Page 12 of Unruly Kris

Cath narrowed her eyes and gestured to him with her fork. “Like I said last night, I can be the judge of that.”

“Woman, you’ve been making me rest for weeks, take your own advice for once,” He sat down and pushed the plate towards her. “Eat your breakfast.”

For the first time, Cath was awake enough to realize he used his injured arm to accomplish the task at hand. It was the first time since the accident she had seen him without his sling, a welcome sight, if not a concerning one. “What’s going on here? And you’re lecturing me on taking care of myself?”

“I have permission from the doctor.” Kris took a sip of his coffee and then carefully stretched his arm out in front of him. “I saw her yesterday remember? I told you I had an appointment scheduled. She wants me to start taking short breaks from wearing it, to regain the flexibility in my joints.”

“And you thought flipping pancakes was a good start.” Cath teased but inwardly, a flare of guilt burned across her stomach, making her feel anxious and unsettled. With everything going on at work, the fact he had a doctor’s appointment totally slipped her mind. It was a swift and brutal reminder of how sometimes a personal life didn't mesh with her life as a soldier. They were two very different coins she was constantly juggling. The problem was she loved both, and it meant that she was constantly in danger of letting one side hit the floor to protect the other.

With a sigh, she finally tackled the plate in front of her as her stomach growled in protest. With her fork poised above the plate, she stopped and stared at it curiously, the pancake in front of her was two toned with a star clearly visible on the top. Reaching for another, she was met with a Christmas tree. “What on earth…?”

“These are my famous Shadow Pancakes, Christmas edition.” He pulled a pancake decorated with a Santa hat onto his plate and began to layer it with fruit. “I figured you could use a good breakfast, plus they require a little bit of dexterity, so it was a good opportunity to kill two birds with one frying pan.”

“How did you learn to do this?” Cath took a bite, closing her eyes for a moment as the buttery sublime taste hit her. It seemed like it had been years since she enjoyed really good pancakes and he nailed them.

“I can’t give away all my secrets,” he chuckled and refilled both their coffee cups. “I need reasons for you to keep me around.”

“I can think of one really good one,” Cath gave him a look from under her lashes and took a sip of her coffee. “But I’ll settle for you telling me where we are going and what you have planned for tonight. You mentioned shopping? Do you need something for your sister? Your mom?”

Kris cut into his pancakes and took a healthy bite, taking his time answering her. “Not exactly, it’s for charity.”

“How does one shop for charity exactly?” Cath asked curiously. In her mind she was picturing a game show, competing celebrities playing shopping games to rack up charitable contributions.

“You’ll see,” he winked at her, and she could see from the look on his face he wasn’t going to tell her more. She loaded her fork and arched it back like she was going to flick it at him.

Reaching across the table, he picked up the can of whip cream and held a finger above the trigger. “Try it, and I’ll take great pleasure in covering you in whip cream.”

“You’ll ruin your robe,” she pointed out, using every ounce of self-control she had to sound serious.

“Not if you take it off first.” He sprayed some of the whip cream onto his fingers and held them out to her suggestively. Cath leaned across the table slowly, taking the offered digits into her mouth and sucking the whip cream off.

She watched the arousal flare in his eyes and sat back with a smirk. After a moment she rose from the table, brushing by him teasingly as she took her plate to the sink. She looked over her shoulder to where he sat, purposely adopting a casual tone, knowing it would drive him crazy. “So will the press be there?”

“Only for a little bit, early in the evening.” Kris rose and set his plate on the counter, coming to stand behind her. He wound his arms around her waist, hugging her close then pushed her hair over her shoulder, out of the way and kissed her neck. “Mmmm, I’ve missed being able to do this.”

“I’ll bet you have.” She leaned back against him as he slowly ran his hands up from her waist, cupping her breasts and teasing her nipples with the silk fabric of the robe. She playfully ground her hip off his, hearing his quick intake of breath and feeling his body respond as his cock hardened against her. “Has the doctor cleared you yet?”

“The hell with the doctor.” He tugged gently on the robe’s belt, letting it fall open. As she closed her eyes, he trailed a hand inside and stroked along the curve of her breast. She wanted him badly, and the temptation to just give in was right in front of her, as tangible as his hand against her skin. Still after overhearing his earlier conversation, and knowing he was still in pain it wasn’t something she was going to risk. Fooling around in the shower previously had been pushing it enough. With regret, she gently stilled his hand. They waited this long, a few more days would be frustrating but wouldn’t kill them.

She turned around, winding her arms around his neck, and kissing him. After a moment she gently disengaged and pulled a stern expression. “In this house, we follow orders.”

He leaned his head against her shoulder, and she stroked the back of his neck tenderly. A moment passed and then he sighed a discontented sigh. “I’m sorry.”

“That was a joke Kris, don’t apologize.” She pulled back to look at him and ran her fingers along his jaw. “You’re still in pain, I just don’t want you to hurt yourself. We can wait, I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you.”

“You’re right, I know you are.” He moved to lean against the counter beside her and gave her a crooked smile. “I guess I’m just pushing hard to get back to normal again.”

The entire exchange of words smacked of irony considering that “getting back to normal” did mean he would be going somewhere. Once he was healed, he could return to living in LA at the condo and they would be back to traveling to see each other whenever they could. Cath found the idea of going back to separate homes gave her an uncomfortable weightless feeling in her stomach; like she was freefalling into the unknown and the bottom was approaching faster then she would have liked.

“Tell you what,” She pushed the emotions aside, and bumped her hip against his gently. “Why don’t I go get dressed and we’ll go for a run? See how your ribs do with some moderate cardio before we put you through full on calisthenics?”

“If I do, you promise to give me a full body workout when we can?” Kris crossed his arms and pouted dramatically.

“And then some.” Cath teased her fingers up his arm then leaned up close to his ear and whispered in great detail exactly what she planned to do to him once they could.

“Cath, you’re killing me here.” He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose between fingers.

“Oh sweetheart, that wasn’t a kill shot, not by far.” She pushed away from the counter and began to saunter back towards the bedroom to get dressed.

---