Page 92 of Seek Him Like Shelter

“What is it?” Elian asked, coming closer.

Peering in, I saw a small tabby kitten.

“A kitten,” I said, reaching inside to lift it up, hearing its sweet attempts to hiss at me as I pulled it against my chest, half in love with it already.

Elian walked over, rubbing its head as it swatted at him with little needle nails. “It’s got a lot more sass than Kevin,” he declared. “Do you want to keep it?”

I mean… did anyone ever get handed a little kitten and not want it?

“I mean, that’s not really my dec—“

“Gonna cut you off right there,” he said, making my gaze shoot up. “I’m never gonna be one of those men who demands you ask for permission to do shit.”

“Never?” I asked. “Not even if I wanted a dozen of these?”

To that, he looked conflicted. “Okay. Maybe after five pets, we need to discuss it,” he decided.

“That seems fair,” I said. “I mean, we have to see if Kevin likes it. I don’t know if he’s ever been around other cats.”

“Did I hear there was going to be lasagne?” Saff asked as she walked in the condo door a few minutes later as I had the kitten eating some of Kevin’s wet food sitting inside his little box.

“You did,” Elian said, already back to work at layering the sauce, meat, cheese, and pasta for a third tray of it, since it seemed like we would be feeding half of the family.

“Look,” I said, waving toward the box. “Serano found a kitten,” I declared as she went to grab a soda out of the fridge.

“If by ‘found’ you mean he chased it around an alley for the better part of an hour, then sure,” Saff said as she popped the cap of the soda.

“Really?” I asked, looking over at her. “Why would he do that?”

“I think he saw it, thought of how you love Kevin, and thought you’d like this one too. That’s kind of how his mind works, I guess. He’s shit at actually talking about anything, but he’s a man of gestures. Are you keeping it?”

“We are going to see how Kev—“ I started as the cat in question followed his nose up onto the island, looking over the edge of the box, leaning in, grabbing the confused kitten by the scruff, pulling it out, and taking it down with him until he had it snuggled into one of his little beds. Where he proceeded to lick the kitten who sat there a little dazed at having been abandoned, stolen, and adopted by a foster cat dad in the course of a day.

“Well, that solves that,” Saff said nodding. “Do you have a name for him?”

“It’s a boy?” I asked.

“Yep. Are you going to go for another human name? Because I vote for Richard,” she said before grabbing another soda and bringing it over to Islah who was still nursing a bit of a headache, though her neurologist had agreed with the urgent care doctor about her prognosis.

Serano came back in just as the lasagne was being pulled out of the oven, trying hard to avoid mentioning the topic of the kitten he’d gone out of his way to bring to me.

The look of pure shock and horror on his face when I threw my arms around him and thanked him for the gift was enough to have Elian, Islah, Saff, and Cinna bursting out into a chorus of laughter.

“You’re gonna make a woman very happy one day,” I added for good measure.

“No,” Serano said, shaking his head. “That’s not gonna happen.”

“Famous last words,” Cinna said, patting him hard on the shoulder as she passed.

I had a feeling that Cinna was right on this one.

I mean, no, the stoic, silent sort weren’t the kind of men I personally liked, I decided as I looked over at Elian, who’d been nothing but clear and open with me.

But there was some girl out there someday who was going to love Serano’s personal brand of affection.

“You okay?” Elian asked, running a hand across my shoulders as I sat silently at the table, watching the men and women gathered around, eating the food that Elian had made, chatting, laughing, enjoying one another’s company, realizing how I’d never really had this before. And how much my soul had been craving it.

“I really like this,” I admitted, surprised by the rush of emotion I felt sitting there.

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