Let Me Help You, Good Doctor Ch. 03

Dominique woke up the next day, bright and early at seven in the morning as usual. She went through her routine of a healthy hearty breakfast, an hour on her treadmill and then coffee while she went through her schedule. She did not have any appointments so that she could deal with Jason's new girlfriend Candy. Dominique originally planned to deal with her publisher and see if she could spend some quality time with Jason. Well, that was the plan until Candy called to ask if they could talk about the wedding. Dominique had to keep reminding herself that she was the planner and from time to time would have to be around the bride. She told Candy they could meet at her apartment.

As soon as she hung up the phone with Candy she heard a knock on the door. Who could that be, she thought, pulling her robe tightly about her as she walked to the door. To her surprise, Nik was standing there leaning against the door frame with his crystal eyes looking up at her. Her initial reaction left her weak in the knees. Yes, she had to remember he was very attractive. She cleared her throat clutching the robe tighter as if he could see right through it.

"Good morning." He said with a smile.

"Don't you have a job?" she said shaking her head at him.

"I do actually, but I don't have to go in until tonight. I'm taking the late shift." He said making his way in without any invite.

She should be used to it by now, but he always seemed to surprise her, "Well aren't I lucky!" She said sarcastically.

"Don't act like you aren't happy to see me." He smiled, "I know I just brighten up your day."

"Yes, my day would be ruined if I didn't see your cocky face." She said crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I knew you felt that way. What are you doing up so early?" He said, plopping down on her couch.

"I'm always up this early."

"Always? What do you do?"

"I eat breakfast, run on the treadmill and look through my planner." She listed and he gave her a strange look.

"You actually have a schedule time where you look at your schedule?" he asked.

"Yes, that way I know what my day looks like. I have to be prepared for it."

"But you realize you said that you have a schedule time where you look at your schedule?"

"Look, in this day and age everyone has either little Palm Pilots or something that they have to keep a hold of everyday to plan their day."

"I don't." he shrugged.

"Well everyone is not a free spirit like you." She scoffed heading into the kitchen.

"It's not about being a free spirit. I just don't want to let a schedule rule over me. I had that in the Marines."

"So you are saying you don't go by any schedule at all?"

"I go by one, but I don't let it rule me." He said pushing himself up from the couch.

"I don't let mine rule me, I make adjustments all the time." She stated proudly.

"I'm sure you do." He said sarcastically, "So what would you do if you didn't have it for one day?" he said walking closer to her.

She turned towards him eyeing him up and down suspiciously before grasping her Palm in her hands, "Do you have a reason to be here?"

"Do you know how sexy you are in the morning?"

"Nik?" she whined walking away from him.

"What?" he smiled innocently.

"If this is about our little agreement, can you make this quick so I can take a shower? I have company coming in a little bit."

"Oh right, your little boy toy, Jason?"

The way he said that struck something, she couldn't tell exactly what he meant by that, "No, his fiancée."

"Oh well, even better." He smiled moving closer to her.

She started backing away from him not comfortable with what he was doing. She could tell by the look in his eyes he was going to take this to a place where she did not want to go. Truth of the matter, she had been thinking about the kiss from the other night. It was constantly on her mind, while her body burned in the places his hands had roamed. She wasn't ready for the intensity he brought out of her. She took a deep breath as her back hit the wall and she realized there was nowhere else she could go. He placed his hands on either side of her face, staring down at her with such passion that it made her cringe. It was a feeling that she never knew before. She wanted to kiss him, but she didn't want to let him know that she wanted to do it.

She watched his tongue glide across his lips and her body shuttered as a warm sensation traveled through her body. He leaned down and she could feel his mouth hover over hers and she lifted her chin, wanting to feel his lips. She felt his warm breath and in a heartbeat she felt his body heat yank away from hers along with her Palm. She opened her eyes and saw him in front of her holding her Palm in his hands.

"What are you going to do now?" he smirked.

She huffed, "Damn it Nik, give me my stuff." She said reaching for it as he moved just past her grasp.

"No, sweetheart you said that you are not ruled by it, so I want you to prove it."

