Kiss Me Kate

by Mari Carr

  Now here she was, six years later, a bit smarter, a bit stronger and living alone in someone else’s house because she didn’t have two pennies to rub together. All of her paychecks, plus her secret book royalties, were going toward paying for her divorce, in addition to making the outrageous monthly payment on the damned empty mansion Zack saddled her with before disappearing to God only knew where. She couldn’t even live in the place because there wasn’t a stick of furniture left in it. If she could manage to sell it before it sank her, maybe she could scrape together enough money for a down payment on a small house after the divorce was final.

  Of course, all of those points were moot until Zack the Rat slinked back into town with his mall-hair tramp of a girlfriend.

  She watched as Rick’s name appeared in her inbox and felt instantly better. Anytime she was overwhelmed or depressed, she created a new sexual fantasy starring her own personal Clooney clone. The super-hot daydreams never failed to cheer her up.

  Excitedly, she clicked on his message. She knew it was completely irrational to lust over a man who was so far out of her league, but heck, it was a free world and if there was one thing Kate had an abundance of, it was imagination. Since first laying eyes on Rick McAllister, her dream world had gotten hotter and hotter.

  Kate,

  The key to the back shed is in the kitchen drawer under the phone. You’ll find the garden tools in there. Should have told you that, but as I said, you don’t have to do any yard work. Guess you are celebrating the end of the school year. It’s damn hot and miserable here, but we’re getting ready to make a move tonight. You probably won’t hear from me for a while. I’ll check in when I can, but I won’t be writing every day any more. Is that motion light in the back working or not? If not, call Seth and have him come out and fix it. Have a good summer.

  Take care,

  Rick

  Kate smiled at the message. So much for a spicy love note. Rick, oblivious to her growing crush, was the master of no-nonsense. She’d asked about the garden tools thinking it would be nice to plant a vegetable garden, and the motion light was becoming an obsession for Rick. She merely mentioned to him a few emails ago that she was amazed how dark it got at night and how she had a hard time seeing Rex when he went out for his nightly constitutional. Rick had a fit that the motion light wasn’t working. Now every message contained some comment about the damned thing and she was sorry she’d mentioned it at all.

  Fact was she preferred to leave it broken. Her experience with the annoying things was that they came on if the wind blew a leaf across their path or a stray cat roamed into the yard. When the light flashed on, it scared the hell out of her and she spent half the night listening to every creak and groan, letting her overactive imagination run away from her. Zack actually got her one for Christmas one year, claiming he knew how much she hated being alone in the house at night when he worked late. Now there was an award-winning Christmas gift. A motion light. Is it any wonder her marriage failed? “Dumbass,” she muttered. As far as she was concerned, if someone was sneaking into the house to kill her, she’d just as soon be surprised.

  She was strangely upset by the thought of Rick not emailing anymore and she didn’t like the idea of him doing such a dangerous job. She felt as if she’d come to know him in the past month by living in his house and talking back and forth through emails. He even called once, although the connection had been so bad they hadn’t had the chance to say more than a few words.

  Hitting reply, she hoped he’d get her message before moving on.

  Rick,

  Don’t worry about the light. I’ll take care of it. Hopefully you’ll be back in time to eat some of the veggies I’m planting. I’m looking forward to weeks and weeks of complete idleness. Aren’t I lazy? Actually, I’ve vowed to do a bit of housecleaning as well. Do you mind if I touch up a few rough patches with paint? I’m taking a long weekend with Jill at the beach, but don’t worry about Rex. We got a hotel that allows pets. Figure he’ll love chasing the waves. Please be careful. Say hey to Wes.

  Kate

  Leaning back in the office chair, Kate sighed and made a decision. This was going to be the Summer of Kate. This was her time and she was bound and determined to make good use of it. “Call me Sandra Dee,” she said to Rex, recalling Olivia Newton John’s makeover in Grease. “A whole new me,” she vowed with a smile. “And who knows? Maybe by the time Rick comes back, I will be in his league. Stranger things have happened,” she added with a giggle. She hit send before silently toasting herself and taking a long sip of her cold beer.

