by Anne Martin
“Come on, Kitten. Let’s sign the fake certificate.” I walked over to the desk and signed my name on the line. ‘Nix Death-Hammer’ with a lot of flourishes and little devil tail at the end.
“Are you forging your signature? So not a legal wedding?”
I sighed and pulled out my driver’s license. Nix Hammer was on it. “The middle name is just for fun. We’re keeping this fun, right Kitten?” It didn’t feel fun, more like my throat was going to swell closed and I had to run and run and run, right into the bush and never come back.
She smiled. “Fun. And good.” With a sassy wink, she turned and wrote ‘Sunshine ‘Kitten’ Wilson’ on her line.
After that, I left her to get changed into my tux. I took my place next to the priest and kept shifting, adjusting my cuffs.
“I didn’t think you were going to come back for another year. It was smart, quitting when you did.”
I shrugged. I liked Jose. He’d left the business too.
“This girl, she’s not your usual type.”
I tugged harder on my cuffs. “Should she be taking so long?”
“Afraid that she’ll run off? Is she pregnant?”
I glared at him. “Of course not.”
He held up his hands like he didn’t mean to offend. Why was that so rude to say? There was nothing wrong with sex and all the pleasure it entailed, but my Kitten wasn’t like that. Like what? Like a girl who would ever sleep with someone she wasn’t married to that she loved desperately. I licked my lips. It didn’t matter. I could deal with wanting something I couldn’t have. Love? That’s not what this was about.
She came into view wearing a white lace dress, cinched in the waist and flaring out beautifully. She was so beautiful. I stopped breathing for a second. What was I doing? I couldn’t lie to her about something so important, so precious.
She smiled at me demurely, over the shock and horror, now just enjoying the moment, the experience. Did it bother her that her dad wasn’t here to give her away? That wasn’t what made her beautiful eyes glitter with tears. Something did.
The ceremony was very traditional, very short, and afterwards, we went into the small dining patio in the back where a banquet was laid out for us.
She was quiet all through dinner. I poured myself wine until the bottle was empty then I started on another. She could drive and everything felt so slippery slope. I was used to keeping my balance on a tightrope. The last season I’d spent working with the team, I’d pushed myself past the limit, determined to make it to the top. Coming back and bringing Kitten with me, well, not exactly the clearest solution.
I waved for another bottle, my third bottle of wine. How many bottles could I drink before I got drunk? I’d never gotten drunk on wine before. I’d be fine.
The music was slow and romantic. I stood up and held out my hand to her.
She smiled and we danced. Sort of stood there swaying, me putting a lot of weight on her.
“Brute, I think you’ve had it.”
I waved my hand and pulled her closer to me. “I’m fine.”
She laughed and ducked out of my arms. “Let’s go home. You’re clearly unnerved by marriage, even the temporary kind. Don’t worry, Brute, even if it was a real wedding, you’d be free by Valentine’s day.”
My heart turned into a stone in my chest as I let her drag me stumbling after her. She tucked me into the passenger’s seat and started back for the city. She had a good sense of direction, or maybe she knew how to follow signs. I fell asleep until we got to the hotel. She helped me into the elevator, and held me up in spite of being so delicate and small. She was so precious and perfect. I almost told her, but I couldn’t tell her how I felt. I couldn’t tell her that I cared about her dying, or she’d leave me like she’d left Daniel. She’d left him even though she loved him. She didn’t love me. It was better that way. I didn’t want to disappoint my wife.
Chapter 11
Sunshine Wilson
I took off his tux, his shoes, and his pants, leaving him in nothing but his boxers while he snored away in the king size bed. I went through the envelope Jose had given us of our marriage certificate, wedding photos, including cutting cake and our dance when he’d already been completely hammered. Death-Hammer. I snickered and shook my head. I took my time in the tub, shaving my legs and washing my hair. The tub was actually part of the room and had a bottle of chilled champagne on the side. That’s exactly what we needed, more alcohol I couldn’t drink and Nix couldn’t tolerate. He was a very sweet and adorable drunk, telling me how beautiful I was a million times. When I got out of the tub, I had to grab the rail as a wave of exhaustion threatened to pull me down.