"I don't have to prove anything to you, just give me my stuff." She jumped for it as he lifted it up above his head.

This is so childish, she thought to herself. Why does he have to take things that don't belong to him? She jumped up hoping that by some mistake she would be able to grab his hand and pull it down. She kept jumping not really registering how much taller than her he was.

"I think I see something I like." He said, leering at her.

She looked in his direction and noticed her robe was partially open revealing most of her breasts. She quickly closed her robe, tying it tight, listening to him laughing.

"That is so not funny." She said crossing her arms across her chest, turning her back to him.

She quickly whipped around and jumped on him, knocking them both to the ground. He had to admit; she caught him off guard but he didn't release her palm pilot.

"So, that's how I get you to jump me." He smiled and she groaned.

He hid it behind her back as he started tickling her with his free hand. She screamed in shock and started laughing.

"Nik, please stop!" She panted in between her laughter, trying to move out of his grasp.

"So you are very ticklish?"

"Nik! Please!"

"Now do you give?" he said, noticing the hidden light her face held when she smiled.

"Okay, okay please." She said and he stopped, still keeping his hand behind her.

She collapsed against him and he noticed she still had the smile on her face. Wow, she is beautiful, he thought, glancing between her bright eyes and full smiling lips. His body was pressed close to hers and he could still see the tops of breasts when he glanced down. She could see his eyes darkening slightly and bit down on her bottom lip, trying to still hide her smile.

"You are horrible." She whispered.

"And you are beautiful." He said lifting his head and pressing his lips firmly against hers, swallowing her groan.

Dominique wasn't quite sure why, but she found some sort of solace in his kiss. She wanted to hate it when he did it but she couldn't. When his lips touched hers, all thoughts and reason escaped her. She just wanted to feel more of him. She pressed herself completely on top of him, finding her body craving the heat of his that burned her from the inside out. Nik wrapped his arms around her, grabbing a tight hold of her amble butt that he couldn't keep his hands off of. Normally she would have jumped a little bit, but this time she welcomed his touch. It made her whole body tingle and quiver for more. She ran her fingers through his hair, nibbling on his bottom lip.

Nik growled deep in his throat as he felt her teeth lightly pull at his bottom lip. He knew it wasn't long until he dragged this out of her. He moved her legs so that they were on either side of his body to feel her center over his growing bulge. She tasted so good and smelled heavenly, like a fresh ripe piece of fruit. He wanted to taste more of her, his body was actually craving more of her; something he never had before. He was discovering new things with Dominique around. He had to get himself under control and fast.

He pulled his lips away from her tantalizing ones and looked up as her eyes lightly flickered open. "Wow, on the floor? Now that can be kinky." He smiled.

That cocky attitude of his was like a splash of cold water being in Dominique's face. She groaned low and got off of him, shaking her head while he laughed.

"You are such a pig." She snapped, pulling her robe tightly around her.

"I didn't do anything that you didn't enjoy." He said putting his hands behind his head.

Dominique shook her head and walked over to her kitchen. Why did he have to ruin a perfect moment? Why did this have to be a perfect moment? She shook her head clean of any thoughts that came up of Nik's lips, tongues, or whatever that tent was under her.

"Could you please get off my floor?" she said, "I have company coming over and I need you up and out."

"Oh yes, the happy bride; what does she want?" he said getting up.

"I'm helping her do something; she wasn't clear."

"You really don't want to do this, do you?" he asked, leaning over the counter.

"Don't get me wrong, Jason was right, I love doing stuff like this. It's just planning the perfect wedding for him to another girl is weird. I have been busy planning my wedding for me and him for years and now, now I'm planning his with some perfect curvy, brilliant woman."

"Well, she's not that perfect."

"Oh come on Nik, even I would date her." Dominique said shaking her head grabbing a glass from her cabinet.

"I mean I'm not going to lie, she is a beautiful girl," He said following her inside, "but she has nothing on you."

Dominique met his eyes and saw something she didn't think she would see, sincerity. She wanted to believe it though, at least the girlie part of her did.

"Why do you say that?" the question slowly came out of her mouth.

