Page 153 of The Business of Love Box Set 1: Books 1 - 4

PETER

I grabbed two bottles of cold water from the mini fridge in the room and joined Katie back in the bathtub.

She’d already sunk down to her chin and rested with her neck against the foam pillow mounted to one side of the tub.

Her eyes were closed, her cheeks were flushed, and her mascara was even messier now than it had been when she started crying on the veranda.

She looked sexy as hell. And a little wrecked.

Wrecked in the best way, I mused to myself as I got comfortable at the other end of the tub.

She cracked open one eye and I held out the water to her. Katie twisted the cap off, tilted her head back, and drained half the bottle in five gulps.

She came up for air with a smack of her lips and a satisfied smile. “Thanks, I needed that.”

“I figured you’d have a sore throat after all that screaming.”

She smiled coyly. “It was worth it.”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

She giggled and settled back into the water to run her arms over the surface and through what little bubbles remained. We’d sent most of them over the edge of the tub. There was now a giant pool of water to be soaked up.

That’s what the extra towels in the closet are for.

I wasn’t oblivious to the fact that the conversation Katie and I started on the veranda wasn’t over. There were still some things I wanted to say, and I hoped we’d started on the right foot by being intimate.

“You know,” I said slowly, hoping I didn’t put my foot in my mouth again, “biological children aren’t the only way to have kids of our own. Should we get to that point, of course.”

She stopped playing with the bubbles.

I continued. “I’ve always been curious about adoption.”

Katie licked her lips. “Are you just saying that?”

“No,” I said earnestly. “I’m not. It’s a good option, I think. Especially for someone who has always worried a little bit about passing certain genes down to their children they would rather avoid.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Alzheimer’s for starters. Heart disease. Cancer. It’s all thick in my bloodline, especially among the men.”

Katie swallowed. “So… are you saying this isn’t a dealbreaker for you?”

I shook my head. “It’s absolutely not a dealbreaker for me.”

“You mean it?”

The hope in her voice lit a bright light in my soul. “I mean it,” I promised.

Katie smiled. I’d seen her smile a thousand times over since bumping into her at the St. John local market, but I’d never seen her smile quite like this.

Her eyes were bright and almost glittery, like a child’s eyes full of wonder and excitement the first time they saw a lit Christmas tree in front of the window on a snowy night.

There were a thousand things I wanted to do with her and for her.

And to her, but that was a different matter, of course.

I wanted to cook her dinner. I wanted to make her coffee every morning and wake her up with a kiss. I wanted to open the windows and blinds in the mornings so she woke to a cheery room while she sipped her coffee.

I wanted to buy her favorite snack when I was out running errands and surprise her when I pulled it out of the grocery bag.

I wanted to learn her favorite flavors of ice cream and her least favorite chips so I never made the mistake of buying them.

I wanted to kiss her salty lips after eating popcorn and watching a shitty rom-com simply because she wanted to see it.

I wanted to use the same cheesy lines from the movie on her as I carried her to bed and laid her down.

I wanted to worship every inch of her body every fucking day until I was too old to get in and out of bed on my own.

By that point, I wanted to sit on a front porch with her in our rocking chairs we could hardly get out of, holding hands while we sipped earl gray tea and told each other stories neither of us could hear because our hearing aids would be turned off and we hadn’t noticed.

Yes, that’s what I want.

Katie came to join me on my side of the tub and settled between my legs with her back to me.

She leaned back, falling right into the place she belonged against my chest. She sank low so I could rest my chin on her head, and she pulled my hands out of the water so she could wrap my arms around her shoulders.

“I could stay here with you forever,” she whispered.

I kissed her wet hair. “Me too.”

She craned her neck back to peer up at me. From this angle, her eyes looked huge, and her breasts poked out of the water. “But I’m looking forward to going back to the island.”

“Me too,” I agreed.

“Do you think your dad remembers we’re coming back tonight?”

“I think the better question is does my brother remember we’re picking him up in two hours,” I said.

She giggled. “Fair point. We should probably get ready. I want to shower and wash my face and get changed.”

“Five more minutes.”

She settled back against me. “Deal.”

Katie sat in the passenger seat of my rental car with paper bags full of takeout on her lap.

There was a plastic bag with our drinks inside, including a bottle of red wine that she’d insisted on bringing for my dad.

Apparently, a steak dinner wasn’t complete without a glass of cabernet.

She’d brought wine glasses from the hotel room as well, which I suspected was a big no-no but she didn’t seem all that worried about it.

Mike was in the back seat sniffing the air like a bloodhound. “What you got in those bags that smells so good?”

Katie kept her fingers pinched on the paper bag to keep the heat in as we turned around the corner and headed for the parking lot of my father’s care home.

“Four tenderloins all cooked per our preferences, mashed potatoes, a side of peppercorn sauce, and some vegetables.” She twisted around to look over her shoulder at him.

“I know your dad doesn’t like his greens but I brought some anyway.

