a/n: Ahh, the other side of the door. I know I'm not the only one who didn't like the way the hot tub scene ended.
When she knocked on the door Ben had just gotten into bed, so he grabbed a pair of boxers and put them on, then got back into bed. "Come in, Kate."
She let herself in. Ben watched her as she crossed to the far side of the bed and sat down next to him, pulling her long bare legs - for such a short person, anyway - up close to her chest. His breath caught from her proximity and state of undress, not to mention the arousal her presence caused.
"Are you here to torment me again?" he asked.
"This is really hard, Ben." She was shaking.
"Okay," he smiled, "then I guess you're here to torment both of us. How can I help?" He put his hand on her back to calm her.
She chuckled and relaxed a bit, and she offered a hand for him to take. He took her hand in his and massaged gently. Neither said a word.
Finally, she broke the silence. "Ben, I don't know what you want. I hit on you several times and you keep saying no, but you kiss like you're saying yes. I call you on your visit to Leo's and you deny that you care. I know it's not like my high school boyfriend who wanted a cover girlfriend, but it feels too much like it some days."
"Is he how you learned not to trust yourself?" Ben asked gently.
"It's how I learned that things were not what they seemed, sometimes in important ways."
Ben said, "Remember how I said that small victories were better than none, and you said that wasn't true?"
Kate nodded.
"You were right. I'm not looking for small victories. I never do, but sometimes I console myself with them."
She released her hand from his tender ministrations, then leaned over and kissed him gently, and he returned her kiss in kind.
"Mmmm," he murmured as the kiss got longer and deeper.
She broke away for a moment, and Ben was afraid she was going to leave.
"Can I stay?" she asked.
"Can? Oh, I'm sure you're entirely capable of that. You certainly may stay, though."
"I hate lawyers," she teased.
"Really? Because I'd prepared this amazing set of oral arguments just for you."
"Ben, that is the cheesiest line I have ever heard, and that's saying something."
"Seems to be working," he said, noting her pulling back the covers on the other side of the bed.
"I'm getting in bed despite the line, not because of it." She stuck her tongue out at him, then nestled in under the covers.
"Is that your best oral argument?" he asked.
"No, but I'm not presenting mine just yet," she gloated.
Ben sat up, leaning on his elbow. "Are you really ready for this?" Ben asked, perfectly aware that she probably wasn't.
"Look, you arranged this whole thing - with Lauren, a private airplane, a swanky mountain lodge, hell, a Federal Court - so you could whisk me away and spend a couple of nights with me. So maybe it's not going to happen exactly the way you've hoped, but after you sat there and poured your heart out, you're going to get at least the letter of what you'd been seeking. I'm spending the night with you. In your bed. Deal with it." She pushed him back onto the bed.
Ben smiled. "Yes, ma'am." At least?
"Don't you ma'am me, Benedict Yancy."
"All right, Katherine."
"Call me Katie."
"You don't want me to call you tiger?"
"Tiger's okay."
"How about Catwoman?"
She thwapped him with a pillow.
"I'll take that as a yes."
"What do you really want to call me?" She teased.
Wife. The word entered his thoughts unbidden, and he didn't repeat it. His lips parted and he breathed deeply. He suddenly needed the extra air.
Ben wrapped his arms around her for strength.
"Wow," she said, "that must be some word." She placed her arms gently on his shoulders.
"Yeah." He stared past her. He was so screwed. She'd run back to Justin all over again. Ben knew he loved her. He'd known it since the day he went to Hayward just to catch her fall when Lea Farran's parole rehearing failed, as he expected it would. The kiss later that day was his fumbled declaration of love, though she didn't seem to understand it that way. Even though he'd thought about marrying her in an abstract way since then, he hadn't really realized that that's what he truly wanted. Until now. Hell, they hadn't even been on a proper date yet.
He recovered after a few moments and smiled at her. "At least, huh?" he teased.
"You asked me earlier when I lost my so-called virtue. I was twenty, and it was with Justin. We met in college. We weren't married, but we got married only a few weeks after we met."
Ben turned to look at her. "So he's been your only?"
"He has."
Which made him cheating on her that much worse, didn't it? He wasn't going to say that, but he stroked her face. "Now I understand why it's been so difficult for you to move on."
