Page 42 of Heal Me
Kate had been about to protest since she’d only been teasing, but he’d already hung up. Suddenly energized by the thought of showering with Ric, Kate turned the ignition and started for home.
*****
When Kate pulled into her driveway, Ric was already there, leaning on a silver Jeep SUV. She hadn’t seen him dressed up before and as he stood with one hip resting against the car in a charcoal gray suit with a white shirt and a loosened black tie, anyone would’ve mistaken him for a fashion model or the successful, rich and powerful investment banker that he was.
What the hell was she doing? He was way out of her league; besides, she had nothing in common with this Ric Stanford. She preferred him in sweats.
His eyes looked more silver than blue in the evening light and the stern expression on his face made him seem formidable and sexy as hell. But when he smiled at her, the warmth in the expression made him look even sexier to her. She forgot about the powerhouse suit.
He grabbed his crutches and started towards her. “Hi. You look very pretty for someone who had her arm up a cow’s crotch.”
Kate laughed as she met him at the front door. “Thanks but you were standing down wind. You look fantastic. Very sharp.” She took a big sniff. “And you smell good enough to eat.”
The meaning of her words did not escape him as his lips broke into a smile that promised sex. “Thank you. I clean up pretty good.”
The dogs met them at the door and Daisy wasn’t a bit shy about greeting Ric this time. She wanted to jump on Ric and give him doggie kisses, but Kate kept her down so that she didn’t knock Ric over.
“I’d say that you have a new girlfriend,” Kate teased him as Daisy fawned over him.
Ric petted Daisy, keeping his bad leg well away from her. “I love you, too, Daisy. You’re such a pretty girl.”
He followed Kate out to the kitchen. She opened the back door and let the dogs out into the huge fenced in yard.
A loud, raucous screech made Ric jump. “What the hell was that?”
“You never got introduced to Manny, my Amazon parrot. He’s letting me know that he’s hungry. You want to meet him?” she asked.
“Sure.”
“Fair warning: he swears. It’s Phil’s fault,” she said, leading him into a room off the kitchen.
A huge cage stood on the far side of the room and a big, blue, green, orange, and purple parrot regally stood on a tall wooden perch.
“He’s huge,” Ric said. “He’s gorgeous. Hi, Manny.”
“Screw you,” Manny said.
Kate and Ric laughed at the parrot’s rude greeting.
“I guess he’s not impressed with me,” Ric said.
Kate started filling Manny’s food dish. “Well, he’s the only one. He loves attention, but he says bad things.”
Manny moved closer to Kate and let out a wolf whistle. “Hey, sexy.”
“Hey, handsome,” she responded, petting his head.
He purred like a cat, making Ric laugh.
Kate finished feeding Manny and shut the cage door again. “Manny has an impressive repertoire. Okay. Behave. I’ll come see you later.”
“Later, gator,” Manny agreed.
“Let me fill the dog dishes and I’ll be ready to take that shower,” Kate said. “In fact, why don’t you start upstairs and I’ll be right there?”
*****
“Sounds like a plan,” Ric said, thinking that Kate looked adorable in her denim overalls, a Tweety Bird T-shirt, and a beat-up Nike ball cap.
