Just Good Friends (23 page)

Hand and mouth stopped as she moaned. “You aren’t even
trying. Concentrate.”

“Koti, wait. No,” she protested as he began to move again.

“No?” he asked, looking up. Moved his hand again.

“Oh, no,” she moaned. “Don’t stop. Please.”

“Going to try harder?” he asked her sternly. “Because so
far, you aren’t impressing me.”

“Oh,” she sighed. “Yes. I promise. Please. I’ll try.”

Fifteen minutes later, he looked up reproachfully. “You have
no self-control. All this stopping and starting. What am I going to do with
you?”

“We need to stop,” she gasped, her body shuddering. “I can’t
do this. You’re killing me.”

He smiled. “Just a bit longer. Try harder. You need a bit
more discipline, that’s all. And I reckon I’m the man to give it to you.”

In the end, she couldn’t help herself. As she began to cry
out, she felt his hand close tightly over her mouth. The effect, after the
exquisite torture of the preceding minutes, was too much, and she lost herself
in wave after wave of the most intense sensation of her life.

“That’s it. I can’t take any more,” she moaned as he finally
came up to join her.

“Oh, I think you can,” he assured her. “Never mind. I know
how to keep you quiet now. Come on, baby. Open up for me.”

With a sob, she did as he asked. And found herself lost again.
Her eyes opened in shock as he began to talk softly in her ear, telling her
what he was doing, all the things he wanted to do. She began to spiral again,
taking him up with her. When they finally went over the top together, his hand
was covering her mouth again as he pressed his own face into the pillow,
muffling his shout of triumph.

She lay against the pillows, spent and stunned. “You are one
nasty man,” she said at last. “I can’t believe you said those things to me.”

“Reckoned it was time to see how you liked it. I’m no
expert, mind, but I’d say you liked it a lot. I think you like my hand over
your mouth, too. You’re a pretty bad girl yourself.”

“And if you still feel eight years old after all that, you
must’ve been some precocious child,” she told him severely.

“Mmmm. I think I can stand up to my sisters now,” he agreed,
leaning over to kiss her. “All I’ll need to do is look at you, imagine what we
just did, and I’ll feel like a man again.”

“Great. Every time you look at me tomorrow, I’m going to
turn red.”

“Yeh. That’ll be fun too.”

“We’d better be off soon,” Grace said reluctantly the next
morning, standing to clear the table of the bacon and egg breakfast she had cooked
for all of them. “I have prep to do for tomorrow.”

“What kind of prep is that?” Kate asked curiously.

“Didn’t Koti tell you?” Grace asked in surprise. “We’re
teachers. All of us. Joy, Hope and myself, and Mum too. Our boy here’s the only
one who escaped.” She bent to kiss the top of his head as he rolled his eyes at
Kate and she stifled a laugh. “His talents lay in other directions, didn’t
they.”

“I’ll bet he did well in school too, though,” Kate objected.
“Didn’t you?” she asked Koti.

“Pretty well,” he acknowledged. “Went to Uni. But I was
playing rugby as well, and it got too hard to do both. Only did a couple of
years.”

“It seems to me he has plenty of talents,” Kate said to
Grace. “But something else came up that was a better choice for him at the time.”

Grace looked from one to the other of them in surprise, a
plate in each hand.

“Good on ya, Kate,” Hope chimed in. “We’re not used to
thinking of him that way. But I wouldn’t care to have one of my students
pigeonholed like that, come to think of it.”

“I do it too,” Kate admitted. “Koti called me on it once. Remember?”
she asked him. “It used to take me by surprise when he’d say something
insightful. Sometimes it’s not so easy to be pretty. People tend to
underestimate your brains, I think.”

“Oi,” he complained. “Sitting right here, aren’t I. And I’m
not pretty.”

The three women looked at each other and laughed. “Sorry,”
Kate told him with a grin. “But your public disagrees with you. We could call
you gorgeous. Would that be better?”

“No,” he scowled. “Talk about something else.”

“Let’s talk about getting back to the kids,” Hope decided,
ever the peacemaker. “Thanks for letting us descend on you, love,” she told her
brother, leaning over to kiss his cheek. “And for giving us the chance to meet
Kate.”

She stood and told her sister, “Bet we can leave the
washing-up for these two. If I know Doug, there’ll be heaps of that to do at
home. May as well save my energy.”

