His hand moved lower onto her flattened abdomen. Just then Katherine’s stomach growled ominously. Jace chuckled, “Are you hungry?” He pulled away from her.
“Yes,” Katherine groaned, straining toward him. Th
e inches between them seemed to stretch into a gulf. “But not for food.”
“Come on,” he said getting up from the bed. “Let’s eat.” He pulled on a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt that covered only his shoulders and the top half of his chest, leaving his midriff bare. “I’ll be offended if you don’t do justice to my highly acclaimed spaghetti sauce.”
“I’d rather stay in bed,” whined Katherine.
“So would I, but from now on, Mrs. Manning, I’m going to make sure that you retain a high energy level. You expend it in such a marvelous way.” He grabbed her arm and dragged her up to her knees on the side of the bed. He buried his face in her neck as he held her close, moving his hands up and down her back.
“Katherine?”
“Hmm?”
“Do me a favor?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Wear that shirt you had on the first day I came here. Your painting shirt. Tie it up the way you had it then. Okay?”
She pulled away from him and looked into the glinting blue eyes. “That’s the favor?” she asked.
“Not all of it,” he admitted mischievously. “Don’t wear anything else except bikini panties.”
“Jace!” she huffed. “That’s indecent.”
“So? I’m not going to tell anybody. Are you?”
“You’re incorrigible,” she whispered, planting a kiss in one of the dimples beside his mouth.
“And you love it,” he answered huskily. Then he pushed her unceremoniously backward on the bed and said, “Hurry up. I’m hungry too.”
When Katherine joined him in the kitchen wearing the prescribed outfit, he turned to face her and appraised her lecherously. He came to her, folded her in an encompassing embrace, and kissed her thoroughly.
“That’s what I wanted to do that first day,” he said.
“That’s what you did that first day,” she reminded him dryly.
“Oh, yeah. I did, didn’t I? Well, good for me.” He grinned.
While the spaghetti was boiling, Katherine tossed together a salad, and Jace spread thick slices of French bread with garlic butter and popped them into the oven.
With an alacrity born of practice, he opened a bottle of red wine that he had put in the refrigerator earlier to chill. Miraculously, everything was ready at the same time and they sat down to eat their late dinner.
Was the meal especially delicious, or was it Katherine’s happiness that made it seem to be? They chatted continually. The meal stretched over two hours.
She learned that Jace would be thirty-three on his next birthday and what that date was. His middle name was Lawrence. They shared stories of their youth. Each learned the other’s likes and dislikes, prejudices, political inclinations, and personal philosophies.
When they were replete with spaghetti, salad, bread, and wine, Jace insisted that they each have a bowl of chocolate ice cream. As they companionably shared the chore of cleaning up, Katherine marveled again that he was able to eat so much and still retain a physique that sported not one ounce of fat.
They stood side by side at Allison’s crib, arms around each other’s waists, and felt drawn even closer by the commitment they shared to rear the child to be a responsible, compassionate human being. Katherine changed Allison’s diaper, but the baby didn’t awaken.
There was no question as to where Katherine was sleeping that night. She went with Jace into the other bedroom naturally and uninhibitedly. Before she had time to straighten the linens on the bed, he had stripped out of his clothes and reached for her. With meticulous care he untied the knot under her bosom and pulled the shirt from her shoulders. She stepped out of her panties as they lay down together on the wide bed.
“I’m insanely jealous,” Jace said as he stroked her shoulder.
“Why?” she asked in a voice that sounded more like a contented purr.