"You have a certain spirit about you, a hidden sexiness that not a lot of women know how to use or they overly use it." She drew her brows together.

"I'm not quite following you." She laughed nervously.

"You don't know the power of your own sexiness. That's one reason why I do love women, there is something so amazing about the power that you have, but with you, it's more amazing because you don't know that you have it." Dominique looked away, feeling her face heat up, "You are gorgeous and sexy, don't be afraid of it."

"I didn't say I was afraid of it."

"You didn't have to. Your body language says that you are or at least not comfortable with it."

"You seem to know a lot about my sexiness."

"Believe me there is nothing wrong with a woman who knows her sexiness. Confidence is sexy."

"I know about the confidence thing." She said rolling her eyes.

"I know that you do in your industry, but it has always been something that I struggled with when I was younger."

"You?" Dominique said in disbelief, snickering.

"I'm serious." He laughed, "I wasn't always the hot, charming man you see before you. I had a little bit of a weight problem when I was a kid and the kids were relentless." He said shaking his head which made Dominique thumb the straps of her robe.

"So, how did you overcome that?"

"I just kept confident about myself and worked out with my older brother. My mother always told me that I was the cutest little fudge ball she ever seen."

"I know how teasing can be when it comes to kids. I had to deal with that when I was little too, but my aunt always told me that I was just as pretty as any other girl out there."

Nik drew his eyebrows together. Again with the aunt thing. He began to wonder if something happened to her parents and her aunt had to raise her. He was about to ask her about it when they both heard the door. For some reason that was an intense moment, Dominique thought as she headed to the door.

She peeked through the hole and gasped. She has horrible timing, she groaned to herself. "Hey, Aunt Crystal." Dominique smiled when she opened the door.

"I see you are going to make me come to you for a visit, huh? What are you doing still in your robe and..." the statement died once she set her eyes on Nik standing there, "Oh dear. Looks like I interrupted something." She said looking between him and Dominique.

Nik smiled to himself as he looked between the two women. Her aunt was a beautiful older woman with still smooth flawless skin. His mom would kill for her secret, Nik thought shaking his head. She had her hair pulled back in a bun and was dressed in hospital scrubs.

"Buongiorno, I am Nik." He said reaching for her hand and kissing the back of it gently.

"Oh and he is a smooth one, and cultural." She said locking eyes with him.

"Actually he is from New York and Italian." Dominique explained nervously.

"Well, I see that he is here with my niece who is half naked and he is in his sleep clothes and it's almost noon."

"Don't get excited Aunt Crystal, he is my next door neighbor."

"Yea, we were discussing breakfast in bed, but I was about to leave. Dominique, I will talk to you later about the whole me and you thing." He deliberately said walking to the door leaving Dominique's mouth wide open.

She followed him over to the door and quickly shut it behind him. She swore she was ready to strangle him. That was so out of line in front of her aunt and she was going to make him pay for it later.

"Oh he is a nice looking one and very sweet. I can tell he is sincere." Her aunt said.

"Yea, like I said before Aunt Crystal; don't get too excited about him. He is just my neighbor."

"That happens to come visit you in the morning when you are not completely dressed." She said grabbing an apple from the kitchen.

"He is a friend of a friend and he is helping me with some stuff."

"Really? Well, I like him. I hope to see him around more, it's about time you start thinking about your future so far as being with someone."

Dominique just shook her head, "Him and me are not going to happen. You know I had my heart set on Jason."

"Jason? Is he in town?"

"Yes, he is. He is getting married though."

"Oh, that's great. I should call his mother and tell her congratulations."

"Yea, well I'm planning it for him."

Her aunt looked at her as if she was studying her. She hated when she did this sometimes, because whatever was going through her head, was always right.

"Are you okay with that?" she asked.

"What? He asked so I said yes." She shrugged.

"I know you said yes dear, but I also know how much of a big crush you had on him too. That's why I was wondering if you were strong enough to handle this."

"Yea, I am. I mean I am happy for him." Dominique smiled quickly turning away from her.

"You know I know when you are lying to me but I'm not going to push it any further."

"I'll be happy if you don't, please. I am good, Aunt Crystal. Are you on your way to the hospital?" Dominique asked trying to change the subject.