"That plus the feeling that if I give up, I'll have lost." She wouldn't admit it, but she liked winning as much as he did. They just cared about different outcomes, and his kind of winning wasn't her kind of winning. He could understand being a dogged jackass about a relationship after it was all but over, but he wouldn't bother trying after someone filed and served divorce papers like Justin had.
"I was seventeen, I've had four serious relationships," he mentally counted, "six that lasted longer than a handful of dates but weren't serious, and I never counted the one-night stands and brief relationships, of which I've had more than my fair share, but fewer than some men I know. In all but two cases, I was the person dumped. So I do have experience with that, alas."
"It's not the same."
"I know that. I win on quantity, not quality," he said sarcastically. "If you call that winning. I never married. I've never been with anyone longer than three years, and it's not the same as a relationship dissolving that's been a third of one's life."
"Plus the divorce filing was right before my dad died, so part of my problem is having to deal with all of that - and Lauren and my job - all simultaneously."
"That's a lot to deal with." Ben was still reeling from the word, and didn't notice Katie closing in until her lips were a millimeter away from his.
Ben looked into her eyes and said, "So I'm guessing you don't normally proposition men in bars or ask people in for revenge sex."
"Never," she said, touching his lips with hers ever so slightly. "Except for you."
A swell of hope washed over him, Kate's wave. He rolled slightly toward her, teasing her lips with his in an almost kiss.
"So what was that word that rendered Benedict Yancy Grogan speechless?"
He pulled back a bit. "Oh, no. You'd go running away at Warp 9."
She frowned. "No I wouldn't. But I could leave right now." She put her hands on his pecs as if to push him away.
He was torn. Either way, it'd be bad. She'd know if he lied, plus then she'd trust him less; she'd run if he told the truth. "I'll tell you in the morning, but only if you stay with me tonight. All night."
She studied his face for a full minute before answering. "Morning, then. Now kiss me."
His kiss started off with a smile, like the kiss in the elevator, and she returned in force. This time, there were no apologies, no forgetting things, no having to be somewhere else. There was only here, and now, and each other.
Still, Ben couldn't help wondering. Was it better or worse to seduce her now, then insist she make a choice between him and Justin? If she were just sleeping with Justin out of a need for sex, maybe he could woo her that way. He was sure he was a better lover than Justin. Once he'd seduced her, it'd be a lot easier to get her to leave Justin. He hoped.
Or maybe that was just some bullshit rationalization.
Her hands ran through his hair, sensation tingling all the way to his toes. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him, pressing her up against his erection. Katie let out a soft sigh of surprise.
"There's just one rule."
"Oh?"
"You sleep in my bed, you sleep naked. So do I."
"Mmm," she smiled. "Sounds fair." Her hands caressed his neck, then traveled down to his chest hair, where she started petting him like a cat. He purred in response, and she laughed.
He ran his hand down her side, running his finger along the the waistband of her thong as she moaned with pleasure.
"Do you normally wear a thong to work?" he whispered. "Not that I mind," he uttered sexily, his finger continuing onward.
"Wouldn't you like to know," she teased.
"Lawyers. Briefs. Professional curiosity," he smirked.
"If I had any extra hands, I'd hit you with a pillow," she said.
He chuckled.
She didn't say anything, but moved so his finger could continue tracing the boundaries of her panties, then kissed him again. When his finger got to the front, she shuddered and moaned.
"I half expected you'd be a breast man," she said, pushing him onto his back and straddling him before slipping off her tank top and dangling her breasts over his chest.
"I'm an 'all parts of Katie' man," he said, gently stroking her breasts, rolling her nipples in his fingers, kissing down her neck until she shuddered.
He gently rolled her to the side, moving down enough to take her nipples into his mouth. He slipped off her thong, and felt her slide his boxers down. He took a moment to take them the rest of the way off and drop them on the floor.
She started moving toward him and he slipped his hand down to her silky wetness, pushing her slightly away. She pushed back.
"Katie, trust me. Don't try to negotiate. Let me make love to you the way you need." She relaxed hesitantly.
He kissed her stomach down to her bikini wax line, then caressed her softly. He spread her legs apart, resting his head on her right thigh, and slid his fingers along her clit. She moaned, and he slid two fingers inside her, his lips descending into her silky wetness. He flicked his tongue until she shuddered and moaned with pleasure. She ran her fingers through his hair as she came, murmuring.
