Just Good Friends (19 page)

“Me too,” he told her fervently. “Calm. That’s a laugh. I’ve
never felt so helpless.”

They looked at each other and started to laugh. The long
night of strain, the joy of knowing everything was all right at last, were
finally released.

“Drew’s poor face, though,” Kate managed at last. “He looked
like Frankenstein. Those staples. I can just hear Hannah fretting over him.”

“In a hospital, isn’t he,” Koti grinned. “Somehow, I think
he’ll be able to find someone to stitch him up.”

“And me,” he remembered. “Coming into the room where a
woman’s having a baby. Trying not to look. Never felt so out of place in my
life.”

“I thought you were wonderful.” Kate reached out impulsively
to hug him, so grateful to be there with him, all the drama and tension of the
past hours so happily concluded.

  His arms went around her too. Back where they belonged. He
pulled her to her toes and settled his mouth over hers. Reached a hand behind
her head to hold her there, used the other arm to pull her more tightly against
his body.

Kate felt herself melting into him. Reached up to his
shoulders again and kissed him back with all the passion he’d aroused in her
earlier. Her mind might have been on other things, but her body seemed to
remember exactly where they’d left off.

The sound of a throat clearing nearby brought Koti back to
himself. He opened his eyes to the sight of a nurse holding a stack of files
and frowning at him.

“May want to take that outside,” she suggested dryly. “Come
back in nine months or so, the rate you’re going.”

“Sorry,” he told her with a grin. “Carried away.” He grabbed
Kate’s hand, looked around for the elevator.

“Over here,” she told him, pulling him towards it and
pressing the
Down
button.

As the doors closed, he pulled her into his arms again. They
were still kissing, breathing hard, when the doors opened. Broke apart to hurry
through the lobby to the carpark. Ran to his car together, holding hands.

As he slid into the driver’s seat, he reached for her. No more
slow burn, it was all heat now. He reached a hand under her sweater, palmed a
breast as he pulled her towards him. He couldn’t get enough of her mouth, her
neck.

“I can’t wait anymore,” he warned her on a gasp as he kissed
her. “It’s going to have to be fast.”

“Oh, yes,” she breathed into his mouth. “Please.”

He nodded, wrenched himself away, turned the car on. Kept
one hand on her leg as he drove in silence, with as much intensity as he’d felt
earlier, during the drive to the hospital. This felt just as urgent, his body
compelling him forward. He fought the urge to speed. It was only a
twenty-minute drive this time of night, he told himself desperately. He could
wait that long. They were almost on the bridge now, anyway. He couldn’t stop.

At last, he was pulling the car into his driveway and
turning off the engine. They jumped out together, ran to the house. Koti
unlocked the door, slammed it shut behind him, desperately glad to have her at
last where he needed her. Her feet left the ground as he kissed her, lowered
her to the rug in the center of the entryway, came down over her.

No finesse now. He pulled her sweater over her head,
unhooked her bra and tossed it away. The rest of her clothing followed in quick
succession, until she was naked beneath him. She yanked at his shirt and
sweater, watched him pull them over his head, kick off his shoes. He wrenched
off his jeans and underwear until he was finally, gloriously naked on his knees
before her.

“Tell me you have a condom here,” she begged. “Because I
need you right now. Please, Koti. No more teasing. I need you now.”

He reached in the jeans pocket, pulled out the packet.
“Three of them,” he told her as he ripped it open. “We’re going to need them
all.”

She shuddered as he came down over her. His skin against
hers was warm and smooth, his body solid over her. He rolled to an elbow,
reached out to touch her, his fingers moving inside her as they had earlier,
feeling the heat there. His thumb was stroking again, and she jerked against
him.

“Please.” She pulled at him. “Please. Now. I need this so
much.”

“I need to see you first,” he gasped. “Promised myself.” He
moved down her body. Put his hands behind her knees and pushed them up as she
moaned.

“Too much?” he asked. “All right?”

“Oh, God,” she breathed. “Yes. No. Please. Now.”

He settled over her, set his mouth to her.

She did burn. And she screamed. And begged him to do it
again. Over and over, she convulsed around him. Finally, he couldn’t stand it
any longer. Moved up her body. Wrapped his arms around her knees to open her to
him. One last bit of control as he eased inside, feeling her stretch to receive
him. It was so tight, so warm.

