Page 25 of Catnapped

I smirk. “I enjoyed every second of distracting you.”

“So did I.” She giggles and pets Mousey.

I plate up her French toast along with some bacon and place it in front of her. Then I grab the syrup and her freshly squeezed orange juice.

“How’d you get all this stuff? I thought you said you didn’t live here most of the time.” She leans back as I drape a napkin in her lap.

“I know a guy.” I shrug.

She looks at me blankly.

I fucking love how adorable she is. “The bellman,” I add. “He gets me whatever I need whenever I need it.”

“Wow. That’s handy.” She cuts her toast and puts a small piece in her mouth. Her eyes widen.

“Is it okay?”

“Oh my God, it’s so good,” she says around the food.

I didn’t realize I was holding my breath. But I let out a relieved sigh as she chews and cuts another piece. Mousey eyes the food intently.

I plate up my own breakfast and sit beside her. When I tear off a piece of bacon for Mousey, May grabs my wrist. “You can’t.” Then she snaps her gaze to the cat. “Don’t take that tone with me. You know there’s way too much salt in this. You’re just asking for kidney issues. Not on my watch, little lady.”

Mousey stands and stretches, making a big show of her claws on the stone island, then hops down and stalks off.

“Sorry. I didn’t know that was a problem.” I eat the piece of bacon.

“There’s no way you could’ve, but Mousey knows just fine, and she was still going to eat it.” She spears another piece of French toast. “Sometimes, you have to save cats from themselves.”

“People, too.”

“I guess, but I understand cats way more than I’ve ever understood people.”

“Then we’re a perfect team. I’ll handle the humans. You handle the felines.” I swipe a bit of syrup from her lip and lick my finger. Sweet, like her.

“Deal.” She smiles, and I decide that I need to sample her sweetness right then and there, taking her mouth and her breath. Her tongue is more adventurous this time, searching mine as I grip her hair lightly. I want to take her back to bed, to extend my breakfast all the way to the delicious spot between her legs. But she needs to eat. She’ll never want for anything on my watch. I finally relent, but only so her food doesn’t get cold.

I hope she knows I’m not done with her, not even close.

16

MAY

“Where to?” I ask when we step off the elevator.

“Jersey.” Carson grabs my hand, his fingers linking together with mine. He’s always finding a way to touch me. When I woke up this morning, I was worried that things might be awkward. Especially because he hadn’t been in bed, but I was wrong. Things between us feel natural.

“Really? I’ve never been there before.”

“Half of it’s great, the other half, not so much. We’re going to check out a pet store.”

“Oh,” I scrunch my nose at that. I’m not a fan of those places. I wish people would adopt and not shop. Pet stores are even harder for me than the shelter. Carson opens the car door for me.

“Hey, you don’t have to go in.” He tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. His eyes go soft on me. It’s sweet that he’s worried this might upset me. That’s he’s taking note and cares. It’s been a long time since someone watched out for me.

“No. I want to. We’re in this together.” I lift myself up on my tiptoes and press my mouth to his.

Carson wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me flush to him and deepening our kiss. I had no idea what I'd been missing out on for all these years when it came to kissing, but I bet kisses with some fumbling teenage boy in high school would have never matched these. I’m glad I saved it for Carson; his kisses are worth remembering.

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