"Best oral arguments ever," she finally managed to whisper as Ben massaged her thighs. Then he started all over again, more slowly this time, her second climax longer and slower and harder.
"Oh, Ben," she said as soon as she recovered the ability to speak.
He moved up to hold her, pressing his erection against her stomach. "I hope you saved some for me," he said.
A sultry laugh came from the petite woman next to him. "Oh yeah." He rolled onto his back so he could reach into his briefcase. He brought a few condoms out of an inner pocket and tossed them on the nightstand.
"Big plans, huh?" she teased, rubbing his cock.
"Very. You do have an option, though. We could move into the living room in front of the fire, and I could bring out glasses of champagne."
"You're just trying to get me out of your bed, bucko."
Ben looked puzzled. "Or we could stay here," he recovered quickly, "but I do like the romance of fireplaces and nice carpets and quality spirits."
"Talked me into it," she said, kissing him. She picked up the comforter, grabbed onto his cock with her other hand, and led him into the living room before he could so much as kiss her. So. Hot. So many times, he'd hoped that her dragging or pushing him somewhere would lead to further touching, and this time it actually would.
He lit the fireplace then selected and poured champagne for the both of them, bringing the rest of the bottle in an ice bucket and putting it on one of the tables.
Kate had already moved the table to give them full use of the supersoft silk shag carpet. She lay there in naked splendor, lit only by firelight.
He handed her a glass of champagne, then settled next to her, grinning.
They toasted each other, and he ran his hand up the inside of her thigh.
"What, pray tell, would my Katie like to do next?"
She handed him a condom, then said, "be who you are and take me."
He donned the condom, then moved on top of her, using a pillow to position her at the best angle.
"You're shaking," he said, worried.
"I'm nervous, Ben. Take me anyway."
"Do you want to relax first? There's probably some massage oil around here. I'd love to do that for you."
"Last time I had a massage, I argued with the therapist and she asked me never to come back." Ben smirked. "So, are you willing to wait until the end of the universe?"
"No," he admitted, "so long as you're okay." She nodded. He thrust gently inside of her, feeling resistance.
"Oh God," she said, squirming with pleasure.
"Hmm?"
"You're bigger than. . . ." She didn't finish the sentence, but she didn't need to.
Ben chuckled. "I'll go slowly, then. Just relax, tiger." He adjusted their position slightly, then slowly slipped in deeper, causing more pleasurable moaning from her. Her sounds electrified him as he thrust slowly in and out, trying to keep himself from coming too early due to his own excitement.
He felt her tighten as he finally plunged fully inside. She sighed happily, then moaned.
"Just take all of me, Ben, over and over."
"Oh, Katie," he chuckled, "I don't need to take you because you're already mine." He felt the thrill rippling through her and kissed her again. "But I will anyway."
"You're that kind of guy," she said throatily.
"Mmmhmm."
He moved her hands to the side of her head and held them down with his own. "Push against me," he said, and he could feel her climax beginning. Her skin glistened with sweat in the light cast by the flickering fire. She was so hot, Ben could imagine steam rising up from her, and his own sweat hissing and vaporizing as it hit her body.
"You were mine when you returned my kiss in the elevator." He teased her lips with his own and kept her at the edge of orgasm as he thrust inside her.
"You were mine when you were worried about me and took me out to the dive bar and force fed me."
"You were mine when you came into my bedroom." He felt her quiver around him.
"You were mine when you kissed me tonight."
"You were mine when you asked if you could stay." Her breathing was heavy and rough.
"You were mine when you came for me tonight. Twice."
He whispered into her ear, "And you are mine right now."
"Admit it," he whispered, looking into her eyes.
She shuddered and said, "I'm yours, Ben. All yours." All her pent-up energy released at once, and she pushed hard against his hands for maximum penetration. He sped up slightly, penetrating her fully, taking every last bit of her as she moaned and gave herself to him, contracting around him in waves.
Then he thought what he would not say: he was already hers, not just in moments, but always. That thought alone brought him to climax along with her.
When they'd finished, he released her hands, holding her face with his hands and kissing her softly.
They rolled so that his back was to the fireplace and he remained inside her, his arms holding her. A small tear ran down her cheek, and he wiped it away with his thumb.
"Are you okay?"
"Perfect," she said, staring into his eyes.
