All Chapters of Dream Dominant Collection: Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

Chapter 162: FreeThat evening, Blake and Shasta enjoyed the sunset over the deep blue Pacific, watching silently as the blue sky faded into deep oranges, pinks, and purples. Leaning against the railing of the deck, Shasta sipped her glass of sauvignon blanc and rested her head on Blake's shoulder."It's beautiful here," he noted."Mm-hmm," she agreed. "But they're down there, you know."He frowned. "Who is down there?""Guys with cameras." They'd had to push their way through reporters and photographers when they'd returned to the house, closing the gate behind them to shut out the noise and intrusion."How do you know?"She laughed humorlessly. "Because they're always down there." Blake put his arm around her waist and hugged her to his side. "Do you care?""Not really. Do you?"He sighed. "Not really. Although I'd like a little privacy with my kitten.""Then we should go inside." She turned and headed back through the glass doorway. Blake followed."This is a cool featur

Chapter 164: WinterBlake placed a light kiss on Amy's temple and slid out of bed. As he quietly dressed, she shifted slightly but didn't wake. He placed another couple of logs on the fire and let himself outside. The full moon reflected off the snow, lighting the forest like daytime. He easily picked up the trail, not needing his headlamp.Snow crunched under his feet as he reached the fork in the path and took the trail leading to the left. Soon enough, he found himself in the clearing. He smiled, remembering Amy's assessment. It's like a church or something. And it was.The boy had been twenty. The man was now thirty-one. Sighing, he sat cross-legged in the center of the circle, glancing up at the stars. Faith. Blake wondered if she actually had been up there, watching over him, bringing him the woman who was the love of his life. He smiled. "Thank you, Faith. For everything." He shook his head. "I believe you saw to it that I got a second chance. I wish…" He stop

Chapter 166: His MissionJudd Farris scanned the room uncomfortably. He didn't belong here, not really. The truth was, he had been friends with Graham Crenshaw. Good friends. But Graham was his only connection to this gathering, and Graham was dead. Judd had attended the funeral at the church, and then the burial out at the cemetery. There'd been no need to follow up with the gathering at the Crenshaw home. But he'd been asked for a favor, and he hadn't yet completed it. There hadn't been opportunity at either the funeral or the burial. Maybe he could find a moment here.He took a glass of wine from a buffet table in the dining room simply to have something to do with his hands, then made his way to a vacant spot by the wall in the living room. His position on the edge of the crowd afforded him a perfect place from which to people-watch.He'd spotted Jessi in her simple black dress from the moment he'd entered the house. She was hard to miss with her bright auburn hair, her

Chapter 168: Falling ApartJessi held herself together while the kids were home. No sense having them worry about her. They needed to get back to their lives. She certainly didn't want them feeling as though they needed to babysit her.Adam left for Orlando on Friday morning. By the time Jessi dropped off Cara at Palm Beach International on Friday afternoon, she was exhausted. She hadn't been able to keep food down since she'd gotten the news about Graham. She also hadn't been able to sleep. Now, with the house to herself, she finally let herself fall apart.In the hamper in the master bath, she found an undershirt of Graham's. It smelled of his cologne and dirty clothes. She undressed, shrugged into the 'wife-beater' tank top, and crawled into bed. There, she cried for hours, screamed for a while until her voice was gone, and ranted at the universe for letting her down. When the tears dried up, she curled into a ball and found herself in a sort of twilight not unlike subspa

Chapter 170: AloneJessi spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday hovering between being alright and losing her mind. She tried to eat but just couldn't bring herself to cook anything, or to face the wall of casseroles in the fridge. At one point she found herself in the bedroom staring at a spot on the floor. It was at the end of the bed, although there was nothing to mark it, to render it unique from any other place on the hardwood. It was simply the designated spot where Jessi had presented herself to Graham every evening at precisely 7:00 p.m. for the last eight years. Mechanically, she removed her clothes and placed them in the hamper, taking the folded green throw from the wingback chair in the corner, and placing the blanket on the floor. Opening a drawer in Graham's dresser she removed a black leather collar and its matching lead, fastening the collar around her neck and kneeling on her spot. It was here every night that Jessi would wait for her Master, eyes closed, brea