A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh #1)(166)

He was rubbing the tiredness from his face when Kat reemerged from the bathroom, leaning against the doorjamb with a peculiar expression on her face.

“You called her Nana Boo,” Kat whispered, fingering the hem of the Harley T-shirt she’d changed into. His T-shirt. The edge of it skimmed her creamy thighs, while the V-neck dipped between her breasts.

“Yeah,” Carter replied. His eyes devoured her.

Kat walked toward him. She nudged his knees apart with her own, and placed her hands on his shoulders while he placed his on her hips.

She bent down and rubbed her nose against the side of his. “I love that you call her that.”

Carter hummed when their lips met, gentle and warm.

“Are you feeling better?” She placed a knee on either side of his thighs on the bed.

[page]Carter smiled against her throat. “I do feel better.” He sat back a little, focusing on the way Kat’s hair curled at the tips. “I feel good.” He tilted his chin toward the door. “She’s amazing.” He shook his head in wonder. “She’s just so— I mean, the woman made me an Oreo cheesecake! How cool is that?” He kissed her jaw.

Carter trailed his hands down her sides and tickled the back of her thighs. “For the first time, in a long time,” he murmured, “I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.” He placed his lips at the side of her mouth. “I feel like I belong.”

“You do belong,” Kat soothed. “You belong with me.”

Her words made Carter’s body soft and malleable. He held Kat nearer and kissed her. He jumped back, however, as though caught doing something unforgivable when there was a light knock on the door. Kat crawled off him after kissing the tip of his nose, and walked to open it.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, dear,” Nana Boo said from the other side. “But I wanted to give you this before you went to sleep. It’s the details about your father.”

Carter craned his neck to see around Kat, but could only make out a large, brown, crumpled envelope clasped in Kat’s hand.

“Thanks, Nana,” Kat said before kissing her grandmother’s cheek.

“Good night, Angel,” she hummed. “Good night, Carter,” she called, with a smile lacing her words.

“G’night,” he called back. She reminded him so much of his own grandmother it was, at times, a little overwhelming. Even her smell made him feel nostalgic, all sweet and floral, with large green eyes he saw every time he looked at his Peaches.

He whipped his sweater over his head and pushed his jeans down. Kat closed the door and tapped the envelope against her knuckles.

“What’s up?” He pushed the covers of the bed back and slipped in between them.

“Nothing.” She lifted the envelope. “It’s just some stuff about my dad. Nana Boo wanted me to look at it.”

“What stuff?”

“I don’t know.” She held it in both hands.

Carter sat forward and lowered his voice. “You, um, you want to look at it together?”

A look of intense love and gratitude lightened her face.

Carter pushed the duvet aside, patting the mattress. “Get over here.”

Kat skipped over to the bed and got in next to him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, kissed her hair, and watched her open the envelope. He rubbed the top of her arm, watching her pull out a shitload of newspaper clippings and lay them carefully across her lap. She fanned them out, stopping at a few that detailed her father’s death, his funeral, and the subsequent memorials and remembrance events that had taken place.