“I might need a favor,” I said, zipping my fly.
Kat tossed me a mocking look. “I believe I just swallowed your most recent favor.”
I chuckled. She always managed to surprise me. Kathleen Doyle was a perfect blend of wit and beauty.
“I meant a favor that doesn’t involve skin and orgasms.”
“That doesn’t sound fun.”
“It might not be. And feel free to say no.”
She buttoned her blouse. It was a shame. The view was much better when it was unbuttoned. “I’m intrigued.”
“I’ve got to go back to Oregon and clean out my apartment. Most of that shit can get pitched into the nearest charity bin but there are some things worth keeping.”
“And you want my help loading the moving truck?”
I rolled my eyes. “No. I’m planning on flying out, doing a quick clean and pack before driving back here in a UHaul. It should take me less than forty-eight hours but it’s not really a trip suitable for an infant.”
“So you’re asking me to watch Colin.”
“Yeah, if you can take him for just a couple of nights that would be great. I’m already taking way too much help from Nancy when it comes to daycare. I didn’t want to ask her to keep him overnight too.”
Kathleen finished buttoning up and put her hands on her hips, surveying me with a puzzled look. “Nash, I thought you knew you didn’t even have to ask. I’m always ready to help with Colin.”
“And Roxie,” I admitted.
She raised an eyebrow. “Your dog?”
“It would be easier and faster if I could leave her here. She’s well trained. Just feed her, walk her and give her a place in the corner to sleep.”
“Emma would love that,” Kat said, smiling. “The problem is my landlord doesn’t allow pets. I know I’ll be moving out soon anyway but he’s kind of a dick and if he finds any evidence of pet hair he’ll smack me with a mammoth cleaning fee.”
The solution was simple. “Stay at the house for a few days then.”
When Kat didn’t instantly jump at the option I realized she might be thinking I’m one big dictatorial asshole.
Watch the baby. Take care of my dog. Stay at my house. It’s not like you have your own life, right? Right??
Kathleen did have her own life and more responsibilities than I could keep track of. I wished I’d never brought up the subject.
“Look,” I said. “It’s okay. I should have guessed it was an imposition. Maybe Jane can-“
“No.” She interrupted, shaking her head. “It’s really no hassle.” Her pained expression said something a little different.
I sat on the edge of the desk in the office that had been my father’s and my grandfather’s before that. This summer Kat and I had developed a regular routine. Twice a week we’d meet to meet at the store before it opened and do some real dirty work before discussing financial matters. But our interactions weren’t exclusively about naked games and money. Whenever she had the time I took her out to lunch. She and Emma stopped by the house several times a week, Kat to see Colin and Emma to see Roxie. And we talked and texted constantly, about everything from Colin’s new ability to sit up to miscellaneous local news. Aside from Colin, Kat had turned out to be the most important person in my life.
But I couldn’t deny that I seriously loved fucking her. This morning I had taken my time peeling her clothes off and teasing her while feeling triumphant over how easy it was to get her to come on my hand. Then she got on her knees and sucked me off like a champ with my hands tangled in her thick curls, thrusting my cock between her lips to set the pace.
Yet now the mood had grown serious so I needed to forget about how soft her mouth was for a few minutes.
“You don’t seem thrilled,” I said. “Forget about it, this is on me. I really shouldn’t have asked you to drop everything and come oversee my life.”
She waved a hand. “Nash, stop. I’m always happy to spend time with Colin and you know Emma will be ecstatic to have a dog for a few days.”
I studied her. Kat wasn’t the brooding type. It’s one of the things I appreciated about her. People knew where they stood with her. If something was up she wouldn’t keep quiet about it for long.
“Then what’s wrong?” I asked gently, drawing her to me and tipping her chin up so I could see into her troubled eyes.
“I was just thinking about the last time I stayed in that house.” She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder before continuing. “I was between apartments and Emma was still a baby. I had two weeks until my new lease began and the idea of staying with my mother was enough to induce an ulcer. So Heather insisted that I stay with her and Chris. She cooked homemade meals for me, wouldn’t allow me to lift a finger to help with housework and watched Emma so I could get some much needed rest.” She raised her head and now she smiled. “I slept in your old room. I bet you didn’t know that.”
