Free All of You by Gina Sorelle

Stella grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Not the end of the world, you know? Worse things could happen.”
    Kat barked out a harsh laugh. “Yeah? Like what?”
    Stella turned to face her. “He’s a good man, Kat. A good friend and good police officer. I know he’s a bit of a fixer-upper-” Kat snorted. “But, if you want my opinion, I think he’s worth it. No, I know he’s worth it.”
    Kat waved off her words. “I’ve been sort of…lonely…lately, that’s all. Fi’s been working a lot, you’ve been busy with the baby, and everyone else has their own lives, too. Stellan is always with Christopher and there are only so many Matlock, Murder She Wrote , and Diagnosis Murder marathons I can stomach with Pops.” Kat shrugged. “It makes sense I might start forming a silly, illogical attachment to any relatively attractive man in the general vicinity – total mess of a human being or not.”
    “I didn’t see an ‘illogical attachment’ in your eyes out there,” Stella said softly.
    Kat faced Stella. “You saw pity , for a man who is so unused to normal interactions that he hardly knew what to do with himself when faced with some. No more, no less.” Kat huffed. “And you’re talking like he’d be interested in me, which – even if I was at all interested in him  – would not be the case. Trust me…not his type, Stella. Too many brain cells. And all of this is moot, anyway, because I have zero interest in Danny that way. Or any other way, for that matter.”
    “Can’t fool me, Kat. I know what I saw.”
    There was a crash and Gia started wailing.
    Stella stood and backed up slowly toward the door, wagging her finger at Kat. “But you are good, I’ll give you that. So good, I think you’ve actually fooled yourself. Doesn’t matter, though…” Stella smiled slyly. “These things have a way of working themselves out.” She winked. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I won’t tell the other sisters.” She opened the door. “I’ll be back to check on you in a few minutes, cara .”
    Stella slipped out in the hallway and shut the door behind her and Kat huffed again.
    So what if she found Danny MacDonough attractive? For Christ’s sake, who didn’t? The man was attractive, no subjectivity about it. So Kat finding him attractive really wasn’t at all surprising or newsworthy.
    And was it really any wonder she’d had a porno-caliber sex dream about him? Kat hadn’t so much as kissed a man in over five years; it was surprising she wasn’t having sex dreams about the seventy-five year old, toothless greeter at the Walmart around the corner.
    Kat was a relatively healthy young woman with physical needs…was it really so outrageous that her subconscious had chosen a hot, single man she’d spent considerable time with as the go-to guy?
    No, it wasn’t. On all counts.
    Kat had taken enough neuroscience and psychology courses to have this all figured out.
    Done and done and doesn’t mean shit.
    That issue dealt with, Kat pushed to her feet.
    The door opened suddenly and Danny stuck his head in. “Oh, I’m sorry. Nathan asked me to find Gia’s diaper bag in the guest bedroom and-”
    Another acute pain shot down Kat’s leg and it buckled a bit at the knee. She gasped, reaching for any piece of the bunk bed she could latch onto. But before she managed to grab anything, Danny’s arms were around her.
    “I’ve got you. No worries. Just hold onto to me,” he said softly.
    “I’m fine.” Kat instinctively pushed back, unwilling to accept any help – especially from him . Her eyes swarmed with tears of humiliation and frustration as she did her best to extract herself. “Please let me go.”
    But she was no match for him physically. Danny was too tall, too well-built, and too strong for her struggle to make the slightest difference. He’d put his arms around her and that’s where they’d stay until he decided to remove them.
    Kat made the grave error of grabbing his