Chapter 7
D ominic
“Why are we getting on the interstate?” Kate asks softly.
We haven’t spoken a word to each other since I stopped her in her tracks by reminding her she’d be my wife. Honestly, saying it out loud shocked me as well. I’d told her we’d get married, but actually saying she’d be my wife really surprised me.
I’d long ago decided never to get married again. The few years I was unhappily married to Savannah were enough to convince me that civil unions weren’t for me. Her devious actions solidified my thoughts on marriage, relationships, and the opposite sex.
I didn’t set out to be a single dad, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved when Savannah decided she didn’t want to stay here and be a mom. Yeah, life is challenging. I have a stressful job and I’m the sole provider for three kids. But I’d rather be single than tied to someone I despise.
Which is why even I was surprised when I suggested — no, told — Kate that we’d be getting married so she could have access to my health insurance. Honestly, it pisses me off that my parents didn’t demand she accept insurance from the hotel when she worked there. But Kate is too fucking proud to accept anything from anyone, and that’s why I didn’t give her the option to say no.
Considering it’s probably the first time she didn’t fight me on something, I know she really needs medical help. I already have an appointment scheduled for her for next week with an OBGYN that came highly recommended online, but I haven’t told Kate yet. One challenging conversation at a time. I thought about asking Hannah, but I didn’t feel comfortable explaining Kate’s medical needs. That’s her story to tell, not mine.
“Dominic,” Kate says again.
Clearing my throat, I focus on her question. “I couldn’t find a judge with availability for a Saturday appointment in Jefferson County, so we’re headed into Denver.”
“You need an appointment to have a five minute wedding ceremony?”
“Evidently.”
Kate is quiet as we speed down the interstate toward the capital of Colorado. We discussed bringing the kids, but didn’t want to chance any of them blabbing to the judge that this wasn’t a love marriage. Plus, I’m certainly not ready to have that conversation with them, and try to explain why I offered to marry Kate.
I glance over at her to see her hands are gripped tightly in her lap as she stares wistfully out the window. Her expression is pensive as she chews on her bottom lip, and I fight the urge to reach over and pull her lip out from between her teeth.
I can still taste that lip.
I can still taste her.
Thinking it would be best to give her a chaste kiss so she didn’t look shocked in front of a judicial officer, I don’t know who was more surprised at how quickly it unraveled. She tasted like cherries, and she felt like home.
She felt like mine.
Needing to clear my mind of that kiss, I blurt out, “did you live on this side of Denver? Growing up, I mean.”
“No, I lived on the east side.”
“Where?”
“Aurora.”
I grimace, thinking about the area where she had grown up. Aurora isn’t known to be the best area of Denver. It’s improved over the past decade as the area has expanded, but thinking about Kate and her mom, surviving there alone, makes me justifiably angry.
“I never even came this far west until Matt made me come to meet you guys,” Kate says quietly. My mom is always ready to welcome an injured bird into our mix, and she was all too willing to help Kate out in any way, even though Kate isn’t related to us. From everything I’ve learned about Kate and Matt’s dad over the past few years, he is an absolute dick, and deserves whatever he gets in prison.
“You’ve been up further since then, right?” I ask.
“No,” she whispers.
“Seriously? I figured Arianna would have dragged you up to Aspen, or Vail, just for shopping,” I say, getting a very small smile out of Kate. My baby sister, Arianna, is the fashionista of the family. But she’s also a force to be reckoned with.
“She asked once or twice, but she knew I couldn’t afford anything up there. So she stopped asking, I think,” Kate confesses.
I’m quiet as I let her words sink in. I want to ask how much money she has. I know how much I pay her, but it’s not full-time. She bartends in town on the weekends, but I have no idea what kind of income that provides. She thinks I don’t know about the cleaning jobs she’s taken on over the past couple of months, but I do. I also know about the every-now-and-again babysitting jobs she accepts.
I’ve thought about offering Kate a lump sum, but I figure she’ll tell me no, and then probably punch me in the gut. It wouldn’t be that much money, because I’m not that well off. I don’t take a huge salary from the hotel, and I’m raising three kids on my own. Shit is expensive. It seems like every time I turn around, one of my kids needs money for something. Carter’s therapy co-pays add up pretty fast, too.
“Well, we’ll have to go up to the Continental Divide at least. You need to see the mountains from that perspective at least once in your life,” I tell her.
“It’s okay, Dominic. You don’t have to feel obligated to do that. ”
“Consider it a honeymoon,” I say, deadpan.
