The Day They Met

Kate hobbled over to the couch and flopped onto it with a groan. “This is going to be the most exhausting six weeks of my life!”

Ted chuckled. “It will get easier to use them, and you will be able to get around a lot better very soon.”

“I don’t know…”

“I promise. Now, you need to get that leg elevated,” he stated with authority and went over to pull the coffee table over to the couch, putting a pillow under the cast.

Kate settled back on the cushions. It actually felt good to be sitting, and she leaned her head back and sighed. “Thank you!”

He looked at her and desperately wanted to kiss her, to feel those light pink lips against his.

He had to get control of himself! He was not some idiot teenager or horny twenty-one-year-old. He was a grown man, a mature adult.

But he was a red-blooded American man and horny as hell!

He smirked to himself as he cleared his throat. “Okay, I am going to get you something to eat and a drink so you can take the pain meds.”

She mumbled her acknowledgment, and he turned to find the kitchen to the right.

Ted walked into the kitchen area and saw a state-of-the-art kitchen with stainless steel appliances and a nice island with three stools.

The top cabinets were white, but the lower ones were a navy blue. The walls were in shades of blue, and while the effect could have been cold, she had managed to make it feel comfy.

All in all, it seemed like a great place to cook and eat.

Ted took off his suit coat and put it on the back of a chair then rolled up the sleeves of his shirt.

He rummaged in the fridge and found the fixings for a grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich with tomatoes and bacon.

He quickly whipped up two, feeling hungry himself after just having a small salad at the board meeting.

He jumped as he felt something brush his leg and looked down to find a sweet little calico cat looking up at him. He bent down, rubbed her behind the ear, and then went back to cooking.

He found some bottled water and fruit in the fridge. He cut up a mango and added some blueberries to a small bowl he found.

He flipped the sandwiches and found the cabinet with the plates and pulled two out. He grinned to himself as he saw they had the exact same white square plates.

He slid the hot sandwiches on the plates and spooned the fruit next to them. He carried both plates out and had the water under his arm.

He sat next to her on the couch and noticed how smooth her skin was and the few freckles that were sprinkled over her nose.

“Hey Katie, I have some food for you… Are you up to eating?”

She jumped a little at his words, forgetting that he was still there, and opened her eyes. “What are you, a ninja? I didn’t even hear you in the kitchen!”

“No, not a ninja since my son was about eight and we went trick-or-treating together. I don’t really like the tights.”

Kate laughed as she took a drink from the water bottle he offered. “Can you bring my purse to me so I can get a pain pill? I am really feeling the effects of the day.”

Ted found the purse and brought it to her. She watched him move and was turned on by the way his body moved and his muscles were stretched across his body, especially his back.

She swallowed the pill, thanked him, and took a bite of the melted sandwich and moaned.

Ted’s eyes went wide at hearing the throaty, erotic sound, and he wondered how else he could get her to make that noise for the rest of his life.

“This is a damn good sandwich! Thank you! You know just how thin to cut the tomato,” she complimented.

“You are welcome. I hope you don’t mind that I made myself one too. I was starving after my meeting today.”

“Of course not! I plan on taking you to dinner to thank you for being so kind to me. Just not tonight—I won’t be able to go into the restaurant without falling and looking like a fool!”

“That’s very kind of you, but you don’t have to do that. I was just being a gentleman.”

“Not every man—or woman for that matter—would be that nice, so thanks again.”

They ate in silence until the cat came in and jumped between them and meowed.

“Who is this? She greeted me when I was cooking.”

“This is Millie. I found her at the shelter two years ago and we have been together ever since. She was in a litter of kittens whose mother had been killed by another animal, so they were alone.

“She is a very sweet girl and a good companion.”

Ted watched her talk and saw the love in her eyes for the animal next to her. It was the first time the pain wasn’t there, and he was pleased to see that.

“So, can you tell me how you got in this situation, Katie?”

She raised her eyes at the Katie comment. She hadn’t heard that in years, not since her grandparents were around. They were the only ones that called her that, but she liked hearing him say it.

“Well, see that staircase right there? That goes up to my painting studio where I will sometimes paint for fun or try out different techniques that I hear about with different materials.

“Anyway, I left my sketch pad up there and was going to work on this project that I was hired for, and when I came back down, I slipped down the last four stairs and hit my leg just right.

“That’s how I ended up at your hospital. The bruise that I am going to have on my butt is going to be epic!”

Ted chuckled. “Okay…but how did you get to the hospital?”

“I used the stairs to pick myself up and knew I had done something good to my leg based on the scraping and bruising that had developed so quick, plus the pain.

“So I used the wall to stumble into my store front and called for an Uber,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

He just looked at her, in awe of how independent she was. She looked so small in stature, but he rapidly realized that she was a giant in her actions.

But a part of him still wanted to help her, and he didn’t know how to do that without insulting her independence. Plus, he just wanted to be around her; to touch her and talk to her.

He took his hand and placed it on her leg, feeling the warmth of her skin, and the shock of them touching. “You are a really amazing woman, Katie. Truly.”

She blushed again and felt her heart rate increase as he touched her.

She was trying to stop her heart from beating out of her chest from his touch. It created warmth that she had never felt before, and it slightly unnerved her.

She let him leave his hand on her leg and needed to see how long he left it there as they talked and got to know each other.

They each asked questions of each other before Kate launched into more personal questions.

“So, you mentioned a son…”

“Yes, I have a son, Kyle, who is twenty-three and a daughter Abby who is twenty-one. They are both good kids, if a little spoiled. Abby lives with her best friend down by the beach while working at a local bakery, and Kyle lives with his mother.”

“And their mother?”

“She lives with whatever flavor of the month she may have in her bed.”

“Oh… Divorced?”

“Yep. Found her in the laundry room of the hospital screwing an orderly almost six years ago. It was a great day.”

“Ouch. What does she do?”

“She is a dermatologist, sometimes working at the hospital for bigger procedures.”

“Wow, that must be awkward.”

“It can be, but I really just push past it or try to. We weren’t happy for a couple of years before that; I just didn’t know she was messing around on me…

“Enough about me, what about you? You said no boyfriend.”

Kate sighed. “Yeah, he didn’t like that I was so successful right out of college because of a design contest I won. We only made it about two years after graduation…”

“But there hasn’t been anyone else since then?”

“Um…do you really want to be talking about my past relationships?” Kate asked incredulously

Ted smirked at her and licked his lips. “Oh, I want to know everything, Katie!”

She swallowed when she understood his double meaning and her eyes went wide. “You do?”

“Oh yes, I want to know everything about you, Katie. Including if your lips are as soft as they look,” he huskily said as he leaned in closer and closer until he gently pressed his lips to hers.

The fireworks that went off for both of them were unlike anything either had experienced before.