In Our Dream

“Tell me your name.”

The unfamiliar voice was intense, yet gentle, and it resonated in all the right places inside her. “Jennah Best.” She glanced around, trying to place where they were.

“I’m Dominic.”

His voice was so close to her ear, she jumped and looked behind her. Several inches above her face, she peered into dark, mesmerizing brown eyes. “Where are we?” She skimmed over his short, black hair and broad, shadowed jaw as she waited for an answer.  

He smiled at her. “Where would you like to be?”

She laughed. “A thousand places, but that’s not the point—where are we?” She tried again to recognize something, everything seemed obscured, yet he was right in front of her and very clear. “Do I know you?”

He shook his head slowly. 

“No, but we are changing that.” 

He smiled at her again, and she couldn’t help but smile back. He held out one large hand to her. “Walk with me.”

It wasn’t really a question, nor an order, and she did want to know what was going on, so she put her hand in his and flushed a little when she felt the heat as his large hand close around hers. She had almost been thinking she was dreaming. “I don’t mean to sound repetitive, but where are we, Dominic?”

He walked slowly beside her for a few moments and then stopped and gazed down at her again. 

“It’s difficult to explain, but we’re in a place where few can go.”

That wasn’t exactly the answer she wanted. She peered around him and almost sighed in relief when she saw a window seat in the old library. What she was doing in the library’s reading room with a strange man, she didn’t know. 

At least she knew where she was now. 

A place where few can go? The library?

“Shall we sit?”

She nodded, not wanting to say something odd again. She let him lead her over to the window, where he stood waiting until she sat down. She glanced out the window to see the large snowflakes falling gently to the ground. She tried not to notice how close he sat to her, but it was hard not to when the man was so large. She also tried not to notice how wide his shoulders were. Her biggest weakness seemed to be men with broad shoulders. Even though he was dressed in dark pants and a tasteful sweater, he seemed almost dangerous, and the well-controlled female inside her liked that too much.

“What do you do, Jennah?”

She looked quickly from his broad shoulders to those dark eyes. “I, ah, work for the police department here in town.”

“A detective?”

She grinned and shook her head. “No, I thought about trying it a few times, but I was too old to pursue it by the time I decided.”

He grinned. “I can’t see your age being the problem. You can’t be more than twenty-eight, twenty-nine.”

She knew she grinned at him like an infatuated idiot, but couldn’t help it. “Oh, I’m afraid I’m quite a bit older than that, but I’m going to take that as a compliment.” She fought the urge to brush her long, wavy hair back off her shoulder. She didn’t want to appear as if she was flirting. She smiled at him again before looking back toward the window.  

“I think you’re exaggerating. So, what do you do within the department?”

She shrugged. “Mostly desk work and gopher runs.”

He nodded. “What does that involve?”

“Transports, mostly.”

“To Wyestate prison?”

“Quite often, or to the court and neighboring counties.” Jennah watched his eyes move over her face.

“Do you have a partner?” 

She shook her head. 

“Not often, unless it’s someone high profile I’m transporting.” She glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned. It must need repairing. It couldn’t possibly be almost five in the morning. “Are you from here?” She gazed around when she heard an odd buzzing, but couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

“No.” He just sat there, studying her.

She tried to focus on him and then blinked. He seemed to be fading.

“I’ll see you again, Jennah.”

The buzzing grew louder.

Jennah opened her eyes. Her alarm clock was going off. She reached over and slapped a hand on the snooze button, then she focused to make sure she was in her room. She blew out a breath and tried to shake the fog from her mind. That explained a few things. The dream was so real, but not at the same time. Too bad, really. That man her mind had invented, Dominic, was quite nice to look at.  No more chocolate caramel popcorn for you before bed, she thought as she slowly sat up.

She moved carefully in the dark to her small kitchen. Actually, her whole apartment was small. When she’d moved out of Dalton’s, she’d taken the first place she could find. Now, a year later, she was in no hurry to move again. Flipping on the dim light beside the sink, she went through the motions to set up the coffee maker.  

She leaned back against the counter and watched out the window. The streetlight illuminated a small area, just enough to show how thick the snow was falling.

