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Nothing Gets Through Ch. 01

By: PennLady



© 2009 All rights reserved.

For MugsyB. :)

==================================

Thonk. Pahk. Clack.

Dom moved smoothly from shot to shot, deflecting pucks with his blocker pad, his glove, his leg pads, his stick -- whatever was in the right place. He ignored the ones that got through. He just gritted his teeth and tried harder to stop them all. The bars of his facemask disappeared, and his teammates were blurs out by the blue line.

The pucks were sharp black circles that came ripping towards him at all angles and heights. His body dipped and turned, his legs shot out to the sides... he was a wall.

At last the whistle cut through his thoughts and he realized no more pucks were flying at him. He stripped off his catching glove, flipped up his mask, and guzzled the water from one of the bottles on top of the net. When that was empty, he picked up the next one and squirted the water on his face, savoring the coolness. Some of it dripped into his brown hair, turning it black.

Karl came over and tapped his stick against Dom's leg pads. "Nice job," Karl said. "You were really in the zone." His English was nearly perfect, and his faint Swedish accent was the only hint that he wasn't from the U.S. or Canada.

"Thanks," said Dom, still panting some. "Let's hope I stay that way through tomorrow night." He grabbed his glove and began skating to the bench.

"Just relax," said Karl. Dom rolled his eyes. "Just relax" was Karl's advice for pretty much any situation. Then Karl got a teasing glint in his eye. "Of course, Coach could always pull you and put Steward in."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Dom said dryly. Then he squirted the rest of his water over Karl's head. He succeeded only in making Karl laugh harder.

x-x-x-x

Lani sipped at her chai and pulled up yet another spreadsheet. The little chair wasn't very comfortable, but then neither was her apartment at the moment. When her roommate, Cherie, had a guy over, it could be very crowded. Cherie was... affectionate, Lani mused, and sometimes didn't think to, say, go to her own room before things got interesting. So Lani had slipped out to the nearest coffee shop with wireless capability.

It was quiet for a Saturday morning, just as she'd hoped. A couple sat on one of the couches reading the newspaper. A couple of guys -- cute guys, she noted -- were deep in discussion about something. They were both animated, gesturing and illustrating points with their hands; one had straight brown hair, the other wavy blond. They made an interesting contrast. There were one or two more people like her, hunched over laptops. Unconsciously she straightened her posture.

She eyed the scone she'd bought. It held its place defiantly, daring her to take a bite. Is it really food? she wondered. Or is it merely Styrofoam with flavor? Very little flavor, if she remembered correctly from the last time she'd eaten here. The drinks were decent, but the food was erratic.

Deciding to postpone the battle with the breakfast food, she turned back to her screen. She was busy with schedules and costs when the door banged open and an argument rolled in. She tried to ignore it, but the participants were having none of that.

"I don't care!" shrieked the woman. She waved her hands in the air, inches from the man's face. "I've had it! I told you to leave me alone. I don't want to be with you anymore. I found someone else!"

"Someone with more money!" the man yelled back. "You're nothing but a gold-digger."

"Someone with a bigger dick!" the woman retorted, hands on her hips. "The money's just a plus!"

"Excuse me," said the manager, an older man, as he approached the warring couple. "Perhaps I could ask you to keep your voices down. Surely there's no need for..."

"Back off, gramps," the man said with a glare.

"Please, let's have a seat," the manager suggested, trying once more for calm. Lani felt badly for him; she could see both the man and woman were high or drunk on something. Neither would be amenable to the soft sell approach.

"I said, 'back off!'" the man yelled, and pushed the older man back. He stumbled a few steps and caught himself on the counter, but then slipped and hit his head. Lani watched as one of the staff behind the counter grabbed a cell phone. Someone had some common sense, she was relieved to see. Lani was tempted to go see if the man was all right, but wasn't sure it was a wise move to get past the attacker.

"See? See!" the woman shrieked again. Lani winced. "Someone call the police!" The woman waved her hands frantically. "He assaulted that man! He's a menace! Call the police!"

"Go ahead!" the man shouted, turning on the woman. Despite his having at least eight inches on her, she stood her ground. Lani would have been impressed if they weren't both acting like assholes. "Call the police!" the man continued, his arms now flailing as well. "Do you think I care? Do you think they scare me?"

"You're too stupid to be scared!" the woman yelled.

"At least I'm not a money-hungry whore!" the man shouted back. His face was bright red now, as was the woman's. 

sLord, Lani thought, can't I just work in peace? Suddenly the apartment didn't seem like such a bad idea. She could always lock herself in her room. And play loud music. And wear headphones. A quick scan of the other customers convinced her they felt much the same.

"You don't have any money and you never will!" The woman, caught up in the drama, was rapidly working her way up to hysteria. "My mother was right, you're never going to be anything. You're a stupid, idiotic..." words failed her and Lani was relieved. Then the woman found more words and Lani groaned. "You're an idiot," the woman said with a gleam in her eyes, "and your dick doesn't make up for it."

She couldn't stand it any more and walked over to them. "Excuse me," Lani said, "but can you take this somewhere else?" The two looked at her in surprise. "I'm sorry you're having problems, but this isn't the place to fix them, okay? We're just not interested in who wants money or the size of anyone's... anything."

"Stay out of this," the man ordered in a gruff voice.

"I'd love to," said Lani, "but that can really only happen if you leave." 

"Don't tell me what to do," the man said with a glare. His tone was threatening, and he outweighed Lani by at least a hundred pounds, but she didn't back down.

"Look," she said, trying one last time for patience, "they've already called the police. Why don't you just go?"

This time, it was the woman who turned on Lani. "Who called the police?" she screamed. "You? Who did that!? No one asked for the police! Why can't anyone mind their own damn business in this freakin' town?" She continued in her shrill voice, and Lani tuned her out.

Lani rolled her eyes and shook her head, then turned to go back to her table. She had taken barely one step before someone jerked her arm and she stumbled back.

"She was talking to you," the man growled at her.

Lani yanked her arm back. "Don't touch me," she said in an icy voice.

x-x-x-x

Dom and Karl let their debate about the two-line pass lapse as they watched the screaming match in front of them.

"Wow, she's a lively one," Karl commented. Dom snorted.

"If you like harpies," he said. Conversation was impossible while the argument was in session. "Come on, let's go," he told Karl.

"I'll wait it out," Karl said. "I'm not wearing my visor and I'd rather not have that woman accidentally scratch my eyes out."

Dom sighed and took a swig of his coffee. When the man pushed the manager, he made to jump up but Karl restrained him. "Don't," said his teammate. He nodded in the direction of the counter. "Someone's already called the police, and they're helping him now."

Dom glared but sat down. Karl was right; it wouldn't help anyone, especially the team, if he got into a fight and hurt his hands. It was hard, though; he itched to belt the guy. Listening to the yelling, he decided the woman deserved a slap, too. Her voice was going through his brain like shards of ice. 

After the woman made her comment on the man's anatomy, Dom sighed and lowered his head on the table, using his arms as pillows. Never insult a guy's size, he thought uselessly. It never helps. Maybe I can sleep until this is over. He was about to close his eyes when Karl nudged him. He raised his head and blinked when the petite woman with the dark brown hair walked over to the combatants.

"She's brave," Karl said.

"She's nuts," Dom replied. The man was huge, and even the harpy must have had forty pounds on her. He gave her points, though, for trying. She kept her cool and was reasonable; Dom figured she must have known it was useless, but liked her style. When the man grabbed her arm, Dom felt his control slip and stood up, striding over before Karl could stop him.

"Dom -- wait -- you -- oh, hell." Karl sighed and stood, ready to follow and keep his friend out of trouble.

x-x-x-x

"Don't touch me," Dom heard the woman say. Her voice was cold and matched the dark ice of her eyes. 

"I think you'd better do as she says," Dom suggested. His voice was calm and belied his anger.

"Who the hell are you?" the man snarled, his eyes still on Lani. Karl tapped him on the shoulder from the other side and he spun around.

"We're friends of hers," Karl said lightly. He smiled at Lani. "Hi, sweetie, how are you?"

She blinked, but then smiled back. "Fine, thanks. Didn't see you there."

Dom watched with satisfaction as the man's eyes grew wide. Karl was lean, but over six feet tall and well-muscled; Dom was shorter and had broad shoulders. Together, he knew they presented a fairly tough image. So said the PR department, who had forced them into a photo shoot along with Karl's defense partner Bobby. Too bad Bobby isn't here, Dom thought idly. This guy would probably piss himself.

Lani didn't know who these guys were, but the tall one had a devilish grin and a glint in his blue eyes that she couldn't resist. The shorter -- but by no means short -- one didn't smile, but he had an intensity about him that appealed to her. When the tall one had pretended to be her friend, she had grabbed at the ploy. 

The man looked from Karl to Dom, gaping until he heard the police sirens. Finally, Lani thought. She had begun to think they'd never show up.

The man turned to the woman he'd been arguing with and grabbed her hand. "Come on," he growled. Karl's smile never wavered as he stepped aside to let them pass. They were barely out the door before a cop stepped out of his vehicle and in front of them. Whatever he said was enough to send the woman off on another shrill rant. 

Lani, Dom and Karl stood and watched while the first cop's partner came around, and then a second police cruiser pulled up. The man who'd been arguing looked panicked, and began shouting over the woman. Two more cops, a man and a woman, got out of the second car and exchanged glances with their colleagues. Lani almost laughed at the efficiency with which the man and woman were quieted, cuffed, and put into the first car. The first two cops drove off, and the second pair came in and began speaking with the manager.

She turned to Karl. "Thanks so much. I guess I didn't think that through very clearly." She held out her hand. "I'm Lani."

"Delighted to meet you," Karl said, kissing her hand with a flourish. She laughed. "I'm Karl. The strong, silent one over here is my friend, Dominic."

"Dom," he corrected, shaking Lani's hand. "Nice to meet you." Her hand felt small and smooth in his; suddenly he was self-conscious of his own large, rough ones.

"Hello, Karl. Hello, Dom," she said with a smile. "Thanks again, really." She shook her head. "I don't know quite what got into me. I guess I was just frustrated. Can't work at home, can't work here. You'd think people could scream at each other in the privacy of their own homes."

Karl waved his hand dismissively. "Then where would we get our excitement?" he asked. Lani giggled.

"I can live without that kind of excitement," Dom said dryly. He wondered why it bothered him to see Karl flirting with Lani. Karl flirted with pretty much any woman, and had done it plenty of times in Dom's presence. Dom had never minded before.

"So can I," Lani agreed, and Dom felt a small flash of smug satisfaction. 

"What's a pretty girl like you doing working on a Saturday?" Karl asked with a wink. Lani laughed out loud. She liked a little flirting, and this guy seemed harmless.

"Have you ever tried getting work done in an office?" she asked. "Impossible. I came here to get some peace and quiet. I'll think twice about that next time."

"Excuse me." The three looked over to see one of the cops approaching. "I was wondering if I could get statements about what happened here." They agreed and took turns answering questions. After they were finished, Lani glanced over at her computer and sighed.

"Well, pardon me, but I should get back to work," she said. "I don't mean to be a broken record, but thanks so much for your help."

"Lani, do you like hockey games?" Karl asked suddenly. Dom eyed him suspiciously. If he was working on asking Lani out, his best friend and defenseman might need a talking to.

"Love them," she said, a bit surprised. "I watch on TV whenever I can, but it's been years since I've been to one."

"Tell you what," he said, "there's a game tonight and I have two extra tickets. I'll leave them at the will call window. What's your last name?"

"Montgomery," she said automatically. Then, feeling a little abashed, she said, "Look, you don't have to do that. It's really sweet, but..."

"Not a problem," Karl said. "I can't use them and so I'd like to know someone can. If you can't make it, don't worry about it." He ignored the look Dom was giving him.

"All right," Lani said, giving up. "Thanks again." She was about to say something else when someone yelled her name.