"Just a minute," he said, and went to fetch a bag to put used tissues and condoms in, then settled back down with Kate in his arms.
#
She couldn't help looking at Ben, touching his face, joining him in a soft kiss, just trying to prolong the moments they'd had sharing themselves with each other.
Running her fingers through his hair, she said, "I've never felt anything like that."
He smiled and said, "that's because you've never really belonged to anyone before."
Kate frowned. She'd been married to Justin, but that's clearly not what Ben meant. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, Katie, you and I both like being control freaks of our own lives too much. But you have to let go sometimes. Everything you felt tonight was your feelings: how you felt about yourself, how you felt about me, how you felt about us. How willing you are to be vulnerable, and to fuck with abandon."
"Yes, you do that last rather well."
"As do you."
A few longing glances later, Kate again broke the silence and said, "Your former fiancée was crazy, by the way."
"Oh?"
"Anyone who would cheat on that kind of sex has got to be insane."
"Katie, there are people who are monogamous by nature, and there are people who are not. I am monogamous by nature, but she was poly. I kind of knew that all along, so it was my fault for not picking up on the clues earlier. She's probably far happier being in an open relationship with her husband, another man, and another woman. She never really belonged to me, no matter how much we tried to pretend otherwise."
"That sounds exhausting."
"I'll show you exhausting," he teased.
She'd already had three orgasms tonight, one more than she'd ever had in one night, but Ben showed no obvious signs of fatigue. She teased him by running her finger up and down his body, kissing him at random intervals. She then caressed him with her hair, then a mix of kisses and tongue.
He stretched out like a cat, absorbing every bit of attention she gave like a love-starved sponge, reaching out to stroke her hair, her hips, whatever he could reach that built her excitment without interrupting her flow.
She straddled him and leaned over him, looking into his eyes.
"Are you up for more?" she asked.
"I hope so," he said modestly as his cock voted yes. She felt the movement of his growing arousal brush her inner thigh, and a thrill of anticipation ran through her body.
She leaned back, reached for a condom, and slipped it on him, then positioned herself to take him.
"Show me what you do, Katie," he said.
After she mounted him, she moved more slowly, more carefully, taking in every look on his face, every sigh he made, every movement of his hands on her body. She'd always expected he would be a skilled lover, but she'd completely underestimated how his laser-like intensity would affect her. He never looked away, never closed his eyes except to blink, and she felt like he was looking deep into her heart.
His tenderness with his hands, his gaze, told her how much he cared for her, how much he needed her, and as her body began her orgasm, she knew what word he'd wanted to call her. It was written all over his face in the flickering firelight, and all she could do was smile and bask in the incredible warmth and tingling that shot through her entire body.
"Oh, God, Ben!" she yelled, and a humongous grin crossed his face as he joined her in climax.
After they'd untangled their bodies, she curled up in his arms. She felt a hundred miles wide in all directions, enveloping Ben and everything around them. After a few minutes, Ben looked at his phone. "We can still get five hours of sleep if we start now. Shower first?"
She suddenly became shy.
"Katie, I've touched every bit of you already, and I want to touch all of you again."
"Okay," she conceded. "We should also probably sleep in an actual bed rather than on the floor." They carried the bedding back to Ben's room, and he prepared the shower, dropping the paper bag in the trash can.
She took his hand and stepped in.
He lathered her body with his sandalwood-lime shower gel, gently washing every bit of her, his hands caressing everywhere. She moaned with pleasure. She'd never been bathed like this, like she was being - yes, that was it - worshipped.
Justin had never worshipped her.
He towel dried her and carried her to bed, then curled up next to her.
She said, "You know what I wish had happened when you kissed me in the elevator?"
"No, what?"
"I was so hoping you'd wait for me while I got my phone. I'd wanted to kiss you more, and then I'd probably have gone home with you. If I had any idea you were this amazing in bed, I'd definitely have gone home with you."
He leaned back to study her.
"That would have been nice." He leaned over to kiss her. "I'll make it up to you."
"You just did."
#
He woke before his alarm, dreaming about Kate and her tongue and his cock. He squirmed slightly from the arousal, then reached down to touch himself only to find Kate's hair. At that point, he wakened fully, and he found himself a hundred times more aroused by reality than he had been by his dream.
