Simon Says_. Walk (Kate Morgan #6)(45)
Author: Dale Mayer

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10

 

 

 

 

 

It was a little after midnight before Kate dragged her butt home. As she walked up the apartment building steps, she stopped and frowned. She had come to Simon’s place, without even realizing it. She swore at that and realized it was way too late to visit him.

 

As she turned around to leave again, tired and exhausted, wishing that her stupid instincts hadn’t been to come here, as if some homing pigeon, the front doors opened, and the doorman stepped outside. She knew him quite well by now but almost immediately had forgotten his name.

 

He called out, “Madam Kate, he’s waiting for you.” When she stared at him, he added, “He only got in a little bit ago and told me that, if you came, to send you right up.”

 

She hesitated, then nodded. “I figured it was too late, and I’m so damn tired,” she murmured, as she walked past him.

 

“Tough day?” he asked in a commiserating tone.

 

She nodded. “Some days are tougher than others.”

 

“That’s what Simon said too.”

 

She nodded in agreement, as she headed to Simon’s elevator. She hit the button to take her up to Simon’s penthouse to find him standing there, waiting for her. He opened his arms. She walked in them and buried her face against his chest. He didn’t say anything and scooped her up in his arms and carried her through to the bed.

 

She immediately hopped off the bed. “I’m gross and dirty and sweaty,” she said, wriggling away from him.

 

“In that case, a shower,” he murmured.

 

She nodded. He walked behind her into the bathroom and quickly turned on the water. By the time he turned around, she stood there, exhausted, weaving on her feet, and completely nude. She stepped under the water and, with half a smile, added, “I am exhausted, but I’m not dead, … if you want join me.”

 

He snorted, “That’s an invitation, kind of,” he teased, “but I’ll take you up on it.”

 

With that, he quickly dropped his sleep pants, while she stood there with a grin on her face, as he joined her. Sex in the shower was not what everybody thought it should be, but options like this right now were damn good. When he had her clean and completely exhausted, she shut off the water, grabbed the nearby towel, tossed him another towel, and then stumbled to the counter, where she brushed her teeth and made her way to bed.

 

As she crashed on the bed, she murmured, “I wasn’t going to drop in, when I realized how late it was, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come by.”

 

He placed a finger against her lips and whispered, “You can always come by. I like that you come here automatically, instead of thinking about it.”

 

“Maybe you do,” she murmured. “Not sure it’s the best thing though.” And, with that, she closed her eyes and slept.

 

When she woke several hours later, Simon had shifted in bed, standing up and then lying down, standing up and then lying down. His actions quickly cleared the confusion in her head, as she watched him warily. When he sat back down again the next time, she placed a firm hand on his shoulder and said, “Time to sleep, Simon.”

 

He immediately crashed his head on the pillow and went into a deep sleep. She kept a wary eye on him for a little bit longer, but he didn’t appear to be planning on doing any more calisthenics, so she crashed beside him.

 

The next thing she could put her finger on was the smell of coffee, as she woke to see a fresh cup sitting on the night table beside her. She sniffed the coffee and rolled over, instinctively reaching for it.

 

“You could open your eyes first,” Simon suggested.

 

She opened her eyes to see him standing there, a smile on his face, watching her. “I could,” she agreed, her voice throaty and raspy. “Doesn’t mean I want to.”

 

He immediately frowned. “Are you getting sick?”

 

She shook her head. “No, I was out at the park late last night,” she murmured.

 

He nodded. “You didn’t fill me in on it.”

 

“No, not sure even now that I should,” she noted. “Just be warned that we have some more developments, and we’ll need you in the station to ask more questions.”

 

“Will the questions bother me?” he asked.

 

She eyed him and then shrugged. “I don’t know why they would,” she replied, a note of challenge in her voice. “They are definitely necessary for us to fill in the blanks on our end.”

 

He nodded. “We’d better make it official and not question it over breakfast, right?”

 

She nodded. “Considering Rodney has to shadow me every step, yes. It would be better if we wait.”

 

“Fine,” he muttered ruefully. He checked his schedule, as she sipped coffee. “How about we start there then?”

 

“That works,” she said agreeably. “I’ll still need a bit to get my head on straight,” she muttered, as she glanced at her watch. Seeing it was almost 8:00 a.m., she bolted out of bed. “Good God.”

 

He smiled. “I know. As far as you’re concerned, that’s late, but, if you don’t mind, … I’ll drive you down there.”

 

“I have my car here,” she murmured, and then threw back her coffee and groaned. “I need to get going.”

 

With that, she dressed in the same clothes from yesterday, and he reminded her, “You need to bring more clothes by.”

 

“I guess.” She shrugged and then looked down at her sweaty, dirty T-shirt from yesterday. “Do I have anything here?” He walked over to open a closet full of T-shirts. She frowned. “Where’d these come from?”

 

“I picked them up on sale. I figured that there would be enough times that you didn’t have clothes here, so … seemed to be a good idea at the time.”

 

She quickly picked one up and noted that it was her size and threw it on over her head, while giving him an odd look.

 

He frowned. “It’s against some rule of yours, right?”

 

“I’m not used to people buying stuff for me—definitely not clothing.”

 

“Got it,” he replied, with an understanding look. “I also didn’t want you to go to work exhausted and still in blood-soaked clothing.”