Page 94 of Operation Annulment
I smile and take another drink.
“I gotta be real honest with you.” Little Ricky leans awkwardly across the table toward me.
“Okay.”
He continues, “You asked me where Hail Mary came from. I think maybe I came up with it because she has a body that makes you want to sin. So, you better ask for forgiveness first, yeah?”
I narrow my eyes. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that. Because I just got my wife back and don’t feel like fighting tonight.”
He looks back at her on the dance floor with Dakota and then at me again. “But you see it, right?”
I sigh and watch Kate move to the beat of the music. “Yeah, I do see it. I’d prefer I’m the only one who sees it if you know what I mean.”
Little Ricky nods thoughtfully, his eyes never leaving Kate. “Sí, I know. You’re a lucky man. Don’t take it for granted. She’s stubborn as an ass, but women like her? Once in a lifetime, man.”
I’m surprised to find that the kid runs deep.
“I won’t take it for granted.”
He smiles and pats the table between us. “That’s good. If you fuck it up, I’ll slit your throat.” Then he stands up and comes over to hug me. “I love you, Dr. Nate. You’re my boy!”
I slap him awkwardly on the back before excusing myself to grabmy wife on the dance floor. Zane must have the same idea because he grabs Dakota almost simultaneously. He threads her arms around his neck as they dance, her feet barely touching the floor.
Kate giggles as I spin her toward me. “You drinking tonight, darlin’?”
She shakes her head immediately. “No way. God knows where we’d end up if I did.”
I glance over to where Little Ricky is chatting up one of the bridesmaids. “So, Rick’s drunk and completely fucked in the head.”
She tilts her face up and grins. “You’re just now finding this out? Are you going to run out on me?”
I shrug. “Well, I can’t. He said he’d slit my throat if I screwed this up.”
Kate pats me on the cheek and shakes her head. “Little Ricky doesn’t have that kind of authority.” My shoulders relax slightly before she adds, “I do, though.”
I grin. “There are some things I didn’t get a chance to say in the locker room—what, with the interruption and all.”
She chuckles. “You mean the recommendation that we not show our faces there for a while?”
“Right, there was that. What I’m trying to say is that I’m just so damn glad that you came back. I know we’ll have to work harder because we don’t have much in common. You’re always reading those case studies at night; maybe I could start doing that, too.”
Kate bites her lip and looks down at the floor, shoulders shaking. When her head pops back up, she’s got tears running down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, it’s not funny. It’s just that I was never reading case studies. I just used a psych textbook to hide my phone.”
I narrow my gaze as we take another turn around the dance floor. “What were you really doing on your phone?”
She giggles again. “Um, I like to read romance novels. So, I download books on my phone and read them at night and between patients during the day.”
“LikePride and Prejudice?” I ask.
Kate shakes her head. “ThinkFifty ShadesmeetsPride and Prejudice.”
She looks up with a self-conscious smile, and my mouth goes dry. “Um, I could be into that. What kind of husband would I be if I didn’t try it?”
The song ends, but we don’t let go of each other.
I move my hand up to cup her chin. “So, I’m your Bucky?”
She runs her tongue against her top teeth, giving me a sly smile. “Yeah, and apparently, I’m your Natasha.”