  Chapter 3

  Late August

  Rick dragged himself into the dreary motel room he’d been calling home off and on for the last two months. They had a break in the case late yesterday and he and Wes managed to squeak in a couple days off. Even though they couldn’t go home, they could relax for a bit.

  Logging on to his laptop, he immediately checked his email. He knew it was silly to look forward to Kate’s little messages, but he found himself impatient to hear from her since she was his one connection to Madison, a place he now considered home. He and Wes had been Madisonites for four years and given the smallness of the town and the fact everyone in it seemed to operate as one big, happy, dysfunctional family, he felt as though he’d lived there forever.

  It was too dangerous to call right now, so he was forced to limit his communication to the computer. He grinned like a fool when her name appeared on the screen.

  Rick,

  Back from the beach. Got a major sunburn. Rex had the time of his life. My tomato plants and green beans are producing more than I can eat. I’ve joined a gym with Jill and have lost eight pounds! We’re going shopping next weekend to celebrate. Zack the Rat slithered back into town with his slutfriend, Soozan. God, who spells Susan like that? What a dimwit! Guess what? The hated house sold! I’m not a pauper anymore and can actually afford my own place once you return. School starts back next week, so no more laziness for me. Be careful. Say hey to Wes for me.

  Kate

  Rick fought back a grin at her words. He knew for a fact Kate was the furthest thing from lazy you could find. She’d begun to do little odd repairs and renovations within the house. Rick and Wes had spent much of their four years fixing up the outside of the house, the numerous outbuildings and the massive yard. Neither one of them had the inclination or the desire to actually attempt to decorate the place. Mercifully, Kate took pity on them. Originally Rick sent her some money to fix up the dining room after she’d made some suggestions of things she wanted to do—stripping the old wallpaper, painting, recovering the chairs, as well as purchasing new curtains and a rug. Once he saw pictures of the finished room, he sent more cash and encouraged her to have a go at the living room as well.

  Looking back, he couldn’t believe there was a time when he thought having Kate stay in the house was a mistake. He also couldn’t help but notice the Kate from these recent emails seemed different from the shy woman he’d met in May. He was pleased to see her emerging from her shell a bit. In each of her emails he sensed she was gaining some much-needed confidence. On top of that, the woman had a wicked sense of humor.

  His musings were interrupted by Wes stumbling into the room, his arms full of boxes of Chinese takeout. “Damn, I’m sick of eating this crap.” He unloaded the food on the table. “I’d kill for some of the food Kate is growing at the house. Nothing like a tomato fresh from the vine.” Wes looked over and noticed the open laptop. “Get an email from Kate?”

  Wes was also growing fond of Kate’s correspondence.

  “Yeah,” Rick answered. “She says hey.”

  Wes laughed at the comment—a standard in every email. “How’s Rex?”

  “Great. Apparently he loved the beach.”

  “Shit,” Wes muttered. “My dog’s having a better summer than I am. What else did she say?”

  “Zack the Rat’s back in town with Soozan and Kate managed to sell the house.”

  “
Good for her!” Wes cheered. “Jill said the jerk was going to end up putting her in the poor house if he didn’t come back soon and face up to his responsibilities. You wouldn’t believe what the monthly payment on that monstrosity he called a house was.”

  “I knew he’d come back. Man seems to think he’s the God of Madison.”

  “Yeah well, like the King of Pop, I think that title is self-proclaimed.” Wes changed the subject while unloading the food. “The fair ladies of Madison will be happy to have the hairdresser from hell back.”

  Rick chuckled at Wes’s use of Kate’s nickname for Soozan. “Yep, Farrah Fawcett do’s for the young ladies and beehives for the older set. We better make sure to get laid before we head home.”

  Rather than laugh at his comment, Wes shook his head. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I’ve kinda got my eye on one of those girls back home.”

