Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
D ominic’s forehead touched mine while his chest heaved. My mind was too fried with pleasure to do anything but coast along, my body heavy, pinned down by his hips on mine. We both panted, catching our breath.
He rolled off me onto his back. “I told you so.”
I smiled. “What did you tell me?”
His eyes met mine. “We have chemistry.”
My smile grew.
“And you need distracting. So do I.”
The urge to snuggle up against him was almost overpowering. I resisted. “I liked it. A lot.”
He reached out and combed hair off my face with his fingers. “I want to ditch the condoms.”
I blinked. “Um…”
“Are you on birth control?”
“Yes. The pill.”
“Do you always remember to take it?” He moved my hair so it draped over my breasts.
“I do.” My routine was solid. “I need to stop by my townhouse and pick up more packets—and a few other things.”
“My last checkup was three weeks ago. I’m clean.”
I stared up at the ceiling. No condom? Gerry and I hadn’t always used one, but we’d been together for years. He’d also been paranoid about pregnancy—in addition to me being on the pill, he’d pull out.
If a pregnancy happened…it would be a dream come true for me. That’s what you think now. “I’m clean too.”
He kissed my shoulder. “Let’s go to my condo in Portland.”
I put a hand on my forehead. “For a night or two?”
“Until we figure out what’s next.” He stood and left the room. I heard the bathroom door close as I lay there, a little stunned that our conversation was over.
Stomach grumbling, I found one of his shirts and put it on. Down the stairs was another full bath that I used to take a quick shower. My thoughts were boxed in by all of the questions I didn’t have answers to. Dominic was detached. And I was…falling for him. Admit it, you think he’ll come around if you cling to him hard enough. You’re wrong.
Dressed again in my turtleneck sweater and leggings, I ate while both of us stared at our laptops, sitting next to each other at the table. My limbs were so light I thought I could float up if I flapped my elbows. You’re ridiculous. I curled my fingers into a fist to keep from touching him.
“We’ll do your errands.” Dominic closed his computer on the table. He came up behind me while I washed my plate in the kitchen and wrapped his arms around me. “Otherwise, I’ll be distracted. You’re irresistible in the kitchen.”
I leaned into him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.” He kissed my neck.
“Do you like being touched?”
He turned me around. “I like being touched by you.”
I leaned back with my elbows on the sink. “I’m a shameless cuddler.”
“Glad you told me. Perhaps I’ll buy you a teddy bear.”
I frowned. “Not the same.”
“When you touch me, I get a hard-on.” He kissed me, his lips soft and pillowy on mine, but pulled back before I could find out if he was telling the truth. “Let’s go. I’ll drive.”
We went to my bank, where I found out that Gerry still hadn’t paid his half of the bills. I met with a bank manager and talked through the situation—there was sympathy but not a lot of leeway. However, they assured me that they’d do what they could, and I made a partial payment toward the mortgage.
Dominic had gone to a local farm stand while I’d been in the bank. I found him arranging bags of fruit in his trunk, chewing on an apple. “Alright?”
I shrugged. “It’s a mess. Lawyer’s office next.”
He tossed his apple core in a bin. “Can you smell those cantaloupes? Great year for them.”
“I can. That’s a lot of fruit. Are you a frugivore when you’re not being a pescatarian?”
“Yes. Trying to eat seasonally. Fresh berries in the supermarket produce section bring on the cold sweats. I’m working on breaking my habit.”
“Huh.” I tapped the next address into the car’s nav system. “Doesn’t seem like a bad habit to me.”
He accelerated fast out of the parking lot. “I’m saving up for my ticket to eco-heaven.”
“Ah. I’m headed for eco-purgatory. Endlessly sorting recycling on its way to a landfill.”
He snorted.
My lawyer, Ms. Rebecca Burns, had a cluttered office filled with books, and toys for the resident feline. Her sleek gray-haired cat trotted over to greet me when she opened her door.
“Ms. Owen, come in,” she said, pushing clear-framed glasses up her nose.
“Kelsey. Thank you.”
“Right, have a seat. This is Esquire—no, stay off her lap. Sorry, I’ll feed him and be back in a jiffy.” She rang a bell, and Esquire leaped off my lap and darted through the door she held open for him.
I slumped in the chair, wishing I could have petted the cat longer. Stop. You’ll have a cat someday. The lawyer wasn’t much older than I was, yet she stood a mountain above me in what she’d accomplished.
“Right,” she said, coming back in while she wiped her hands off on a towel. “I really can’t do this pro bono.”
“No, no, I don’t expect that?—”
“And the public defenders won’t be able to help you for half a year.” She popped a candy-coated piece of chocolate in her mouth then held the bowl out to me.