"Lani! Lani!" A tall, busty woman with copper-colored hair came charging through the doors and nearly bowled Lani over with a bear hug. Dom couldn't stop his grin when he saw Karl's face. If ever a man had been smitten, it was Karl. He wouldn't have to worry about Karl and Lani after all. 

"What happened?" the woman asked. "I saw the cops outside. Was there a robbery or something? Are you okay?" She patted Lani's shoulders as though checking for injury.

"Relax, Deanne," Lani said, laughing. "I'm fine. It was nothing so exciting. Just Romeo and Juliet having a spat. Deanne, this is Karl and Dom. They kept me from getting in over my head."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Before either could react, Deanne gave Dom and Karl each the sane bear hug she'd given Lani, plus a loud buss on the cheek. They stood there, stunned, as she thanked them again. "I'm so glad you were here! Lani just got into town and she's never really lived in the city --"

"Dee," Lani interrupted gently, "they don't need my life story." She was hard put not to laugh at the expressions on the men's faces. Deanne had that effect on people.

"Oh, right, sorry," Deanne said. Then she took a closer look at the men. "You two look familiar. Have we met?"

"Oh, no," said Karl, his flirting grin back in place. "I'm sure I'd remember someone as unique as yourself." Deanne blushed and started to say something but Karl continued. "I was just telling Lani that I would leave her tickets for the hockey game tonight. Perhaps you could go with her? Do you like hockey?"

"I -- sure -- I don't --" Deanne couldn't talk, so Lani stepped in.

"That would be great, we'd love to," she told Karl.

"Wonderful," Karl said with a satisfied nod. "Why don't you meet us afterwards? There's a restaurant just a couple of blocks from the stadium called Boorman's."

"Won't we see you during the game?" Deanne asked, puzzled.

Karl gave her a conspiratorial wink. "I'm afraid we'll be entertaining some clients during the game, but we'll be free when it's over."

"Thanks again," Lani said, pulling on Deanne's arm. "I really do need to get my computer and work a bit. Come on, Dee. Can I work at your place?"

"Sure," Deanne said absently, still staring at Karl.

"Until tonight, then," Karl said. He kissed Deanne's hand as he had Lani's before they stepped away.

"Bye," Deanne said, a bit uncertainly as she followed Lani.

Dom watched the women go and then turned to Karl.

"What?" his friend asked, the picture of innocence. 

Dom shook his head. "Clients?" he said, arching an eyebrow. Karl just grinned. "Come on," said Dom with a sigh, "let's go grab some sleep before the game." He headed to the door, Karl on his heels.

Lani began packing her bag while she waited for the computer to shut down. Deanne watched the men leave, then turned to her friend. "I'm sure I recognize them," she said, "at least the tall one, Karl. I just can't remember where."

"Probably at one of the events we've managed," Lani said. "I can never remember all the names and faces." Deanne worked for the same children's charity that Lani did, coordinating events like fund-raisers and the occasional celebrity meeting with a group of kids.

"I don't know," Deanne said, her brow furrowed. "It feels more like I've seen a picture or something."

"Well, keep thinking," said Lani as she slid the laptop in. "Maybe it'll come to you before the game." She looked at her friend. "You have anything to wear to a hockey game, Dee?"

x-x-x-x

"Entertaining clients?" Dom repeated again as he and Karl sat in the locker room. Karl watched with a sort of awe as Dom started strapping on his various pads. He would never have the nerve to play Dom's position, he thought. More than one puck had come out of nowhere at high speed and left bruises on various portions of his anatomy. He had certainly thrown himself in front of more than a few shots; it was part of the job. Dom's job was to get in the way, all the time, and that was just crazy.

The tall, lanky Swede shrugged. "Well, it's true. Sort of." He grinned. He let his mind wander back to Deanne. Lani was very attractive, but Karl had nearly forgotten to breathe when Deanne had come in. That lithe body with the amazing curves... the caramel-colored skin... golden eyes and all topped with that lovely burnished-copper hair... He bit back a wistful sigh.

"Who's got clients?" asked Greg Olshefsky. The team captain took a swig from a water bottle. "One of you guys moonlighting as a gigolo?" Karl blinked and came back to the locker room. 

Dom snorted. "Yeah. Make sure there's no OT tonight. Karl has a date." Olshefsky laughed as he sat down to put on his skates.

"What's she look like?" Greg asked. "Or is it a blind date?"

"Must be," said Jim Lorton, Greg's linemate. "Otherwise she'd never agree." Karl glared and Lorton just laughed.

"She's a nicely built red head," Dom said. Greg gave a low whistle.

"You have a date, too," Karl reminded him. He winked at the others. "A petite brunette with guts to spare." He gave everyone a quick summary of the events at the coffee shop.

"Wow, sounds like you found a hot one, Bad Boy," Greg said with a wink. He reached up for his pads. Dom rolled his eyes.

The media had decided that Dominic Baddano required a suitable nickname after he'd been in a fight. Dom rarely fought on the ice, but tensions had been running high in that particular game as each team needed the points to secure playoff positioning. When one of the goons from the other team had taken a cheap shot at his captain, Dom had seen red. He'd flown across the ice, taken the guy down with a flying tackle, and popped him good. From then on, he was "Bad Boy" Baddano and the fight had played on the ESPN highlight reels for days.

"Oh, a double date, how cute," said Bobby, Karl's defense partner. "Who's buying the ice cream sundaes?" He guffawed as he slid on his socks.


Nothing Gets Through Ch. 01



"Shut up, Osterman," Dom grumbled. He stuffed one foot into a skate, yanked the laces tight.

"Uh-oh, it's starting," Karl warned in a stage whisper. The other guys around just grinned. As game time approached, Dom got irritable and withdrawn. As the goaltender, he was given a lot of latitude for locker room behavior. Since irritable and withdrawn were pretty mild tics as goalies went, no one really minded. Especially since it seemed to mean fewer goals allowed.

x-x-x-x

"Wow, this place is huge!" Deanne took in the all the seats with wide eyes. "They must fit a million people in here."

"Oh, probably around eighteen thousand," Lani said as they walked through the portal. "Closer to twenty for basketball, I'll bet."

"I hope there's not a fire or anything," Deanne muttered. Lani laughed and her friend glared. "Fine, when there's a stampede for the exits, you're on your own."

"Holy cow, Dee," Lani said as she looked at the tickets. "These seats... lower level... They're not cheap." 

"As long as it's near an exit," Dee replied. Lani shook her head and handed their tickets to the usher. He smiled and led them down to the seats. Lani whistled appreciatively.

"My brother would kill for seats like these," she commented. They were about fifteen rows up, behind the team benches.

"They're comfy," Dee agreed. "So, what's the etiquette here, anyway?"

"Wait until they blow the whistle and stop play before you get up," Lani said. "That's half the battle right there. Don't boo the home team. Don't cheer for the visiting team very loudly, at least not here." She looked around and saw lots people in jerseys for the home team. She hadn't heard that the crowds here were too raucous, but no sense taking chances.

"Which ones are our guys?" Dee wanted to know.

"They'll be wearing the dark shirts -- jerseys," Lani told her. "The other guys will be in white."

"Wow, we were just in time," said Dee as the lights went down and the music came up. She frowned and leaned over. "Wish I'd brought some ear plugs!" she shouted at Lani.

Lani grinned and leaned forward in her seat, excited almost despite herself. There was a certain electric quality in an arena when you attended a game, she always found. She wasn't sure quite what it was -- everyone getting behind one group of guys, or the music played loud to amp up the crowd -- but it never failed to get the blood pumping.

The referees came out for a few pre-game laps to loosen up, and then the announcer introduced the visiting team. There was a healthy chorus of boos. Then the home team came out, and the roar of approval sent vibrations through Lani. I need to get to more games, she thought as she clapped. She wondered if Deanne would go for a partial-season ticket plan.

The music still blasted but the applause lessened as the players took their warm up skate. A few slid to stops by the boards and stretched. Lani looked over at Dee, who was staring at the game program in shock. She was about to ask if anything was wrong when the announcer began to introduce the home team's starting line up. Dee grabbed her hand. Lani gave her a questioning look, but her friend only gestured at the jumbo screen.

Lani had only been in town a couple of months and hadn't had a chance to get as familiar as she would have liked with any of the local teams, but she recognized a couple of names from the sports section. Her jaw dropped when the first defenseman was introduced.

"Starting at defense, number twenty-four, Kaaaaaarl Jonnnnnsson!" Lani and Dee stared up at the screen and the picture of the tall blond man they'd met that morning. They were too surprised to even clap. Lani completely missed the second defenseman's introduction.

"And in goal tonight, number thirty-one, Dominic Baaad-danooooo!" Lani blinked at the picture on screen. It was definitely Dom from the coffee shop. There was the straight brown hair and the piercing gray eyes, just as she remembered.

The applause faded and the lights came up on the ice. Deanne was practically jumping out of her seat. "I knew it!" she exclaimed. "I knew he looked familiar!"

"How can you tell when they wear helmets?" Lani asked, almost blankly.

"Look, look!" Dee squealed, pointing. Lani followed her gaze down to the ice and saw Karl looking up at them, waving. Another player skated up to him. They watched as Karl said something and gestured, and then the other guy waved, too. Lani couldn't help but laugh and wave back; Dee did the same, bouncing with excitement.

"I wonder why Dom doesn't wave," Dee wondered. She watched as he stood by the team bench, then skated over to his net.

Lani shrugged. Her brother had played goal for his college team, so she knew how temperamental they could be. "He's probably getting his head in the game," she told Dee. "Goalies tend to be a little... different. I wouldn't want to distract him, anyway." She watched as Dom roughed up the ice in front of his net and loosened his arms by swinging his stick against the posts. This should be an interesting game, she thought.

x-x-x-x

Karl skated over and tapped Dom's leg pads three times on each side. It was his own odd little superstition, but Dom didn't mind.

"They're here," he said as he straightened up and leaned on the net.

"Okay," said Dom, his mind obviously elsewhere as he stared down the ice at the opposing net. Then he said quietly, as he always did before a game, "Nothing gets through."

Karl nodded. "Nothing gets through." He skated back to the bench when the siren sounded, then took his place for the opening face off.

x-x-x-x

The third period started and Lani's stomach had never been so full of butterflies. Butterflies swinging hockey sticks, she thought as she twisted her fingers together. She couldn't remember being so invested in a game -- not even when her brother was in goal and his team made it to the NCAA Frozen Four.

You are certifiable, she told herself sternly. You must be, to be so concerned over a guy you've known for all of twenty minutes. She looked over at Dee and decided perhaps she wasn't so bad after all; Dee was positively ashen. Taking pity on her friend, she touched her arm as the ref whistled an icing.

"Dee," she said, and her friend jumped. "It's a hockey game," Lani said with a smile, "not open-heart surgery."

"Oh, I know, but --" Dee waved her hands in a gesture simultaneously confused and excited "-- I've just never been to a game before. And I've never known a professional athlete. It's just so... I don't know. I feel like I'm going to barf." She tugged at her hair. "When Karl hit that guy earlier, I thought I'd faint."

Lani laughed. "Toughen up, kiddo," she said. "It's a hard game. He'll be fine," she assured Dee. "They wear tons of padding and he's in great shape."

"So what was the whistle for this time?" Dee asked. She'd been peppering Lani all night with questions about the rules. 

"Icing," Lani told her.

"That's the one... the one about who gets to the puck first, right?" Dee asked. 

"Close enough," Lani said. She'd tried her best to explain things, and Dee had picked it up pretty quickly, but a few concepts gave her trouble. Lani figured it would be easier to explain them when they weren't being assaulted with snippets of pop songs at high volume.

Play resumed and they both went silent. Lani's heart climbed into her throat any time the opposing players crossed the blue line, and nearly jumped out with each shot taken. Dom was unflappable, she thought. He had that quality -- the elusive "it" that some athletes and celebrities had -- that her brother had not. The "it" that separated the pros from the amateurs, and the elite from the very good. 