It wouldn’t be a bad moment to die, right after being married to a southern gentleman, but March would be better. Not February?
I checked my phone and saw a text from Daniel.
Your mother fought for your life. Your dad fought for your health. What are you going to fight for?
I scowled and tossed it into the chair and covered it in Nix’s tuxedo. It fit very well for a rental. I felt a little weird curling up next to passed out Nix, but only for a second because then I was asleep in the robe.
I woke up in his arms. One hand was inside the robe on my ribs.
“Morning, Mrs. Death-Hammer,” he said.
I sat up pulled the edges of the robe together. “Good morning. Do you want to go running?”
He winced like I’d hit him in the face. “No. I want a glass of wine. Then I want to kiss you until you pass out.”
I leaned over and kissed him. “Mm,” I said pulling away. “You’re going to have to settle for the kisses because there’s only champagne.”
He hesitated before he reached for me. His hands knew exactly how to touch me. I touched him back, hesitating at first, then growing more confident when he moaned and pulled me against him. That’s when I realized that he wasn’t wearing anything besides his shorts. He froze like he’d just realized the same thing.
He pulled away and ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry, Kitten. Let me pull on some pants and then we can continue.”
I shook my head.
He nodded. “Okay. Breakfast is probably more appetizing.”
I grabbed his hand and pulled him back down when he tried to get out of bed. “No. I want to do the sex stuff.”
He stared at me. A sinful smile played around his mouth for a moment. “Not a chance, Kitten. If you call it ‘sex stuff,’ you’re clearly not ready.”
I sat up straight. “Excuse me? Do you think I marry people every day? I only married you so I could get into your pants. It took a great deal of self-control to not ravish you last night while you were the worse for the better of the wine. The least you could do is not minimize my animalistic urges and therefore my strength of character.”
He chuckled. “Oh, Stoic, you have no idea how sexy it is when you talk nonsense. All right. I’ll let you take advantage of me if you say, ‘Daddy Death-Hammer, make love to me.’ You can put a pretty please in there if you’d like.”
He leaned back against the leather headboard, his massively muscled arms behind his head as he smiled at me.
I licked my lips then turned and slid off the bed.
I heard him cursing quietly as I went into the bathroom. If he wanted that kind of thing, I was going to do it well. I put on cat’s eye makeup, and then pulled on the silk and lace cream little nothing that had apparently come with the bathroom. I opened the door and came out in nothing but heels and that negligee.
He was pulling his pants on, but froze when he saw me.
“Kitten?”
I walked up to him between his legs and pushed him back onto the bed before pulling off his pants. I sat on his lap and took his face in my hands.
“Daddy Death-Hammer,” I purred, rubbing against him like a kitten. “Pretty, pretty, pretty please,” I whispered, before I nosed his neck. “Make love to me.”
I was on my back the next instant and he was on me, hands
and mouth, something so desperate about him in spite of the gentleness. He was always careful with me, no matter how much he wanted me. And for a long time I felt very, very wanted.
Afterwards, I lay there on the bed, feeling like the time I’d trained to do a triathlon with Lisa before Daniel lectured her on how irresponsible it was for me to do such dangerous things.
I rolled on top of Nix and took his face in my hands. “That was quite simply the best thing that’s ever happened to me. When can we do it again?”
He laughed and kissed me a million times before pulling me under the blankets and against his very naked body. I hadn’t gotten to see it very well, not with how busy he’d been covering my body with his.
“Aren’t you worn out, Kitten?”
“Yes, I am, Daddy Death-Hammer, but in the best way. Seriously, no wonder girls climb all over you in bars. They can probably sense your special sex magic.”
He sighed and ran his hand over my head. “That’s right. I’m the only man in the world who could make you feel like that. There’s no sense in looking elsewhere.” He kissed me, soft and sweet, but with something beneath that.
