Chapter 22
K ate
When a person begins to weigh the pros and cons of murder, it’s clearly been a trying time. Well, maybe not full murder. I’d definitely be up for maiming my husband’s ex-wife a little, but I really don’t want to go to jail. Not only does it set a poor example for Dominic’s kids, but orange just isn’t my color. Or is it black and white stripes? Either way, I prefer my current wardrobe.
Finding out Savannah attempted to seduce my husband was one thing. Finding out she drugged him to get pregnant with their third child was outrageous. But her admitting some drug lord wants Sienna as payment for Savannah’s debt?
Honestly, I think a jury would exonerate me for whatever crimes I committed against Savannah. But since I really don’t want to find out if conjugal visits are a real thing, and I certainly can’t trust my dear buddy Google not to rat me out to the Feds, I’ll continue to find my peace and pray that karma sorts Savannah out so I don’t have to.
Just thinking about conjugal visits means my social media feeds will probably be all about incarceration, dating a felon, and how to smuggle shit into a jail. Courtesy of my dad, I unfortunately know a little about that last one, since he had the nerve to send me a letter a few days after our visit and demand I help him out.
I’ve since blocked all numbers from the jail, and I refuse to answer any calls with the same area code. Christopher Turner is dead to me.
Two weeks after Savannah admitted why she was really in town, Dominic’s parents invite the entire family over to their home for dinner. We still don’t know much about Leo’s situation, just that he’s in a hospital in Germany, and he’ll update us more when he knows what will happen.
“Dad? When will Uncle Leo come to visit?” Carter asks. I turn to Dominic, wanting to know the answer. I’ve only met Leo a couple of times. He doesn’t come home much these days. Dominic told me Leo used to come home fairly often, but over the past six or seven years, he’s barely been back. Dominic isn’t even sure where Leo is stationed these days.
“I’m not sure, bud. Hopefully soon,” Dominic murmurs. We haven’t told the kids that Leo was injured. Since we barely know anything, it’s better not to tell them when we don’t have any details. Carter will want to know everything, and the girls are emotionally scarred enough because of their mother. We want to give them as much peace as we can.
Savannah was questioned and released, and we haven’t seen or heard from her since. She denied drugging Dominic all those years ago, and the police reluctantly told us there wasn’t a case to hold her. Other than telling us the name of the man she is expected to pay, we don’t know much else. We’re being extra vigilant in our daily activities, especially with the kids, and we added a very intricate security system to the house as a precaution.
“I miss Uncle Leo,” Carter comments, his eyes downcast as he plays with a fidget spinner. I introduced Carter to fidget toys this summer, and he’s definitely enjoyed them. They give him the tactile input he’s been seeking.
“Me too,” Sienna says, and I look back to find Aspen nodding in agreement.
“I’m sure Uncle Leo misses all of you,” I say as Dominic reaches over to cover my hand with his. “He’s doing super important work overseas, isn’t he? Making sure lots of kids around the world can grow up just like you. ”
“I don’t understand why some kids don’t get to grow up like us,” Aspen pouts. “If they did, Uncle Leo could come home.”
“I know. But there are countries that don’t believe in freedom like we have. That’s why Uncle Leo tries to help as much as he can. He doesn’t want any kids to suffer,” I explain.
Pulling up to Dominic’s parents’ house, we realize we’re the last to arrive, and we have to park down the street. When six out of seven kids are in town, there are too many cars for a driveway. As I help Dominic get the desserts Sofia requested we bring out of the car, I miss Carter darting into the street right as a car speeds down the street.
“Carter!” I scream. He turns to look at me, and I don’t think. I run into the street, pushing him away from the car, then dive out of the way of the speeding car.
“Katharine!” Dominic shouts as I land harshly on the concrete, my knees and hands scraped up, and my forehead bashed as well. He has my face in his hands immediately, his chocolate brown eyes filled with pain and concern as his jaw ticks with tension.
“Is he okay? Is Carter okay?” I cry.
“I’m okay, Kate,” Carter sobs. He comes to sit next to me on the ground, tears cascading down his face. I don’t think I’ll ever forget his devastated look. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see the car, I swear!”
“I know you didn’t, sweetie. I’m just glad you’re not hurt.” I wrap an arm around him as he shakes with sobs.
“We’re supposed to be careful right now, and I wasn’t. I’m so sorry,” he cries.
“It’s okay, Carter. I know it was just an accident,” I whisper as I cuddle him as close as I can. We’re all so traumatized right now. I hate that these beautiful children are suffering on the inside.
“Come on, baby. Let’s get you inside so I can look at your cuts,” Dominic says as he crouches beside me. “Grab my shoulders.”