Her heart nearly stopped when Dom, who'd gone to slow the puck down for his defense, was caught out of a position when the puck caromed off the boards at an odd angle. Number 16 in white streaked in, grabbed the puck and took a shot. Dom launched himself towards the crease, leading with his stick, and knocked it aside inches from the goal line. Relief flooded through her as she and Dee both jumped up to cheer.

She glanced up at the clock and saw just over half the period remained to be played. I'll never make it, she thought.

x-x-x-x

Dom rose from his crouch as the light went on for a television time-out. He dropped his glove on top of the net, grabbed his water bottle and squeezed, drenching himself and catching whatever happened to make it into his mouth. He glanced up at the scoreboard but didn't really take anything in besides the time, and even that hardly registered. 

Karl skated over, tapped his pads, and swapped him two full bottles for the empties. He said nothing -- no one but the coach spoke to Dom during games, especially games like this -- and skated back. 

Dom stared absently up into the stands, noting the crowd but not seeing individuals. As his gaze traveled up the rows in the lower bowl, a splash of red drew his attention and he recognized the taller woman from the coffee shop. He couldn't see if Lani was there, and was surprised to find himself hoping that she was. Then the couple in front of the red-head -- Deanne, he recalled -- got up and there she was. 

She was leaning forward in her seat and staring up at the scoreboard. For just a moment, Dom was transfixed. He grinned bemusedly when he saw Lani suddenly clap a hand over Deanne's mouth and wondered what had happened. Then the horn sounded. He put on his glove, dropped his mask into place and forgot about everything on the other side of the glass.

x-x-x-x

"Wow, Lani," said Dee. "Dom's been great. No one on the other team has sc--" She gave a muffled yelp when Lani clamped a hand over her mouth. Further protests were stifled when she saw the steely look in Lani's eyes.

"Don't say it," Lani warned. "I know what you're thinking, but you don't say anything about it until the game's over. Got it? Completely over." Dee nodded. "Okay." Lani removed her hand.

"You are nuts," Dee informed her flatly.

"I'm sorry," Lani said. "I'll explain it later. Lots of superstitions with hockey, and that's one of them."

"Warn me before I mess up another one, okay?" Dee asked. She wondered privately if Lani was always like this at hockey games, or just at ones where she knew the players.

"You got it." Lani took a deep breath as the players lined up at the face-off circle. Ten minutes, she told herself. You can make it for ten minutes.

Ten turned into twenty with stoppages, but when it was over, Lani and Dee where shouting themselves hoarse along with the rest of the crowd. The home team won, three-zip, and Dom was awarded first star of the game. Karl was the third star with a goal and an assist.

"That was amazing," Dee said as she all but floated down the escalator. Lani idly thought about wrapping something around her wrist to make sure she didn't get too far. "Lani, we need to do this again. Seriously. I'm going to learn all the rules -- all of them. Plus the numbers of all the players."

Lani laughed. "No need to rush, Dee. It's a long season. We'll get more tickets, and I'll help you learn all the rules." Dee would learn, Lani knew. Whenever Dee got into something, she jumped in with both feet, reading whatever she could find. Lani was willing to bet that within a month, Dee would be able to reel off every Stanley Cup winner since the creation of the NHL. Two months, and she could recite the losers as well.

Lani hadn't realized just how serious Dee was about the tickets until her friend dragged her to a sales window. Before she knew it, they both had a partial season plan. The seats were higher up, but that was fine. Lani preferred the distance; it let her see the plays develop. She'd always sat high for her brother's games. 

"Ready for the restaurant?" Lani asked as they stepped out. It was the end of November and very cold, but there was no wind so they decided to walk.

After they were seated, Dee seemed to get a case of nerves. Her hands weren't still and she fidgeted with her clothes. "These pants make my butt look big, don't they?" Dee asked. "I knew I should have worn the other ones, the blue ones."

Lani rolled her eyes and sighed. "Dee, you're fine. You also have many fine attributes aside from your derriere. And, let me point out, you're sitting on it, so it isn't like anyone has the opportunity to look at the moment." She was nervous, too, but focusing on Dee distracted her.

"So," said Dee, "I can say it now, right? Dom got a shut out." She beamed.

"Yes," agreed Lani, "you can say that now. You just can't during a game. You'll jinx the goalie."

"How can I do that?" Dee demanded. "It's not like he could hear me."

"The hockey gods can," Lani said. "They don't like people to count on something before it's done." She sipped her wine.

Dee stared at her as though she had three heads. "You are kidding me. What is in that wine?"

"I was at a ball game once," Lani said, "a baseball game. The pitcher had a perfect game going -- no one had been on base." Dee listened raptly. "Someone in front of me, round about the fourth inning, told his son about the perfect game. Another guy leans in, says you shouldn't say that until it's over."

"No way," said Dee, disbelieving.

"Way," said Lani, taking another drink. "Game's perfect until the eighth inning. The pitcher gets the first out. Next batter comes up, hits into right field but the fielder gets it, makes the play. But the next one..." Lani shook her head. "Batter steps in, hits the first pitch down the middle. No more perfect game, not even a no-hitter." 

Dee was silent, then shook her head. "You can't seriously be telling me you think that some random guy in the stands cost the pitcher a perfect game."

Lani raised an eyebrow. "The guy said it, then later, there's a hit." She shrugged. "That's sports for you."

"You are completely crazy," Dee said. 

"About which one of us?" The women looked up to see Karl and Dom. Lani smiled a greeting, but Dee jumped up from the table.

"Oh, wow!" She hugged and kissed each of them again before they knew what hit them. "That was fantastic! I had so much fun! You were both terrific!"

"Dee," Lani said, "let them sit down." Dom flashed a grin at Lani and took the seat next to her. Karl took the open chair by Dee.

"I take it she enjoyed herself?" Dom said. Dee and Karl had immediately fallen into conversation. More accurately, Lani thought, Dee had and Karl was amused enough to listen.

"More than I expected," Lani said. She studied him as the men ordered drinks. His hair was brushed back and still damp, and she quelled an urge to ruffle it.

"What?" Dom said. Her dark, unblinking stare made him wonder if he had spinach in his teeth.

"He said you would be 'entertaining clients' during the game," Lani said. She raised an eyebrow, but Dom saw the corners of her mouth twitch.

"Yes, well," he said, "Karl has a way with words. And he wasn't entirely inaccurate," he pointed out.

"True enough," said Lani. Then she grinned and Dom loved the way it lit up her face. "Although I doubt the other team sees it that way."

"Well, we do have to keep the home crowd happy," Dom said. The drinks came and food was ordered. 

"You made lots of them happy," Lani said. "It was so loud at the end I couldn't hear my own voice. You were really great out there."

"Thanks," said Dom. He never knew quite what to say when people complimented him like that. It was just his job, he thought. He simply went out and did his job, which was to prevent little frozen black circles from getting past him and into the net. It wasn't a terribly important job, but he was good at it.

"My brother played for a while, through college," Lani said. "So I know a little about what goalies go through. He was always hyper before games. How about you?"

"He's completely irritable," Karl spoke up. Dom glared but Karl ignored him. "But it's okay," Karl went on, "because it seems the angrier he is, the more pucks he stops."

"Whatever works," said Lani, and clinked her glass against Dom's. "That's what my brother always said."

"What's he do now?" Dom asked.

"He's an assistant coach with a minor league team," she said. Then she studied Dom again.

"You keep doing that," he said, "and I keep feeling like I'm on a microscope slide."

"Sorry." Lani blushed. Dom smiled on the inside as she averted her eyes and took a sip of her wine. "I don't mean to. I was just thinking... oh, never mind."

"What? Tell me." Dom leaned forward, genuinely curious. It was interesting to see Lani a bit unsettled like this. She'd been so calm at the coffee shop, had caught on to Karl without missing a beat, and although surprised when offered the tickets, she'd easily composed herself. He liked her like this, when he could see her eyes darting around, her fingers tapping the table as she sorted her thoughts.

"No, it's silly." She shook her head and Dom had the unexpected urge to run his fingers through that wavy black hair. He stilled it, for the moment.

"Oh, come on," he said lightly. He nodded his head at Dee and Karl. "They're practically on another planet. Your secret's safe with me."

"All right," Lani said. She looked at him, then away, and finally her eyes stayed on him. "I was just thinking during the game -- I forget exactly when -- that you have whatever my brother didn't have. I mean... oh, damn, I don't know how to say this."

"You're doing fine," Dom said. He patted her hand and almost jumped at the shock that raced up his arm. 

"You've got something special, Dom," she said seriously. "I saw you move out there. Some people would call it being in the zone, or something like that, and it's true. Even with your mask on, I could see the intensity. You weren't going to let anything through, at least not easily." She grabbed her wine glass and took a huge gulp. "Okay, you can forget I said that. Little heavy for this time of night."

Dom sat back and tilted his head, this time studying her. Lani squirmed, feeling like a specimen herself. His eyes were as intense as she remembered from the morning.

"No," he said, "I don't think I'll forget that."

x-x-x-x

They stayed at the restaurant a while longer, then split up to go home. Karl, obviously infatuated with Deanne, offered to see her home. Dee hadn't hesitated to accept.

"Looks like it's you and me, kid," Dom said to Lani as he helped her on with her coat. They stepped outside and Lani shivered at the cold. The wind was still light, but the temperature had dropped. She pulled on her gloves and wished she'd brought a hat and scarf.

"It is too damn cold here," she said. Dom laughed and slipped an arm around her shoulders. Her stomach jumped but she managed not to gasp. No need to act like a teenager, she thought irritably. We're both adults, I don't need to blush. 

"This is nothing," he told her as they started down the street. "Parts of Canada where I'm from, people would be wearing shorts and walking barefoot in weather like this."

She laughed. "No wonder Americans think Canadians are nutty."

"Do they really?"

"Well, we didn't come up with a game involving sticks being swung at people while they're on razor sharp blades on frozen water."

Dom scoffed. "Don't blame your lack of imagination on us." Lani laughed. Then suddenly she let out a muffled scream and nearly knocked Dom over as she tried to scramble to the side.

"What's wrong?" he asked, startled. Lani was breathing so hard he wondered if she would hyperventilate. "Lani, come on, calm down." He ran his hands up and down her arms to soothe her. 

"S-s-sorry," she said. Her teeth were chattering and she concentrated on stopping them. "I saw... I saw a rat." Gradually, her breathing settled. "Sorry," she said again, with a rueful grin, "I'm just really terrified of rats. You'd think I'd get used to them, but..."




Nothing Gets Through Ch. 01



"No problem," he assured her. He felt slightly guilty for thinking she was cute when she panicked like that. It didn't seem right that he'd enjoyed the way she'd pressed up against him when trying to get away from the rat. He kept his arm around her shoulders.

"So what parts of Canada are you from?" she asked to distract herself as they walked again. Her heart was still pounding. Ugly little bastards, she thought. She'd been having a perfectly wonderful evening, then the fat furry thing had to show up.

Dom shrugged. He didn't like to talk about such things, so he just said, "Here and there. We moved around a bit." He flashed her a smile. "The cold parts," he said. She smiled and they walked a few minutes more.

"I can get off here," Lani said, stopping at the entrance to the subway. "Thanks for the game, the walk... everything. I had a great time."

"Oh." Dom stood for a moment, lost for words. It was late, and he was tired, but he wanted to stay with her longer. Lani made him feel... happy? he wondered. Something about her had a calming, soothing effect, and he wasn't quite ready for it to end. He searched for a solution, found it when a car whooshed by and honked a horn.

"Let's take a cab," he said. "My treat."

"No, really, that's okay," she said, shaking her head. "You probably need to get back and sleep and have practice or something and --"

"Please," he said. Struck by the force of his gaze, Lani nodded.

x-x-x-x

They talked quietly in the cab, breaking only for Lani to give the occasional direction to the driver. When the cab pulled up in front of the apartment building, Lani was surprised to see Dom step out of the car and pay the driver. She had expected him to continue on to his place. I'd invite him up, she thought, but I don't think I want to subject him to Cherie.

"It was nice of you to see me home," she said, feeling slightly awkward, "but you don't have to stay. I'll be fine from here."

