Chapter thirty-three: Saxophone song
Kate stirs in her sleep; the sun is peeking through her curtains. She lets out a yawn, blinking as she realizes that she's completely naked. Her heart pounds in her chest as she realizes she sprawled on top of a naked man, who has his arm around her shoulders, keeping her close to him. Kate turns her head and realizes its Thomas she's with. She exhales as her heart rate returns to normal for a moment. A faint smile teases across her face as she rests her head back on his chest, savoring his closeness for just one more moment.
She then carefully sits up, being careful not to wake him. His grip on her shoulder tightens and Kate suddenly finds herself straddling Thomas Shelby. He smiles up at her, running a hand through her hair. "Good morning Kate."
Kate blushes deeply as she feels his hardening length against her entrance. Her foolishly weak body responds instantly by growing warm and wet. "Good morning, Thomas." he kisses her, causing Kate to pull away. "I'll go make us a cup of tea."
"Don't want tea." He mutters, draping an arm around her waist as he nuzzles her neck.
"I know what you want but," she sits up, tapping his chest lightly. "not right now."
"Why not Kate?" he sits up with her. His gaze is deep as he studies her carefully, but she can't hold his gaze for long. "Alright, I know that look," he presses a kiss to her forehead. "go make that cup of tea and we'll talk."
Kate smiles gratefully at him. "Thank you."
"No problem." He leans forward and kisses her again.
She smiles as she carefully gets out of the bed and begins looking for her clothing, which has been flung all over the room. She eventually decides just to into her robe. As she pulls the robe around her, she can feel Thomas watching. As she ties the robe around, she turns towards him to see him watching her, a lazy, contented smile on his face.
"Hungry?"
He nods. "Starving."
She bobs her head. "I'll be in the kitchen."
Thomas lets out a few grumbling words as she paddles towards the kitchen. By the time she has lit the fire in the kitchen, she realizes that he hadn't been talking about food! She blushes and rolls her eyes. She was going to have an interesting life with that man. Kate slices bread and places it on the frying pan. Thomas paddles into the kitchen, his hair back in some semblance of order. He's pulled his shorts and trousers back on, but he's bare chested and barefoot.
She smiles. "Morning."
"Morning." Thomas sits on the corner of the table, his feet on the bench seating as he leans forward. "So, what's troubling you? Are you upset with me?"
Kate exhales as she turns towards him. "No, I'm not."
"Are you sure?" he holds a hand out to her. "I know, you wanted to wait-
"It's alright." Kate says with conviction. "You gave me several opportunities to change my mind, but, I have no regrets."
"Are you sure?"
"Thomas, last night," she hesitated before admitting. "it was…beyond anything I could have ever imagined." He smiled at her as he got off the bench so he could pull her closer towards her. She began to stammer as his hands circle her waist. "You were…beyond considerate; putting me above your own needs. I can't imagine…anyone else, being that loving and tender towards me. And believe me, after you…there won't be anyone else."
"What's the problem?"
Kate bites her lip before blurting out. "I can't understand why I'm not upset." Thomas lets out an exhale of relief. "I broke a promise that I swore I'd keep and yet, I'm so happy right now." Thomas grins almost idiotically at her, causing her to laugh happily. "I don't understand it."
"Kate, Kate," he kisses her as he pulls him against her. "stop with the f**king over thinking. You know damn well why you're happy."
"I don't think I deserve it."
"You deserve it. I don't think I've done anything to deserve you, but…I've got you now."
"Thomas, I'm only going to ask this once." She licked her lips before asking. "Last night, you finally got what you wanted." He brushes her hair back, so he can access her neck. "I'm not holding anything against you; I wanted you as much as you wanted me. But can we both be sure that it's really love we feel for each other, and not just want?"
"Why can't it be both?" he stated as he kissed her throat.
"Want is a darker word than love." She gently pushed at him. "Thomas, please, it's hard for me to think when you're doing that."
"Good, you think too much." he leaned forward and kissed her gently on the mouth. It was a teasing kiss and against her will, Kate leaned into the kiss as he worked his mouth gently against hers. They stumbled backwards, smacking her hip on the kitchen table. "I can love you and want you." Kate exhaled deeply as he placed her hand on his beating heart. Her eyes widen slightly as she feels his heart pulsating against her hand. "Do you feel that? That's for you."
