into the creamy broth and stirred, casually paying attention to him digging into the mass of pasta and vegetables he covered liberally with pepper.

  “Would you consider getting to know me well enough to answer that question?” Dominic wasn’t accustomed to doubting his actions. He wasn’t accustomed to the trepidation at making the choice that might hurt. He met the surprised look on her face.

  Faith met his eyes, blinking slowly as she ate. Males had never been too terribly difficult to figure out. She’d always managed to keep them at a distance with humor and talk about work. The ones interested in more than friendship soon found the door when she refused them anything more intimate. None of them ever made her warm inside just talking to her. None of them had ever asked her to trust them before.

  “What kind of business are you setting up here?” She finally asked, dropping more crackers into her soup before biting down on a large piece of clam.

  “Financial planning and guidance. I’m outfitting an office in the admin section of the resort,” Dominic answered readily. If she was asking questions, she was thinking about what he asked of her. “People working for a living need that kind of planning in their lives even more than the ones with a couple million to plan with. I think it’s about time someone started sharing that information with them, don’t you?”

  Faith knew she was staring and closed her mouth with an audible snap. She had told him that. She had told him he would find more challenge to his work helping people who didn’t have millions to play with. She swallowed hard and shook her head. And he had listened to her, a little part of her whispered in amazement. And he was thinking about her.

  “What you built in San Francisco was very important to you,” she said when she was sure her voice would work without embarrassing her too badly.

  “It fit at the time,” he admitted with a nod. “It was profitable.”

  “You’re giving up all those fancy parties and lunches and…and all those high powered connections and…and…” She stopped herself short from blurting out Angela.

  “They aren’t where I want to be anymore, Faith. I think I might have grown out of them,” Dominic almost laughed at the look on her face. He didn’t blame her. A good many people he knew in San Francisco had sported that same look questioning his sanity. “I’ve spent a lot of time going over things we talked about. Formulating plans for retirement and college for their kids for people barely able to make a living wage…” His head shook as he remembered the plans he had drawn up for some of the incomes he had practiced with. “You were right. It’s easy to plan tomorrow when you have large amounts of capital to hide. Not so simple when you have goals or dreams for your kids and a mortgage and utilities and genuine life bills that need paying.”

  “That’s why you were in the cafeteria this morning,” she said quietly, toying with the spoon in the soup bowl.

  “Cade and Logan are old friends,” he nodded, sliding his plate back. “I pitched my idea to them both a few weeks ago.”

  “Your apartment in San Francisco?”

  “Sold it. Sold a lot of things. Other stuff’s in storage until Monday. Then it’ll be delivered to a small condo complex a couple miles north of the resort, barely a ten minute drive,” he grinned at her. “Something unreal and unheard of in San Francisco.”

  “Why did you want to talk to me, Dominic? About your move?” Faith groaned silently at the weak sound in her voice, clearing her throat a little.

  “You’re a big part of the move, Faith,” he saw the instant alarm in her eyes. “Faith…”

  She held up one finger. She needed air. She needed…time to think.

  “I need a restroom…hold that thought,” She told him, casually sliding into her jacket and looking around for a sign. Faith kept her body language casual as she found the restrooms, making a quick swerve and going to the entrance. She hastily wrote a note and handed it to the woman at the front.

  “Could you give that to my….my date in…oh…five minutes?” She figured if he sat there that long waiting, it would be a miracle, but what the heck? She was obviously living a charmed life as it was. Five minutes head start always worked for the bunny, right?

  “Oh, god,” she whispered with a little squeal. “I had a date with Dominic!” She whispered excitedly and took off at a light run to the bus stop.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Faith decided it was all too much. She didn’t want that pain back that had her heart breaking each time she closed her eyes and saw him there. With Angela wrapped around him. To be fair, he had always treated her like a little sister. She was annoying and a pain, he told her repeatedly. Ordering her to sit still and pay attention. Telling her the clothes she wore belonged on a twelve year old not a mature woman of thirty-three.

  It had hurt when he talked about proposing to Angela. Telling her about it as if she cared. He never knew how she looked at him, he was too involved in his work and in Angela to notice her. But in the end, if he was happy, it’s all she could hope for and packed up and relocated. She threw herself into her new job, spent time with friends and forced herself to go out with guys who asked.

&nbs
p; She found her way easily to the resort and quickly changed clothes, opting for comfortable jeans and a girl tee with the fitted vest over top. She stuffed some money into her pocket and headed for the employee arcade. A crooked scowl was on her face as she watched people using the dance game. She could outrun a lot of people but her feet refused to dance with any sense of balance or rhythm. She saw Ryan by the shooter games and headed for him. He was nice. Quiet and easy going. Safe.

  They spent thirty minutes working through a tough mission when it ended successfully. Both of them up and hugging tightly.

  “That was fantastic,” she said happily. They had talked and it was alright between them. He had his hands on her shoulders as they eased out of the friendly hug when the deep menacing voice came from behind her.

  “Get your hands off her…now.” The words were low and slightly tinted with pending mayhem.

  Both of them froze in place. Faith licked her lips and looked at Ryan.

  “Don’t move. He hasn’t changed into a wolf, has he?” She laughed nervously when Ryan took her seriously. “Just kidding…stay behind me…alright? Just in case I’m wrong…”

  “Faith…” Dominic stood two feet behind her, his hands at his sides.

  She turned slowly, keeping Ryan behind her and safe. Oh, good, he was still mostly human, her brain said before it sent a shiver of sexual awareness through her.

  “Dominic…calm down and let’s not do anything rash,” she said slowly, her palms up and patting the air lightly. She was sure that’s how you would soothe a beast. Speak in a soft, steady voice and keep looking them in the eyes.

  “Are you nervous, Faith?” He asked with feral patience, standing still as she took a step toward him.

  “No, of course not…well…maybe…” Faith swallowed hard, her palms coming in contact with his chest since she had continued to move carefully closer. “Do not hurt Ryan. We had a nice long chat…and played games…that’s all. He knows that I’m…” she swallowed again, still tasting the words she wanted to say out loud in her throat. “I am in a relationship with you…and therefore, unavailable for serious girl-guy kind of dates.”