Dom smiled. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

Lani blinked. "I wasn't trying... I mean..." then she gave up and laughed again. Dom couldn't help feeling pleased that he'd done it. He found he loved making her laugh. "Okay, sure," she said.

She pressed the button to call the elevator. She tried not to feel self-conscious as Dom studied her again while they waited, but could feel her cheeks flushing. The doors opened and they stepped in. "So, I wanted --" she began, but got no further as Dom pressed her against the back wall with a hungry kiss.

Dom had wanted to kiss her since she'd stumbled over her words in the restaurant. He'd hardly taken his eyes off of her after that. He'd been entranced by the dark hair that matched her eyes, the shape of her mouth as she talked and laughed, and when she'd gone with Dee to the ladies' room, Karl had accused him of ogling her body. Karl had been correct, but Dom had smacked him on the back of the head anyway, on general principles.

Now he wondered how he'd managed to wait so long. Her lips were supple and he held back a groan with difficulty as he pressed his own against her. One hand held her close around the waist and the other traveled almost independently to bury in her silky hair. Her skin smelled lightly of coconut and vanilla, making him think of tropical islands he'd never been to. He teased her lips with the tip of his tongue, and when they opened for him, he thought he might never leave those islands.

Intense. I should have known it would be intense, was the last coherent thought Lani had before Dom's kiss blasted her ability to think. She wrapped her arms around his neck as much to stay upright as to feel him against her. He seemed to want some control, and so she let him take it, sighing lightly when his tongue found hers. His arms felt so strong as they held her in place; he made her feel safe. 

They broke the kiss quickly when the elevator chimed and stopped, but apparently whoever had called for it had opted for the stairs. Dom turned to her with a smile, which she returned.

"You're blushing," he told her. She narrowed her eyes.

"It's your fault," she said. He laughed and took her hand.

"It certainly is," he agreed, then pulled her close. "So, is that a penalty?" he asked, eyes glinting.

"I think maybe we'll just stop play and start again in a minute," she teased.

"Okay," he decided. He was about to move in for another kiss when the elevator chimed again for Lani's floor.

"I have to warn you," she said as the elevator stopped, "my roommate is... let's say she entertains a lot. Not clients," she said quickly and Dom grinned, "but she's got a lot of friends." The doors opened and they walked down the hall. 

"She sounds... friendly," Dom said with a wink.

"A little too friendly, sometimes," Lani said. "Or at least, I wish she would take her friendships to places a little more private. That's why I was at the coffee shop this morning," she explained. "Cherie had a friend over and... oh, let's just say I felt like the proverbial third wheel." She thought about that. "No, like an involuntary Peeping Tom."

Dom chuckled. "I didn't know you could do that kind of thing involuntarily."

Lani rolled her eyes. "Cherie can make a person do all kinds of things they didn't think they could. Believe me." They were at the apartment door. "Dom, I'd like to invite you in," she began.

"I accept," he said immediately. 

"But," she continued, raising an eyebrow, and he feigned disappointment, "I have no idea what I'll find when I open the door. It may not be for the faint of heart."

"Lani," he said, leaning against the wall, "I spent nearly three hours tonight having frozen rubber coming at me at nearly one hundred miles per hour. I don't think your roommate can scare me."

"That's what the last guy said," Lani told him. It was hard to get that sentence out with Dom lounging there, staring down at her with those mischievous but intense eyes. She inserted and turned the key, praying there wouldn't be a repeat of the weekend where she'd walked in on Cherie and one of her "friends" in a compromising position on the coffee table.

"Hey, Lani!" Cherie called when she opened the door. Lani groaned inwardly; Cherie was drunk, she could tell by her voice. This can not end well, Lani thought. "Who do you have there?" Cherie strolled towards the door, hips and wine bottle swaying. Her clothing left little to the imagination, and Cherie had a body that men liked to imagine.

"A friend," Lani told her.

"Then come join the party!" Cherie giggled and pulled Lani in. Dom followed. "Hey, handsome," Cherie said, wrinkling her nose. Dom supposed that was supposed to look cute; instead it made her look like she'd tasted a lemon.

"Hi," he said. Now he understood why Lani had been reluctant to have him come in. He couldn't blame her, and began to wonder if he could get Lani to come to his place. He didn't like the idea of her being here, although he wasn't sure he could give a coherent reason why.

Cherie was about to say something else when a man came over to her. He was shorter than Dom, and was starting to go bald, which didn't prevent him from trying to camouflage it. The man whispered in Cherie's ear and she let out an ear-splitting bray when he finished. "That's an idea!" she said, tossing her head back and laughing again. Dom winced.

Lani thought that was bad enough, but when another guy came in from the kitchen wearing only leopard print briefs, she nearly died of embarrassment. It was one thing, she thought, to have a roommate who liked to sleep around. Lani didn't even mind how open Cherie was, so long as Lani could find space and time to herself. This, though -- this was too much. She had to get Dom out of here so she could be mortified in peace. God, he's going to think I live in a brothel, she thought miserably.

"Look, Dom," she said, taking his arm and tugging him toward the door, "I'm really sorry about this. I had no idea. You should go. It was really nice of you to get me home but..." she gestured helplessly toward Cherie and the men, hoping desperately no one else was hiding in the kitchen.

"But?" he prompted. He couldn't help but be amused at the whole situation.

"But I'm incredibly embarrassed and you don't want to stay here," she said in a rush.

"You don't either," he observed.

"No," she sighed, "but it's where I live." She looked over and turned to fully face Dom when she saw both men's hands roaming over Cherie's barely clothed body. "I'll just go in my room, lock the door and pretend I live in a nice big house out in the country or something. Alone." A squeak and a laugh made her wince.

"On second thought, I think I'll go to a hotel," she said.

"Come to my place, Lani," Dom said. He shook his head before she could protest. "It's late, and you don't want to be here. I live alone and my place is quiet. Why don't you get what you need and come with me?" Lani felt herself wilting under his gaze. "Please." He traced a finger over her cheek; she was a goner.

"Okay," she said. "Just wait here and I won't be long..." She bit her lip, then zipped into her room. 

You're nuts, completely nuts, she thought furiously as she threw a change of underwear and clothes into a bag. She continued berating herself as she grabbed a toothbrush. You hardly know him. He could be a pervert. A gorgeous pervert who kisses like a dream, but a pervert none the less. She zipped up the bag, compromised by telling herself she could always change her mind about the hotel, and went back out. 

Dom was at the end of the hallway, near the door, leaning on the wall as he'd done earlier. That was just not fair, she told herself, that he could just stand there and look so handsome. 

"Ready?" he asked. 

"Oh, yeah," she said, risking a look behind her. "Oh, geez." She turned back and covered her eyes, hoping the image she'd seen wasn't permanently recorded in her brain.

"Don't worry about it," Dom said as he opened the door. "Think of it as the after-dinner show."

Lani snorted. "That kind of show would bring up my dinner, thanks."

Dom had called a cab while she had packed, and it was waiting for them when they got downstairs. 

"Thank you, so much," she said. The air felt cleaner, even in the cab. "I've walked in on her before and could ignore it, but that... that was too much."

"The balding guy certainly was," Dom commented and Lani couldn't stop a giggle. They drove for a bit, and as they were going through the business district, Lani sat up.

"Why don't you have the cab drop me at one of the hotels, Dom?" she asked. "It was really nice of you to offer your place, but I know you must be busy and --"

"No, thanks," he said. He had expected something like this. Lani was the type of person who didn't want to put anyone else out. He'd seen that when she'd tried to take the subway, and even at her own place. Instead of yelling at Cherie, or asking to go with Dom, she'd tried to get him out and to go somewhere on her own. 

"But --" she started and he just shook his head again.

"Please, Lani," he said. "I'd like you to come back with me. I like being with you and I'd like to keep doing it a little longer." He indulged his earlier urge and ran his fingers through her hair.

Lani sighed and sat back. "That's just not fair," she said.

"What?" Dom asked curiously.

"How can I resist when you say things like that?" she asked. He grinned.

"Then it's working," he said.

x-x-x-x

Dom had a quiet, neat apartment. There was very little decoration, and a bare minimum of furniture. That was all Lani could observe before Dom took her coat, removed his own, and then pulled her into another searing kiss.

He couldn't remember at what point on the ride to his place he'd discovered he'd wanted her so much. After she had given up on going to a hotel, they'd both relaxed. There wasn't much conversation, but he hadn't minded, especially when she'd laid her head on his shoulder. He'd liked her there, she fit so comfortably against him.

It must have been that, he decided as his tongue dove into her mouth, greedy for another taste. He found it, more of that coconut and vanilla that he'd discovered earlier. Her body had rested against his in the cab, the warmth seeping through his coat and driving him crazy. Here in his apartment, he wasn't sure he could stop unless he felt her skin against his own.

Lani tried to sort her thoughts, but thinking at all was difficult with Dom's arms around her and his lips furiously moving against hers. God, he feels good, she thought as her arms linked firmly behind his neck. She wasn't usually like this; maybe it was old-fashioned, but she tended to stick with a peck on the cheek after a first date. Dom was different.

Different how, she wasn't exactly sure, but he was. Different enough that she didn't care that he was pulling her with him, keeping her close as he sank back onto the couch. Different enough that even with her body laying over his, she wanted to feel more of it. She wanted to get through all the layers and find him.

"I don't... I don't do this," she said breathlessly. His lips moved to trace her jaw and he tugged her hair gently so she would expose her neck.

"Do what?" he asked as he pressed his lips to her pulse. He smiled darkly as she trembled.

"This," she struggled to say. "I'm not... not like that." It was the most wonderful frustration not to be able to think clearly.

"I know," he said, moving his head back so that those eyes focused on hers again. He took her face in his hands, stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. "I know you're not like that. You can tell me to stop any time. I hope you don't." He pulled her lips to his and she felt something inside her crumble to dust.

She began to kiss him back more forcefully, but he still had control. She let him keep it, as he seemed to need it. Not to control her, she realized, but more to control himself. So she let him lead, unafraid. It was an odd sensation to feel so safe with someone she hardly knew, but she did. For once, she would trust her instincts and simply let her feelings guide her.

His hands wandered down her back and she sighed at their strength. Dom heard the sound and it drove him just slightly mad; he found the hem of her sweater and jerked it up so that he could feel her bare skin. It felt like satin, as he had imagined it would. Now that he had made the contact, he slowed his hands and let them move lazily over her.

"Oh, wow..." Lani rested her forehead on his shoulder. His hands were hard, strong, and wonderfully warm. She could only think that she wanted them all over her body, and not just on her back. "Someone must have spiked my drink," she said with a half laugh. "This is just so unlike me..."

"I think it's very like you, when you're with me," Dom said. He slid his hands further up, letting his thumbs trace circles over her ribs and grinning smugly when she shivered again. Then she shifted her head and brushed her lips over the curve of his neck and it was his turn to tremble slightly.

"Two can play," she teased him.

"I only play to win," he warned her. He threaded his hand into her dark hair and kissed her long and hard. "Tell me now if you want to stop," he said, his voice rough, "because I'm about to move to another playing field."

"Don't stop." Lani said it without thinking.

"Good." Dom sat up and crushed her against him while he kissed her again. He could feel all of her curves, all of her heat pressed against him. He wanted more.

He stood up, slid one arm down behind her knees and lifted. He laughed when she protested she was too heavy. "Lani, you're a feather. I bench press at least twice what you weigh." He silenced the next protest with a kiss, then carefully carried her to his bedroom.

"See, now," he said, laying her on the bed and moving over her. "Isn't this much better than hiding with an iPod while your roommate gets it on in the other room?"

"You could have joined her," Lani pointed out with a smile, sliding her own hands down over his chest. She tugged his shirt out of his waistband. "Tonight it looked like the more, the merrier."

Dom took her hands in his, pinned them near her shoulders and locked his eyes on hers. "I didn't want your roommate," he said. "I only want you." Her eyes widened for a moment as he captured her lips again, then gave herself over to the satisfaction of knowing she was desired.