“What? Why — Dominic!” I screech as he lifts me into his arms, bridal style. “We’re four houses down. You can’t carry me the entire way. ”
“I’m perfectly capable of carrying you that far. In fact, I could go further, if you’d like. Just to shut you up. It might be worth it,” he teases me as he begins walking.
“Who grabbed the desserts?” I ask, before looking back and gasping when I see the giant cookies Sofia requested scattered all over the street. “Can we go get more? I’m so sorry.”
“Are you fucking serious, woman? I don’t care about the fucking cookies. You saved my son’s life, and now you’re hurt. That’s all I care about,” he hisses in my ear before kissing my temple. “The car didn’t even stop. Hell, I don’t think they used the brakes once.”
I don’t want to think about that. Because if I did, I’d think there was a correlation between me almost getting run over, and Dominic’s ex-wife needing money.
“Sienna, run to knock on the door so someone opens it,” Dominic calls out. All three kids take off running. “I guess that works as well.”
“Dominic, do you think —”
He interrupts me. “We’ll talk about it later. I can’t think about that right now. If I keep thinking about it, I won’t get the image of you and Carter out of my head, and all the what ifs of that, and my heart can’t handle that right now.”
“Your heart?” I whisper, lifting my head off his shoulder to look at him. He stops walking, shifting me so he can see me better.
“My heart. I’ve spent so long ignoring my heart. Letting my brain, and my anxiety, run my thoughts, feelings, and desires. Then you rolled into town, and immediately throw everything I thought I knew into complete chaos,” he chuckles. “Each time you changed your hair color, I’d wonder why. Was there a specific reason? Do the colors correlate to a mood, or is it just whatever you want to do at that time? If I asked you to add a color for me, would you? But I never asked you, because I didn’t know how to talk to you. Even then, my heart knew.”
“What?” I ask as Dominic begins walking again.
“My heart knew that I was waiting for you, Katharine. You’re the one for me. ”
“I thought you didn’t believe in all that? Soulmates, the one, and true love.”
“I didn’t,” he says quietly as he carries me up his parents driveway. “Until you.”
Shocked into silence, I don’t respond. Hearing a door open, I keep my eyes on Dominic as he walks us into his parents’ house. I hear his mom gasp, but I can’t look at her. My eyes are locked on the man who has no idea he’s held my heart in his hands for months, and I think he just told me I have his.
“Wait, did he just —” Luca stammers.
“Oh my God! Dom!” Arianna shouts.
“Not now,” Dominic mutters as he sets me down on one of the couches. “Mom, can you bring me a first aid kit, a bowl of water, and a couple towels?”
“Already on it,” Sofia says as she walks back in the room carrying everything Dominic just asked for. “I went to get everything as soon as I saw her. What happened?”
“A car sped down the road and almost hit Carter. Katharine pushed him out of the way, and almost got hit herself,” Dominic mutters as he carefully studies my knees. “There’s some debris in here. It might hurt a little as I clean it up.”
“It’s okay,” I whisper, still staring at him. He’s hurting right now. He watched his son and wife almost get hit by a car, and I don’t think he knows how to process it. “Dominic, look at me.”
His eyes finally meet mine, and I see a swirl of emotion. I reach out to cup his cheek, stroking his skin softly with my thumb, then whisper, “I know you wouldn’t hurt me by choice. You’d burn down the world before you hurt me.”
“You’re fucking right I would,” he whispers, grabbing my neck and pulling me toward him for a quick but intense kiss.
“Well, this is new,” I hear Gianna comment. I rarely get to interact with Gianna, Dominic’s oldest sister. She and her husband Travis live slightly out of town with their child, and she’s thinking about opening up her own party planning business. Originally the special events coordinator for Everlasting, she went on maternity leave, and Hannah, Luca’s girlfriend, took her place.
I laugh against Dominic’s lips as everyone chimes in on the public display of affection. I assume they’re talking about seeing us kiss.
“Yeah, Dom never kissed any girl in front of us. Definitely not in this house,” Alex teases. I feel Dominic sigh and shake his head slightly. “What? You know I’m speaking the truth, Dom.”
“This is different,” Dominic murmurs.
“Why?” Alex asks.
Dominic sits back slightly so he can look at me. Taking my head in the palm of his hand, he smiles sweetly. “Because this is forever.”
I swear my heart stops beating. Hearing Dominic say things like that, out loud, makes me almost believe him. But I’m so damn scared. I lean slightly closer and whisper, “Please don’t say things you don’t mean.”
He gives me a puzzled expression. “When have I ever lied to you?”
I struggle to come up with one, letting out an awkward snort. “Do you want me to sit here and think of examples? I’m sure there are things, like saying a meal I cooked was good, but in reality it tasted like shit.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ve possibly told you a couple of little white lies. But those aren’t important. They’re trivial. Stupid things everyone says to keep the peace. The important stuff, Katharine, I’ve never lied about.”