“Wait,” he gasped. Held himself rigid over her until he felt
the sensation receding a bit, had himself back from the brink. And began to
move. Trying not to go too fast. Not to be too much for her.

Kate was someplace past thinking. Everything was sensation.
His arms holding her legs. The length of him coming into her, again and again.
She needed more, though. She was on the brink again, and she needed more to get
there. “Please. More,” she gasped. “Harder.”

He swore. Pulled almost out of her. Waited there until her eyes
opened.

“Please,” she begged him again. “Koti, please.”

This was where he needed her. Pupils dilated, focused only
on her pleasure, needing him, open to him. Out of control. Slowly, slowly, he
slid back inside as she keened a welcome. Out again, the pause as she begged
him, then back into her. He saw her excitement build, felt her writhe
underneath him. Power surged through him. Finally, when she was crying out with
it, he began to move faster, give her more. Harder and faster now, her cries
matching his strokes. He felt her around him as she began to come at last, the
spasms gripping him, pushing him higher. Lost himself in her pleasure and his
own as he emptied into her with a triumphant shout.

He collapsed on her, rolled quickly to his side so he
wouldn’t crush her. Let go of her legs, felt them sliding down his own. He
pulled her trembling body more tightly to him, realizing for the first time
that they were on his entryway floor, that she’d been cushioned only by an area
rug.

“Are you all right? Bruised?” he asked, running his hand
down her body. “Sorry. Didn’t even let you have a couch to lie on. I was lucky
to make it this far.”

“No,” she assured him. “I don’t think so. Bruised, I mean. I
can’t tell, actually.” She gave a shaky laugh. “Ask me tomorrow.”

“Come up to bed,” he urged her, sitting up and pulling her
with him. Climbed the stairs with her in silence, slid between the sheets of
his wide bed.

“Nothing smart to say, eh.” He brushed her hair from her
face and kissed her. 

“I can’t. Worn out. Stunned.”

He kissed her gently again. “No wonder. How many times can
you do that?”

“Do what?” she asked, without opening her eyes.

“Kate. Most women can’t come over and over like that. Didn’t
you know that?”

Her eyes flew open. “No. Too much work?” 

He laughed and ran his hand down her slender body for the
pleasure of feeling her skin, felt her shudder again under his touch. “Nah.
Best surprise party I’ve ever had.”

“Good,” she sighed with relief. “I should go home, though.
I’m exhausted.”

“Not going to stay?” He frowned at her.

“I need to sleep. And I need a shower. I don’t even have a
toothbrush. I’m sure you’re as tired as I am. We both need to go to bed.”

“I have a shower, though. A bed, too. I even have an extra
toothbrush, I think. And I want you here when I wake up in the morning. We’re
not done.”

“It
is
morning,” she pointed out. “And I don’t know
if I can take any more.”

“You can take it,” he promised. “I’ll make sure you want to.
And it’s too late to be driving home. Come on. Let’s have a shower.”

“Sure you need to go home?” he asked again, twelve hours
later.

“I’m so sure,” she groaned, bending over to pull on her
boots in the entryway. “Because I’m so sore. I need to rest.”

“Your fault,” she told him crossly when he laughed. “Not
everyone’s a conditioned athlete.”

“Maybe if you didn’t have that special superpower, you
wouldn’t have had to work so hard.”

“I thought you said you liked it. Now you’re complaining
about it?”

“Not me,” he assured her fervently. “I’m a fan.”

“By the way.” He cleared his throat. “If I did anything, if
I do anything that’s too much, you need to tell me.”

“Everything you do is too much,” she told him, reaching up
to run a hand over his smoothly shaved cheek. “You just about killed me.”

He smiled. “If I do anything you don’t like, then,” he
clarified. “You can say. There’s so much more I want to do to you. And I’m not
going to be stopping to ask permission. But I won’t hurt you. And I’ll listen,
if you tell me no.”

“I know you will. Thanks for making me feel safe with you.
Though you’re scaring me a little now. You’ve already done so much. I’m wondering
what’s going to happen to me next.”

“That’s the way I want it. Stay a bit longer and I’ll show
you,” he suggested, pulling her against him and lifting her off her feet so he
could kiss her the way he wanted to.