She ran her hands along Dom's back, savoring the smooth muscles that rippled under her hands. He growled, sat up on his knees and nearly tore his shirt off. He pulled her up and had her sweater off in one swift movement. Gently, he pushed on her shoulders so that she lay back again, let his fingers run lightly over the golden skin. "You are so beautiful," he said, running his fingers along the lace edge of her bra. 

Lani couldn't talk. His eyes and his words held her spellbound. She ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders and tugged him down so she could kiss him again. His kisses, she decided, were instantly addictive. He tasted slightly of the wine from earlier, and something darker that drew her in. 

"I need more," he said and easily slid his hand behind her to undo her bra clasp. She didn't even have time to blush as he removed her bra and then lowered his mouth to a breast. He kissed and teased with his tongue and his teeth until she was arching off the bed, one hand unconsciously wound through his hair.

"More," he said again, and this time moved his hands to slide her slacks off. Lani was gasping as he dragged his fingers along her legs, teasing her by slowing down as he moved closer to her center. She wanted desperately for him to touch her, or to be able to touch him, but he had her half-pinned with her body and seemed content to have her there.

"Dom, please," she whispered, amazed she could even form a word. He teased her a few moments more until she couldn't stand it and grabbed his wrist to move his hand up. They both groaned as he finally touched her, she in relief and he at the heat. She released his hand as he slid his fingers into the wetness, stroking and thrusting to drive her to a peak. 

"Let me," he heard her say. He was so lost in the feel and scent of her that he hadn't heard her the first time. "Please, let me touch you." Her hands wandered aimlessly along his sides and over his back and he hissed out a breath.

Dom shook his head, brushing his lips against hers. "Next time," he promised, pressing his lips to hers, and then to her neck and shoulder. "Go on," he said, "I've got you." He whispered more to her and was rewarded when she cried out softly and shook beneath him. His hand moved steadily, keeping her on the edge until she tumbled over. At last he stopped and simply held her, letting her calm down.

He stared at her face, loving the way she bit her bottom lip, which was slightly swollen. Her eyes were mostly closed, and he wanted her to open them so he could fall into their warm darkness.

When she opened them, there was desire more than warmth. "Now, Dom. I need you know." She rubbed her leg against his and arched her hips. With a shuddering breath, he reached into a drawer and found a condom. Resenting the time it took to slide it on, he turned back to her and gave her another passionate kiss. Then he laid back and pulled her over him. 

"I need to see you," he said by way of explanation. She nodded and moved slightly, gasping when he thrust smoothly inside her. "Oh, God, Lani," he said, keeping her still for a moment with hands on her hips. "Don't move, it'll be over too soon." This was a feeling he didn't want to end; his hands on her smooth skin, her slick heat enveloping him, and that tropical scent of coconuts over everything. 

She had to move, she just had to. Lani flexed her fingers on his shoulders and rocked her hips just a little. His fingers tightened on her hips but she couldn't stop. He felt too good, she felt too good with him inside her to stay still. At last he gave what might have been a muffled curse and began moving to meet her. She stifled a cry as she came once more, tightening her body around him and eliciting a growl. 




Nothing Gets Through Ch. 01



He slid his hands up to her breasts, cupping them and teasing the nipples with his thumbs. So soft, so smooth, he thought. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her down so he could kiss her again, his arm like a steel band around her back so she couldn't get away. He thrust harder and faster despite his efforts to move more slowly. When she gasped and tensed as she came again, he couldn't stop himself from joining her. He felt a coiling in his body that built until it exploded as he crushed her to him, breathing her name over and over.

He reluctantly allowed her to move so he could get up and dispose of the condom, then returned to the bed, wrapping her in his arms. 

"Wow," Lani said quietly.

"Wow good, or wow bad?" he asked, lightly stroking her hair. When she shivered, he pulled the comforter over them and snuggled her close.

"Wow incredible," she answered, amazed at how easy it was to be with him, as if she'd been meant to. 

"You're welcome," he said. He dropped a kiss on her forehead and laughed when she smacked him playfully on the arm.

"And you?" she asked, looking up.

"Wow incredible," he said softly, touching her cheek. She closed her eyes but opened them again when he said, "You'll stay here, right?"

"Right here," she agreed, taking his hand in hers.

x-x-x-x

Thanks Cristalball for editing!



Nothing Gets Through Ch. 02



"I just worry," Lani said gently, and reached over to pat her friend's leg.

"I know," said Dee, with a grateful smile. "I won't help her, Lani. I really won't. I refuse to give any of my hard-earned money to her when I know it'll just go to her next drink or next fix."

"There, see," said Lani lightly. "You're doing great."

"But can you imagine if I did date Karl?" Dee said, abruptly sitting up and nearly spilling her wine. "Celia would know right away. She always does. If she knew I was seeing someone with money..." Dee shook her head. "She'd never leave me alone."

"I'd help you," Lani said seriously. "You know that. And I don't think she'd scare Karl off. You need to give him a little more credit, Dee. Yourself, too."

Dee shook her head more vehemently. "No, I wouldn't expose him to that if I could help it. He doesn't deserve that."

"Neither do you," Lani said.

x-x-x-x

"What are you waiting for?" Karl asked.

"What?" Dom looked up. He'd been resting, listening to some music on his iPod. Nothing relaxed a person like Avenged Sevenfold.

"Why haven't you called Lani?" Karl persisted. He reached down and pulled the earbuds out, earning a glare from Dom.

"She's probably busy," Dom said, grabbing his earbuds back. "Not everybody works our hours, you know."

"I thought you liked her," Karl said.

"I do," Dom snapped. He sat up. Sometimes best friends can be a real pain in the ass, he thought. "And she could call me, you know."

"Sure," said Karl, "she'd be so anxious to interrupt a practice, or a video session. She must know all the travel itinerary, right, so she doesn't call while we're flying?" He shook his head. "Come on, Dom, I saw you the next day." He had never seen Dom in quite that mood. He suspected it involved happiness, but Dom was so closed off sometimes, it was hard to tell.

"So what?" Dom grumped.

"So call her," Karl said.

"And I suppose you've been calling Dee all the time?" Dom said. 

"Yes, I have," his friend said. "I'm about to call again now." With that, Karl left the room.

Dom snarled and threw a pillow at the door once it was shut. Karl was right; he should call. He wasn't sure why he hadn't, and even he knew that blaming Lani was just ducking the issue. The truth was that Lani had gotten to him in a way few people ever had, and that had all his red flags waving. She was adorable, smart, had a great laugh, and he was missing her fiercely.

So why didn't he call?

Because, he had to admit, in the light of day and when she wasn't right next to him, he had time to think. Thinking led to worrying. He worried about himself because if he didn't know better, he would think he loved her, or at least could. She had made him feel so relaxed, and even... oh hell, she'd made him feel happy, and that hadn't happened in a long time.

He had immediately felt concerned for her, protective of her. When he'd seen her reaction in her apartment, he hadn't even hesitated about inviting her to his place. The idea of her going to a hotel hadn't even entered his mind until she said it, and then he knew he simply couldn't do it. He had needed her with him and that was a scary concept.

Other people he had needed or cared about had left. His parents were the prime example. He was extremely grateful to his grandparents, who had managed to extricate him from the foster care system and had supported his efforts to play hockey. Other than that, he'd had very few people in his life who'd cared and stayed. He'd been engaged once, but then even that girl had gone, claiming he didn't trust her because he wouldn't talk to her about the important things. 

"You won't share yourself with me," Vicky had told him. "If you can't do that, then there's nothing between us."

Dom hadn't protested when she left, hadn't argued or fought over her words. It had hurt his heart to see her go, and his pride that he had let himself be so hurt. He had vowed never to do it again. Lani had him dangerously close to breaking that vow. So close that he considered not calling her at all, and just letting things wither.

Oh, damn it, he thought irritably and sat up. He dug through his pockets looking for his cell phone.

He couldn't let her go like that.

x-x-x-x

Lani sat at her desk, eyes half-glazed as she scrolled through the table on the monitor. The numbers were stupor-inducing and she thought how handy an intravenous caffeine drip would be. As the numbers moved up and off the screen, her thoughts wandered to Dom.

Why hasn't he called? she wondered, then chided herself, Why haven't you called him? For all kinds of dumb reasons, she decided. She was nervous; she was afraid he wouldn't want to talk to her now that they had some distance from each other; she didn't know his schedule and didn't want to interrupt.

She scoffed at herself. That was all bullshit. She was just scared and it was time to admit it. Surely she could gauge a time and call. If Dom couldn't answer, he wouldn't, and she would leave a message. It was a phone call, for heaven's sake, not an international arms treaty.

The really scary thing, she mused as the numbers floated by, wwas that she could probably fall in love with him. Lani knew she tended to overanalyze things and was trying very hard not to do that with Dom; in fact, she found herself doing the opposite. It was just so good to be with him. He seemed to like talking to her, although she had noticed that he kept most personal details to himself. That was all right, though. Lani sometimes found herself saying things and having second thoughts, and again, had tried to make sure she stayed on an even keel with Dom.

It surprised her, though, as she thought about it, to realize that she hadn't found out where he was from, or even if he had any siblings. That isn't exactly state-secret level information, she thought. She shrugged, blinked, and tried to focus. They'd known each other all of forty-eight hours. He didn't have to give his history within a certain time frame. She could be patient, because she wanted to know about him and would let him do it in his own time.

Her cell phone rang and she absently picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey there, Hawaiian girl." She sat up and smiled at her cubicle wall.

"Hi, Dom. How are you?" She pushed back from her desk and stretched her arms over her head. "I was hoping you'd call."

"Sorry I didn't call before," he said, looking guiltily at the floor. "It's hard to find privacy on road trips." 

"That's all right," she said, feeling ridiculously relieved that he had called at last. "I know how busy you must be with the traveling. Congratulations on the game the other night, by the way. I watched at Dee's place."

"Really? No Cherie?" he teased.

"Oh, please," she said, rolling her eyes. "Cherie doesn't know a ball from a bat. Dee, on the other hand, is getting to be quite the knowledgeable student."

"How is the lovely Dee?" he asked. "I think Karl's soft on her." Lani laughed, and Dom realized he'd missed her doing that.

"She's good," said Lani. "The usual neuroses, but no worse than me."

"You have neuroses?" Dom asked, feigning surprise.

"Oh, tons," she said. "You already know about the rats. I'll tell you the rest next time I see you." Then she blushed bright red at the casual assumption she'd made.

"So, you want to see me again?" he asked, more pleased than he wanted to admit. 

"Yes, yes, I do," she said more firmly. In for a penny... she thought.

"Well, that's handy," he said, "since I'd like to see you, too."

"Oh, good," she said, sighing in relief. "I was... well, I was worried you might have rethought things."

"I've thought about things," he admitted, "and I keep coming back to the fact that I like things with you."

Lani tapped her feet happily on the rug. "I like that, too."

"Oh, hey, did I catch you at a bad time?" Dom suddenly realized he hadn't been paying attention to the time of day or the time zone difference.

"No, no," she assured him. "I needed a break. These numbers were swimming in front of my eyes." She glanced up at the clock. "Actually, this is great timing. Talk to me for five more minutes and I can say I'm done for the day."

Dom laughed. "Happy to help." They did talk a bit longer and Lani promised to watch the game that night.

"I think I can even watch at home," she said. "Cherie's on a business trip." 

"That is too good of a set up," Dom said, "and so I won't say a thing about what kind of business she's in."

Lani snickered. "Neither will I. I can't tell you how nice it is to be there without worrying about people in leopard-print briefs hiding in the kitchen." Dom laughed out loud at the image, and Lani felt warm inside. He was so intense on the ice that it was a treat to hear him laugh like that, to let go just a little.

"What if I wore leopard-print briefs and hid in your kitchen?" he teased.

Lani blushed bright red at the picture in her head. "Oh," she said after clearing her throat, "that would be okay." Dom laughed again.

"I have to go, Lani," he said reluctantly.

"That's fine," she said softly. "Thanks for calling. It was really good to talk to you."