“And the whole threshold thing,” Luca pipes up.
“What?” I ask, and at the same time, Dominic says, “Holy shit! We crossed the threshold!”
I look at him in confusion. I have a vague memory of some kind of myth all the Santo kids believed, how they were all cursed because of something dumb. “Refresh my memory, please.”
Arianna comes to sit next to me. “Alex made this ridiculous bet that none of us could carry a significant other over the threshold of this house. Seems silly, right? But no one did it. None of us accomplished it for years.”
I turn to Dominic. “Not even Savannah? Not even —”
“No one,” Dominic interrupts, saving me from saying Alex’s wife’s name. I cast a quick look at Alex and find him staring at the floor, a pensive look covering his face. Now that he’s retiring from the National Guard, he’s been growing his beard out. A recent Colorado law allows police officers to have facial hair, and evidently Alex will enjoy that new benefit.
I turn to Arianna again. “But you did, with Stone, right?”
“Yes. I had to carry him, because Alex was a complete asshole and made the bet that the Santo kid had to carry their partner over, which means me, Gianna, and Isabella have to carry our guys over.”
“Learned my lesson,” Isabella says from the hallway. “I’m never trying that again. No one wants a fat baker anyway.”
“Isabella!” Sofia gasps. “You are not fat. You are beautiful.”
Isabella rolls her eyes. “It’s fine, Mom. I know I’m fat. You can say it.”
Dominic opens his mouth, and I glare at him. “Don’t you dare say it.”
He chuckles before opening his mouth anyway. “Belly, you aren’t fat. You are voluptuous, beautiful, and talented. Any man would be lucky to have you.”
“Wow,” Isabella blurts out, blushing. “Thanks, Dom.”
“So now we’ve had four successful couples make it through the front door!” Luca says loudly. “Who’s next?”
Isabella and Alex both turn to walk in opposite directions, clearly not interested in volunteering themselves as tribute for the Santo Family Dating Game.
“Dominic,” I whine. “You know I can’t stay quiet.”
“You better be quiet, or I’ll have to spank you.” The light from the crescent moon makes his eyes sparkle as a gentle breeze whips my hair around my face, blocking my vision of him momentarily. I swipe at my hair, aggravated that it’s ruining this phenomenal moment, because my husband is on his knees in front of me, in the middle of his backyard, his face buried between my legs.
I shudder in ecstasy as he resumes slowly licking my clit. The things this man can do with his tongue should be illegal. And as much as I’d like to delve into why the thought of him spanking me is incredibly hot, I’d prefer to keep Dominic exactly where he is.
“Honey, I can’t be quiet,” I whimper, and much to my chagrin, Dominic stops completely and sits up.
“Don’t call me that,” he snaps.
“What? What did I call you?” I’m delirious with need. I can’t remember my own name right now.
“You called me honey. She called me honey. You are not the same. Just — don’t call me that,” he says, his voice trembling with tension.
“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t connect the two,” I tell him, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. Maybe I’ve heard Savannah say it in passing, but I never connected it. “What can I call you?”
“Could — can you call me baby? I always wanted a woman to call me baby,” he says tentatively. Oh, my heart. Self-conscious Dominic might be my favorite, because I know he’s trusting me more than anyone else. I think I’ve become his safe space, and I couldn’t be happier.
“I’d love to call you baby,” I say softly, and the answering smile Dominic gives me is breathtaking. “I think I’d do anything if it kept that smile on your face.”
He chuckles quietly before looking down at the ground. “You know my heart is in your hands, right?”
My breath catches as I take in his words. “I’ll be extra careful with yours if you take care of mine.”
He looks up, his eyes clear and sincere. “Always. You’ll never regret marrying me, Katharine. I promise you that. ”
I slide off the chair and into his lap, pushing him back. “I’d never regret you. I love you, Dominic.”
His voice cracks slightly as he responds, “God, I love you, too, Katharine.”
Dominic pulls my face down to take my lips in a deep kiss, rolling us so he’s on top. The blanket Dominic put down before our escapades tonight provides some safety from the prickly grass, but I can still feel it poking onto my bare skin. I forget all about it once he slides back down my body, continuing his lazy tour of my core.
With my eyes open, I look through the large trees scattered throughout the yard to see hundreds of stars in the clear night sky. An airplane zooms past, and I wonder if anyone thinks about what people are doing on the ground. Would they be embarrassed or turned on to know my husband is currently eating me out below them? What about the neighbors, can they see?
“What the hell did you just think about?” Dominic mumbles, his voice vibrating against my pussy. “You just drenched me. Where’s your mind at, wife?”
God I love when he calls me that. “I wondered if the people on that airplane would be turned on to know you’re licking my pussy right below them, then wondered if your neighbors can see us.”