  “You’re kidding.” Rick studied Wes’s face and was surprised to see that his friend was not. “Who?”

  “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies,” Wes answered enigmatically.

  Rick sat silent for a few moments, trying to think of a woman in Madison who could actually catch the discerning eye of his best friend. In twenty years of friendship, Rick could count on one hand the number of times Wes claimed a serious interest in a woman and even with that, he had several fingers left over. Most of the time, Wes was the sought-after party and all he had to decide was if he felt like getting caught for a little while.

  Aware Wes wouldn’t say another word about the subject, Rick pointed back to the computer. “It sounds like Kate’s getting back on her feet. She’s lost weight too.”

  Wes frowned. “She didn’t need to lose weight.”

  “How the hell could you tell that?” Rick asked. “Only time we saw her, she was covered from head to toe in that huge t-shirt and baggy jeans.”

  Wes shrugged. “I don’t like thin women. You know that. More cushion for pushin’, I say.”

  Rick found himself uncharacteristically angry at Wes’s chauvinistic comment and had a sudden uneasy feeling the woman Wes was pining over was Kate.

  Shaking himself, Rick knew it was irrational to be livid at the thought of Wes thinking about Kate in any way even remotely sexual, yet he was. Wes never seriously committed to any woman and he was uncomfortable with the idea of Wes possibly using and then hurting Kate just as she was getting back on track. Somewhere in the midst of all her emails, Rick had begun to think of Kate as someone he could become friends with. Maybe even more than friends.

  He’d noticed over the past couple months Wes seemed to share a bit of Rick’s fascination with their house-sitter. Not that it mattered much. Neither one of them could do a damn thing about their interest in timid Kate, no matter how unlikely that attraction seemed. First of all, Kate was still basically a stranger—a married stranger—despite their long-distance correspondence. Secondly, she was definitely not the type of woman either one of them had ever given a second glance in the past. Rick couldn’t imagine Kate trying anything more adventurous in bed than the missionary position, let alone bondage or a sexy spanking. Finally, there didn’t seem to be an end in sight to this investigation and it could be winter before they made it back to Madison. At which point, Kate would move out and on with her life.

  Rick wished that thought didn’t leave him feeling so strangely empty.

  Wes interrupted his musing. “Look what I found at the convenience store across the street.” In his hands was the latest erotic thriller by Kay Knight. He and Wes discovered the author’s books a couple years earlier and had read every single one of them.

  “Hot damn,” Rick said, relieved to have something other than the case and Kate to occupy his mind. “Hand it over.”

  “Nope,” Wes replied. “I bought it so I get first dibs.”

  “You take forever to read a book.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Wes joked. “I simply prefer to savor the story. Unlike you, I don’t gobble it up in one sitting.”

  “Which is why you should let me read it first. I’ll have the thing knocked out by morning.” Rick couldn’t help but wonder about his favorite author, the mysterious Ms. Knight. There was never a picture of her in the back of the books or even a biography. He tried to do a search for her once on the web, but apparently Kay Knight, a pen name, preferred her anonymity—and Rick could understand why. No doubt if her identity was ever revealed she’d have horny men lined up around the block to her house. Her bedroom scenes were some of the hottest he’d ever read.

  “Fine.” Wes gave in so easily Rick knew he’d never intended to read the thing first anyway. “I need to do a bit of research on the Internet tonight and there’s no point in trying to read it when I know you’ll be hovering over me every minute telling me to hurry up.”

  Wes tossed the book to Rick, who grabbed chopsticks and a carton of Kung Pao shrimp and settled in for a good, long read.

  Only problem was, thanks to Wes and his damned comments about Kate’s attractive figure, he found himself picturing himself as the passionate master and his innocent house-sitter as the willing submissive…

  * * * *

  He walked into the house and Kate was waiting for him in a sheer nightgown that left very little to the imagination.

  “Get down on your knees,” Rick demanded.

  “Yes Master,” Kate answered, quickly kneeling before him, her head bowed.

