Page 21 of Worth the Vow

“I thought we should practice, but that wasn’t what I meant. I apologize.” His dark brown eyes are stricken with fear as he reaches up to rub his lips with his thumb. I can’t tell if he’s trying to wipe away the kiss, or commit it better to memory. “It won’t happen again.”

“What won’t happen again?” I ask.

“A kiss like that.”

“How are we supposed to kiss after the ceremony then?”

“Not that way, Katharine. I won’t kiss you like that again.”

I hate that he calls me Katharine. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I actually love it. Which makes me hate it even more. No one has ever called me Katharine. Not even my mom.

“Stop calling me that,” I seethe.

“It is your name.”

“I don’t go by Katharine, and you know it. You just say it to irritate me, so stop.”

I trounce out of the room and swiftly walk up the stairs, acutely aware of Dominic following closely behind.

“It’s the same as you calling me Dominic when everyone calls me Dom,” he comments, and I whirl around near the top of the stairs. Dominic stops, the distance between us mere inches, our faces at the same height due to the stairs.

“It is not the same thing.”

“Why?” he asks, his head cocked to the side. With the light streaming in from the open door at the top of the stairs, I can see flecks of gold in Dominic’s deep brown eyes.

“The only people who call you Dom are your close friends and family. I’m neither of those,” I tell him. Turning, I continue up the stairs. As I come to the top, I walk toward the kitchen, where Dominic’s next statement stops me in my tracks.

“You’ll be my wife, Katharine. That qualifies as family.”

Holy shit.

I’ll be his wife.

I’m going to be someone’s wife. Legally.

“Katharine? Are you okay? Do you need your painkillers?” Dominic asks, rounding the island and coming to stand in front of me. Of course he’d be caring right now. Always the poised and in control head of the household. Good fucking God, what have I gotten myself into?

“I can’t do this,” I whisper.

“Yes, you can,” he says nonchalantly, but he reaches up to grip both of my biceps tightly. “You are the strongest person I know, Katharine. You can do anything you set your mind to.”

I feel my eyes heat with tears as I stare at him, a bitter laugh breaking through my shaking exterior. “You’ve never lied to me before, Dominic. Don’t start now.”

“Why do you think that’s a lie?” he asks. “You are strong. You cared for your sick mother, then tracked down your father. Even everything he put you through didn’t make you lose your spirit. You moved here, knowing no one, yet you’d immediately got immersed in this town. Any of those challenges could have made you throw in the towel, but you’ve thrived. As I said, you’re the strongest person I know.”

“Why not Leo or Alex?” I murmur.

Dominic’s mouth tilts in a small smile as he moves an errant piece of hair behind my ear. “Don’t tell either of them I told you this, but Alex joined the military to escape. He didn’t want to have the responsibility of Everlasting dropped in his lap, and I think he knew it was something I wanted. But he didn’t have the balls to tell my parents. He just enlisted and left. And Leo … well, he wanted to make a name for himself outside of Eternity Springs and our family. But I fear he tries too hard, and it’ll bite him in the ass one of these days if he doesn’t slow down.”

“That doesn’t mean they aren’t strong.”

Dominic sighs. “Everyone has a weakness, Katharine. Maybe I just know their weaknesses more than I know yours.”

It’s a good thing Aspen chooses that moment to interrupt us, bursting in from the backyard with her uncle Alex and cousins in tow, or Dominic might have had an opportunity to ask me point-blank what my weakness is. And I might have answered him.

My weakness is him.

Dominic

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