By the time Kate finished telling the story,Kelsia was deeply asleep. With great care,She eased the little girl off her and tucked her in.

Kate sat on the bed after covering Kelsia with the pink bed sheets. For once in her life, she found herself wishing for a family. She found herself wishing that she could be a mother.

Kelsia's mother.

Knowing that it would never be possible, she got up from the bed,dropped one last kiss on Kelsia's head,switched off the lights except the night one,then walked out of the door.

Thinking that Fredo would have gone to bed by now, she went downstairs to the kitchen to clean up. And she was right, he was not in the kitchen. Kate would have doubted that he was even in there in the first place if not for the fact that several cookies were missing from the tray.

Smiling to herself, she began clearing the countertop, all the while humming joy to the world. Kate was wiping the counter with a dish towel when she mistakenly knocked her leg against the stool,Kelsia was kneeling on earlier.

She lost her balance and fell on Ber bad arm. Tears filled her eyes as she struggled to sit up without leaning on her bad shoulder. A hand appeared in the line of her vision,halting her struggle. Kate looked up to see Fredo staring down at her with a softer look.

"Let me."

She almost melted at his concern when the memory of what happened earlier took over. Kate ignored him and his hand altogether and tried to stand up again but ended up on her behind.

"Kate."

"I don't need your help. And it's miss Donovan to you."

Fredo ran his fingers through his long hair. He needed a haircut. Kate noted with disdain.

"Stop being so stubborn. Your shoulder is bleeding."

One look at her shoulder confirmed that he was telling the truth. The area of her right shoulder was wet and the smell of blood greeted her nose. Even though she wanted nothing more than to slap him,she took his hand and let him help her up.

Kate gasped when she was suddenly airborne. Fredo made her sit down on the countertop,before letting go.

"Remove your sweater."

With great difficulty,she managed to remove it without crying. The blood already soaked the polo shirt arm,making her wince. Just how much damage did she do now?

"You're going to have to remove your shirt." He cleared his throat. He felt uncomfortable all of a sudden. It was not as if he hadn't seen her naked before.

Kate stared at him as if he just asked for one of her liver. "I am wearing nothing underneath this shirt,in case you didn't notice."

Oh,he noticed alright.

Her nipples could clearly be outlined in the shirt she was wearing,so is the size of her breast all together. Fredo felt his crotch tighten.

"I'll go and get my medical kit. In the meantime, you could change into something else." He hurried out of the kitchen before he could do something stupid like kiss her.

Schooling his features to normal and telling himself that he shouldn't be thinking of Kate in a perverted way,he reentered the kitchen. Fredo felt as if he had been sucker punched.

The sight of Kate sitting there with the hoodie wrapped around her chest had him imagining things that weren't appropriate. Her uninjured shoulder was turned towards him,giving him a perfect view of her velvety smooth skin. Tiny wisps of her hair had escaped the ponytail she put it in,framing her face and brushing the side of her neck.

Fredo wanted nothing more than to run his hands through it to see if it truly felt as soft as it looked. He imagined what she would be like under him; her green eyes filled with lust and pleasure. His cock stirred in his pants,jolting him back to reality.

He announced himself by clearing his throat. Kate adjusted the cloth so that it secured her breast from view, then raised her head up to meet Fredo's stare. She saw something flash in them,but before she could make any sense of it,it was gone.

Kate held still while Fredo examined her bleeding shoulder. The smell of his Cologne teased her nose,making her lean a little bit closer to him. Thankfully,he didn't notice, Since he was so engrossed with stopping the bleeding. Kate wished that she could comb her hand through his hair to test it's thickness.

Would his eyes turn a molten blue in lust or would they flash fire? Would he be a terrific lover or...

Kate's breath quickened as desire filled her.

"Are you in pain?"

"No." That came out husky. She cleared her throat. "A little bit.",

"You've opened a stitch,which is why you're bleeding. I am going to have to put the stitch back."

"It's going to hurt,I know." Kate bit her lower lip when he stared at her with concern. "Why can't you be this way with Kelsia?"

He shut down immediately. His expression turned cold; without a word, he got out what was necessary and set to work.

Kate tried hard, really really hard not to cry,each time the needle pierced her skin.

"She looks so much like her mother."

Kate,who didn't think that he would answer at all, was startled when he spoke.

"Who looks like who?" A small cry escaped her lips before she could stop it.

"Kelsia." He said softly.

"Is that why you hate her?"

His hands stopped moving. "Hate her?"

"Kelsia thinks you hate her. She told me so herself." Kate looked up in time to see the hurt look in his eyes,before he could look away. "You don't hate her, do you?"

"No,I don't."

"But you don't love her either."

He didn't reply to that. Instead he resumed what he was doing.

To distract herself from the pain,Kate decided to ask him some questions that had been nagging in the back of her mind from day one.

"Where is Kelsia's mother?"

"Italy." Came the gruff reply.

Kate bit her lower lip. "What is she doing there? Shouldn't she be with you and Kelsia?"

Fredo cut the thread. He covered the wound with a gauze,then went to wash his hands and instruments in the sink.

"Mr. Oliveira?"

"Fredo," he said without turning around. "She is with her lover."

"Oh."

Kate watch him dry his hands off with the kitchen towel while she processed this new information. Why was Kelsia's mother in Italy? Because of Fredo's cold manner? Even more so, why didn't she take Kelsia along with her?

"Here,take this."

Kate was so lost in her thought that she didn't notice that he was standing before her. She took the water and pills he held out to her. Without breaking their eye contact,Kate popped the pills in her mouth and washed it down with water.

"Thank you." She handed the glass cup over to him.

"You're strong,you know." Fredo told her with a smile.

Kate's heart skipped a beat.

"Why do you say that?"

"Most people would have passed out or even puked their guts out by now. Someone even faints,but not you."

"Not me?" Why did she sound so breathless all of a sudden.

"Not you."

Her heart did a little dance at that praise. Kate didn't know why she was feeling this way,for godsake, she should be angry with him for treating Kelsia that way, not thinking of how his mouth would feel on her breast.

Fredo's eyes dropped to her slightly parted lips. As if lured by a spell,he found himself moving forward until he was standing between her legs. Not only that.

Of their own accord,his hands moved up to caress her hair. He was right,her hair was really soft.

He saw her eyes darken a little bit,felt the change in her breath, saw the cloth she wrapped around her body slip a little to reveal the top of a creamy white breast. All this pushed him over the edge.

Fredo leaned closer,so their mouth was only a breath apart. "Kate."

"Fredo."

Fredo watch her eyes drift close as she waited for their lips to join. He almost gave into the desire to taste her lips,but the thought that she was a stranger,whom he barely knew, reared it's ugly head. Instead of kissing her, he released her and stepped back.

Kate's eyes opened in question. There was no mistaking the desire in them.

Fredo mentally kicked himself for putting that look there.

"Fredo?"

"Goodnight,Miss Donovan." He stilled himself against the hurt in her eyes. Grabbing his briefcase,he schooled his features into a blank zone,then faced her. "You should rest now. Amy would clean up in the morning."

Kate felt as if she had just been slapped. Of course,what was she thinking that he would desire her?  She was clearly no match with the women in his life.  Which was why she should keep her feelings about him platonic.

That always made leaving easier.

"Okay." She jumped off the countertop. "Thank you and Good night."

Kate thought she saw regret in his eyes. Concluding that it was conjured up by her own wishful thinking, she grabbed two cookies from the tray before walking out of the kitchen with her head high.

As Fredo watch her go,he told himself that he did the best thing.

But then why did he feel like kicking something all of a sudden?