She sighed. Heavy snow always meant a day of chaos. There would be accidents, people falling in ditches, and usually, many people annoyed with the whole world because it was snowing.  

Jennah loved the snow, even if it did lead up to the one holiday she wished she could skip. 

Christmas, with all of the joyous people, the crabby people, the over-decorated stores and windows. She hadn’t always hated Christmas. When it had meant something special and sacred to her, she had been caught up in the merriment. 

Those days were gone.

Yawning, she turned and got a cup out of the cupboard as she listened to the coffee pot make its final slurping sounds, signaling that the first treasured cup of coffee was only a few seconds away.

“You’re not going to let the idea of Christmas depress you this early in the season, or you’ll be committed before it finally gets here,” she told herself firmly as she poured the coffee. If only she would listen. 

Sitting down, she pulled her cell phone off the charger to check for messages. Two, from Dalton. Without reading them, she deleted them and set the phone back down. He still sent her messages regularly, or phoned, and it had been a year. Some people just didn’t take the hint very well. 

She had hoped when the divorce went through a few months ago, it would sink in and he’d get the picture, but she hadn’t been that lucky. Dalton Jesperson had crushed her heart, one piece at a time. And if that hadn’t been bad enough, he’d thrown the pieces back at her then expected her to speak to him! The man needed some serious psychological assistance.

Sighing, she sipped the coffee and tried to think of something she still liked about the man she had married and given herself completely to. Shaking her head, she grimaced. There wasn’t one thing. Now, after all this time, she had accepted the only thing that had brought them together and kept them together was great sex. 

Not a bad reason, but she’d learned her lesson. Falling in lust felt like love until the sizzle was gone, and then there was nothing left but resentment.

Dalton had almost driven her insane. He was fussy and picky and an annoying preppy type of man—that ironed his jeans! On the other hand, he was a drunk who ignored her completely unless something wasn’t going right in his little world. Then, everything was her fault. He had accused her of sleeping with every man that walked by, even when she had devoted her every free moment, and too many that weren’t free, to him and only him. She had given up her job for him and had almost given up her free will just near the end.

Letting out a long, shaky breath, she took another sip of the hot liquid. She could not dredge up all that hurt and anguish right now. 

Fighting the Christmas blahs that were slowly working their way inside her would take all the energy she had. 

She stared at the calendar. It was November twenty-seventh. 

Twenty-eight days until that dreaded day arrived and left for another three hundred and sixty-five days. She just had to get through it. Without alcoholic help, she decided. Last year, she had tried that, but going into work several days in a row with her head aching with a hangover kind of way had taught her that lesson.

The cell phone ringing made her jump and slop a bit of hot coffee onto her arm. She glanced at the number and sighed. The merry season had begun. It was one of her co-workers calling. She flipped it open.

“Hello?” She shook her head. “Almost awake, what’s happening, Rudy?” She slumped forward and glanced at the clock. “I can be there in twenty minutes.” She nodded. 

“Just try to keep them from helping too much until I get there.” She snapped the phone shut.

The happy season of chaos had begun. Three college kids home visiting had tried to make the biggest snowman ever early this morning, only to have part of their snowman roll down a steep incline, and now two of them were stuck underneath.

She paused on her way to the bathroom to wonder just how big this snowball could be. With any luck, the paramedics would have found a way to get the boys free without collapsing the rest of the snowman on top of them, and she would not have to crawl around in the cold snow before dawn.

It was very doubtful she’d be that lucky.

~

Dominic lay there, listening to the men waking up. He looked at the ceiling and wished more than anything he could connect with Jennah again, but he didn’t take a chance and close his eyes again. Soon everyone would be awake, the lights would be on, and they’d be free to roam before breakfast. It was definitely not the time to try to hook up with the mysterious woman again. She obviously didn’t even know she had to ability to do what they had done, and he knew trying to convince her that it had not been a dream was going to be an interesting task.

“Palmer?” The voice croaked from the bunk below him.

“Yeah.”  

“Shit’s going to hit the fan at the chow hall this morning.”

