Page 25 of Tide Over

My brow furrows as I pause in the kitchen, taking in his slumped posture. His head is down and his back is turned to me as he leans against the couch, which partially obstructs my view of him. My heart quickens as I step closer, flashes of himreaching into the fire flickering in my mind, until he lifts his head and our eyes meet.

“Hey,” he says, then quickly glances to the floor in front of him with a guilty expression. “Um, so… I probably should have checked with you first…”

It takes me a moment to catch up to what he’s saying as relief floods through me, and I step into the living room. Then I look down at the floor where he’s sitting, and see a tiny black kitten swatting at the toy Liam is dangling.

Liam looks up at me again, and I cock an eyebrow at him. This is not at all what I was expecting.

“I found her in the barn when I was getting spackle,” Liam says, eyeing me as he waits for my reaction.

I step closer, and the kitten looks up at me. One of her eyes is red, and looks like it has some sort of ointment on it.

“Is she ok?” I ask.

“Yeah.” Liam nods, turning his attention back to her as she starts playing with the little toy mouse again. “I took her to the vet. They confirmed she is a girl, and probably about eleven or twelve weeks old. She has an infection in her eye, but we got some drops to clear it up.”

I watch him as he picks up another toy that has a ribbon hanging from it, and she goes into attack mode, dramatically falling onto her back and reaching up with her little paws to grab at it. Liam chuckles, smiling down at her as she kicks her back legs at the ribbon, and I can barely hold back my own smile at the sight.

Of both of them.

“I didn’t know what to do with her,” Liam says, looking up at me again. “I don’t know if you want a cat in the house, but, with the rain…”

I lower myself onto the floor across from Liam, and the kitten watches me curiously. Then she bravely walks over to me, and playfully attacks my fingers as I wiggle them for her.

I smile down at the ferocious little beast. “It’s no problem.”

We’re both quiet for a bit as we watch this tiny cat chaotically play with anything and everything in her sight. And as I sit here in peaceful silence, feeling the warmth from the fire and listening to the rain on the window, with Liam and this little terror… the frustration from today starts to fade away.

“I wonder where she came from,” I ask, chuckling as she does an epic somersault while trying to catch the little mouse toy Liam tosses across the floor.

“I don’t know,” Liam says, glancing up at me. “She was just sitting in the pile of ropes and bobbers. I don’t know how long she was there.”

“Probably made for a nice little hideout,” I say, watching her as she climbs up on Liam’s knee.

He pats her head, and she nuzzles against his hand. “Did you like it in there?” he asks her softly, and my heart damn near explodes.

Watching him with her, I feel like I’m seeing the real Liam. He’s been showing more of himself the longer he’s been here, but a big part of him has remained hidden. Right now, though… I don’t think it is. And he’s exactly what I expected. He’s sweet, caring, gentle, and unguarded, displaying a vulnerability that has my attraction for him growing by the second.

“But I’m leaving for work in a couple days, so… we’ll have to find her a home,” Liam says, his smile falling as he keeps his eyes on her while she purrs and rubs against his knee.

And my heart sinks.

I watch the kitten for a moment before I shake my head. “No.”

Liam looks up at me and I smile as I see a flicker of hope in his eyes.

“She looks pretty comfortable here. And…” I shrug, reaching out to pat her, “I’m getting used to not coming home to an empty house every night.”

A gentle smile forms on his lips as we continue to hold each other’s gazes for a moment, and something passes between us. I’m not sure what it is, but it feels like some sort of unspoken connection, and a comforting warmth lingers between us.

Until we both bring our attention back to the kitten between us.

“She needs a name,” Liam says.

I nod, subtly blowing out a breath and trying to ignore the need to look into his eyes again. “She does.”

We watch her as she starts playing again, and Liam chuckles, gently poking at the little white tip of her tail. “She looks like a little bobber.”

I laugh, taking in the cute marking as she swishes her tail back and forth, ready to attack the ribbon Liam slowly drags across the floor. “Bob doesn’t quite work for her, does it?”

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