“I see Hope knows how to get things done,” Kate told Koti as
they turned back into the house after waving good-bye to the sisters fifteen
minutes later. “All so diplomatically, too. Wish I could be more like that.”

“Never happen,” he said. “No worries, though. You have the
direct approach mastered.”

“Then I will directly tell you that I need to get home too.
I have a lot to do before the week starts up again.”

“Me too. Hemi’s agreed to watch game film with me today.”

“You asked him,” she realized with pleasure.

“Yeh,” he shrugged. “Reckon it can’t hurt. Get some pointers
about where I could improve my form. I talked to Drew as well. He’s giving me
some extra help at practice.”

“That can’t have been easy,” she said. “It must have taken
some guts.”

“It did,” he admitted. “But Drew made it easier. Thanked me
for my help with the baby, said he owed me. So I was able to slip that in
there.”

 “Guess I’ll see the effects next weekend. You’ll have to
tell me what to watch for. What you’re going to do differently. Not that I’ll
be able to tell if you do it. Maybe the announcers will pick up on it, though.
That way I can pretend I noticed.”

“We’re in Canberra for that,” he reminded her. “Which means
I’ll be gone from Thursday morning, on through to Sunday afternoon.”

“I’m glad we had this weekend, then. Surfing and . . . and everything.
I’m doing better, don’t you think? At surfing, I mean. Must be my coach.”

“That, and the pit bull in you. You don’t pike out, I have
to say.”

“Anything worth having is worth working for,” she agreed.
“That’s what my dad would say. That and, ‘Anything worth doing is worth doing
right.’ That last one is pretty much the accountant’s motto.”

“Remind me never to play board games with your family. Your
Scrabble evenings must be a nightmare.”

“It’s true,” she laughed. “How’d you know?”

“Wild guess. But here’s my question. Why not bring some
things over tomorrow after work, stay with me till I leave? We have some
serious catching up to do here.”

“Don’t you think it’s early days for me to be putting my
clothes in your closet? Going a little fast, aren’t we?”

“If it gets to be too much and you need your own space, you
can always go home for a night,” he pointed out. “Or start another fight, make
me toss you out.”

“Comforting. But I guess we can try it. I have to warn you,
though. I’m not much more of a cook than you are. I don’t want you to get your
hopes up and think you’re getting some kind of domestic goddess. I’m not like
your sisters. I can eat it. I just can’t make it.”

“Thought you were Italian,” he sighed. “Oh, well. Can’t be
helped. We’ll have to work together, I reckon. If we have an epic fail, there’s
always takeaway.”

“All right, then. You’re in charge of groceries, since
you’re off tomorrow. Buy what you can make, and you’ll probably stay within my
capabilities too.”

“Well, this didn’t work out too badly,” she told him on
Wednesday night, as he polished off his plate of pasta topped with the sausage
and pepper sauce they had prepared together. “We even made an edible dinner
every night. Who knew?”

“It’s been good,” he agreed. “And now you’ll get a break
from me, do what you like. Recover,” he said with a sly smile.

“Which probably means reading,” she admitted with a smile of
her own. “Or for some real excitement, watching a movie on TV. Maybe I’ll try
surfing on my own on Saturday, at one of the easier spots. You have a pretty
good idea what my frenetic social schedule is like. I’ll try to make time in
there to watch your game, though. Maybe I’ll see if Hannah wants company for
that, Saturday night. I’d like to see that baby again.”

“And speaking of schedules,” she went on, “why don’t I drop
you off at the airport tomorrow morning? That way I can drive straight in to
work afterwards.”

“Thanks. If you don’t mind picking me up on Sunday afternoon
too. I used to get a lift from Hemi, but his car’s chocka now, three bubs in
the back seat.”

“Kind of public, don’t you think?” she objected. “With the
whole team there?”

“Why? Can’t a friend give another friend a lift? I’ll want
to see you anyway. Plus, that way you can come home with me straight away, save
me a booty call,” he added with a grin.

“Oh, that’s just charming. How can I refuse, when you ask so
nicely?”

“I’m sure you could find a way. But I’d rather you didn’t. Come
on, Kate. Meet me. I’ll make it worth your while, I promise.”

“Oh, all right,” she grumbled. “I guess I’ll want to see you
too, by then.”   