Asparagus, broccoli, and zucchini. And some carrots in case he wants those instead. ”

“Where’d you guys get all this stuff?” Mike asked.

“The hotel we’re staying at,” Katie said. “We ordered room service and had them leave it packed up for us.”

“Katie’s a genius,” I said, meeting my brother’s eye in the rearview mirror.

I couldn’t believe I’d been nervous to come back out to LA and see my family—or introduce them to Katie.

She was blowing them away with her big heart, just like she had me.

Somehow, she was pulling us all back together after years of strain and grief.

Somehow, I would have to find a way to thank her for this.

I pulled into a parking space and we all piled out of the car. I took the takeout bags out of Katie’s hands as we made our way to the front doors.

Tiff was still working behind the desk. She beamed when she saw us come in and her big brown eyes slid to the bags in my hands. “What have you three got there?”

“We brought my dad dinner,” I said. “I hope that’s all right.”

“Of course it is, sugar! Go on in. Your father is waiting for you. He’s been talking about having dinner with you three all afternoon.”

The three of us exchanged a look.

“Really?” I asked.

“Oh yes.” Tiff nodded. “He’s very excited. I’m not looking forward to tomorrow morning when he’s in a foul mood because his tummy hurts from all the rich food, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. We haven’t seen Mr. Stenley in such high spirits in a couple of weeks. It’s nice.”

Katie leaned over and popped open the bag.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Hang on.” Katie pinched her tongue between her teeth as she went to the tips of her toes and peered into the bag, searching for something.

She let out a victorious cry when she found it and pulled out a little black container with a clear lid.

I spied a piece of chocolate cake with a strawberry on top through the lid before she handed it to Tiff.

“We brought you something too, Tiff. As a thank you.”

Tiff’s eyes widened with surprise. “Oh, that was so sweet of you. Thank you. How did you know chocolate was my favorite?”

Katie winked. “I have a sixth sense about those kinds of things.”

Tiff ushered us away. “Hurry along now. Go see your father so I can dig into this cake. I don’t want any of the other nurses to see. I’m not the sharing type when it comes to my desserts.”

Chuckling, the three of us went down the hall to my father’s room. His door was open and we found him standing on shaking legs in front of the full-length mirror beside his bed.

He was putting on a tie.

“Hey, Dad,” I said, closing the door behind us with my hip. “We come bearing dinner. Mike almost ate it in the car but Katie fended him off.”

My father turned to us. He’d dressed in his good slacks, a plaid shirt, and a navy-blue tie I didn’t even know he owned.

I wondered if he’d stolen it from one of the other residents.

Theft was an issue in places like this. With everyone being so forgetful, they had a tendency to walk into a room, think everything was theirs, and take whatever suited their fancy.

When my father first moved in, the woman next to him had stolen his dentures.

Tiff had hardly been able to contain her laughter when she called to tell me about it. At the time, I’d been too blind with grief and pain to see the humor in it all. But now it was kind of funny.

“You look very handsome, Mr. Stenley,” Katie said as she pulled out chairs around the table in front of his bookcases.

My father took a seat and we began unpacking the bags. He watched every move I made as I popped the lids off the containers. Katie had packed plastic plates from the dollar store in her purse. She took them out, set everyone’s place setting, and began serving everyone their food.

It hit me in that moment how good of a mother she would make one day.

I watched her work while my brother took his seat.

“All right,” Katie said. “We have tenderloins, mashed potatoes, and peppercorn sauce.”

“Peppercorn?” my father cried delightedly. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them vigorously. “It’s a feast!”

Katie laughed. “It absolutely is. And I have one more thing.” She withdrew the bottle of red wine from one of the bags, along with the wine glasses, and held it out to him like she was a server at a high-end restaurant.

She launched into all the details about the wine she’d selected, and my father nodded along like he found everything she was saying very informative. “Can I pour you a bit to taste?”

My father nodded eagerly.

Katie poured a splash of wine into his glass.

My father, who had never been a very sophisticated man, picked up the glass and swirled it like he was at a winery and had paid for a wine-tasting tour. He took a sip, smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and nodded agreeably. “It’s delicious. Just delicious. Fill me up, Katie.”

She grinned and obliged, and before I knew it, I was sitting down to a family dinner with my father—my actual father, who had his full mind for the first time in ages—my little brother, and the girl I was discovering I just might marry one day.

It didn’t get any better than this. Mike laughed at our father’s jokes, which he’d never found all that funny in the past. Katie gave our dad her full attention.

She held his hand and laughed with him and asked him dozens of questions about his life.

She told him about her twin brother and her job and how much of a romantic she was.

And she told him about me.

“Your son has made my life so much brighter since I met him,” she said, looking my father in the eyes. “I wanted you to know that. You raised a wonderful man and I feel very lucky to know him and to be able to have a meal with you all like this.”

My father swallowed and reached out with a shaking hand to touch her cheek. She leaned into his touch and closed her eyes. “Perhaps,” my father said, “you will be a daughter of mine one day after all.”