I pulled back and frowned at him. “Are you regretting what we just did?”
His mouth tightened for a moment. “Am I? No, Kitten. Of course not. I’m regretting going to work tomorrow. I should go in tonight, actually.”
I sighed. “Oh. Are there pretty girls where you work?”
He laughed, pulled me close, and kissed me. “No. Absolutely no pretty girls. They’re strictly gorgeous, the kind of looks you buy from nose to toes. Seriously, I know a girl who had her pinkie toe restructured so it wasn’t crooked. It’s insane.”
My heart sank and I bit my bottom lip. “Oh. Right. I mean, if you’re in movies, naturally you’re around a lot of really perfect people.”
“Kitten, honey, what we have isn’t fake, just temporary. I’m not going to screw around as long as we’re doing this.”
I stared at him, those warm brown eyes that could go from fierce and demanding to soft and giving in a second. I leaned forward and kissed him cautiously.
“It’s okay if you want to sleep with other girls,” I said. “I mean, we all know that you’re a slut.”
He laughed and held me tight, wrapping his bare legs around me so I was pinned very well. “Only when I’m not married to the prettiest belle I’ve ever met. Shall we go eat breakfast?”
I shook my head. “Daddy Death-Hammer, make love to me,” I said, running my fingers over his dark eyebrows.
His eyes changed, grew intent and earnest as he carefully kissed me. He took his time with me, like we had all the time in the world.
Afterward the sweetest love making in the world, I was beyond exhausted. I collapsed on the pillow and promptly passed out.
At first, it felt weird to live in a hotel with the sexiest man in the world, but after a few days of him feeding me and making love to me until I passed out, I actually had energy to explore the town. There was an animal shelter a few blocks away that I visited one morning while he was at work.
They were happy to have my help, and I spent the time treating a batch of kittens for fleas and washing towels along with cleaning cages. Luke was the full-time guy, and he smiled at me in a way that made me raise my hand kind of obviously so he could see my ring. The diamond did look real.
On the way back, I almost ran into Nix. He took my face in his hand and started kissing me, something desperate in each kiss.
“Are you okay?” I asked breaking away.
He scowled at me. “I was terrified you got taken hostage by a gang of gambling seniors or something.”
“Didn’t you see my note?”
His scowl didn’t relent. “You were going to visit the puppies, but you left hours ago.”
I laughed and burrowed into him. He felt so good, so right. “Are you jealous of puppies?”
“You know, I might be. Seriously, though, don’t go off without talking to me first, okay? A text would be better than a mysterious note. Are you getting bored? Not enough of my sex magic?”
I laughed and pulled away from him. We held hands as we walked back towards the hotel. He had dark sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled down over his forehead. I should have brought a hat. I was going to burn.
“There’s someone waiting for you at the hotel, a Doctor Fuller? She said that Aunt Willie told her you were in town. I didn’t know you had a lot of doctor friends.”
I stopped walking and felt cold all of a sudden. I searched his face, but what could I see behind those sunglasses? “What does she want?” My voice was cold and hard, also slightly accusing.
He raised his hands. “Whoa, Kitten. Is she like an evil scientist? That’s not the vibe I got. If you don’t want to see her, I’m sure she’ll go away without trying to shoot you up with a sedative.”
I shook my head. Of course she would. I liked Doctor Fuller, at least the part of me that didn’t blame her for torturing my dad in his last years. “It’s fine. I’m just sick of everyone wanting me to do the whole experimental stuff. It’s expensive and unproven. I like the world, but I’m not sacrificing my last good years for the cause of science, or the next generation, or whatever.”
He nodded and took my hand. “Okay.”
“I mean, I know it’s selfish of me not to try, but it’s my right to be selfish if I want to be. If I want to spend my last months making love to my daddy Death-Hammer, that’s my prerogative.”
He kissed my hand. “I like the sound of that.”