“Who fucking cares if they can see? Let ‘em watch,” he says deeply, then attacks my clit with a vengeance. When I cry out, I cover my mouth with one hand, using the other hand to hold Dominic’s head tightly against me. When he slips two fingers into my channel and pushes against my G-spot, I explode, managing to come silently in an excellent orgasm. Dominic maintains his pattern, extending the feeling as I shudder through many aftershocks.
“Why would you want them to watch?” I ask finally, once I’ve come down from the wave of pleasure.
“I was mostly joking,” he says as he kisses each of my thighs before climbing up my body. He points to the house on the right, saying, “They go to bed incredibly early, and their bedroom faces the street. Plus, they’re old, so for them to see us right now, they’d have to climb a ladder to see over the fence, and I just don’t think they’d do that in the dark.”
I can’t help but giggle when I think about Mr. And Mrs. Brown trying to watch us in the dark over the six foot privacy fence that separates our properties.
“Now, Mick next door? His wife left him when she found out he cheated on her, so he lives there alone. I wouldn’t have put it past him until I ran into his wife a few months ago and she explained why she left.”
“Why?”
“Because Mick used her as a beard.”
“Huh?”
“He’s gay, Katharine. So I’m pretty sure I can have you out here without worrying about who might be watching.”
“Oh,” I say, laughing. I had no idea there was a term for that. But I’m glad Dominic’s house is on the edge of his neighborhood, backing to an open space, with a line of evergreen trees along the back property line.
“Now,” Dominic says, bending down to kiss the spot under my right ear, “May I continue?”
“By all means,” I giggle.
“Then help me take off my pants,” he commands, standing up. I immediately scramble to get on my knees, determined to get him in my mouth. Dominic has stopped me every single time I’ve attempted to give him a blow job, and I don’t know why. As soon as he undoes his belt, I yank his boxer briefs down, and suck him into my mouth. “Holy — Jesus, Katharine!”
Back in high school, before my mom was really sick, my best friend Megan and I would practice how to give blow jobs using bananas. Is it a great idea? No, especially if a teenager is a little overzealous with enthusiasm and pushes the banana too hard, thus making the end scratch the back of her throat and then requiring a doctor’s visit, where she has to explain the issue in front of her mother. Zero out of ten, do not recommend .
But, I learned a thing or two, and as Dominic is now winding my hair around his fists as he thrusts into my mouth, I’d say he’s happy with my prowess. He only lets me have my fun for a few moments before he yanks himself out and plops down on the blanket, pulling me into his lap again.
“Hey, I wasn’t done,” I pout.
“I know. I just really want to be in your pussy when I come,” he grunts as he maneuvers into position and slides inside. We both groan as he fills me, and I throw my head back in bliss. I feel Dominic’s hands clutch my back, and he sweeps one hand into my hair again, dragging my head toward his. I try to move, but his arms tighten around me, forcing me to sit still.
“Dominic,” I whine, hating how I sound, but needing more.
“Give me your hand, Katharine,” he whispers.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“Look at me, baby,” he says. I open my eyes and find him staring at me, moonlight reflecting off his deep eyes. “Give me your left hand.”
“Okay,” I murmur slowly, incredibly bewildered at why he needs my hand right now. I show him my hand, and he grabs it, quickly removing my wedding band. “Hey! What are you doing?”
“Did you know there’s a reason for how to place the wedding band if an engagement ring is also present?” he asks, and I shake my head. Why is this coming up right now? “What about the reasoning for wearing rings on the fourth finger?”
That one I do know. “It’s something to do with a connection to the heart, right?”
Dominic nods. “In ancient times, Romans believed a blood vessel ran directly from the fourth finger to the heart. So, they felt it made the most sense to wear a symbol of one’s love and devotion to another person on that finger. It’s why, when an engagement ring is present, a person wears the wedding band first, and then the engagement ring, so the wedding band is closer to the heart.”
I feel him slide my wedding band back onto my finger, but it feels different. It feels, thicker. Heavier. Looking down, the moonlight glints off a large gemstone, and I gasp. “Dominic!”
He brings my left hand to his mouth, kissing my rings softly. “We never discussed rings. I bought our bands almost as an afterthought, and only remembered to get white gold because you told Sienna once that you hated how gold looked on your skin. But every time I looked at your hand, I became more enraged that you didn’t have an engagement ring.”
“I didn’t care about that,” I whisper, emotion clogging my throat.
“I know you didn’t, baby. But I should have. I do. I want you to know how much I love you, and how important you are to me.”
“Are you sure you didn’t do this so everyone will know I’m taken?” I tease as tears fall from my eyes.
Dominic smiles as he softly swipes his thumbs across my cheeks, catching my tears. “I want everyone to know that I belong to you just as much, Katharine.”