He sighed quietly. “I know.”

“You staying clear?”

Dom sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bunk. “Going to try to.”

The bed frame rocked as the man below him moved to get up. “I’ve got your back if you watch mine.”

“I will, Slick.” He still, even after all these months, had no idea why the scruffy man he shared this small space with was called Slick, and most of the time, he really didn’t want to know. It was best that way, to not ask questions and not know things. 

The problem with that was he was here to get answers. He rubbed his hands over his bristled face and pushed his fingers into his eyes. 

“It’s going to be a long day on the inside.”

He heard his bunkmate chuckle. “All of them are.”

Dom hopped down and stretched his shoulders back. He wasn’t a huge man, but having nothing much to do to relieve energy and stress but workout, he was definitely larger than before. He’d have to buy a whole new wardrobe when he got out. Dammit! He’d loved his clothes just the way they were.

He lowered his arms as Slick stood up. The other man wasn’t as tall as his six-foot-one, but he definitely made up for it in bulk. Even with his larger size, he would not want to take on the stocky man. Having Slick watch his back was one of the things that kept him sane in this place.

This place, Wyestate prison, was not a fun place to be, and if Dom had anything to do with it, he wouldn’t be here much longer. Then again, he’d been thinking that for the last six months he’d been here. Two people within these walls knew he was a plant and not an actual criminal, and both stood there now, dreading going to eat breakfast. Even the Warden didn’t know, which meant that Dom was on his own.

Slick was the informant on the inside that had led the attorney general’s office to placing Dom on the inside. He’d shown him around, told him who was who, and promised to watch his back, and that was the end of it right there. Any leads or solid fact would have to be found by Dom himself.  

He didn’t blame him. When Dom was finished, he at least got to leave. Slick would be here for the rest of his breathing days because of one stupid, drunken, drugged-up night that had spun out of control. The man had Dom’s admiration and respect. He’d owned up to what he’d been part of and was taking his punishment with grace. Dom wasn’t even sure if he’d deal with it as well as the man that stood in front of him, looking out through the bars now.

“Stay nearby, Slick. I think we’re going to need eyes in the back of our heads today.”

Slick nodded and then looked over his shoulder at him. “Last time it was this quiet at wake up, two men went down and didn’t get back up.”

Dom studied him for a moment. “As long as it’s not us, I didn’t see a thing.”

Slick gave him a big grin. 

“You’re really starting the think the part, man.”

Dom cocked an eyebrow at him. “Do I have a choice?”

Slick shook his head. 

“Nope.” The loud clank of locks releasing chorused through the silence just before the bars slid aside. “Showtime.”

“Hang back for two, and let’s assess who is instigating.”

Slick leaned against the doorway. “Not going to be too hard to assess. Rod’s group is pissed that Cherry’s gang came out on top of the work draw. A few less of Cherry’s people and there’s more space to fill on the team.”

“Any idea what the work team was scheduled for?”

“None. Too many closed mouths on this one.” He lifted both eyebrows at him. “And someone’s pockets are heavier because of it, too.”

“I don’t like the taste of it.” Dom glanced through the bars to see some of Rod’s followers hanging back when they normally rushed to get a place in the line near their dominant leader. “This is going to be a massacre.” He leaned down closer to Slick so none of the inmates going by would hear. “You see if you can talk with your guard buddy later and see if he knows why this work job is so special.”

Slick stuffed his hands in his pockets and nodded. “Let’s get this over with.”

Dom took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I really miss quiet breakfasts.” He put his hands in his pockets and jerked his head so Slick would go out first.

“I miss a hell of a lot more than quiet breakfasts, man.”

Dom grinned and followed him out. Come to think of it, he missed more than breakfasts, too, but at least he’d gotten a glimpse of a sexy brunette last night. The hair on the back of his neck stood out, warning him that this was not the time to be thinking of anything but living through the day.  

“Jennah?”

She turned to see Dominic a few feet away from her. She smiled. “Hi.”

He strode over to her in long strides. “I thought it was you.”

She nodded and grinned again. “Who else would be in my dream but me?”

