Page 15 of Worth the Vow

Kate

One Month Ago

I cannot make these children orphans.

I cannot make these children orphans.

“Katharine, I thought we discussed your inability to park far enough over on the driveway so I can pull out of the garage without hitting your car.”

God dammit. Or-phans.

Deep breaths, Kate. You can survive longer here. You love the kids. Their dad is an ass, but you already knew that.

“Katharine, are you listening to me?”

I audibly growl.

“Oh, good. You are listening to me.”

“Plotting your demise as you complain,” I mutter. The sweet Dominic from the backyard the other night appears to have left the building, folks. It’s possible I dreamed him up.

“I heard that,” Dominic calls out as he walks back into the kitchen. He is ridiculously structured, and even without looking, I know he just took his bag to his home office, and now he will remove his suit jacket, carefully draping it over the back of a barstool.

Honestly, I’ve been living in Dominic’s house for five months, and I’ve only really thought about murdering him a handful of times. Maybe a dozen. Dozen and a half? Possibly.

Regardless, it’s mostly been good. Whenever I’m not with the kids, I hide in my room. Dominic has a small fridge in the basement, and I keep an emergency stash of snacks in my room at all times, so I only have to go upstairs for meals. Whenever I’m with the kids, I ignore Dominic’s presence. It’s just easier that way.

Well, I mostly ignore him. It’s hard when he goes full dad-mode, because it’s a Dominic that is so inherently sexy that I can barely stop from drooling. He’s already incredibly attractive, but when he is so attentively listening to the kids, and participating in whatever they ask him to do, he jumps up on the hotness scale. So many men might be with their kids, but they’re also on their phones. Dominic is present. His phone is always in another room, or in his pocket. He only answers phone calls, and never checks his phone for another reason. It’s ridiculously hot.

Him worrying about what questions his daughters might have as they get older, then saying his kids are his whole world? Hot.

So I ignore his physical presence as much as I can, because I’m about five seconds away from mounting his leg like a dog. I got turned on from holding his hand in the backyard, and had to enlist the help of one of my self-care friends, and, after seeing a Reddit thread for vibrator names, has been affectionately referred to as the Rammer Jammer since then. In time, they’ll all have names, because they’re the longest relationships I have … and they get me off every single time, which is more than I can say for most of my sexual partners.

But there are times like now, when he just got home from work, and all three kids left me alone with him, so I can’t not look at him. He’s cooking. Dominic cooks. As I watch him remove his suit jacket so he can carefully roll up his sleeves, I stare at the corded muscles flexing on his forearms and I feel my body clench up with need. It’s been … a while since I’ve gotten laid, and clearly I need some action before I mount my boss and he kicks me out of his house.

“Are you available this weekend for some extra hours?” Dominic asks as he begins to cook the angel hair pasta for Carter’s favorite meal. Dominic goes out of his way to find recipes that his kids will eat, but also recipes that are somewhat healthy. Carter is specific about what he will and won’t eat. He has a particular aversion to green vegetables, but he will eat orange or red ones. So the recipe tonight is toasted angel hair with sausage and red peppers. Aspen, of course, won’t touch anything but the pasta, and Sienna eats the whole thing.

I’ll eat whatever someone cooks for me, because I’m just thankful I didn’t have to make it. My mom always taught me that. It’s incredibly disrespectful to turn your nose up at a meal you had no part in cooking.

“I have to bartend Friday and Sunday night, but the rest of the weekend I’m free,” I respond.

“No hot dates?” Dom asks.

“Uh, no?”

“You aren’t sure if you have a hot date?”

“What does that mean?”

“You answered a question with a question, insinuating you did not know the answer.”

“I know the answer, Dominic. I just don’t know why you’re asking, considering it’s none of your business. Do you have any hot dates this weekend?” I snap.

“Why do you think I’m asking if you can watch the kids?” he retorts.

Stunned, I stare at Dominic’s back. He’s dating? I don’t know why that makes me irrationally angry, but it does. I don’t have any spare time to meet someone, so how does he? And how will any woman be comfortable with me living here? I would be incredibly self-conscious if my boyfriend had a woman living in his house.

When Dominic clears his throat, I raise my eyes to meet his. His mouth is set in a straight line, but his eyes sparkle with mirth as he views me over his shoulder. “No hot dates for me either, Katharine. Not only do I not have the time, but I don’t have any interest in dating.”

---