Free Up in a Blaze by Alice Brown Page B

take one of the females with you, but if you can’t do that, ask the sales staff to help you. Trust me on this one, she will be absolutely delighted when she sees what you have bought. I don’t know what it is about that stuff and these women, but Susan swears it’s the nectar of the gods.”
    “Yeah, Cassie told me she gets downright cranky in the morning without her coffee,” Donte replied, remembering her snapping at him this morning.
    “Coffee pot. First thing. Believe me, it will save your balls. These women get completely unreasonable without their coffee first thing in the morning.”
    Donte heard his buddy’s sudden intake of air through the phone line, then, “No, sweets, I wasn’t talking about you, I promise. We’re talking about Donte’s mate.”
    “Hey, how did you know she is my mate?” Donte asked, clearly confused.
    “Buddy, because our mates are the only reason we keep expensive coffee pots in our kitchens, gourmet coffee in the pantry, and anything else they want.” Then, in a muffled voice as if he had put his hand over the phone speaker, Donte heard, “Dang it, woman, stop hitting me. No, you can’t drink coffee, you know as well as I do that it isn’t good for the baby.” There was silence for a few seconds, and Donte was just getting ready to ask if Nathaniel was still on the line when he heard, “Aww, baby, don’t cry. You’re breaking my heart. Tell you what, since I was a dickhead and upset you, I’ll run down to the coffee shop and get one of those pastries you like so much.”
    Donte chuckled as he eavesdropped on his friend trying to dig his way out of the doghouse. “Hey, Nathaniel, before you go play fetch, can you tell me where there’s a good place to get coffee and maybe some breakfast not too far out of my way?”
    After a quick reply by Nathaniel, he hung up, still trying to pacify his mate. Donte chuckled, grabbing his laptop to wait for Cassie to finish her shower.
    *****
    Thirty minutes later, she opened the door to the bathroom; showered, dressed, and had even been able to fix her hair. Because Betty had been kind enough to include a wide assortment of clothing, anything from casual to a nice skirt and blouse set when she went shopping the day before, Cassie was actually starting to feel close to normal.
    Betty had included a brush and comb for her hair, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, and a portable hair dryer. The clothes she had picked out were all soft and loose, and Cassie was very appreciative of that too. Betty had included a new bra in one of the bags, but Cassie knew that until her ribs healed up, there was just no way a bra was going on.
    She walked out of the bathroom to find Donte, freshly showered, shaved, and sitting in a chair over by the door with his laptop perched on his lap. “Hey, I’m ready to go anytime you are.” She didn’t want to be the reason they were late.
    He glanced up to her with a grin on his face. “You look nice, hon. I like your hair.” He glanced back down to the laptop and closed the lid.
    “Yes, I suppose it does look a sight better without dried blood stuck to it,” she replied with a grin.
    They were walking out the door just minutes later. Donte followed her out the door and locked up behind them, then helped her down the steps and out to the garage. He pressed the remote in his hand, and the door lifted to reveal what looked to be a new big, cherry red Ford truck.
    As they walked over to the passenger side, she wondered how in the world she was going to be able to climb up into the truck with her damaged ribs.
    One second she was walking beside Donte, contemplating the height of the truck and her damaged ribs dilemma, the next she found herself swung up into Donte’s strong arms as he seemed to be able to jump up on the sideboard of the truck and gently placed her in the seat. He leaned in and very carefully brought the seatbelt around her, mindful of her injuries. Once he had her buckled in, he gave her a