Page 48 of Blake

“It’s all you, babe. All you.” His head descended and he kissed her softly then showed her how much of a man he was which resulted in them falling asleep until a knock on their door woke them two hours later.

“Blake, not sure if you guys fell asleep but its five-fifteen and I know you wanted to see Sally Nixon,” Reid called.

“Shit!” Blake exclaimed as he sat up. “Thanks, Reid, we’ll be down in a sec.”

“No problem. I’ll see you before you head out.”

Blake and Pax shared a shower which involved some making out but nothing else before they dressed. She changed into white jeans and a grey slouchy knit sweater that hung off her shoulder and grey stiletto ankle boots. She left her hair loose at her shoulders in waves.

“Do you have to look so fucking beautiful all the time? It’s distracting,” Blake said as he kissed her bare shoulder and strapped his shoulder harness over a white shirt before adding a leather jacket that made her want to strip him naked again.

Pax snorted. “Have you looked in the mirror?”

Blake smirked at that and winked. “Insatiable.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Come on, stud, let’s go find out what happened with Sally Nixon.”

Blake held the door for her to proceed him and followed her down the two sets of stairs. They came to the kitchen and heard two feminine voices along with Reid’s deeper one. Moving inside, Pax was taken aback for a split second when she saw a girl of about nineteen or twenty sitting on a stool watching Reid chop veggies for a salad. She had a pale blue headscarf on her bald head, and was pale, but had the biggest blue eyes and widest smile as she watched Reid. She looked up at them and Reid’s eyes followed.

“Hey.”

“Oh, hi.”

“I’m Nessa.” She motioned to a girl behind her who was probably a couple of years younger and looked exactly like her siblings. “And this is my sister, Tori.”

“I’m Grace and this is Blake.” She turned and saw Blake was focused on Reid, his jaw hard, his expression severe, a frown marring his forehead. Pax elbowed him and he looked at her guiltily.

“Hey, nice to meet you both,” he said to both girls as he reached out to shake their hands.

“You staying for dinner? Reid is warming mom’s lasagne and making a salad.”

Pax was about to say yes but Blake interrupted. “Unfortunately, we can’t but thanks anyway.”

“Your loss and more for me. Mom’s lasagne is the best and now the chemo is finished for a while and I don’t feel so sick anymore, I’m going to enjoy it while I can.”

Pax nodded and smiled. “Good plan.”

Reid laid the knife down and looked up. “Let me walk you out.”

Reid walked them to the front door and pulled it closed behind him as he followed them out. “Nessa has Large B Cell Lymphoma. She’s just finished her second round of chemo.” His voice was monotone, but Pax could see it cost him.

“I’m so sorry, Reid,” Blake said, and Pax could hear the regret in Blake’s voice. “What’s the prognosis?”

“Difficult to tell. We should know more with the next blood count, but we try not to speculate and live every day to the fullest.”

“Yeah, I get that. If we can do anything, please let us know. We should probably get out of the way. Your mum has enough going on.”

Reid shook his head. “No, she’s loving the distraction of having everyone here.”

Blake nodded. “Well, let us know if you change your mind. Does Jack know?”

“Nah. Didn’t want to cause a fuss, and anyway, I can’t do a lot.”

“Well, we’ll call when we finish with Sally. Did you get hold of Waggs?”

“Yeah, he has it handled so I’m going to help Lopez with the background checks.”

Blake lifted his chin. “Good idea. Call if anything comes up.”