I nodded, but I had to glance up at him. “You don’t think that I should go in for testing and see what the odds are?”
“Odds for what? You have a terminal illness, right?”
“Right, but there have been developments and some really exciting possibilities in genetic manipulation.”
“You don’t seem excited.”
I shrugged. “I’ve had my share of tests and treatments that make everything a million times harder. I’m dying. It’s okay. People have to die. Knowing that it’s soon isn’t a tragedy but a gift. I’ve had the chance to live my life with the kind of intention most people never have.”
“And now you’re spending your last months with the best lover in the world. Excellent choice.”
I smiled but the way he said it made me feel like a cop-out. It wasn’t him. He clearly didn’t judge me or care one way or another what I did with my life. Daniel had already pushed me so hard, wanting to have hope even when that was the kind of hope that broke people. If I tried, my thing with Nix would still end whether my life ended or not. He was a temporary fix. There was something really sad about that.
When we got to the hotel, Nix stopped at the front desk and told the guy that we wouldn’t be meeting the woman who was waiting for us, and with that, it was over.
The clerk slid a card over the desk to me and I took it, even though I didn’t want to see the name engraved in simple blue letters.
In our hotel room, we ordered in and Nix and I sat on the balcony overlooking the strip in all its blazing glory. He had a beer and I had sparkling water.
“You’re quiet tonight,” he said, leaning back on his chair, balanced so beautifully.
I pushed on his knee with my foot and he adjusted without falling over on his head.
“You have an incredible sense of balance.”
“Oh, I like where this conversation is going. I have other incredible senses too.” He leered at me and came down on all four legs to lean over me.
I laughed and tangled my fingers in his. He took it one step further and pulled me on his lap. He started kissing my neck and I started getting shivery and quivery, but that card on the table inside was distracting me.
I pushed off his lap and went to the railing. He sighed and followed me, putting his hands on either side of me, but not touching.
“Kitten, that doctor earlier, kind of dampened your mood, didn’t she? Don’t think about it.” He nudged my hair with his nose, an
invitation for me to lean back against him and let his arms swallow me, let him drown every thought I didn’t want to think.
I leaned forward on the balcony and stared down at the sidewalk so far below. “Do you not want me to do treatments?”
“It’s your life.”
I turned to face him. “I know. I just wonder if you’d mind if I became an oozing, swollen, emaciated, brittle-boned monster.”
He raised his eyebrows. “The way you say that is downright sexy. I’ve always wanted a swamp monster witch woman. Seriously,” he said, pulling me into his arms and sweeping my hair away from my face. “I’m playing this part to the hilt. You need a devoted care-giver or whatever, we’ll hire someone and call your aunt and work through whatever it is.”
I snorted and kissed his nose and forehead and eyebrows before pulling away to grin at him. “For a second, I thought you were going to say that you were going to be my devoted care-giver.”
He shrugged but didn’t look bothered by the idea. “It would make more sense to hire someone. I have no idea how to treat an oozing puffy, sexy emaciated wife, but I have insurance, so that should pay for it.”
I hesitated then shook my head. “No. Without weird treatments, I should die pretty quickly, clean and not all that painfully when all my organs spontaneously quit.”
He studied me then shook his head. “Kitten, we’re in the same boat. With all the hard living I’ve done, my organs won’t be worth squat when I die, either. It doesn’t bother me, not being able to donate my organs after I die, but I can tell it bothers you. Your conscience is so well-developed.”
I laughed and pushed his face. He came back grinning and picked me up. He wanted more than kissing, and I was not against being persuaded.
The next morning I woke up feeling like something was hanging over me. Doctor Fuller. I checked the card Nix hadn’t touched. He’d put a note on my pillow.
Dinner tonight at a Mexican place. Their chilies will blow your socks off. Afterwards, I have something even hotter in mind. He’d drawn a little devil’s face at the end and I laughed and got dressed. I wore nice clothes, interview skirt and jacket that made me look like I was twenty-five.
