Page 20 of Her Braun
The first coat went on easily, the paint roller he used was a good one and he made quick work with it. Being tall did have its benefits in matters like this, but it was the trim work at the bottom of the wall that posed a problem. Still, he was able to get a second coat on and while it dried, he'd taken some time checking the doors and locks. The house had indeed been built back in Nineteen Hundred, and that meant that taking care of her security and shoring up her safety wasn't going to be as simple as changing the locks.
The doors would have to be changed out and the door frames as well.
And that, he'd put on the list for things to address with her when she got home.
It wasn't just because he liked her, he wanted women to be safe in their homes.
It was why he'd started buying properties and turning them into safe places for women to live and rent. He'd rented to Pilar when she'd first come to Center City, and he was still renting to a number of first responders in the area.
He could do more in that vein if he wasn't working twenty-four hour shifts at the firehouse, but he couldn't give that up.
He had a responsibility to his truck crew, to the house, and to the people of Center City.
His phone trilled an alarm telling him that it was time to check on the paint in the bedroom.
As he walked back in, he had to admit that he was a little disappointed that there hadn't been any of her 'underthings' in sight. Not that he would have touched them, but he was kind of curious what she liked to wear.
Still, he had a feeling he might see them eventually.
God, he hoped so.
But before that. He had to talk Kay into letting him give her home some tender loving care. It was an old house, but those were the houses that he loved the most. It could be the perfect refuge for a woman who gave so much of herself to others.
He had the skills to make this house everything she wanted. He just needed her permission to do it.
FOUR
By the timeKay pulled into her driveway she was exhausted.
Again.
The driveway was wide enough to fit two cars, something that she hadn't really thought about until she pulled in beside Gibson's truck. Seeing the name painted on the side, she smiled and managed to peel herself off of the driver’s seat of her car.
Her intent had been to take him out to dinner and thank him, but at the moment, all she wanted to do was go inside and plant her face in bed and fall asleep.
If she got that far.
Sometimes when she got home, she made it to the couch and fell asleep there. It's why she had a cell charger on the table beside it.
But she wasn't going to be alone today.
With an in-drawn breath she put a happy smile on her face and pushed the door of her Tahoe open. She could fake energy for a little while. Right?
The kitchen door of her house opened, and Gibson was there. He was tall enough to fill the doorway, and his shoulders were broad enough that she couldn't really see past him into the kitchen.
For just a moment she took in the sight of him and tried to commit it to memory.
Having a home, a real home instead of just a house, was a dream of hers, but the years she'd spent in medical school had changed her dreams. She wanted to be a good doctor. A doctor her patients could count on.
And the doctors she worked with had solidified her beliefs that she wasn't likely to have a family in her future. Doctor Webb's son was working as a firefighter on truck forty-two along with Gibson, but Russell and his dad had a difficult relationship. Callen and Russell's mother were divorced, and it had been a rough divorce. Lots of court hearings that the staff had heard about, but Kay didn't hear any stories about the divorce. She didn't want to hear all of the gory details.
She'd learned all she wanted to know by the cold freeze between father and son.
She didn't want to be married with children and have the whole world fall in on her.
It was impossible to think about having a child and then only spend part of her time with them.
That, and she couldn't imagine what it would be like to have her child hear nasty things from the other parent.
