Page 17 of Kidnapped in Dark Waters
“Why? Because Daniel is making you?”
“Dominique, my need to go with you on your potentially dangerous nightly travels has nothing to do with Daniel. It has everything to do with the fact that I like you and don’t want to see any harm come to you.”
She offered him a small smile. “I like you, too.”
Warmth swept through him, a warmth that enhanced the smoldering physical desire he felt toward her. He shoved the desire away as best he could. “Since you have no plans to go out tonight, I assume you’re ready to kick me out of here.”
Once again, she smiled. It was an impish grin that he found enchanting. “I could put up with your company for a little while longer if you want to stay.”
He grinned back at her. “Then I guess I could put up with your company for a while longer, too.” To make his point, he leaned back on the sofa.
“Tell me more about your family,” she said. “You mentioned before that you have two younger brothers, but you said nothing about your parents except to tell me it was a long and boring story. We have all the time in the world tonight for a long story. So, are your parents still alive?”
Did he really want to talk to her about this? Maybe if he did, she would understand him a little bit better. “Like you, I didn’t know my father, and my mother passed away four years ago.”
“Oh, Luke, I’m so sorry,” she said, genuine sympathy shining in her eyes.
“Don’t be, it was a long time ago.” He decided at that moment to tell her the whole ugly truth about his childhood. “My mother was a raging alcoholic who should have never had kids. I never knew where I’d find her. She’d pass out in the front yard or in the living room or in Swamp’s End where somebody would eventually bring her home and dump her on the sidewalk.”
Swamp’s End was the third bar in Dark Waters. It was a small hole-in-the-wall that catered to a rough crowd.
Luke spoke fast, the words bubbling out of him as he recalled his childhood trauma. “She’d often forget about us and there wouldn’t be any food in the house, or she’d bring home some random man who usually didn’t want to see or hear me and my brothers. I did my best to take care of them, stealing food for them to eat and trying to hide them from those random guys. I’d get them cleaned up and dressed each morning and would walk them to school.”
He drew in a deep breath and then continued. “It was a childhood of utter chaos. We never knew what to expect from one day…one minute to the next. The saddest part of all was when I heard she’d passed away, I felt nothing except the tragedy of a life wasted.”
It was her turn to reach out and take his hand in hers. “Oh Luke, I’m so sorry you had to live through all that,” she said softly.
He smiled. “It’s like the old saying goes, something that doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. I now know what I’ll do for my children to make them always feel loved and safe.”
“So, you want children?” She released her hold on his hand.
“Eventually I’d like to have a couple, but only if I have a loving wife by my side. What about you? Do you want children?”
“Absolutely, but only if I have a loving husband by my side,” she replied. “Right now, I’m not even dating anyone, so finding the man of my dreams might take a minute.”
“I’m not dating either, so right now I’m stuck on the get-a-wife part,” he replied.
She looked at him curiously. “Why aren’t you dating? You’re smart and have a good job, and you aren’t hard to look at. I would think women would be clamoring for a date with you.”
“I could say the same about you. You’re obviously bright and witty and you aredefinitelynot hard to look at. I would think there would be a long line of men wanting to date you,” he replied.
“I’ve had a few men ask me out in the past, but they aren’t men I’m interested in so I haven’t gone out with them,” she said.
“And I haven’t met any women lately who I’m interested in going out with,” he said.
At that moment the sound of the rain began to patter on the windows and roof. “The rain is upon us,” he said.
“I love the rain,” she replied. “I love the sound of it against the windows and the feel of it on my face. In fact, there’s one thing I really like to do.” She reached out and grabbed his hand and then stood and pulled him up with her. “Come with me,” she said, an eager anticipation lighting up her features and sparkling in her eyes.
He let her lead him, curious as to what she had in mind. She unlocked and opened the front door and he gasped as she pulled him out into the rain.
“Follow me.” She released his hand and ran down the bridge. He hurried after her. At least it was a cool, not cold, fairly gentle rain, but immediately he was soaked.
She reached the small clearing at the foot of the bridge and then turned back to face him. She laughed with what sounded like sheer abandonment. “I love to dance in the rain,” she said. “So, let’s dance.”
She twirled around, a beautiful blue-clad nymph. She placed both her hands on his chest and smiled up at him. Her eyes glowed with pleasure. “Come on, Luke. Dance with me.”
He was already soaking wet and her winsome plea resonated deep inside him. He took hold of her hands and they danced. They twirled and two-stepped and laughed with the sheer exuberance of it all.