  Rick could sense her excitement in the soft tone of her lilting voice and see her desire as her luscious nipples became instantly hard beneath the flowing material.

  “What do you want, Kate?”

  “I want to suck your cock, Master. Please.”

  “Then do it.”

  Kate reached up to relieve him of his jeans, but Rick grabbed her wrists. “Oh no, my sweet slave. No hands this time. Put them behind your back and clasp your fingers.”

  Kate looked up at him, her light blue eyes sparkling with desire as she followed his command. Slowly, she leaned forward and grasped the zipper of his jeans with her teeth. As she tugged it down, Rick took a steadying breath in an attempt to calm the racing of his heart at the image of her working to free him from the tight denim.

  It took several minutes and plenty of frustrated curses before Kate was able to work the top button free. Rick, unable to prolong her torture—and ultimately his as well—grasped the waistband and pushed his jeans and boxers down together.

  “Yes,” Kate hissed, leaning forward and greedily engulfing his length in one quick movement.

  Lightly gripping her head, Rick guided Kate back and forth on his rock-hard cock, directing the speed and the depth at which she took him.

  “Deeper, angel,” he whispered, suddenly desperate to feel the back of her throat. In only a few quick, hard thrusts, he was fighting back the impulse to climax. Too quick. The thought was soon washed away by the feeling of Kate’s tongue teasing the sensitive skin just below the head of his cock.

  “Oh yeah, baby,” he cried. “Just like that.” Unable to hold back any longer, Rick gave up the battle and spilled into her mouth. Kate swallowed every drop as he struggled to remain upright, the aftershocks of the most incredible blowjob of his life rumbling through his body.

  * * * *

  Repressing a shudder, Rick opened his eyes, startled to find himself in the hotel room. A quick glance across the room confirmed Wes was hard at work on the laptop and didn’t notice his rampant erection tenting the sheets.

  What the hell was that about?

  Tossing the book aside, he grabbed up his laptop and hit reply.

  Kate,

  Beach trip sounds like fun. Wish I’d been there. Wish I’d been anywhere but this godforsaken place. Been doing stakeouts for two weeks straight and still don’t have any solid leads. Feels like I’ve been away a lifetime and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Sometimes I wonder why I do this damned job.

  Ah hell, ignore me. I’m eating Chinese takeout for the fourth night i
n a row and watching Wes scratch his balls. It’s making me cranky. Have a great year at school and take it easy on the weight loss. You look just fine the way you are. Give Rex one of his favorite treats for me.

  Rick

  Chapter 4

  Late September

  Kate threw Rex’s leash down on the table by the front door and headed to Rick’s office with her bottle of water. She’d started running with Rex every day during the summer and what had started out as two brutal miles a couple months ago had gradually worked its way up to five invigorating ones.

  Clicking on the email, she smiled to see one from Rick hit her inbox. She hadn’t heard from him in a few weeks and she’d been getting worried. Regardless of his sporadic replies, she wrote to him daily. Usually little tidbits about work or the town or some funny thing Rex had done. She figured she was annoying the hell out of him, inundating his inbox with such worthless correspondence, but he hadn’t asked her to stop, so maybe he didn’t mind so much after all.

  She laughed out loud as she read his brief reply to at least a dozen different messages.

  Kate,

  What the hell do you mean you went out with Pete Simpson? Has Jill lost her mind? Why would she set you up with that guy? He’s so tight he probably superglues his wallet shut so he has an excuse not to open it. Tell Jill to mind her own damn business the next time she tries to hook you up with a loser.

  Rick

  Kate couldn’t believe Rick’s heated response. She’d written the man volumes and all he could do was yell at her for going on one disastrous date. Besides, she’d only mentioned the Simpson date in passing—one sentence, tops—within a much longer email.

  Grinning, she couldn’t help but wish his words were laced with jealousy rather than what she was sure was friendly concern. Obviously Rick was trying to keep her from making another mistake, like any good friend would do—and over the past few months she had come to consider him a friend. Still, it was fun to imagine Rick pea green with envy.