She took complete advantage of him, her tongue and hands knowing exactly what he needed, and he found himself climaxing before he'd even had a chance to say as much as hello.
"Oh, Katie," he finally managed.
She slid up into his arms.
"That was a very pleasant way to wake up, thank you." He beamed. "Are you sore this morning?"
She laughed. "Oh, a little bit, but I think with some coffee and ibuprofen, I should be able to manage a day's work."
He smiled at her and stroked her hair, kissing her gently.
Unfortunately, it was almost time for the talk he'd planned on the night before. The fear in the pit of his stomach would not go away.
Their conversation in the hot tub had cured him and wounded him all over again. He saw how passionately she believed in love, in how she believed in marriage despite having had one that failed. He'd been so wounded over his fiancée's betrayal, he thought he'd never believe in marriage again.
Yet, her belief encouraged him to pull her into the hot tub, to encourage him to take that next step, and, so help him, to want to marry her even though he knew she wasn't ready to hear it and he was far from ready to do it. But Ben was a man of his promises, and he had promised.
"Word," she whispered.
"Kate, the word I want to call you more than anything - I only realized it when you asked me to tell you last night."
"Oh?"
"That word is wife."
Kate stared openly for a full minute before answering. "Wow."
"I know. The only reason I'm telling you is because you were so insistent. This hasn't gone well for me before, and it scares the hell out of me. Your belief in marriage and love over this case made me rediscover my own."
She looked up at him and stroked his face. "You got this serious, but also cool, faroff look. It was very dreamy. I figured it out looking at you during that last orgasm."
"The one where you called me God?" Ben smirked. "Not that I mind, speaking of pet names."
She thwapped him with a pillow.
Pillow fights, movie nights, up gossiping until dawn. Well, half of one came true.
She curled up with him, putting her head on his shoulder.
He couldn't speak for several minutes; his throat was closing up. She seemed so ready to accept him wanting to marry her, and he wasn't expecting that at all. But if he wanted any chance of getting what he truly wanted, he needed to draw the line in the sand and stick with it.
"That was maybe the easy part of what I had to say, here's the hard part. Your thing with Justin, whatever it is: I'm not into open relationships. I'm not into being number two. I'm not into being number one of a group larger than one. I'm not into being the rebound guy."
She frowned, obviously hurt. "Then why have sex with me?"
"Because I'm deeply into playing unfair when it comes to getting what - or who - I want. So are you. But I do know you haven't looked happy. I do know you're trying to make yourself look available to me while you're sleeping with Justin, which is flattering on one level and insulting on another. I'm sure Justin would feel the same. I'm also betting you've never had sex as good as what we had last night. Ever. And that's why I played unfair, in case it was my only shot."
Kate's mouth was hanging open.
"Look, I don't know what is going on between you and Justin, and I don't care. Just let me know when it's over for good and you're ready to have a relationship with me. If we're lucky, I won't have given up and moved on."
"Until then?"
"We're colleagues. And you're the decider."
Kate picked her clothes up off the floor and walked back to her room, trying not to let him see her cry.
#
Ben got dressed and made breakfast for the both of them, then, when Kate came out, her eyes were puffy and he felt sad for her. He had never hated himself so much for trying to protect his own heart.
He served her breakfast without comment, and she nibbled at the food politely.
They got dressed and Ben drove them to the meeting with the coroner, where Ben sat in the back with his hands clasped in front of his crotch, feeling vulnerable after the events of the last day.
Kate kept looking at Ben, and, toward the end, when the wedding ring was poured out of the manila envelope into the brother's hand, then given to the dead girl's quasi-husbnad, Ben looked at Kate. She looked at him and looked down, the ring and his gaze a reminder of Ben's desires.
#
Kate really couldn't blame Ben for what he said, but she didn't have to be happy about it.
Kate consoled herself with the fact that she'd put the rock in her purse last night. The case wrap-up was amazing, but the personal relationship had her twisted in knots.
The plane ride home was awkward. They both wanted to say other things, but didn't, so they went into stupid awkward work stuff. Kate couldn't handle it when Ben complimented Justin's work on a case he'd been assigned.
She worked late. For once, Ben left on time. Leo wanted to talk to her, but she glared at him and he went home, too. She kept pulling out Ben's heart-shaped rock. About the tenth time she'd pulled it out after Ben left the office, Justin stepped into her doorway.