He stared down at the floor for a moment and then smirked at her. “You’d be surprised.” He put his hands in the pockets of his dark jeans and flashed a sexy smile. “I hoped you’d come back.”

She laughed. “You have?” At least the man in her dreams was happy to see her.

“I have. I thought we could go skating.” He looked her up and down slowly. “Do you like ice skating?”

She bit her lip so she wouldn’t laugh loudly. It was just a dream. Why not? “I do, actually.”

“Perfect!” He held out one large hand. “We’ll get our jackets and gloves and do that then.”

Shaking her head, she took his hand and let him lead her. “So, Dominic, I woke up last time when I asked if you were from around here...”

His laugh was deep, and it caused her insides to flush with a heat she hadn’t felt in a very long time. “I’m not. I’m in the area, though, and once I finish one last job, I’m going to find someplace quiet and relocate with a more peaceful line of work.”

She studied his darkly shadowed jaw and noticed the lines that only hard times could put on such a young man. “One last job? What is it you do?”

Almost black eyes watched her seriously for a moment. “I wish I could tell you, really I do, but there’s too much at stake and too many people involved to tell you...just yet.”

Jennah glanced up at the stern look in his eyes and nodded. “Okay, I’ll just think of you as a non-British James Bond then.” He laughed again. “Can I at least ask how old you are?”

She hadn’t even noticed she was in her jacket with her white mitts on until he patted her hand with his black-gloved one. “Is age a problem?”

“I like to think it’s not, most of the time.” She stopped suddenly when she realized they were at a pond. The snow had been pushed to the sides, so the white ice was visible in the shadowed night. She was beginning to like her dreams.

He motioned to a small bench. She sat down. He knelt in the cold snow in front of her and began to take her boot off. This was certainly a first.

He grinned up at her. “In life experience, I’m much older than my true age, if that matters.”

She just sat there and let him slip her skate onto her foot. “And your true age would be?”

He grinned at her again. “Twenty-four.”

She frowned and tried not to groan out loud. “You do look older,” she whispered.

He gently picked up her other foot and worked her boot off. He knelt there, rubbing her foot in his big hands. “Is that a bad thing? That I’m twenty-four, or that I look older?”

She tried to ignore the warm feelings his hands were creating and sending up her legs. “It’s not a bad thing that you’re only twenty-four. I’m just jealous.”

He chuckled. “Why is that?”

She swallowed as his hand rubbed the back of her calf, and it tingled all the way up her leg. “I’m twelve years older.”

He gave her a playful look. “I don’t have a problem with that.” He slipped the skate on her foot. “And you don’t look your age anyway.”

When he finished lacing her skate and stood up, she was surprised to see he already had his skates on. Dreams are much simpler than the real world, she thought.

He helped her walk to the ice and then glided backwards away from her. She watched how smoothly he moved on the skates and hoped for a moment that she was going to look as graceful. It would be her luck to glide out and fall on her face.

“Come on, Jennah,” he goaded her playfully.

She grinned and pushed with one foot to slide a few feet slowly. She actually did like skating and was pretty good at it. At least she had been the last time she’d done it. Lifting her head, she watched as he came back toward her. Taking a few easy strides, she picked up momentum without any wobbling or unsteadiness.

He circled her until he was skating backwards beside her. He turned and—she couldn’t have ever done it as fast and fluidly as he did—his arm came around behind her and he was pushing her to keep up with his stride. He leaned down so he spoke softly beside her ear. “It’s better with the night air brushing against your face.”

“Just catch me when I fall.” Despite her words, she was smiling and couldn’t remember when she’d felt this relaxed. As they neared the end of the pond, he turned quickly and held her waist as he spun her around to head back the other way.

“I promise to cushion your fall if you do.” He glanced behind them.

She clung to his wrist and jacket but didn’t want him to slow down. She’d never skated like this, and it was like an invigorating dance. Jennah peeked around him to see how close they were to the other end, and she was just going to tell him they were getting too close when he slowed and began to turn the corner gracefully. “I think I like dreams with you in them.”

He watched her for a few seconds. “And if I told you it wasn’t exactly a dream?”