“I didn’t.”
Her smile fell away. “I miss her.”
“I know you do,” I said. I planted a quick kiss on her lips and moved over to the desk.
Kathleen watched me as I sat down and began examining an inventory report. “We’ve never talked about her. Not really.”
“Who?” I knew damn well who. I just didn’t want to have that particular conversation now. Or ever.
“Heather.”
I hit a computer key harder than I needed to and squinted at the screen. “You asking if all the old gossip is true?”
“No. I already know what’s true and what isn’t.”
My eyes sharply swung back to her. “She told you?” I’d suspected as much. That didn’t mean I wanted to talk about it.
“Yes, she told me.”
I exhaled noisily. “It was a long time ago. Things got ugly.”
“Love triangles usually do.”
I snorted. “Love triangle. Makes it sound like a fucking soap opera.” Then I paused, wondering what Heather’s side of the story had been. “Heather and I got closer than we should have. I was eighteen and already no angel but nothing really happened. I liked being with her. A lot. And I thought I could trust her. Then I found out I couldn’t.”
Kathleen winced. “Heather felt truly terrible about what happened. She cared about you but she was in a bad place in her life at the time, had just suffered through a really crappy breakup. She made some dreadful choices but she was vulnerable and she was young.”
“She was twenty-five,” I pointed out. “Younger than you are now.”
Kat nodded but looked uneasy. “And she always blamed herself for the rift between you and your father.”
“She didn’t help. But my dad and I didn’t need any assistance when it came to grabbing each other’s throats.” I grimaced, remembering occasions when furious words flew between us like carelessly flung knives. My father wasn’t to blame for all of it. I’d said things I wished I hadn’t and found it impossible to take them back.
“The two of us had been sitting on a powder keg for a long time,” I admitted. “All we were waiting for was someone to light the match.”
“Heather never wanted to be that someone.”
“I’m sure she didn’t.” The sarcasm in my voice hadn’t been planned.
Kat became defensive. “It’s true, Nash. When Heather realized the magnitude of what she’d done and how she was getting between you and your dad she stayed away from both of you, even left and took a job in Flagstaff for a while. You’d already gone off to college and she felt like too many people here were still talking about her. But then her mother got sick so she came back. Chris was a friend to her while she held her dying mother’s hand. She didn’t mean to fall in love with him. And I’m sure he didn’t mean to fall in love with her either.”
Her face was earnest. She wanted me to say that all was well, that I completely forgave Heather and Chris. But the taste of betrayal is bitter. It lingers. Kathleen wouldn’t understand that because she was as close to perfect as anyone I’d ever met.
“You know what I admire about you, Kat?” I asked abruptly.
She cocked her head. “What?”
“You think everyone is as honorable as you are.”
She looked down and bit her lip. Maybe she figured the comment was mocking. I hadn’t meant it that way. People everywhere should aspire to be like Kathleen Doyle, full of honesty and hope, rather than riddled with guilt and cynicism like me.
Kathleen’s phone buzzed and she reached into her handbag to retrieve it. A shadow passed over her face when she stared at the screen and she stuffed the device back into her bag without answering.
“You okay?” I asked because all of a sudden she was alarmingly pale.
“Fine.” She plucked a rubber band from my desk and used it to tie up her hair. “So, the conversation took a detour but what days were you thinking about making the trip?”
“This weekend if that works for you.”
“It works just fine.”
“In that case I’ll leave Friday afternoon and be back by Sunday morning. Betty can take care of running the place in the meantime.”
Kat checked her watch. “Speaking of the store, you need to open the doors in twenty minutes.”
I leaned back in the thick, cushioned desk chair and reached for her hand. “Twenty minutes is enough time.”
“For what?”
I unzipped and extracted my dick. “For this.”
She was amused. “I thought I already took care of that.”
I ran my hand up and down the hard muscle because I knew she liked watching me stroke myself and having her eyes on me just made me harder. “Take care of it again. Different position this time.”