Kate nods. "I love you Thomas." His eyes searched her face expectantly, but Kate knows what he wants before he even asked. "Yes."
Kate let out a cry, her head hitting the wall as Thomas released inside her. She stood there, her legs shaking and body still throbbing for him. Thomas exhaled and kissed her breast. "I love you Kate."
"I know." Kate exhales as she runs her hand through his hair. "I love you too, but I am never…eating off that kitchen table again."
"God, your mind wanders at the damndest times. Trust me," he kisses her again. "you won't be eating here alone again."
"But Thomas!" Kate protested with a pink face. "Couldn't try to get me to the bed for the next time?"
He shakes his head. "No. I wanted you, so," he grips her neck gently as he kisses her. "I took you." She groans as he carefully extracts himself from her, pulling his clothes back into order. "You know, once upon a time ago, they'd have hung a man like me for putting even a finger on a lady like you."
Thanks to Thomas making love to her on the kitchen table, Kate burned the toast for the first time in her life! Thomas had let her go to get their breakfast in order while he got dressed. However, a simple goodbye kiss, had turned into something else, and now Thomas had claimed her against the wall.
"Hmm," Kate chuckles. "I'm not a lady anymore. I relinquished my title a long time ago." Kate pushed gently at him. "God, you need to go. It's almost 8:00 now."
He nods. "Right. It's all going down at 9:00 today."
"Yeah, I'll go stay with Polly. I'm not sure what's going down today, but, she'll be worried."
"Thank you." Thomas takes his hat and sets it atop of his head. She opens the door and he walks down the hall. "And Kate?" she pokes her head out into the hallway as he's approaching the stairs. "Once this all over, there's a house I'd like you to see tomorrow." She stills as he smiles at her. "Just to see if it meets with your approval, alright?"
Kate nods. "Alright, yes."
He holds her gaze. "You know why, I want you to see it right?" she can only nod mutely. "Good. No pressure, Kate."
She smiles as she states. "There is none to be had."
He smiles at her as he continues down the stairs. "And, what a pleasure to see you Mr. Shelby!" Christopher says rather loudly, causing her to grow embarrassed with the realization that Christopher and Abigail may have heard them! "How's Kate?"
"She's upstairs." Thomas says simply as he continues on his way.
"Shut up Christopher." Abigail warns as she heads up the stairs. "It's none of our business." Kate can vaguely hear Christopher chattering to Thomas in the background. Abigail comes up the stairs and Kate draws her robe closely around her. Abigail flushes at her appearance, but manages to keep her head upright. "Good morning, Ms. Kate."
"Morning Abigail." Kate clears her throat. "I'll be running late."
"That's alright." Abigail extends her a letter. "This was under the door this morning. It's addressed to you."
Kate frowns as she examines it. The hand is unfamiliar. "Thank you." Kate steps back inside to read the letter.
You're a whoring liar, Katherine Kovach.
Being an inspector, I decided to do a bit more investigating in regards to you. I found out that you've been on the run from your father for months. He's even offered a reward for your return. Do you really think that a small time racketeer like Thomas Shelby is capable of keeping you safe from a man like your father?
He probably would have been able to, had you not made that fatal mistake last night of allowing Thomas Shelby to seduce you into giving yourself to him. Whatever he promised you to get him into bed; you know it's not true. Do you think that your father will bless a union between the two of you? You're a lady of society and he's an illegitimate, gypsy, racketeer scum.
You know very well that the moment I inform your father, that Thomas Shelby will be dead within the hour. If you want him to live, get out of Birmingham by 9:00 tonight. You lost one man already, don't be stupid enough to lose another because of your foolishness. And trust me when I say that killing him will be easy. I could have taken him out this morning when you two had your disgusting relations on the table.
Inspector Campbell
Kate's stomach churned and she raced for the bathroom, barely making it in time to vomit her toast into the toilet. The disgusting thought of them being observed wasn't awful as the thought that terrified her the most. She could have so easily lost another man that she loved this morning.
Shariebery: Thank you very much. My sister, had an idea for another Kate & Thomas story. (She reads my stories, but never reviews, preferring to criticize in person!) She asked to come up with one where they'd never met and Emmett is still alive! So somehow, during season 2, Thomas would have to win her away from her fiancée!
Idcam: If, Thomas can get Kate to say yes!