She raised both eyebrows. “I’d laugh at you because I know it’s a dream. The last time I was sitting beside you at the library, and then I was in my bed waking up to my alarm.”

He smirked. “That’s pretty convincing.”

Jennah nodded. “Yep.”

He pulled her closer and grasped her hip, swinging her into the next corner until she’d gone around in a complete circle, all while clinging to him. She was laughing while she grasped his arm tighter and let him lead her all over the glossy surface. She could feel the cool night air on her cheeks, but she didn’t care. Dream or not, she hadn’t had this much fun in a while.

Dominic lowered his head so his cold cheek touched hers. “Can I talk you into coming back to my place for hot chocolate?”

She leaned back and gawked at him. “Your place? I thought you weren’t living near here.”

He grinned, his dark eyes filled with mischief. “If this is a dream, I can get us to my place.”

She bit her lip and nodded. This wasn’t like her at all, but it was just a dream. He pulled her closer to him and stopped them in the middle of the pond.

“Close your eyes.”

When she opened them, they were standing in the middle of a kitchen. With her eyes wide, she looked up at him and then down at herself. She was in her blue sweater and jeans. Her jacket and mitts were gone. “That’s a neat trick.”

He laughed. “In this place, if you can think it, you can do it.”

She smirked up at him. “I’ll have to remember that.” She stepped back from him and turned to look around. It was a sparsely decorated apartment, very clearly one of a bachelor. Turning slowly again, she noticed the photo on the wall. She walked over toward it. A man stood in uniform with his arm around a male teen and a small, rounded woman. They appeared to be very happy. She leaned closer and studied the boy. It had to be Dominic with those eyes. “Your father was a law officer?”

“He was.”

She turned at the clipped response to see him standing at the counter holding the kettle. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were cold. “I’m sorry...”

He shook his head and turned to put the kettle on the stove. “Don’t. He was killed while on duty.”

“Oh! I’m sorry, Dominic.” She walked over and placed a hand lightly on his arm so he’d look at her again. “I didn’t mean to bring up something that would upset you.”

He scowled for a moment, and then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s not your fault. It’s just a sore spot with me.” He flicked his eyes over to the picture and then back to her. “I don’t have any good pictures without him in uniform...” He sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. It was a very long, tense day and I thought I could keep it at bay.”

She examined his dark eyes to see they were tired. “I understand. My day was the beginning of Christmas chaos. And now that the official start has begun, well, let’s just say I will be ready to hide from reality very soon.”

He grinned. “This is definitely hiding from reality.”

She laughed. “I guess it is.”

He turned back to the counter and got two cups out of the cupboard. “So, what is Christmas chaos?”

Jennah leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms. “It’s hard to explain, but until the holiday season is gone, oh around January fifth, my quiet desk job is canceled, and I have to help out with the fun and wonders of the public.”

He leaned back across from her and crossed his arms. “Like?”

She blew out a breath. “Let’s see, about a half-hour after our library visit last night, I was called to help get two nineteen-year-old males out from under an enormous snowball—their world record snowman’s bottom. They were half frozen to death and will now get to spend a few days in the hospital recovering.” He smirked. “I had to deal with snowbank property rights...” His eyebrows went up. “One neighbor swears he shoveled the snow to the nice peak so he can use it in his Christmas outdoor display, but neighbor number two says it’s his snow and he doesn’t want it decorated.” He chuckled this time, and she had to stop and watch how appealing he looked when he did that. His dark eyes lit up and then he appeared to be as young as his true age. She wouldn’t think about his age right now. “It gets more entertaining than that.” He stopped and gaped at her. “Bocco the Shih Tzu didn’t like practicing wearing his antlers and decided to flee into the street and help instigate a three-car accident. I love angry people yelling over my head, really I do, but that spurred tiny Bocco into shouting his opinion and jumping from his owner’s arms, creating more mayhem, and me getting scratched to shreds by his too long claws when I finally caught up to him.”

He wasn’t laughing. “And this is what you’re going to be doing until Christmas?”

“Let’s hope not.” She turned her face toward him and grimaced. “So, why was your day long and tense?”