"Ohh," she said, putting the rock down discreetly, "Hi."
Justin apologized for not calling, and Kate said about the case he'd wrapped up in her absence, "Oh, hey, I hear congratulations are in order."
After some awkward moments, Justin asked, "How was your trip?"
"Uneventful," she lied, frowning.
"So while you were gone, I had an epiphany."
"Ooo oooh," Kate said unhappily.
"I don't want us to just be, I want to make promises." Kate looked down at the heart-shaped rock. "I want to make plans. I don't want to settle for anything less."
"I just-" Kate tried to interrupt.
"Oh no no no no, hear me out on this, okay?"
She looked up at him, pissed off.
"We belong together, Kate. We're not the same people we used to be. We can win if we both refuse to lose."
What Kate wanted to win, though, wasn't Justin. Tears began welling up in her eyes about the conversation with Ben that morning.
He continued, "You said I always get what I want. Right? I want you."
He'd forgotten that the context she'd said that in was when he always got what he wanted was about a job, not about her. As for wanting her? Yeah. Right. Today he wanted her. What about next week? What about next year? In another month or three, he'd re-hash the same argument they'd had last year when he'd ended it, then they'd started it up again, then she had the pregnancy scare, then they'd ended it again.
She'd learned so much about herself in that one evening with Ben - were things truly dead with Justin? All this time, she'd thought maybe it was herself that was dead inside, and that's why the sex was so blah. Clearly that wasn't the case, as Ben proved. How could she even ponder that kind of relationship with someone else until she'd tried one last time with Justin? She didn't want to make promises or plans with him, but agreeing to what he wanted was the only way to try things out. Otherwise, he'd just push her away for the twenty-somethingth time.
Kate said, "Okay," to Justin and let him hold her in her arms, but she looked down at the rock for strength. She was falling for Ben, but she had so much more history with Justin, and the idea of Ben wanting to marry her was terrifying.
#
Ben called Alessandra. "I have a case update, but I need you as a friend tonight. May I come over?"
Alessandra shooed her four kids and husband out of the kitchen when Ben arrived, bribing them all with her amazing lasagne. Ben looked like he'd been ripped apart, and she didn't even ask before taking him into a big hug. He sobbed on her shoulder like one of her children, and she comforted him.
He started trying to talk about the case, and she said, "Shh, this is more important right now."
After a few minutes of expressed grief calmed him down, she got him to sit at the smaller kitchen table, then served up lasagne for the two of them, fetching him a nice red wine from Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards she knew he liked.
"Tell me what's going on in your heart, Ben."
"She made me believe in marriage again." He looked down. "I- I didn't know that was possible."
"I did."
He looked up at her. "Really?"
She nodded. "You've always had a romantic streak. You just hide it well."
"Yeah, well, she's sleeping with her ex again. I called to arrange for her pickup for your jet and her ex was there. Talk about awkward. Lauren knows about Justin and Kate and so does Leo. I felt like a fool."
"Ben, you aren't the one being foolish from what you've said. Be proud of who you are. She'll come around."
"I know." Ahh, his heart and his head disagreed. His heart still felt all the fear of past wounds, but he knew what his real chances were.
After a couple more minutes of hugging him, she asked gently, "So how did the lodge go?"
"She wasn't as mad at me about that planning as I feared she'd be. We slept together, but then I told her she'd need to dump Justin. She sensed how I felt about her and she pushed. I knew I'd lose her if I evaded, so I just owned up. And now she'll run to Justin again because she's afraid."
"You want my opinion?"
"That's why I'm here. That and to steal some of your lasagne."
She laughed. "Every morning, one single new flower on her desk. Don't repeat any flower more than once every week and no red roses. Pink, maybe, but no more than one rose every other week. Go for variety of flowers. One big daisy one day, a carnation the next, then a stargazer lily, etc."
"What if I'm out of town?"
"Two possibilities: one is to send her an email with a picture of a flower. The other is to do nothing and make her miss you. Pick one approach and stick to it."
"Thanks. I can do that."
"Let me get Geo in here for the case update."
Ben told them both about how amazing Kate had been, and Alessandra smiled at the tale of the poor love-struck boy she'd saved. Alessandra just hoped Kate would have the sense to save another. Otherwise, she might have to go all Sforza on Kate's ass.
