Page 20 of Unforeseen Love

I put it back inside the box and then survey the others, all in the same condition.

“What the fuck?” I fall back onto my arse at the sudden intrusion and have to tilt my head back to see Theo taking up the entire doorway. “Why do you have animals in that box?”

I push to my feet and push at his chest. “Don’t scare them, you brute. They’ve already been through enough.” I’m trying in vain to force him out of the door, but of course, he doesn’t even budge.

“Morticia, you know we’re here to look after the dead, not the living, right?” he says, in both a facetious and condescending tone.

“I wish you were the dead thing, you’re such a cold bastard,” I say, scowling at him.

He steps towards me, and I take a step back, until I’m met with a cold tiled wall.

“Oh, if you’re into that kind of kinky shit, I can assure you, my words are the only cold thing about me,” he says, waving his hand towards his torso. “But my body is like stone… everywhere. You know, if you want to act out some kind of dead fantasy fetish.”

I stumble over my words. “Eww, you’re disgusting. So not happening.” I squeeze my eyes shut, hating how my pulse begins to race and my stomach flutters.

Meowing brings me back to the subject at hand.

“I need to get them cleaned up, they’re covered in fleas.” I scoot around him in an attempt to put distance between us, but it proves difficult when he commands a room without even trying.

“You can’t keep them here,” he replies incredulously.

I raise my eyebrows. “Yes, I can, and besides, I’m not about to throw them back out onto the street. They’ll die.”

Kneeling down, I put my hand over the box in a protective move.

He studies me and I’m ready for him to argue, but instead, he lets out a resigned sigh.

“Don’t put words into my mouth. I’m not a heartless bastard, regardless of what you might think.”

He crouches down, his hand brushing over my exposed skin, which prickles in goosebumps as he reaches inside the box. I go to stop him, expecting him to pick it up by the scruff, but he’s actually gentle as he picks one of them up.

Bringing it to his chest, his thumb strokes over its tiny head. “Look, this one has raven colour hair like you,” he says, turning it to face me. “I say we name it Morticia.”

I scowl and poke out my tongue.

His eyes grow a shade darker. “Unless you want to put it to work, I suggest you put your tongue back in your mouth.”

I quickly do as he says, closing my mouth.

“We should get them cleaned up then.” He places the kitten back in the box and rises to his feet. He turns on the tap, putting in the plug as water begins to fill the sink.

We?

Too stunned to speak, I hunt in the cupboard for the ‘free-from’ shampoo, which should be fine for them, and then go to the airing cupboard to pull out some old towels and an empty laundry basket. No way are they going back in that nasty box. In my room, I rummage through my toiletry bag full of odds and sods, thankful when I find a comb. When I return, he has the black one in his arms. It looks so tiny, like he could crush it with his thumb and finger.

“Do you want to wash or dry?” he asks.

I’m taken back that he’s actually giving me a choice. “I’ll wash, I want to comb out the fleas but don’t want them getting too cold. I’ll try to be quick.”

He just nods and hands it over. I work, washing its fur and then comb out the fleas––it’s hard because of the colour of its fur. It meows the entire time, and when I’m pretty sure I have them all, Theo reaches out with his big hands and wraps it in a towel and begins drying it off. We do this with the other three, and I note he names them one by one as he dries them off, once they’re all clean and placed in the laundry basket on a dry towel.

“Now what?” he asks while patting the tiny head of the one he named Tiger.

I shrug, having no idea. “Let me google it.” I go in search of my phone. I have a missed call from Quinn, but I’ll text her later.

“They need kitten milk,” I say after scrolling though about ten different sites.

He glances to his wrist. “Okay, the big supermarket is still open, they should have some in the pet aisle, right?”

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