Page 39 of Fools in Love

He laughed. “No. Up until last year, I didn’t have a lot of stuff in here.”

“It’s nice stuff.” She nodded to the coffee table. “It looks brand new.”

“That’s because it is.” He set two plates down on it.

“I don’t want to ruin—” she started, but he took her bad leg and gently lifted it and then laid it over his knees. She sighed and relaxed back.

“Better?” he asked.

Nodding, she took a sip of her beer while he drank his.

“Nick said you remodeled the place. I like what you’ve done.”

“Thanks. At first, I tried to do a lot on my own. After I made a fiasco of painting, I hired Blake to help. She picked the color palette and a few key pieces. The sofa, the table, and chairs, most of the bedroom furniture and so on.”

“It’s nice,” she told him. “The place suits you.”

He chuckled and handed her a plate. He turned on the television, which happened to be on a national news station.

Kate didn’t see it at first, but when Tom tensed, she jerked her gaze to the set.

“The top story of the hour comes to us from Las Vegas where notorious killer James Reyes was approved today for parole. Reyes was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for the brutal killing of his wife Nichole and his son, Ryan. Both of them had been hacked to death with a butcher knife. They were discovered by his older son—”

The television set turned off and Tom stood up, gently removing her leg from him as he tossed the remote down on the sofa. He walked over to the windows to look out at the darkness beyond.

Kate stood up and slowly made her way to him. She wrapped her arms around him as she leaned against his back.

“I’m so sorry,” she said softly.

“I should have known. It was all anyone could talk about back then.” He sighed and turned in her arms. He wrapped his around her and pulled her closer.

“Is there anything I can do?” she said against his chest.

He was silent for a moment. “How hungry are you?”

She leaned back. “Need to blow off some steam?” When he nodded, she smiled. “Want to box?” She wiggled her eyebrows and saw the anger and hurt slip away from his eyes to be replaced with desire. Good. If he was thinking about her, then his mind wasn’t consumed by his father and his dark past. Her hands moved up his sides until she nudged him closer. “Take me to bed,” she said before his lips devoured her.

Chapter Thirteen

Tom woke when he heard the thud. Jumping out of bed, he almost tripped over Kate, who was sprawled on the floor between his bed and his bathroom.

“Sorry,” she said, sitting up.

“Are you okay?” he asked, concerned.

“Yes, it was dark and… I thought I could make it to the bathroom without waking you,” she said as he helped her stand.

He chuckled slightly. “Need any help?”

“I left my cane in the living room. I think.” She frowned.

He turned on the bathroom light and saw that she was still gloriously naked. Then again, he was as well. Thankfully, Kate didn’t try to cover her body. Instead, she hobbled into the bathroom and, as she smiled at him, shut the door in his face. “I’ll be out in a minute,” she called to him.

“Take your time.” He walked over to pull on his gym shorts. Then he gathered her clothes and set them on the bed close to the bathroom. “I’ll go heat up the pizza.” He walked into his kitchen.

Because he needed to, he turned on the television. It took him a moment to find a news channel that was doing a report on his family.

He listened as they talked about how his father had been paroled and the details of ten years ago. Even though some of it wasn’t quite accurate, the report was close enough that people understood what had happened.