Page 52 of Simon Says… Fight (Kate Morgan Thrillers #11)

W hen Kate woke up the next morning, she went to roll over and groaned.

At her side, Simon smiled. “I would have bet good money that you couldn’t get out of bed at all,” he admitted.

She frowned at him. “Just moving will hurt like a bitch, won’t it?”

He laughed. “It so will, no doubt.”

“I’m glad you think it’s funny,” she muttered.

“I don’t think it’s funny. I think it’s great,” he declared, with a huge grin. “I absolutely loved being rescued. So thank you, sweetheart.”

She smiled, yet shook her head. “You’re welcome, but damn it. I’m so sorry about Rodney. I should have gotten there sooner.”

“You got there just fine,” he declared. “Rodney is a big boy, and part of his job was to see this crap through. But I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he doesn’t decide he needs a little more training himself.”

“Regardless of what Rodney does, I’m pretty sure the bosses will insist on it,” she stated. “Colby was right. We’ve had a few too many of these assaults lately.”

“Mostly because of you,” he pointed out.

“I know,” she said, trying to roll over. “And they’ll hold that against me too,” she muttered. “Christ, I don’t want to get up.”

“That’s good,” he said, with a smirk. “I got no problem with that.” He rolled over and gently tucked her up closer. “You do know we could just stay in bed for the day.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice,” she murmured. “And you know, if we had that hot tub…”

He smiled as he nuzzled her gently. “If you had a couple days off and needed to recover, we could go out on the Running Mate .”

Her eyes opened wide, and she smiled. “That sounds absolutely fantastic.”

His hands slid up her hips, across her lean ribs, until she winced and groaned. He lifted his head. “That bad?”

“I took multiple blows to the ribs,” she whispered. “I’m sure I’m black and blue.” She groaned. “But there’ll also be paperwork, lots more than usual.”

“That’s fine,” he murmured, as he kissed her behind her ear and slid his tongue along the edge of her lobe.

She shivered as she murmured, “The only way we’re doing this is if I don’t have to move.”

He chuckled. “I got you this time,” he murmured, still smiling. “Believe me that I can hear your pain.”

“I don’t want to be in pain though,” she added, as she twisted, ignoring the sharp jabs of her beaten body. She slowly looped her arms around his neck and suggested, “Why don’t you make me feel something different?”

“Oh, I’ve got you there too,” he murmured, as he lowered his head and kissed her gently, as if she were the injured person she was.

But suddenly that wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted and needed something more. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, raising the temperature of both of them as she kissed him back, her tongue plunging deep against his, warring softly, even as she wrapped her thighs around his hips.

“Jesus,” he muttered. “I thought you wanted to go slow.”

“Actually,” she replied playfully, “I changed my mind.”

“Okay, thanks for the heads-up,” he murmured.

She giggled, then laughed, even as she twisted beneath him, pulling him down tighter and tighter against her.

When he finally slid inside, she gasped and he paused.

“I’m fine,” she murmured. “I need this. I need to know I’m alive.

I need to know that you’re alive and that life will go on.

I need to know that even though all these sick, damaged people are out there, we will still win this war.

Sometimes I have days when I’m so afraid that it’s just too much, too many, and they’ll get ahead of us,” she admitted.

He leaned over, kissed her with all the tenderness she’d ever imagined was possible in a kiss.

When he lifted his head, he added, “You feel too deeply and too hard and too long, but it’s okay. You will survive this. We will survive it together. You’re doing an amazing job.”

She blinked up at him and smiled. “You’re talking too much.”

With a shout of laughter, he plunged deep and took her soaring over the edge. By the time he cried out with his own completion, she was already heading off on a second surge.

When he lay down beside her, she groaned and whispered, “Now I really won’t get up easily.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she declared, with a big smile. “These are at least aches and pains of victory. It’ll be a whole different story for her .”

“I know,” he agreed, “but we’ll probably have to call the hospital this morning to see how everybody is.”

She nodded. “We also promised food for Rodney.”

He chuckled as he held her close. “Is everybody in your office constantly food-starved?”

She shrugged. “Maybe, but given that we work hard at what tends to be a thankless job so many times, I can see it might look that way. Yet that’s how we all feed our feelings.”

“I get it,” he said, massaging her back. “You have given me a completely different appreciation for the life that you’ve chosen.”

“I know, and the reason why I went into it still hasn’t been solved.”

“And that’s okay too,” he said, nuzzling her. “Not everything in life has to have answers today. I know you want answers on Timmy as well as all these cases of yours, but they won’t always be available.”

She nodded. “I just hope that at some point I find out what really happened to my brother, and, if I don’t, I guess I get to spend the rest of my life coming to terms with it.” As she lay here, she added, “I’m hungry.”

He snorted. “So, food first. Do you want to go out and eat, then we can pick up an order to-go for Rodney?”

“Sure, but I need a shower first.” As she got up and slowly moved toward the bathroom, she caught sight of herself in the mirror and stopped short, then turned to him. “Good God, look at me.”

“I know. I’m struggling to look at you,” he murmured. “It hurts me to see you all blue and purple, so damaged.”

She glared at him and shook her head. “Any word but that, please. I might be injured. I might be bruised, but I am not damaged.” And, with that rant over, she asked, “Will you join me in the shower?”

“Sure, if only to confirm you don’t have to bend and twist to wash your hair.”

She smiled and happily let him. As they came back out, wrapped in towels, her phone rang. She picked it up. “Colby,” she greeted him warily, “anything bad going on?”

“Not necessarily bad for any of you,” he stated, “but Tamzen committed suicide last night.”

“Fuck…”

“I guess she ended up getting hold of some drugs. I don’t know where the hell she got them,” he said, cussing.

“And, for all I know, that bloody uncle gave them to her. Anyway, she took the whole lot of them, and that will be an entirely different investigation, but thankfully that’s the hospital’s headache. ”

“Jesus Christ, how is Rodney?”

“Kicking and screaming, wanting out, wanting to go home, wanting food,” he stated, with a laugh.

“I did promise him food,” she admitted apologetically.

“He’ll be there for most of today, so I highly suggest you get over there before he tries to break out.”

“Will do,” she agreed. When Colby remained silent, she asked, “Is everything else okay?”

“Yeah, everything is okay,” he replied. “I just wanted to say, Good job , and, you know, give you the update.” And, with that, he ended the call.

She frowned at her phone and shook her head. “It’s really a hard thing for those of us who aren’t used to it,” she began, a sly grin on her face. “Colby just said Good job to me.”

“But that’s normal, right?” Simon asked.

“Not for us. I think it was as hard for him to say it as it was for me to hear it.”

“And you’re all nuts,” Simon declared, smiling over at her.

“Maybe so,” she admitted, “but apparently Rodney is kicking and screaming to get out, so we need to go grab that guy some food.”

And that’s what they did. Rather than going to a restaurant and then getting his food, they picked up food for him, delivered it, and visited him for a bit.

Then, on their way back, they picked up a different order for them and took it down to the Running Mate .

As she stepped on board, she stopped, sniffed the cold salty air, and smiled. “It’s like coming home here.”

“Nothing wrong with having a home away from home—even if it’s only a few blocks away. Now let’s go inside. It’s pouring rain and ugly out here. Inside we go,… where it’s cozy and warm.” He reached out a hand.

Kate placed hers in his, and together they slipped inside to the cozy nest that they’d created—a shelter against the ugliness of the world they both lived in and lived out of. A place just for them…