Kate pulled into a space in front of the international
terminal and hastened inside. Traffic had been heavy. She hoped Koti wasn’t
through Customs already, and waiting for her. She was relieved when she entered
the arrivals lobby and spotted Hannah and Reka in the crowd. The team couldn’t
have arrived yet.

“Kate,” Reka said with pleasure. “You and Koti worked things
out then, I’m thinking.”

“We did. We had a fight,” Kate told Hannah. “Which of course
Hemi and Reka managed to witness.”

“If you’re going to have it in the footpath in the center of
Takapuna, someone’s bound to see,” Reka pointed out. 

“Doesn’t matter where you have it, I’d say,” Hannah smiled,
shifting the sleeping baby in her arms. “It’s like living in a fishbowl,
sometimes.”

“I haven’t met your kids before,” Kate said to Reka. “They
look like they keep you pretty busy.”

“Why, just because they’re jumping about like monsters?
Wonder why you’d think that. Ariana and Jamie,” she announced, indicating the
two dark, curly-haired children playing a hand-slapping game next to her. “And
this is Luke in the pushchair.”

The two-year-old in the stroller looked up at Kate with big,
solemn brown eyes. “Hello,” Kate told him with equal seriousness, giving his
little hand a shake. He giggled and looked away bashfully.

“I can see why you wouldn’t have room in your car for anyone
else,” Kate said.

“Heaps of room. We have a people mover,” Reka answered.
“Hemi claims he can feel his testosterone draining away every time he gets in.”

“A minivan,” Hannah explained.

“Oh.” Reka caught on, seeing the surprise in Kate’s face.
“Koti told you he needed a lift home, did he? That boy has more angles than a
geometry text.”

Kate laughed ruefully. “I should be flattered, I guess. But
you’re right. It can be hard to stay one step ahead of him.”

  “Somehow, I think you’ll manage, if anyone can,” Reka told
her with a satisfied smile. “Here they are, though,” she broke off, as the
figures in their blue warmup jackets began to appear in the entryway, duffels
slung over their shoulders, to a scattering of applause and cheers from the
crowd.

Hannah and Reka made no attempt to rush forward. “Wait a
bit,” Reka counseled Kate. “They’ll find us in a minute.”

Kate watched with surprise as a small crowd converged around
the players. Drew and Koti, she saw, attracted the most autograph-seekers,
though the other players came in for their share as well.

“This is mild,” Hannah told her. “There are always a few
diehard fans, though, who know the schedule and make the trip. Especially on a
Sunday like this. It’s much worse for the All Blacks.”

“I didn’t realize Koti was quite so popular,” Kate said
absently. “Not just the girls, either.”

“Heaps of those,” Reka laughed, as the phone cameras clicked
and Koti signed his name to the papers thrust in his path. “But the boys admire
his skills as well. The kids love him.”

  Kate’s breath caught a little in spite of herself as
Koti’s eyes finally met hers, the flashing smile spreading over his face. She
was dimly aware that Drew and Hemi had joined their families, but her attention
was all for the man approaching her, dropping his duffel to pull her into his
arms.

“Very friendly kiss,” she said as he put her down. “Oh,
well. What the hell.” She reached up to pull his head down again. “I missed
you.”

“And by the way,” she added, pulling back at last and doing
her best to scowl at him. “Nice try, but Reka’s just told me she has plenty of
room in her car.”

“Is that a fact,” he said. “Must have been misinformed. Or
maybe I just wanted to see my girl sooner.”

  Kate turned to hide the foolish grin on her face, and saw
Drew taking Jack from Hannah. She was touched at the sight of the baby, still
so small, being held against his father’s broad chest.

Drew looked up and caught her eye. “Grown since I left, eh,”
he said with a proud smile.

“I can’t believe how much bigger he is,” she agreed. “I came
over last night to watch the game, and I was impressed. He must have been doing
some good eating.”

“Takes after me, not his mum,” Drew said. “Probably for the
best.”

“I wanted to tell you two, while I had the chance,” Kate
went on. “If you need a date night or something, now that he’s grown a bit and
is doing so well, I’d be happy to come over and babysit. I think I know the
ropes now.”

Drew looked at Hannah, brows raised.

She nodded. “If it were just for an hour or two. It’d be
hard to leave him, but if it were Kate, and we stayed in St. Heliers, and we
had our mobiles . . .”