He straightened and turned to the kettle. “Really, nothing compared to yours.”

“You don’t want to talk about it?” She watched how stiff his back was.

“Not tonight. Let’s just relax.”

Did she want to find out more that badly, or did she want to relax with her appealing dream man? Not a hard decision. “Okay.” She pushed up her sleeves and leaned a hip against the counter to watch him make the hot chocolate.

He turned to hand her a cup and frowned. Setting the cup down, he grasped her arm lightly and lifted it to look at her wrist. “Are these from tiny Bocco?”

She looked at the deep scratches. “Yes, he was a vigorous struggler.”

He lifted her hand closer to his face. “Have you cleaned them?”

Jennah was trying not to notice how her body was responding to his touch. “Yes, they’re fine. It was through my shirt, and one of his paws got my wrist.”

“Through your shirt?”

She could only nod when his voice dropped low.

“Are they as bad as this?”

Jennah shrugged. “I don’t think so. They aren’t hurting much.” She ran her hand over her collarbone where the scratches were. As his eyes moved slowly over her tummy and chest, her heartbeat sped up. She just stood there, watching his eyes as he stepped closer to her. If he’d asked her anything, she wouldn’t have been able to answer if she wanted to.

He released her wrist and reached to tilt her chin up further so he could look at the hidden marks. Her sweater had a scooped neck, so it wasn’t difficult if he wanted to look. She felt his warm hand on the neckline of the sweater near her shoulder and couldn’t stop looking at his face bent so close to hers. She could feel his breath on her neck, and it was sending sparks all the way through her. The neck of her sweater was pushed off one shoulder, and not only was her throat revealed, but the swell of her breasts, and she could feel his breath there too.

“Were you trying to cuddle the damn dog?” His voice was a rumbling whisper.

She shook her head. “No, just trying not to drop it.” She turned her head to look at him. His eyes moved slowly over her face and then down to the claw marks on her skin. She knew she was holding her breath when he lowered his head and brushed a light kiss over the top of one red mark.

His mouth moved, lingering over one scratch, and she couldn’t have said it hurt in any way because the heat was slowly consuming her and causing her to tremble from his gentle touch.

“It’s not right...” His mouth began to work its way back up. “For such flawless skin to be marked in this way.” He placed his lips against the side of her throat and kissed where she knew there were no marks present.

She closed her eyes when his arm slipped slowly around her and his lips burned a slow, sensual trail up to her jaw. Her brain knew it was a dream, but her body didn’t care. She could feel the heat from him and feel his breath against her skin, scorching her. She wanted to feel his mouth on hers, wanted to see if it felt real.

He stiffened and lifted his head. She opened her eyes and stared into his dark ones.

“I have to go,” he whispered, and she could see from his expression he really didn’t want to.

“Oh.”

“I’ll make it up to you, I swear.” He kissed her lips quickly. “Close your eyes and go back to your bed, Jennah...”

She opened her eyes and then bolted upright. She was in her room. Turning, she glowered at the clock. It was only four in the morning. Her heart was still trembling out a loud beat from his touch. She touched her throat and could swear it felt as real as the mouth in her dreams had.

Letting out a slow breath, she smiled and moved back onto her pillow. So it was only a dream. Did it really matter? It’s not like she was with one man and dreaming of another. Nope, no man had been in her bed in a long time. He could have stayed a bit longer, though, she thought with a smirk. “Happy dreams for me,” she whispered and closed her eyes again.

****

Dom opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. His skin was crawling, and he knew something was wrong. He wasn’t sure how he’d managed to pick up on it when his every thought had been on Jennah. He listened and could hear the slow steps echoing in the corridor below. Something was definitely going down. No one should be out and walking free at this time of day. He turned onto his stomach and peered over his pillow to see if he could spot who was moving around. The bunk moved slightly, and he knew Slick was awake too, watching.

He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, trying to block the images of Jennah from his thoughts for now. A loud, yowling scream pierced through the silence, and every hair on his body stood on end. He had to get out of this place soon or he was going to be paranoid for the rest of his life.