Kat stepped out of her skirt and pulled her panties down. She wasn’t the only one who liked to watch things. I groaned when she inserted two fingers inside. So fucking sexy it was ridiculous.
“What position did you have in mind?” she asked sweetly and I saw the way her cheeks were flushed, heard how her breathing quickened. She was so into this, nothing at all prim and proper about her.
I wasted no time locating a condom in my wallet and getting it in place. “Get that shirt off again right now. Bra too.”
“Full of demands,” she muttered but obeyed with a grin. “Now what?”
“Now I’m going to suck those sweet tits while you ride me.”
Kat was gloriously naked when she straddled me. The chair creaked underneath our combined weight but it would hold. I grabbed a fistful of her hair, kissing her hard, and with the other I guided my cock in. She was so goddamn ready it almost killed me to hold out until she climaxed with her tits trading places in my mouth just like I wanted.
“Oh god,” she moaned, still riding the wave. “You’re so good.”
I teased her nipple. “How good?”
“Amazing,” she whispered, hips still bucking as she finished her moment.
“You’ve never been fucked this good by anyone before, have you?”
“Yes.”
“Say that.”
“Nash.”
“Say it!”
“There’s no one who fucks better than you.”
I gave in and let myself come while urging her to ride hard right up until the end. The desk chair finally succumbed to all this abuse and the back came off, sending us toppling to the floor.
“Shit, you okay?” I asked but she laughed.
“We broke the chair,” she giggled.
“We did.” I tossed a wrecked piece on the desk. “We broke the fuck out of it.”
She was still giggling while she gathered her clothes. I noted the time and realized there were now only three minutes until the store opened. Normally Betty would have been here by now, briskly straightening anything that looked even slightly askew on the shelves, but luckily she had a doctor’s appointment this morning.
Kathleen once again finished buttoning her blouse and I regretted that it would need to stay that way.
“I have to get going,” she said.
I pulled my shirt over my head. “Busy day?”
“Moderately.”
I kept my eyes on her. Watching Kat had quickly become my favorite pastime. “Come here.”
“Nash,” she warned, “there’s not enough time for a third round.”
“Then give me a kiss.”
She smiled and allowed me to pull her close. She liked to be kissed slow and deep and I could feel her melting in my arms. Sometimes I enjoyed these sweet moments even more than the kinky ones.
“I wish I didn’t have to go,” she whispered with her arms still wrapped around my shoulders. Then she averted her head, as if she was embarrassed that the words had escaped her mouth.
I tugged at a lock of her long hair that had escaped the rubber band. “I’m picking Colin up around five. I could grab some pizzas on the way home. Why don’t you and Emma come over for dinner? I mean, unless you’ve got too much work to do.”
The invitation delighted her. I could tell by the way her eyes lit up for a split second although she seemed determined not to show it. “I don’t think I’ll have too much work. So we’ll be there.”
“Good.” I pinched her ass. She had a great ass. I could be sitting around and thinking about how many stupid Hawk Valley Happiness coffee mugs I needed to order when I’d remember Kat’s ass out of nowhere and get so hard my balls ached.
But at this point I really did need to open the store and Kat really did need to get to a client appointment. I released her with some reluctance. It seemed like every time I held her I felt that way a little more, that I just didn’t want to let her go.
“I’ll see you later,” she said happily and I was really glad I’d invited her over tonight. We didn’t do things like plan outings and dates. We didn’t talk about the future or refer to ourselves a couple. And part of me was starting to wonder if we were going about this all wrong.
“You want any toppings on your pizza?” I asked.
“Pineapple.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Why would I kid about pineapple? There’s nothing funny about it.”
“Except for the fact that it has no business being on pizza.”
“I didn’t know you were a food snob.”
I grinned and puffed out my chest. “Turns out there’s more to me than my ability to fuck you better than anyone else.”
She rolled her eyes and opened the door to the office. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”
“But you did tell me. And you’ll tell me again.”
She blushed. “Whatever.”
I was still smiling long after she closed the door.