“Okay,” she said. “Then we’re going to need some boxes.”
“I’ve got some places I can call for those,” Ash said.
“And a marker. If you don’t want all of the donations going to one place, then labeling the boxes will be imperative. Do you have any charities in mind?”
“Whichever ones you have connections with. Charity is charity. Whoever can use this stuff the most is fine by me,” Ash said.
Kallie got on her phone and called up a few charities while Ash had boxes delivered. One by one, they were dropped in the closet as Kallie set up delivery times for the local places she’d become accustomed to working with. The battered women’s shelter. The pro-bono law office downtown that worked with soon-to-be single mothers. A local thrift store known for their work with the homeless. Kallie popped off the top of the marker and began writing the charity name on each of the boxes, then started scanning the clothes.
“So much floral,” Kallie said. “Did your father’s second wife have a thing for spring?”
“She had a thing for booze. That was pretty much how they met,” Ash said.
“There’s an entire row of dresses with nothing but floral print on them. And these heels. They match exactly.”
Kallie held up the dress and the shoes before wrinkling her nose.
“Should we thrust that choice onto an unsuspecting population?” Ash asked with a grin.
“I’m almost afraid to,” Kallie said with a giggle. “Though I still can’t get over the diamond-encrusted hair clips. I mean, really. We couldn’t have toned that gem down a little bit?”
“What would you have put in it?”
“Nothing. The pattern in the hair clips is pretty enough. The diamonds just force her wealth down the throats of unsuspecting people.”
“Tell me how you really feel,” he said.
“Not how this job works. You’re supposed to be talking to me about how you feel with all this.”
“I feel liberated,” he said.
Kallie turned her attention to him as she continued to pull clothes off the hangers.
“This stuff has been sitting around in this apartment for a long time. And when I came back to it, I felt stifled. Like this apartment was pawned off on me instead of given to me to make it my own. I still feel like I’m walking around my father’s place instead of a place I figured he thought I’d call home.”
“Then this is a good starting point for that,” Kallie said.
“I think so too. Thanks for helping me with it.”
“My pleasure. It’s what I do.”
“It’s one of the things you do.”
Kallie caught Ash’s stare and her breath caught in her lungs. She tore her eyes from him and continued to fold the clothes, and four hours later they were done. Kallie had to slip out in the middle of everything to take a scheduled phone call, but other than that, she’d been free the entire afternoon to help.
And she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“I’ve got delivery times scheduled with the charities,” Kallie said as she walked out of the closet. “A couple of them can’t get out here until tomorrow, but the homeless shelter and the law office are coming by in an hour or so. Their names are written on the boxes, so if you let them in, they’ll know which ones to take.”
“Thank you for all your help today,” Ash said.
“I’ll send you an invoice in the mail for my services with a due date at the top. You can pay all at once with a check or a card, or you can—”
Kallie felt herself being grabbed before his domineering lips planted onto hers. She felt her phone slip from her grasp, clattering to the floor as her body went weak. His tongue slid across her lips and she moaned into him, falling into his body even though her mind kept telling her not to. Not to give in. Not to fall prey to the trick. His tongue forced his way inside and her toes caught on fire. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her away from the front door before setting her ass on the edge of the couch.
“It’s been torture not touching you,” Ash whispered into her lips.
Kallie cupped his cheeks as her tongue darted out to lick his lips.