"You'll watch the game, right?" he asked again.

"Wouldn't miss it," Lani told him.

x-x-x-x

"I feel like a groupie," said Dee. She and Lani were at the airport, waiting for the team plane to arrive.

"Don't be silly," said Lani as she sipped at a hot chocolate. "Groupies would wear far less clothing than we have on." Dee snorted, then got nervous again.

"I know this was my idea, but maybe we should go," she said. She looked around the empty waiting area. There were a few other people, but it was pretty deserted. "I don't want to seem... oh, I don't know." Dee bit her lip. "I'm feeling really stupid about now."

Lani had to admit she was feeling apprehensive as well. Dom had said he wanted to see her, but she wasn't sure this was what he had in mind. Dee had suggested it -- spur of the moment, as always -- and Lani had agreed with hardly a thought. I must have it bad, Lani thought with a sigh. I'd never do this otherwise.

She hoped Dom would be glad to see her. The team had done well on the road trip, going 3-1, but the one had come last night, when they'd lost with a few minutes left in the third period. The analysts had pointed out how no one should take too much disappointment away. The team had played well, but they were tired; traveling took something out of even the most seasoned athlete. She knew, however, that Dom wouldn't take any of those excuses. He was supposed to keep the pucks out and last night, he hadn't managed to do it.

"We haven't seen them after a loss," Dee suddenly said. She got up and hugged herself, rubbing her arms restlessly. Lani said nothing, caught up in similar thoughts related to Dom. "What if he's angry? What if he doesn't want to see me? Oh, damn, this was a bad idea."

"Dee!" Lani said, a bit more sharply than she intended. She took a deep breath. "Sorry, I'm tired. Anyway, the game was nearly twenty-four hours ago." Weather had delayed the original departure time; Karl had kept Dee apprised of everything. That had made Lani wonder if Karl, at least, wanted Dee to meet the plane even if he hadn't said so. "I'm sure they've put it away and are getting ready for the next one. They can't dwell on the losses." 

She stopped there, although she'd meant to say more. Her brother had dwelt on the losses; more, he had blamed her for them. So much so that now they rarely spoke, and even that was at family gatherings where the mask of civility was put on for show. Lani shook her head as though she could physically remove those thoughts. Now wasn't the time mourn the loss of the relationship with her brother.

"You're probably right," said Dee, who hadn't noticed Lani's sudden heavy thoughts. "See, this is my problem. I have these ideas and they sound great when I first think of them, and then I actually do it and feel ridiculous."

"You mean like the time you made me go rock climbing?" Lani said, trying to lighten the mood. It worked. Dee turned to her and smiled brightly.

"But that was fun!" she said.

"There were rats," Lani reminded her. Even now she shuddered.

"They weren't rats," Dee countered. "They were little field mice or something." Lani didn't care; they had had four feet and moved way too fast. "They wouldn't hurt you." She looked up and Lani saw her face brighten. "They're here!" Dee nearly squeaked. Lani laughed.

The women stayed in their seats, waiting as the team filed through the doorway. There were waves and handshakes between players, and a few were greeted by wives or girlfriends. Dee sat straight, leaning forward, straining to catch a glimpse of Karl. Lani found herself almost sinking back in her seat as though trying not to be noticed. She knew she'd failed when she saw Karl wave at Dee and start walking over. Sighing, she sat up.

"Well, this is a nice surprise," Karl said with a warm smile. "Hello, Dee. Hi, Lani." Lani heard, even if her friend didn't, the softer tone in which he said Dee's name.

"Hi, Karl," Lani said with a smile. "It's good to see you back."

"Hi," said Dee, then went mute.

"Hey, who's this?" Lani looked up and saw two men, neither of them Dom, behind Karl. She felt like she should know their names, but without helmets or numbers they were hard to identify. Unlike Dee, Lani had not spent hours memorizing the media guide.

"Oh, hi guys." Karl dropped his duffel bag. "Greg, this is Lani and Dee." 

A tall man with shaggy blond hair and brown eyes gave a grin and held out a hand. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Greg Olshefsky."

"You're the captain!" Dee snapped out of her trance. "Oh, wow. Hi. I'm Dee." Greg laughed.

"Don't forget me!" The other man beside Karl had short dark hair and a bruise on his cheek.

Karl rolled his yes. "As though I could. Lani, Dee, this is Bobby Osterman."

"Hi," said Lani, taking the proffered hand. "You'll have to forgive Dee," she said dryly. "She forgot to take her meds."

"Lani!" Dee blushed and smacked her friend on the shoulder while the guys laughed. "I did not forget." That set them all off. Lani's laughter faded as she saw Dom approach. She wasn't quite sure how to read the expression on his face, but "happy" was not a word she would have used to describe it.

"Hi, Dom!" Dee said before she could.

"Hi, Dee," he said almost absently, his eyes focused on Lani. 

"Hey," was all she could say. Words fled her mind in record numbers as he stared at her intensely.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. His tone was short and clipped. Karl looked at him in surprise. Greg and Bobby traded a glance, then looked from the Lani and back to Dom, not quite sure what to do.

"We thought...," she began, then cleared her throat and tried again. "We thought we'd meet your plane."

"It was my idea," said Dee. She could read the anger in Dom's face and tried to defuse it. "It seemed like a good one at the time," she continued, her words coming faster, "but then I'm always doing things like that and..."

"It was a great idea," Karl broke in. His eyes shot cold daggers at Dom. "A wonderful surprise. In fact, I know it's late, but I'm starving. How about we find a place and grab some food?" He placed a hand on Dee's back, started to gently guide her forward.

"Sounds perfect," said Greg, and poked Bobby, who blinked in surprise.

"Oh, absolutely," Bobby said, once things had clicked into place in his mind. "I know somewhere pretty close. Should be quiet this time of night, but the food's always good."

"Thanks, I'm not hungry," Dom said. His eyes were still locked on Lani. Her mouth felt dry and she couldn't figure out why he was staring her like this. Was he angry? Did he not like surprises? She hadn't done anything except show up, she thought anxiously. Her voice was blocked for a moment, then words tumbled free.

"It's okay," she said, "I need to get home. I have some work to do. It was nice to meet you," she turned to Greg and Bobby, grateful to leave those probing gray eyes. "We watched all the games, you're all great. Bye, Karl. I'll talk to you later, Dee." Before she could babble more, Lani grabbed her bag and started towards the exit at a pace just short of a run.

"Lani, wait!" Dee said but her friend kept on moving. Dee turned to Karl and raised her hands in a mixture of confusion and helplessness. "I have to go. We both came in my car." 

Greg turned to Dom, who was still watching Lani, and gave him a small shove. Dom glared at him. "What the hell was that for?" Dee started in surprise, and Karl slid his arm around her shoulders.

"It think the question is," said Greg, "what the hell was that about?" He gestured at Lani, who was making a beeline to the doors. "She came to meet you and that's the best you can do? What the hell is wrong with you, Baddano?" He shook his head in disgust and turned back to the others. "Come on, let's get that food."

"Hold on," Karl said, and went over to Dom. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I didn't ask her to come," Dom snapped defensively. He avoided the question because he knew he'd acted like an idiot.

"I know," said Karl. "I believe that's why it's called a surprise. You don't need to be mad at her."

"I'm not," Dom said curtly. Karl raised an eyebrow.

"Could have fooled me," he said. Dee stepped up and started to talk before Karl realized she was there.

"Look, Dom," she began, "I'm really sorry. Don't be mad at Lani. It was my idea, like I said. She even said maybe we shouldn't, but I just get locked on to something and --"

"Shush," Karl said gently. Then he turned to Dom and his eyes were hard. "I don't know what's wrong with you, but fix it. That woman --" he pointed at Lani, who was getting smaller in the distance "-- is good for you. Maybe, if you ask nicely, she'll forgive you. I don't know if I would." He put his arm around Dee's shoulders again. "Come on, beautiful." Dee blushed furiously. "Let's go. If Bobby doesn't get food quickly, he turns into a zombie."

"And that would be different from every other day how?" Greg quipped.

"Hey!" Bobby protested as they walked away. Dom heard Dee's bubbly laugh as the others started down the aisle to the exit. Lani was far ahead of them, nearly to the doors leading outside.

"Damn," he said to himself. "Shit, shit, shit." He shouldered his bag and started running, breezing past Karl and the others. He got outside just as Lani's cab drove away.

x-x-x-x

"Hey, Lani," Cherie chirped. "How was the airport?"

"Hi, Cherie," she said blankly. "Fine." She locked the door and started down to her room. She did not want to deal with Cherie or the man sitting on the couch with no shirt on. Did any of Cherie's boyfriends even own a shirt? Lani wondered. She didn't think she'd ever seen any of them wearing one.

Safely in her room, she locked the door, dropped her purse on the desk and shucked off her coat. She sat on the bed for a minute, then couldn't sit still and got up and paced.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, she chastised herself. I never should have gone. It was too much, too soon. I looked like a clingy girlfriend, and I don't even know if I'm his girlfriend at all. But what the hell was that about? He couldn't just say, "Hi, thanks for coming, but I'm beat?"

Lani growled and wished she had a punching bag. She was mad at someone, but she couldn't figure out who. Herself for expecting too much? Dom for acting like she'd done something awful, instead of just showing up to meet a flight? 

Sighing, she threw herself on the bed and admitted that she was just hurt. She liked Dom a lot. No one had ever affected her like he had, and she liked it and already missed it, even in the short time he'd been gone. Tonight, she had thought it might be nice to surprise him, and he had taken it completely the wrong way -- whatever way that was. Calmer now, she could even admit she was envious of the way Karl had responded to Dee's presence, and that she had hoped for something similar from Dom.




Nothing Gets Through Ch. 02



Suddenly exhausted, she dragged herself off the bed and changed into pajamas. Opening her door, she carefully checked the hallway and saw with relief that the bathroom door was open. She hurried in, hung her sign on the door, then closed and locked it. She forced all thoughts of Dom out of her mind while she brushed her teeth and washed her face, and managed to keep them clear until she laid in bed with the lights off.

Then, she once again let herself feel the hurt, and wondered what to do about it.

x-x-x-x

"Lani, it wasn't your fault," Dee told her. They were in the makeshift break room at the office. Their non-profit was doing well, but hadn't risen to the level of organizations like the Make a Wish foundation, so the break room had been carved out from a former storage area.

"I know, Dee," Lani said as she sipped her water. "I just don't know what to do."

"Not you," Dee said, "him. He needs to come grovel at your feet, Island Girl. He screwed up royally." She tapped the table with a long, tapered nail to make her point. "It's been two days; he's taking too long to start the groveling."

"Good to have you on my side, Chi-town," Lani said with a small smile. How a girl from Honolulu had become best friends with one from Chicago, she'd never quite know, but she'd always be grateful. "I guess it was just... a misunderstanding. That first weekend... it was so intense, but it doesn't mean I know him very well." 

Dee rolled her eyes. "You don't need to know anyone very well to try do something nice, and he could have just said, 'Thanks.'" She was still angry at Dom. "And don't you try to tell me to let it slide because he's the goalie," she admonished Lani. "If he wants to wear his socks backwards, that's fine; but he can still be polite."

"He can try." The both turned in surprise to see Dom standing in the doorway. Filling the doorway, Lani noted. His shoulders were so broad they nearly touched the sides.

"You better be here to apologize," Dee said tartly, "otherwise you can just go."

"Dee!" Lani hissed. She put her hand to her forehead. Why does Dee pick now to be assertive? she wondered despairingly.

"I'm here to apologize," Dom confirmed. "To both of you." He looked from Dee to Lani, who dropped her hand. He spoke to both women, but held Lani's eyes with his. "I really am sorry. I acted like a jerk. I'm happy to grovel, just tell me for how long."

Dee tilted her head and studied him. Apparently satisfied, she nodded. "All right," she said, and stood up. "I have to get back to work. You --" she pointed at Dom "-- don't ever do anything like that again."