“No, thank you. Ms. Burns, I will pay you. And I have money for you today?—”
“Right. Fine. Here’s the thing, the most profitable thing for you is to settle splitting the property with Mr. Sagan outside of court. We’ll keep chipping away at everything else. Keep me apprised.”
“Anything new—about my job?”
She shook her head, the pencil in her bun jiggling. “No. I’ll let you know immediately I hear anything.”
I left the office, a bitterly cold wind pummeling me as I walked to the car. “The townhouse now.” I shivered as I buckled up in the warm car. “I’ll go in if Gerry’s car isn’t there.”
Dominic frowned. “I’ll be with you.” He glanced at me. “Do you still have feelings for him?”
My head jerked back. “Feelings? Yes—anger. I can’t stand to be near him.”
He nodded.
I’d stopped loving Gerry before he’d stolen from me—it was so clear in retrospect but had seemed overwhelming at the time. Maybe he’d known. Both of us hadn’t wanted to face reality.
Gerry’s car was not in the driveway. I sat frozen in the passenger seat. “His car is probably still at the shop. He might be in there.”
“Time to find out.” Dominic got out of the car and waited for me by the front door.
Swallowing, I forced myself to move, my limbs as stiff as a mannequin’s. I knocked on the door. Then I rang the doorbell. Hands fumbling, I shoved my key in the bolt and opened the door.
“Oh, God.” I waved a hand in front of my face. “What a mess.”
The kitchen counter was covered in beer cans and liquor bottles, and there was practically a green haze in the air from rotting garbage. Gerry, the neat freak, was living like this? Obviously, you completely spoiled him.
I clenched my fist. “I’ll find my things.”
Dominic coughed. “I’ll be outside.”
My eyes burned as I ran up the stairs. There were new stains all over the carpet. The bed was stripped to the mattress, the sheets and blankets in a heap on the floor. He’d gone through my things in the closet and left them scattered on the floor.
Face scrunched up, I stumbled into the bathroom and braced myself on the sink. The mirror was smeared with some kind of white paste—had Gerry lost his mind? I stared into it. “All I need is within me.” My voice was hoarse.
I found the packets of birth control pills tucked away in the cabinet under the sink. Gerry’s rampaging hadn’t gotten that far. My winter parka was on the floor of the downstairs coat closet, with a muddy footprint stamped on it, but it was otherwise undamaged. I took my bundle of things out to Dominic’s car and shoved them in the backseat.
Dominic was on a call, pacing in the driveway. With a shuddery breath, I rolled the garbage can to the door—which hadn’t been set by the curb since before I’d left. Then I marched back inside to search out the rot in my kitchen.
In ten minutes, I had the place smelling less like a landfill and more like Lysol and the cold air blowing through the open windows. I washed my hands at the sink, my shoulders tight with knots.
“Kelsey?”
I whipped around, knocking my hand painfully against the counter.
Gerry held his hands up, then reached behind him and closed the back door. He’d snuck up on me from the deck. “Relax. I just want to talk a little.”
Jerkily, I turned off the faucet and wiped my hands on my leggings. My kitchen towels were all ruined, left in a pile of spilled beer.
Gerry stopped on the other side of the kitchen island and shoved a hand into his hair. “It’s good to see you. I need…closure.”
I sucked in a shaky breath. The restraining order I’d filed for still hadn’t been processed. “What do you want to say?”
He put his hands in his pockets. “First, that I’m sorry. I never thought… I love you so much. It’s killing me.”
Crossing my arms, I waited, swallowing the reaction he wanted from me.
Keys rattled in his pocket. He cleared his throat. “If you’ll drop the charges, I’ll sell. Okay?”
My mouth dropped open, and I glared at him. My stomach clenched. “After we sell, I’ll consider it. If you stop trying to contact me.”
His eyebrows pinched together. “Jesus, Kelsey. Fucking take the offer.”
“Sell first.” I grabbed the bag of things I’d collected from the kitchen. “And take those pictures off the internet.”
“Eight years together, and I don’t get a fucking conversation? No—don’t walk away from me, you bitch.” He stormed toward me.
“Stop.” Dominic stood in the doorway. “Back up, Sagan. Now. Unless you want the police involved.”
Gerry turned to me with an expression of revulsion on his face. “Fucking some stranger already?”
“Kelsey,” Dominic said calmly. “Do you need anything else in here?”
I closed the living room windows, not trusting Gerry to do it. “I’m ready.”
Gerry broke something as I walked through the front door. I didn’t turn around to see what it was.