Page 9 of The Cocky Neighbor

"Do you have an owner, baby girl? Or do you want to come home with me?" I never had a cat before, but my childhood friend adopted two sweet kitties this year and I'd fallen in love with the furbabies. I played with them every time I visited, and thought about adopting a couple for myself.

"We'll have so much fun, and I'll give you all the snuggles you want. And snacks. All the snacks you want," I found myself saying. Was I trying to negotiate with this cat to come home with me? Yes I was, but the cat and I were the only ones here so no one would ever have to know.

"Star is a boy," a deep voice sounded from behind me. I spun around to find the last man I wanted to run into. Eric stood there with his arms crossed, leaning against the building wall as he watched me with amusement.

"Jesus, do you always sneak around like that?" I asked as I stood from my squatting position.

He smirked and walked over to give the cat—Star—a good rub. Was he named that because of the black blob on his back that vaguely resembled a star? What an uncreative name. The cat lifted his butt happily as he continued to munch on the food. The little traitor.

"Is he your cat?"

Eric shrugged and said, “He's one of the strays I feed." Eric eyed the wet food on the ground, then turned to me. "You're already taking over my hotel, are you trying to take my cat as well?"

I huffed and crossed my arms. “I’m not taking over the hotel, I’m just improving the logistics of the place.”

He waved his hand at my statement. “Potato, patato.”

Grumbling, I continued, “Besides, you said yourself that he's a stray, so if he agrees to come with me, that's his right. How do you know he's ahe, anyway?"

I hadn't seen any furry balls when I checked earlier, so I assumed the cat was a girl.

“’Cuz I was the one who caught and neutered him," Eric nonchalantly said as he walked over to the small shed that was at the edge of the forest. He unlocked the shed door and disappeared inside to reappear with a clear, plastic quart cup of kibble.

I followed him to the back of the small structure where an awning was built with a couple of food bowls placed underneath it. Eric emptied the kibble into the food bowl and went into the shed to get more before coming back. Not even a minute later, a couple of cats sprinted from the forest to us.

They seemed wary of me, but with Eric making reassuring noises, they finally calmed down enough to eat. They were obviously familiar and comfortable around him. A few minutes later, at least half a dozen cats surrounded the food bowls.

Eric had said that he fed thestrays, but I wasn't expecting this many cats. And least of all, I wasn't expecting this man to take time out of his day to look after all of them.

He must have sensed my stare, because he turned around to look at me and frowned. "What? Are you going to complain about this too? Is having strays at the hotel unprofessional? Because listen here, some of these cats have been here longer than I've worked here. I've neutered and spayed all of them, and they're not causing anyone trouble, so I'll be damned if you try to remove them from their home."

He had his arms crossed again in a defensive posture, and I had no doubt that he was willing to fight me if I tried to have the cats removed from the premises.

Damn, seeing this protective side of him was hot as fuck. And that was not a good thing considering I was already more taken with this man than I should be.

"I wouldn't dare do that. Although, I wasn't expecting to learn that you fed stray cats."

"Why? Because I'm doing it during work hours? Don't worry. Five minutes a day won't cut into my productivity," he said with a huff.

Did he have such a bad image of me? One would think I was a tyrant or something.

"No, that isn't what I was thinking at all," I said with my hands tucked into the pockets of my silk trousers. "It's just unexpected. It's a nice thing to do."

A lot of people would see the cats and leave to go about the rest of their day, thinking that it was none of their business. It didn't matter to them if the cats starved or not. Out of sight, out of mind.

Eric shrugged and pulled a water bottle from the pocket of his dress pants to refill the bowl of water beside the food bowls. "There's a lot you don't know about me."

And wasn't that exactly the problem?

I wanted to find out everything about the man, because I really liked what I saw so far. But he worked for me, and it wouldn't be appropriate. So the only thing I could do was pull away before I got too attached to this man.

“And there's no need to get to know you better. As long as you do your job and we can smoothly finish this transition over the next few months, that's all that matters."

His stunned expression was the last thing I saw before turning around and leaving him there. My harsh words ruined the calm moment with the cats, but I tried telling myself that it was the right move to make.

If only the annoying pang in my chest would stop.

NINE

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