"Yes, ma'am," he agreed. He lowered his eyes to the floor, the picture of remorse, and Dee couldn't hold back a laugh. She squeezed his arm on her way out and he knew he was forgiven. By one of them, anyway.

There was an awkward silence, then Lani said, "Have a seat."

"Thanks." He sat and stared at her for a moment. 

For the last couple of days, Dom had stewed over the whole incident. He had turned a nonexistent molehill into a ridiculously large mountain. When he'd seen Lani in the airport, it was like he'd been punched in the stomach, and for a moment, he couldn't breathe. He'd been so... pleased. But that pleasure had jolted him and made him realize that Lani was getting close; she was getting through all the walls he usually had up.

He'd built the walls for emotional survival and had let very few people through them. His grandparents were an exception, and Karl had managed to knock his way through a few of them. Not many others. Then he'd seen her waiting and realized that in just over a week of knowing her -- and spending more time apart than together -- she'd managed to get through nearly all of them. It scared him and he'd reacted badly, venting his fear as anger.

Karl had reamed him out for it the next day, and although Dom had argued, he knew his friend was right. The rest of the team knew something was up as well; Dom had definitely been off in practices, letting in far more shots than he usually did. At last Dom admitted it to himself: he'd taken his fear out on Lani and he needed to apologize. It had taken another day to get up the guts to do it, and he'd forced himself to come to her office instead of just talking on the phone. 

Lani bit her lip and waited for him to say something. Perhaps she should talk, but she wasn't sure what to say. She was relieved when Dom took the decision away from her.

"Lani, I really am sorry," he said quietly, taking her hand. She dropped her eyes as his hand enveloped hers; she could feel the warmth through her whole body. His fingers gently nudged her dark, liquid eyes back to his. "Tell me what I can do to make up for it."

"Tell me I didn't do anything wrong," she said. She reached over and tentatively ran a finger along his jaw. "I just wanted... I just wanted to surprise you. I know things have been fast between us and we haven't known other long, but I missed you." And there he goes again, she thought, dragging things out of me that I normally wouldn't say so soon.

"Of course you didn't," he said, tightening his hand on hers. Her fingers had left a heated trail on his skin, and everything he'd felt on the trip came rushing back. "I was glad to see you. I know I didn't show it, not at all, but I was. You just..." You just got through, he wanted to tell her, but he couldn't. "You just surprised me and I didn't know what to do." He gave her a wry grin. "Karl can tell you that when I don't know what to do, I usually do something stupid."

"I'll let you know about future surprises, then," she said with a genuine smile. Relief washed through her. It looked like things were okay between them, and she hadn't known how much she wanted that until now.

"Okay," said Dom. "So, have I groveled enough? Or should I check with Dee?" Lani laughed.

"Maybe just a little more," she said with a wink. Dom raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really?" he said. He stood and pulled her to him so quickly she squeaked in surprise. "Let me start now, then." He put an arm around her waist, threaded the other in her hair, and kissed her soundly.

"If that's how you grovel," she said when she pulled away, "I may never get enough."



Nothing Gets Through Ch. 03



Thanks to Cristalball for editing. The puck's in your zone, MugsyB. ;) 

© 2009 All Rights Reserved

*

Lani curled up on the couch as she waited for Dom to come back with the wine. It was five days before Christmas, and the team's schedule was going to get hectic. Lani herself was flying back to Hawaii the next day, and so they had decided to have a small Christmas celebration early.

It was a good idea, Lani decided. By trading gifts early, it felt like so much of the pressure of the actual holiday was removed. They were both more relaxed -- joking, teasing, and enjoying the season. I better enjoy it, Lani thought with a sigh, since the holidays at home won't be much fun. Her brother was going to be there, and that always made things awkward.

"What's on your mind?" Dom asked as he sat next to her. He held out one glass of red wine and she took it.

"Just family stuff," she said quietly. 

"Tell me," he urged gently. He wanted to know, he found. The more time he spent with her, or thinking about her when he was traveling, the more he wanted to know, the good and the bad. 

"My brother will be there, that's all, really," she said. She looked up. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

He wanted to say 'No,' but he couldn't look in those eyes and lie. So he settled for a loose version of the truth. "I have a few siblings. We're not close," he said.

"Jason and I used to be close," Lani said, and Dom felt guilty at the relief that went through him when she didn't press him. "Now he can hardly stand to look at me."

"He must be stupid then," Dom said, and kissed her forehead. "Any guy that can't look at someone as pretty as you has his wires crossed." As he'd hoped, that got a smile from her.

"It's just hard on my parents," she said. "I mean, we don't fight, or even argue. There's just... there's just this stiffness all the time. If you ever want to see a textbook demonstration of a stilted conversation, just watch the two of us."

"So what happened?" he asked gently. Lani stared at her hands for a moment. It was a hard thing for her to tell people, not that there were many who needed to know. Dom, she decided, should be one of those people.

"My brother was a goalie, like I said," she began. He nodded and idly played with the ends of her hair. "I went to games when I could, but I was in college, too, and so sometimes his schedule clashed with mine." She sighed. "They were getting into the playoffs, but I was snowed under with work and so didn't get to many games. The team was just flying, though, and Jason was doing better than he ever had before. He had consecutive shut-outs, a low goals against, all of that."

"Sounds good so far," Dom said.

"He joked that I was doing him a favor by staying away, that he'd never done so well when I'd attended," she said. "Then they got into the NCAA playoffs and made it to the final four. He'd been the year before, and lost in that round, but it was great -- they'd never been that far before. I was able to get to the game, the final four game. It all happened really fast and I didn't have time to tell him, so I thought I'd surprise him afterwards."

"Okay," said Dom. Obviously the story didn't end well, but he wanted her to tell it in her own time.

"It was a tight game and both sides were taking those subtle, cheap shots. You know what I mean?" He nodded. "Anyway, there was this big collision in front of him and when it was all over, his knee was injured and they had to pull him. They lost the game." Dom winced; he'd had close calls like that himself. "And," she continued, "when he found out I'd been there, he blamed it all on me."

Dom stared at her. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, I am," she said with a rueful smile. "He was furious. He yelled at me and said it was my fault; said I never should have come to the game. He wouldn't even see me for a few months until my mom finally told him it really hurt her and my father that Jason wouldn't be in the same room with me. So he conceded on that point, for their sake. Now we get together and... don't talk if we don't have to."

"Your brother's a jerk," Dom said flatly. "I mean, I know about superstitions. I know about wearing the same shirt or the same socks or eating the same meal or whatever before a game. But it's never anyone's fault that wasn't on the team. If he couldn't learn that, he never would have made it in the majors, anyway."

"I guess," Lani said sadly. "Jason was good. Not as good as you, but better than most. He might have had a career at least as a backup, possibly a number one for the right team. Now we'll never know."

"You believe him," Dom said quietly, "don't you? You really think it's your fault?"

"Not really," she said, "not intellectually. But for a long time I couldn't help but think it would have been different if I'd stayed home, or watched on TV."

"It wouldn't have made a difference," Dom argued softly.

"I know, I know," she said with a sigh. "It's just... he lost something he wanted so much, and he blames me for it. I wish I knew how to make it up to him. I apologized for a long time until I realized it wasn't helping. In some ways I'm mad at him, but I'm past that, too. I just want to put it aside so we can be a family again."

"Well, Christmas is supposed to help things like that," Dom said. He didn't believe it, but it wasn't a bad idea, and she needed the comfort of it. "Maybe this year things will change."

"Nice thought," Lani said appreciatively. Then she changed the subject. "What will you do on Christmas? I hate to think of you sitting here by yourself."

"I won't be," he assured her. "Greg and his wife are having a big thing for anybody who can't get home for the day. If I don't go, they'll hunt me down and drag me over, so I'll go and save them the trouble." He gave her a grin. "Karl's bringing Dee."

"That little sneak!" Lani said with a smile of her own. "She didn't tell me. I'll have to give her a hard time about that."

"He really likes her, you know," Dom said, slipping an arm around her and pulling her close.

"I know," she said. "Now we just have to convince Dee."

"You mean she doesn't know?" Dom asked in surprise.

Lani considered. "It's more that she won't let herself think that. She won't get her hopes up." She tilted her head to look up at him. "It's a weird self-esteem thing, I guess, but Dee doesn't think she's good enough for him."

Dom snorted. "Well, she's wrong. He's not good enough for her." It was a cardinal rule to harass one's teammates off the ice, even if they weren't around to appreciate it, Dom thought. He was only adhering to the code.

"No one is," Lani said in stout defense of her friend.

"So, will you miss me?" Dom kept his voice light, but his stomach tightened slightly as he waited for her answer.

"Nope," she said, but he saw the twitch of her lips. "I'll be on the beach with palm trees. I won't miss a damn thing about this place. Hey!" She managed to put her glass down with spilling anything as Dom tickled her.

"Say you'll miss me and I'll stop," he promised, but she didn't believe him.

"No way," she said between giggles. "I'll be drinking piña coladas and lying on a towel on the beach in a bikini. I'll forget there's anything on the other side of the ocean." She could barely talk as Dom kept up his assault. Then he changed tactics.

Lani was breathless when he stopped tickling her and instead wrapped his arms around her waist and found her lips for a kiss. She drew back slightly and gasped, giving Dom the opportunity to slip his tongue in against hers. Lani felt her thoughts poof away as he deepened the kiss and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

After a long time that wasn't long enough, he pulled his lips from hers. "So," he said, gray eyes glinting, "will you miss me?"

"Yes," she said with a smile. "I'll miss you." She laughed at the triumphant expression on Dom's face. The phone rang and he frowned.

"I knew I should have taken that off the hook," he said with a sigh. Reluctantly, he got up and answered the phone.

"Hello?" Lani watched over the back of the couch as Dom went very still.

"Yes, I'm here," he said. His fist clenched at his side. "No. No, I don't." Pause. "I don't care. I have nothing to say." He hung up but stayed there, staring out the window. Damn him, Dom thought angrily. Damn him for calling. I didn't want to hear from him and he knows it. He started when he felt Lani slide an arm around him.

"Are you all right?" she asked quietly.

He turned to face her, draping his arms around her and pulling her close. "Yeah, I'm fine. It was just... family stuff."

"Want to talk about it?" Lani offered gently.

"No," he said, shaking his head. Lani was disappointed, but didn't say anything. She had shared her feelings about her brother, and if Dom wanted to vent, it was only fair. But he looked upset and she didn't want to add to it.

"All right," she said, leaning into him. "But I'm here if you ever do."

x-x-x-x

"Are you sure I should go?" Dee asked Karl. She fidgeted with the hem of her sweater until he took her hand in his.

"Of course," he said. "Why shouldn't you?"

"Well, I mean, I don't want to intrude... I'm not really anybody... " Dee trailed off, not sure what she was saying, or why. She wanted to go, and she wanted to be with Karl. It just didn't seem real that the reverse would be true.

At the next stoplight, Karl turned to Dee and cupped her chin, forcing her too look at him. "You shouldn't say things like that," he told her. His tone was calm, but she could hear the steel underneath it. He sounded very much like Lani.

"I'm sorry," she said, dropping her eyes. "It's just..." she sighed. "No one's ever been as nice to me as you have."

"Well, then, people are stupid," Karl observed, and removed his hand as the light turned green. Then he continued, keeping his voice light. "You won't be intruding, not at all. Greg's been on me to make sure you would come."

"Really?" Dee asked, disbelieving.

"You bet," he said with a smile. Did she really not know how people responded to her? Karl wondered. She still looked nervous, so he tried to distract her. "You sure your parents don't mind that you're not with them?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, they went to Florida to visit my brother," she said. "I didn't really have the time to do that, or the money for the flight. Lani's been planning her trip for months. You have to with that distance."

"I've never been to Hawaii," Karl said. 

"It's beautiful," Dee said with a wistful sigh. "I've only been twice, and it's so pretty. Parts of it, anyway. I mean, Honolulu is a big city like pretty much any other city, but the sky is so blue. Lani took me to the beach a lot and the water is just incredible. Her real name is Leilani, you know. Isn't that just lovely?"