I expect a retort, but am surprised by complete silence. Casting a glance out of the corner of my eye, I find Kate staring at me in shock.
“What?” I ask.
“Do you think that’s funny?” she hisses.
“No?”
“Why do you have to be such an asshole, Dominic? Why? I’ve never done anything to you. You’ve looked down on me from the moment we met, and I never understood why. You know what? I can’t do this. Turn the car around,” she shouts. I’m confused by her anger as I exit the interstate, slowing to stop at a traffic light, so I don’t immediately react when she rips off her seatbelt and opens her door.
“What the fuck?” I say in disbelief. “Katharine, get back in the fucking car!”
“No!” she shouts, stomping toward the intersection.
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter as I whip my car to the side and put it in park, quickly climbing out after her. “Dammit, Kate, get back here!”
Kate whirls around to face me. “Did you seriously just call me Kate? Right now? This is when you decide to do that? You have some nerve, Dominic Santo! You really do think you are God’s gift, don’t you? I swear, one of these days —”
I’m kissing her before I realize what I’m doing.
I’m kissing her because I barely heard a word she said. All I could think about was how her cheeks reddened as she yelled at me, and with her dress dipped low across her chest, I could see that the red covers the tops of her breasts, and all I can think about now is how I wonder if that red goes down her body. Does her skin pinken when she comes? Does her entire body taste like cherries too? I find myself turning Kate to push her against the side of my car, deepening the kiss that I know I shouldn’t have initiated but I’m powerless to stop. When her lips part and she sighs in my mouth, I groan in return. Grabbing a handful of her hair, I yank her head to the side as my tongue slides against hers. I feel a shiver course up her spine as my fingers tighten in her hair, and I’m all too aware of how hard I’m pulling. I thought she might have been kidding when she blurted out that she liked getting her hair pulled, but apparently Kate is honest when she rambles. This sweet and sunshiney spitfire might like a little pain with her pleasure, which makes my cock twitch harder against my boxer briefs.
Only two kisses with Kate, and I already know it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s a breath of fresh mountain air. A peace I didn’t know existed. I feel every inch of her body as it presses against mine. Her softness and mind-numbing curves against my harsh lines. Kate shimmies against me, subconsciously seeking what I know she doesn’t want, but needs from me, and I groan as she comes into contact with my growing length.
Kate breaks away from my mouth, but her hands grip my shirt tightly, holding me against her. Our breaths exhale in unison as we both pant, and I open my eyes to look into hers. Irises so blown out her eyes appear black, and I know she’s as affected as me. Our chemistry is off-the-charts, which means our agreed upon marriage could get messy incredibly quickly.
“What are we doing, Dominic?” Kate breathes, her voice so quiet I almost don’t hear her.
“I don’t know,” I admit, dropping my forehead to hers. I wish I wasn’t this attracted to her. Maybe it’s just a one-time thing. Maybe it’s just because it’s been so long since I’ve been with a woman. Maybe if I fucked her … once, or maybe twice … I’d get it out of my system. “Why did you get so mad at me just now?”
She lets out a shaky exhale. “This all happened so fast, and you’re joking about taking a honeymoon with your fake wife for whom you have zero feelings, and I’m supposed to just go along with this sham. Then you kiss me like you care, and I don’t know how to process that.”
“I do care,” I respond defensively. “I don’t want you to be hurting, or sad, or alone.”
“We ca — we can’t do this. It muddies the water. I don’t want to worry about everything like this,” she whispers. “You’re my boss, and you’re helping me out by becoming my … my …”
“Husband,” I supply, chuckling at her inability to say the word.
“Yes. That.”
“You can say the word, you know.”
“I don’t see why.”
“At some point, you’ll have to introduce me, Katharine.” Her eyes narrow subtly, and I know we’re back on the same page. The page where, by just existing, I can antagonize Kate with her name.
“That won’t be necessary. We’re hardly ever in the same public place,” she says haughtily. Realizing she’s still gripping my shirt, she lets go and pushes me backward, then steps around me to get back in my car.
I laugh openly as I round the hood to get in behind the wheel. Kate has failed to remember how often we’re with my family. Since I can’t get relief by fucking her, I’ll continue to irritate her just by being in her presence.
“Are you sure we aren’t breaking the law?” Kate whispers as we sit outside the judge’s chambers.
“Fairly sure.”
“That does not give me much confidence, Dominic,” she hisses.
