Page 44 of Some Like It Deadly
“She’s ready to talk, but I don’t know if she’ll stay that way.” Diane Fowler’s response was blunt and on point. “Can you come out to see her today?”
“I can try.” He frowned. It would be harder to elude Armand’s security during the day. Tracing his fingers along Kate’s spine, he considered his options. “I’ll be there later tonight. I’ll call when I’m on my way.”
“Thank you, you made an impression yesterday. She’s just scared.”
“I know,” he murmured, his voice still low. “It will be fine, I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”
Diane said her goodbyes and the call disconnected with a soft click. After returning the cell phone to the nightstand, he smiled at the morning sunlight playing across his ceiling. Apparentlythey’d never gotten around to closing his curtains. Not that he cared. Kate ran her palm up his side and he heard her yawn before she lifted her head. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.”
“Who was on the phone?” She smothered a yawn.
“Nobody.” No one she needed to know about anyway. He could so get used to sleepy, soft, doe-eyed Kate. Indulging his pleasure at finding her plastered against him, he ran an exploratory hand over her hip
“Hmm, you do wake up chipper. I was afraid of that.” Her eyes closed and she pressed her ear to his chest. His heart thumped hard against his ribs.
“Nothing wrong with being a morning person,” he chided her. Not that he really was, but waking up to Kate in his arms? That gave a man a reason to be happy.
“Hmm,” came her grunt of a response.
“Oh.” Surprise filtered through his enjoyment. “You aren’t a morning person?”
Another grunt. She petted him. “More sleep.”
Pleased by the wonderful new insight, he rolled her over and nuzzled the corner of her mouth. “You go ahead and sleep,” he murmured and began another lazy exploration of her neck and dipped lower. “You might lay still this time for me to play.”
But she didn’t.
And he really didn’t mind.
It took them another two hours before they managed to roll out of bed, then they broke more rules in the shower. Fortunately, he’d gotten a good look at her stitches and the shoulder actually looked better rather than worse, though the bruise managed to be uglier. Still, he’d been pretty aggressive with her the night before and she’d not been remotely shy about returning the attention. Some wounds hurt worse a couple of days later.
“I told you I was fine.” She watched him over the rim of her coffee cup.
“I know, but I also know you have a legendary pain tolerance and I wanted to make sure you weren’t sore from last night.” He on the other hand, ached beautifully and had the scratches on his back to prove it. The look on her face had been priceless when she’d spotted them. When he’d teased her about going out to pick up the mail sans his shirt, she’d actually looked so mortified he’d left it alone.
“Oh, I’m sore.” She shifted in the chair and reached for the Sunday paper. “But in all the right ways.”
Smug, he tugged out the business section and let her have the rest. “Good. Anything you want to do today?”
“I already did who I wanted to do today.”
Glancing up from the paper he met her wicked smile and waggled his brows. “Well I hope you don’t mind when he wants to do you again.”
“I’m impressed by your commitment to stamina.”
Laughing, he reached for his coffee cup. “When your woman is as physically fit as you are, a man has to do what a man has to do.”
Shifting forward, Kate put a hand on his arm. “I like what you can do.”
Catching her hand, he lifted it to kiss her fingertips. “Ditto, sweetheart. Ditto.” He watched her a moment longer as she curled back into her chair, one leg crossed over the other and the news section opened. She didn’t go for the lifestyle, but he did see the comics next in her stack and grinned to himself.
He could definitely get used to this.
They spent a leisurely morning on the deck, enjoying the sunshine and the paper. Occasionally she showed him an article she found interesting and they debated the editorials. He conned her into another round ofCall of Dutyafter lunch and she fellasleep against him on the sofa an hour after dinner in the middle ofA Few Good Men.
Content, he let her sleep and roused her only enough to get her up to bed. His bed. With regret, he tucked her in and slipped out quietly. This late, the house was dark and he knew where Armand’s security was. He avoided them on his way around the house and then down a series of steps till he reached the beach. The moonless night was the perfect cover.