She leaned back in his arms, smiled into his eyes. “Hmm. So
tempting. But I have to get home. I’ll see you Wednesday morning, if you want
to swim.” She wriggled her way out of his arms, gave him one last kiss, grabbed
her bag, and was out of the house without more discussion.

Koti felt oddly disconcerted as he watched her go. Could it
be that she didn’t want it as much as he did? No, he decided. She couldn’t have
been any more enthusiastic. He was used to being the one who got up and left,
that was all.

Wednesday, he reminded himself. Suddenly, that seemed a long
way away.

With a sigh, Kate opened the door at last to the apartment
she’d left more than 24 hours earlier. If she’d ever had a more eventful day,
she couldn’t remember it now. She badly needed some time to herself to try to
sort it all out. Reflexively, she pulled her phone out of her purse to charge
it, and realized it had been turned off since her time at the hospital. When
she turned it on again, she was horrified to see she’d missed two texts from
Hannah.

How could she have forgotten? She hadn’t given a thought to
Hannah or the baby since Koti had kissed her in front of the nursery window.
She sighed with relief as she read the latest message.

Baby doing well. Thanks for everything. Text me back.

What would Hannah think of her long silence? Kate thought
guiltily as she typed her message. She hoped her friend had been too
preoccupied to notice or care.

Hannah’s first concern when they finally spoke, though, was
for Kate. “I’m so glad to hear from you. I was concerned when I couldn’t reach
you, and Drew couldn’t get in touch with Koti. But I guess you must both have
been exhausted.”

“Oh. Right. Uh . . .” Kate began, her tired mind stumbling
in the effort to come up with an excuse.

“Uh-oh,” Hannah realized. “Why
was
he with you, last
night? Why did he just happen to be available to drive you, the minute I
called?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be wrapped up in your baby, not
thinking about me?” Kate protested. “How is he? How are you? And Drew? I sure
hope he got his face stitched up, or he’s likely to be inflicting permanent
psychological damage on that poor baby. And what’s his name, anyway? I can’t
keep calling him “the baby.”

Hannah laughed, happy to be distracted. “We’re both being
released tomorrow morning. And Jack Clifton Callahan is wonderful, thank you
very much. We’ve decided he’s the most beautiful baby in the world. Objectively
speaking, of course. He’s with me now, thank goodness, though they’re still
checking on him. Sleeping and eating and being fussed over by Drew’s mum. All
the good baby things. I’m being waited on too. I don’t even get to change my
own baby. All I’m doing is feeding him, eating, and sleeping myself.”

“That’s good. You just keep doing that. I’m so glad you
thought to let me know everyone was all right.”

“Thanks to the two of you,” Hannah said, serious now. “I
can’t tell you how much we appreciate your help. I don’t know what I would have
done if you hadn’t been there. Both of you.”

“It was a privilege,” Kate told her. She found she meant it.
As terrifying as the experience had been, sharing the birth with Hannah had
been something she would never forget. “And I’m sure Koti feels the same way.”

“Speaking of which,” Hannah went on, “be careful, OK? He has
a kind heart, I know. We both saw that last night. But he’s a major player. I
don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Don’t worry. We’re just good friends,” Kate assured her.
“Well, no, that’s not true. I’m not exactly sure what we are now. But he’s good
company.” And how, she thought to herself.

“Well, if you’re sure,” Hannah answered dubiously. Kate
heard the rumble of Drew’s voice in the background. “Drew says thanks as well.
And that I’m supposed to hang up and rest. Talk to you soon.”

“When you’re home, and up for a baby visit, let me know,”
Kate said. “I can’t wait.”

“Kate.” She heard the voice dimly, and brought her attention
back with a jerk from the spreadsheet she was studying. She hadn’t been able to
settle to her work with her usual concentration that morning. Only after lunch,
and a stern internal lecture, had she regained the focus that was now being
interrupted.

She turned reluctantly to see the bouquet that the
deliveryman was carrying in her direction, to the eager interest of her
officemates. He set it down on her desk with a friendly “Cheers,” and took
himself off again. Kate reached for the envelope and opened it, aware of the
eyes on her. She found herself flushing at the message on the card.