“I’ve researched it,” I tell her quietly. “There are a lot of gray areas. I don’t think it’s completely illegal, but probably best to leave details out of it.”
“I still don’t get why you wanted to do this,” Kate says.
I hesitate, wondering how much she knows about Arianna’s childhood. “Has my sister told you about her health as a kid?”
“Which sister? Arianna?”
“Yes.”
“Not really, no. I know she had some health problems, but she’s never gone into detail explaining them to me, and I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to bring up a depressing subject with her.”
I sigh. “Arianna had a relatively rare condition called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome when she was around five, and it destroyed her kidneys. She was on dialysis for quite some time, then had a kidney transplant when she was about seven or eight. It wreaked havoc on her immune system, and she spent so much time in the hospital. More than once, my parents thought she was going to die. She had to have a second kidney transplant a handful of years ago.”
“Oh, wow,” Kate whispers. Her head lands on my shoulder as her hand covers mine. “I had no idea. I’m so sorry, Dominic. That must have been incredibly hard for you to witness.”
“It was. I have a lot of memories ingrained in my mind from those years, and I swore I’d do anything in my power to ensure any woman close to me wouldn’t suffer if I had the means to change her circumstances. I know it’s not the same thing as what she went through, but I can’t let you suffer, Katharine. I just can’t.”
Kate is silent for a moment before squeezing my hand. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll marry you.”
I chuckle as I turn and kiss the top of her head. “Guess it’s a good thing we’re here, then.”
“But,” she says, and I sigh in defeat. “I think we should set some ground rules.”
“That’s fair.”
She turns to me, studying me before speaking. “No sex. And no kissing. Well, after this next one.”
“Alright.” She’s right about it blurring the lines. While I might enjoy a dalliance with her, I can’t fault her for trying to keep things objective.
“And I don’t want any of your money.”
I raise a brow at her, waiting for an explanation, but it never comes. “Do you mean I literally cannot give you any money? I’m going to need examples. What if I pick up dinner for everyone? Should I leave you out of the equation? Or what if you take the kids to the science museum? Can I pay for your ticket?”
“I … guess those things are okay,” she says hesitantly, her hands twisted together tightly in her lap as she chews on her lower lip.
“Am I still allowed to pay you for nannying?”
“Okay, I meant any more of your money,” she says with an exaggerated eye roll.
“Hey, I’m just making sure I understand the rules, Ms. Reynolds.”
“Last rule is the most important one.”
“Hit me.”
She takes a deep inhale, then blurts out, “When this is over, when you decide you’re sick of me, you don’t keep the kids from me.”
I stare at her in amazement. I honestly thought it would be something else. Maybe to do with the house, or helping her find another job. To hear her verbalize that she’s worried about leaving the kids cracks open my heart a little.
“You’re worried about my children?” I finally stutter.
Kate nods. “I love them, Dominic. And I refuse to leave them like their mom did. At least not without a goodbye.”
“You’d leave?” I ask quietly.
“Only if I thought it would be best. But I hope not. I hope when this ends, we can remain cordial and respectful toward one another.”
“I do too, Katharine. And I promise I’ll never keep them from you, no matter what.”
“Thank you,” she whispers, resting her head against my shoulder. I find myself grabbing her hand and intertwining our fingers. It feels weirdly right sitting here with her like this. And at that moment, the judge opens the chambers door and beckons us forward.
Ten minutes later, I walk out with my wife.
“What are we telling the kids?” Kate asks suddenly, on our way back to Eternity Springs. It’s a beautiful May day, with brilliant blue skies and only a few puffy clouds on the horizon. Green grass peeks through the dormant, matted mess from winter, and trees bud and bloom along the interstate as I zip along with traffic. Spring is my favorite season in Colorado. The new growth, with the promise of summer as flowers bloom everywhere, yet the mountain peaks are still covered in snow.
Our kiss in front of the judge was subdued, but still intoxicating. Like she zapped me with electricity when her lips touched mine. It makes me wonder if all kisses with Kate could be like this.
“I think we can just tell them we got married to get you insurance,” I answer.
“Will they understand that? Sienna, maybe. But I don’t think Carter or Aspen understand what insurance is, why I don’t have it, or why I’d have to marry you to get it. Furthermore, are we telling your family? Aspen won’t hold that shit in, Dominic. She’ll be telling everyone.”
Fucking hell.
That means Savannah will inevitably find out.