"I just got back from a late night shift. Have you spoken to your brothers?"

"Yea I have. Eiji's wife is having the baby soon and he said he was coming to visit too. I saw my mom the other day."

Her aunt sighed her disapproval but she returned with a smile, "So, how is she doing?"

"The same as always; she still doesn't really talk to me."

"I swear on God's green earth, I don't know what's wrong with that woman, it's not like you are asking her for a kidney. All you want is a freaking conversation with her."

"It's okay Aunt Crystal. It will come sooner or later."

"I know sweetheart, I just hate to see you hurt in all this." She said walking up to Dominique and tucking a strand of hair behind Dominique's ear.

"I know Aunt Crystal, but I'm ok, really I am. I know you probably had a long night and I do have to take a shower before Jason's fiancée comes by."

"Alright, I know when you are pushing me out. I just worry about you since you don't come and visit me." She sighed.

"I will come and visit you. I have been really busy with a lot of stuff."

"I know. I know. Well, I will talk to you later."

Shortly after her shower, Candy came by and they went to a couple of bridal stores to get some ideas. Dominique already got the notion that price was no object for the wedding especially since her family was paying for it. The only problem was that everything that Candy was picking was something Dominique had planned for her own wedding. Dominique just sighed to herself feeling another headache coming.

They decided to get a quick bite to eat at Katrina and Jade's restaurant. Dominique was looking over all her notes as Candy sat there exhausted.

"I knew this was going to be a lot of work and this is just the planning portion." Candy sighed.

"Yea, I see that now. So, have you thought about a place for it yet? I noticed you picked a lot of light colors so were you thinking of something inside or out?"

"Well, I was actually thinking something more outside like in a garden. I always had this vision of walking down the aisle with the fresh scent of roses."

"That sounds really pretty. Well, I will be on the lookout for a florist and garden spots. I know a couple of places." Dominique said jotting down some more notes.

"I swear I haven't thanked you enough for helping me Dominique. I know you are really busy with work." She said glancing down at the menu.

"It's no big thing. I know you and Jason want everything to look perfect for your big day."

"Jason has always spoken so highly of you. He says that you were so smart and talented; honestly, I was a little jealous of you."

"Of me? Really?"

"Yes, because you know him so well. I mean the history that you have with each other; it made me wonder why he wasn't with you." The exact question Dominique asked herself, "Now that I actually meet you face to face and that I see you with Nik, I see why."

"Oh, I mean I know I have my own opinion but, why do you think so?"

"Well, you and Jason are very much alike and sometimes that can clash with people. You and Nik are adorable together. He is a real catch."

Dominique cleared her throat, "Thank you. He is...something."

"He is, but I'm great that you have him and I have Jason. I'll be right back." She said getting up and heading to the bathroom.

Dominique wasn't exactly sure if she should take offense to what she just said or not. Did she mean that she could see her and Jason together and that's why she was jealous or did she mean that she and Nik looked better together than Dominique and Jason? It really didn't matter; Jason was going to be Dominique's anyway. The less she knew about the woman the better. She had to try to put a plan in action to get her to spend more time with Jason.

A couple of days later and things have been exhausting between wedding planning, the book, work, and pretending to be Nik's girlfriend. She needed a vacation, but didn't have the time to take one. The only thing that puzzled Dominique was that it had been awhile since Nik had been around her. He hasn't tried anything lately. Normally, she would have been happy but for some strange reason, she wasn't. Well, maybe he got one of his one night stand girls to have sex with. Something inside of Dominique cringed when that thought entered her head. No use sweating about it now, she had other things to think about.

She was about to leave out of the office and swung her door to see Nik standing in front of her with a raised hand, "You were actually going to knock?" Dominique quickly said taking a deep breath.

"Well, I do have manners sometimes." He said with that killer smile that made her melt, "I want you to come over my house tonight."

"And you couldn't call me for that?"

"No because knowing you; you would have come up with some lame excuse as to why you couldn't make it and then hide with either Katrina or Jade." He had been around her for too long; she thought standing, there with her mouth gaping open.