"I think Deanne is just as nice," he told her. He chuckled to himself when she blushed and looked away. "Perhaps sometime we can both go."

"Once I was there for Christmas," Dee said, willing herself not to be so nervous and ignoring the implications of his last remark. "It was really odd to be in a place like that, where it's warm over Christmas. Before that I'd spent all my Christmases in Chicago, and believe me, it was plenty cold."

"I've spent the holidays in lots of places," he said. "It's interesting to see what different people and places do. I would have gone back to Sweden if I'd had more time. This Russian player I know, Anatoli, he flew back for Christmas. All the way to Moscow, can you believe it? He'll have jet lag until after New Year's."

Dee was exceedingly glad Karl hadn't gone back to Sweden, but didn't know if she should say so. She was relieved when he pointed out Greg's house and the conversation switched to the party.

Greg and Bobby greeted her warmly, and Greg's wife, Anne, took her to mingle and meet some of the other wives and girlfriends. Dee's apprehension dissipated as everyone made her feel welcome, and she was very glad she had come.

"Merry Christmas, Dom," Karl told him. They clinked beer bottles together in a toast.

"Merry Christmas," Dom said absently. He was missing Lani and found himself frequently musing on how she might look in a bikini. 

"How's it going?" Karl asked. "Missing Lani?"

"Yeah," Dom admitted. "Can't seem to help it." Then he scowled. "She said she was going to lie on the beach in a bikini. That's hardly fair." Karl murmured something in agreement and suddenly found himself having similar thoughts about Dee.

"Dee told me her real name is Leilani," Karl told him. 

"Yep," Dom nodded. "I talked her into letting me see her driver's license." He grinned. "She hates the picture." Karl laughed.

"Who doesn't?" he asked.

"Hi, Dom!" Dee came up and kissed him on the cheek. "Heard from Lani?"

"Not today," he said. "I'm figuring she's busy with family, or with jet lag. She called me after she got there and sounded exhausted."

"She will," Dee assured him. "I can't imagine she wouldn't call you on Christmas." She sighed. "When you do talk to her, take it easy, okay? She's probably having a tough time with her family."

"She told me about her brother," Dom said. "It's crazy. You've told her that, right?" Dee nodded.

"Countless times," she said. "And she does know it, that Jason's wrong and she's not to blame. It's just hard to shake it when you think you've hurt someone." She studied Dom. "She must trust you a lot to tell you about it. She hasn't told many people besides me." 

"Oh." Dom's stomach made a quick tumble. He had known it was hard for Lani to tell him, but he hadn't realized just how much until Dee said that. Lani had trusted him with something very important to her; she'd let him see how it upset her, trusting that he would understand. It was a little disconcerting to realize how close she had let him get.

x-x-x-x

"So how was it?" Dee asked. Lani sighed.

"Great, so long as Jason and I weren't in the same room," she said.

"Are you serious?" Dee asked. She shook her head as she cut up some cheese. The game would start soon, and she and Lani were prepping their snacks. The ice cream would stay in the freezer if and until it was necessary. "It's been how many years now?"

"Oh, eight or something," Lani said. Eight years since Jason had blamed her for the loss of his game and his potential career.

"You know, I've been finding out about all of these superstitions and stuff," Dee told her, "and I know it's that sort-of-serious, sort-of-not thing, but I honestly can't believe that Jason blames you for that. He didn't even know you were coming to that game!" They'd had the conversation before, but she knew Lani needed to get it out of her system somehow.

"I think that made it worse," Lani said. "It was like I sucker punched him or something."

"That's ridiculous," Dee said.

"I know," said Lani. "I just... oh, God, I just don't know what to say. I've tried apologizing, I've tried acting as though nothing's wrong, I've tried to talk to him... he's just... immovable. He won't let me in. It's like he wants to be that angry at me."

"It'll come back and bite him," Dee said. "I hate to say it, but it will. Stuff like that always does."

"You're probably right," Lani agreed. "Sometimes I hope it's not a big bite, other times I hope karma takes a big chunk out of ass." Dee laughed. If Lani could joke like that, she was coming out of it a bit.

"The party at Greg's was nice," Dee told her as the pre-game chatter continued. It was a home game, but hadn't been on their plan. Just as well, Lani thought, since the roads were icy and she hadn't wanted to drive. "It's too bad you couldn't come."

"Mmm-hmmm," Lani said absently, nibbling a cracker.

"What is it?" Dee asked, muting the television. 

"What?" Lani asked.

"Something else is on your mind," Dee said. "So out with it." Lani sighed.

"Well, it was just something I thought of while I was gone," she said. Dee gestured for her to continue. "Okay, I'm going to sound like some stupid article out of Cosmo or something, but I realized that I don't know that much about Dom."

"Like what?" Dee asked curiously.

Lani shrugged. "Like anything. I mean, I know what he likes in movies and music and stuff like that. But I don't know much about him that isn't in the team guide. He never talks about his family, or tells me if anything's bothering him. I'm not looking for a big weepy session of talking, but well, it's like he won't let me in that far."

"So tell him," Dee advised.

"I don't know how," Lani said. "It always seems like the wrong time. I'm busy, he's busy; he has a game or a road trip or practice or something."

"There's never really a 'right' time," Dee said. "You just have to pick a quiet time and tell him. He cares about you a lot, Lani. I can see it. I don't think you're out of line to tell him this. You're serious, or getting serious, aren't you?"

"It feels like it," Lani said.

"Then tell him," Dee said again, reassuringly. "I don't think he scares easy."

x-x-x-x

"So tell me," said Lani, her voice light, "how serious are we?" She was curled against Dom as they lay in his bed. She'd come over the night before when she had returned from a late day at work to find Cherie entertaining the balding guy, the one in leopard-print briefs, and a woman. Lani wondered if she'd left a dust trail in her wake in her haste to leave.

Dom narrowed his eyes and looked at her. "Uh-oh."

Lani smiled and brushed his hair back. "It's been a couple of months. I was just wondering."

He rolled onto his side. "Well, I'm pretty serious. That's what everyone on the team says. It's always in the write-ups: 'Dominic Baddano, the serious-minded goaltender, was unavailable for comment.'" He grinned. "If it's in the paper, it must be true."

She smiled but didn't say anything, just absently stroked his hair and stared up at the wall. He propped himself up on an elbow. "Hey, I was just kidding. I don't want you to be upset."

"I'm not," she assured him. "It just occurred to me a while ago that I don't... I like you a lot, but I feel like I don't know you very well. You know how I'm scared of rats, how I insist on organizing my shoes and how I can't sleep with a closet door open. You know about my brother. But I don't even know how many siblings you have. You were so upset by that call you got before I left for Christmas, but you never said why."

Dom laid back down and stared at the ceiling. "My family history isn't good," he said finally. "I don't generally talk about it; I don't find it helps much, me or anyone else. I'm not ashamed of it; I just don't like to talk about it."

"Okay," said Lani. "You just... you know you can tell me if you want." She laid her head on his chest and he held her tightly, inhaling the soft scent of coconut that he always associated with her.

"I know," he said.

The phone call had been from his father. The father that had wanted nothing to do with him while he grew up, but had suddenly had an urge to reconcile once Dom had hit the NHL -- and a lucrative contract. He barely knew his half-siblings, wasn't sure he could pick them out of a crowd without pictures. There was no animosity, just ignorance. Mostly, he didn't think about any of that. He'd left it behind and was better off without it.

He wouldn't pretend that it hadn't hurt at one point. That had it not been for his maternal grandparents, he might be playing goal in the penal league and not the NHL. But he didn't see the point of dragging Lani into it. He didn't want her feeling sorry for him. He'd succeeded in spite of it, and that was all that mattered.

x-x-x-x

"Did you get today's paper?" Dee asked over the phone. Lani rubbed her eyes.

"What time is it?" she asked groggily.




Nothing Gets Through Ch. 03



"Oh, come on!" Dee said excitedly. "There was going to be a profile of Dom today, remember?"

"Right," said Lani. She sat up and started to think more clearly. Dom had been speaking to a reporter from the local paper for the last couple of weeks.

"Just a little profile," he'd told Lani. "Trying to build up some hype before the playoffs. They're going to hit just about all of us, I think."

"Come on over," said Dee. "I'll get a couple of copies."

"I'm afraid to leave my room," Lani said. "Cherie had mattresses set up in the living room last night, and I'm afraid to look."

"So close your eyes," said Dee. "Feel your way along the wall."

"Oh, God!" said Lani. "I will not! I'm afraid it wouldn't be the wall I'd feel."

"Just come over," said Dee, and hung up.

Lani dragged herself out of bed and took advantage of the empty bathroom. After getting dressed, she took a deep breath and headed to the front door. Mercifully, the only thing people were doing in the living room was sleeping. She snuck out without anyone waking.

Her mood improved as she walked along, so much so that she stopped and picked up some donuts and coffee to take to Dee's. She was curious to see Dom's profile. It had been fun to read the ones on Greg, Bobby, Karl, and a few of other guys. Dee was waiting and made appropriately appreciative noises over the food. 

"Here," said Dee, handing Lani a newspaper. "I got an extra from Mrs. Crawford down the hall. She said nothing's worth reading except the crosswords, anyway."

"Thanks," said Lani. "Here's your coffee. No sugar."

"Wonderful," Dee said with a sigh, and curled up on the couch. Lani settled into the overstuffed chair she usually took and opened the paper.

Little profile? she scoffed mentally. I'd hate to see a big one. The article covered parts of two facing pages in the sports section. The writing itself might have covered three-quarters or more of a single-page, but there were plenty of pictures and the requisite advertisements. There was Dom during a game, covering a shot; talking with the coach at practice, his mask pushed up on his head; even a couple at a hospital, where the team had gone to visit the pediatric ward. Lani smiled at the pictures of the star-struck kids; she'd felt much the same when she'd discovered who "Dom from the coffee shop" really was.

The article started off innocuously enough, describing a typical day in a goalie's life, much of which Lani knew of from both Dom and her brother. There were comments from his coach, his teammates, even a few players from other teams who swore Dom was the toughest goalie they had to face. Then the writing went back and started to chronicle Dom's childhood and Lani felt something twist inside.

Here, in black and white, for anyone and everyone to see, was the story of Dominic Baddano from Edmonton. The story he hadn't told her. He'd never mentioned the erratic relationship between his parents, which resulted in a shaky marriage and even rockier divorce. After being a ping-pong ball during the proceedings, Dom had been sent to foster care for several years until his grandparents had managed to get him out. The article laid out his ascension through the junior, senior and minor hockey leagues, detailing fights, suspensions, two episodes of depression, and his success in dealing with all of it.

Somehow the author had contacted Dom's mother, whose disinterest came across loud and clear. His father had been more eager to talk, and discussed his desire -- no, need -- for an improved relationship with his son. She read with trembling hands: 



Nothing Gets Through Ch. 03



Dom kept his lips on hers as he moved inside her, unable to hold back a groan as her hips arched up to meet him. This was where he wanted to be, he realized. More importantly, where he wanted her to be -- with him.

Lani closed her eyes and moved easily with him as they found a mutually satisfying rhythm. It was like floating on a lake, with gentle waves rocking over her. At last she could feel the wave cresting, and called his name softly as she came and shook beneath him. Dom willed himself to wait, to experience her warmth and softness a bit longer, but it was difficult and when she came again, clutching him to her, he came with her.

"You know," he said after they'd recovered themselves, "maybe I should apply for that roommate position."

"You think so?" Lani asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Well, I'd be happy to interview first," he said. The corners of Lani's mouth twitched.

"Do you smoke?" she asked in a business-like tone.

"No."

"Drink?"

"Never alone."

"Steady income?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Pets?"

"Only my rat, Oscar." He laughed as Lani punched him lightly on the arm. "Okay, no pets."

"Well, then," she said, pretending to consider it. "I guess the only thing left to discuss is the dress code."

"Dress code?" He gave her a look.

"Yes," she said primly, " a dress code." A mischievous glint came in her eyes. "Do you have any leopard print briefs?"