I have no idea what my ex-wife will do, but I can only assume it’ll be something dramatic. Savannah never had to deal with me dating before, much less getting married. Marrying a much younger woman is bound to cause friction. She doesn’t want to be a mom, or married to me, but she also doesn’t want anyone else to enjoy that position either. She barely even uses her allotted times with the kids, and they’re never kept overnight. In fact, the longest she’s ever had the kids was five hours. Because I don’t trust Savannah at all, I track Sienna’s location in her phone, and have GPS trackers attached to Carter and Aspen at all times. Usually, I won’t even let Sienna take her phone, because I believe her mother will do something duplicitous with it. My anxiety cannot handle all the what-if’s that surround my ex-wife.
“Let’s hold off on telling anyone until I can speak to my parents. I want to get their opinion on how to tell everyone else.” I’m not looking forward to telling my parents. But waiting a day or two will give me time to come up with a valid explanation that doesn’t make me sound like I’m having a mid-life crisis.
Maybe I am having one.
As I pull into my driveway, I’m surprised to find my parents waiting for us.
“Is everything okay?” I ask as I exit the car. Casting a quick look at Kate, I find her pale as she wrings her hands together.
“Dominic Andrea Santo,” my father booms, and I know. I know immediately that they know.
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath. Walking around the car, I open Kate’s door and extend a hand to her.
“What are you doing?” she hisses.
“What they expect,” I reply. “Just go with it, Katharine.”
She hesitantly places her hand in mine, and carefully steps out of the vehicle. Pulling her toward my parents, I move her hand to my far hand, then place my available hand on her lower back. The heat emanating from her body feels phenomenal on my skin.
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Santo,” Kate says quietly. My mom arches an eyebrow at both of us before responding.
“I’m fairly certain we’ve told you to call us Nick and Sofia, Kate. But I guess it’s now Mom and Dad?”
Kate gasps, throwing both hands up to cover her mouth. Her panicked eyes whip to mine. I subtly rub her back, hoping it gives her a moment of peace and assurance. Turning to my parents, I respond. “We intended to tell you first.”
“So, it’s true, then?” my father responds, crossing his arms as he purses his lips in obvious displeasure.
“Wait a minute. How did you find out already?” Kate inquires.
My mother opens her mouth to respond, but I hastily interject.
“It is true, but we have a valid explanation,” I start, but both Kate and my mom interrupt.
“Obviously, the only explanation is love,” my mom says as she quickly looks off at my father. Nick Santo has always been a hard nut to crack in terms of relationships and love. While he typically seems cynical and stoic, he’s actually a closet romantic. My marriage to Savannah failing seemed to hit him harder than I thought it would, especially considering he didn’t really care for Savannah very much. He accurately depicted her as a money-grubbing woman who only wanted to climb the social ladder. In some ways, I wish I’d listened to him when he first met her. But if I had, I might not have my children, and I’ll never regret their existence.
“Dominic is helping me, because I can’t afford to get health insurance, and the doctor I could see through Medicaid basically told me to suck it up, and none of my part-time jobs have cheap insurance, and I know you guys offered it to me when I was still at the hotel, but I didn’t take it then and I should have, and I need insurance so badly, and since I’m already living in his house, he said we could get married and then I’d have access to his insurance,” Kate rattles off. I see my mom bite her lip as she tries not to smile. Kate has been hanging out too much with Hannah, Luca’s girlfriend. Hannah monologues when she’s nervous, and it appears Kate does too.
“You married her to give her your health insurance?” Mom asks, and I nod.
“The state of Colorado allows for partners to use each other’s insurance when they’re in a common-law relationship.” The statement from my father is shrouded in disappointment.
“Recognizing a common-law partnership would take time, and we’d come under even more scrutiny than a legal marriage. I researched it, Dad. Legally being married is the easiest way to ensure Katharine gets on my insurance and has access to physicians she needs.”
“That you need?” Mom asks quietly, and Kate nods.
“I, uh, suffer from —” Kate starts, but I throw up a hand to stop her.
“You do not owe them an explanation unless you want to tell them, Katharine. Your medical health is no one’s business except yours.”
“And yours now, I guess,” she jokes. I must look confused, and she adds, “my medical history has become your business now. You know, because you’re my husband.”
I’m her husband.
Fuck me.
I said she’d have to introduce me, but I had no idea what that would feel like. Hearing Kate refer to me as her husband, as hers , makes a feeling I’ve never experienced run up and down my spine. A current of emotion courses over my skin, and a sense of possessiveness I’ve never felt before clouds my sight.
I’m hers.
And that means …
Katharine is mine.