Page 41 of Falling for His Best Friend

‘The baby will be fine. Kitty is thirty weeks along,’ Cam argued.

‘I know but Kitty still needs to eat, rest and keep her strength up. I need her focussing on the baby, not on me. Just for a little bit longer. Please? And if we tell her now she’ll want to move back in to be with me, and I think she should stay with Joe. Their relationship is only new. I don’t want this news to jeopardise that for her. She’s going to need Joe’s support.’

‘OK,’ Cam agreed, ‘but if you decide you’re going to start radiotherapy, we’re telling Kitty.’

Jess nodded. She’d agree for now to get her way and worry about everything else later.

* * *

Kitty put her key in the lock and let herself into Joe’s place. She was starving, and something someone in the building was cooking smelt fantastic. She’d just had her first day back at work after the assault, and was looking forward to seeing Joe. They’d spent every night and most of every day together for the past two weeks and she’d missed him today when she’d gone back to work. It was good to be home.

Home.

This wasn’t home. It was familiar and she’d spent plenty of time here, but it wasn’t home. But it was starting to feel like it.

Could it be?

No. She shook her head as she closed the door. Joe wasn’t the settling-down sort. She knew he didn’t believe in serious commitment. He’d always said serious was not for him. She wondered, once again, if they’d made a mistake by sleeping together. Had they complicated their relationship? Was she risking their friendship for what could only be a dalliance? Joe wasn’t going to make a long-term commitment. Not to her, not to anyone, and yet that was what she desired more than anything. There was no way she was going to survive if she ruined her relationship with Joe. He was too important. She wondered how they would get through this. Who would leave first?

It didn’t bear thinking about.

She dumped her handbag on the chair by the front door as Joe stepped into the foyer. He was smiling at her and she promptly forgot all her concerns. His smile had always made her feel better and now it made her feel special.

‘Hey, how was your day?’ he asked as he greeted her with a kiss.

She could get used to this, she thought. ‘Work was OK, but I missed you,’ she replied honestly. Just because she knew they ultimately wanted different things was no reason to pretend she felt differently.

‘I missed you too,’ he said. His ran his left hand over the curve of her buttock as he nuzzled her neck, kissing the side of her throat.

She leant into him. ‘What did you do all day?’

‘I rang work to see when I can go back.’

Kitty straightened up and looked Joe in the eye. ‘You remember the surgeon said six weeks minimum, don’t you? It’s only been just over two.’

‘Yes, but I thought I’d be able to do some office work. There always seems to be someone on light duties, I figured it’s my turn now. I’ll go crazy stuck at home alone now that you’re back at work.’

Kitty loved the idea that he was missing her, that he was lonely without her. Maybe this relationship could work. ‘I start maternity leave in four weeks. I’ll be around constantly then. You might get sick of me.’

‘I don’t think so,’ he said as he pulled her back towards him and kissed her again. ‘But work said they’d find me light duties if the surgeon gives me clearance, so I made an appointment with her for next Tuesday. I thought I’d hitch a lift to work and the hospital with you that morning. I checked your roster and you’re on an early.’

‘Sure,’ Kitty said, just as her stomach rumbled.

Joe put his arm around her shoulder and led her into the apartment. ‘And I also made dinner.’

‘Dinner? How?’ she said as she looked at his splinted arm.

‘All right, I admit, I didn’t make it but I ordered in. Indian takeaway. It’s in the oven, keeping warm.’

‘That’s our dinner I can smell?’

‘Yep. Butter chicken, rogan josh, garlic naan and rice.’

Kitty had eaten plenty of curries while she’d been pregnant. She’d found meat was more appetising when it was harder to recognise and she wondered if the baby would grow up with a taste for curry. ‘You’ve been busy.’

Joe broke into a wide smile. ‘Yep, but not too busy to avoid thinking about all the things we could do together when you got home.’ He stepped behind her and kissed her earlobe as he slid his left hand under her shirt and cupped her breast.

Kitty’s knees wobbled and heat pooled low in her belly as her nipple peaked under his fingers. She forgot about work. She forgot about the baby. Forgot about dinner and all her reservations about the future. She was only hungry for one thing now.

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