Page 7 of Whisker Me Away

“Not even a little bit.”

“Not that I’m saying we’re going to like get mated tomorrow or anything. Not that it matters because you might not even be into me. No pressure or anything. Obviously I find you attractive but that doesn’t actually have to mean anything.” Spencer snaps his mouth shut, covering his face once again.

With a warm chuckle, I take his wrist in my hand and pull it away from his face. “There you are. No hiding,” I say softly.

“Hiding is far safer.”

“That might be true. But it’s also far less fun. Plus, I like looking at your pretty face, Spencer.”

Spencer bites his bottom lip. “You think I’m pretty?”

“Very.”

“Oh,” he breathes out, looking back out the window. He tries to hide it but he’s smiling, further proving my point without even trying.

There’s a soft and tentative understanding between us after that. We spend the entire morning side by side in the observation deck. Spencer will occasionally pull out his notebook and write something down. I pull out my book and read through a few chapters.

Sometime during the morning, Spencer scoots closer until he can lay his head against my shoulder. My stomach erupts with butterflies as we snuggle together. I’m proud of him for making the first move, for taking a chance. That must have taken him all morning to find the nerve.

I give him a soft squeeze before going back to my book. Occasionally, I’ll look down, just to watch the way Spencer’s eyelashes fall, or to count the freckles that dot his nose. He falls asleep and I can’t stop watching him. How in the fuck am I so down bad for a man I just met yesterday? We were thrust together without our permission but somehow, it feels like we were meant to meet. Is that type of magic real? Or is it just a fairy tale I’m trying to project onto the situation?

Eventually, our stomachs rumble, letting us know it’s time for lunch. Reluctantly, I gently shake Spencer awake. He blinks his giant brown eyes up at me, a soft smile stretching across his lips as our eyes meet.

“Hi,” he whispers.

“Good morning, sleepy head. Are you hungry? We could head down to the dining car.”

Spencer hums, extracting himself from me and stretching. Now that I know he’s a cat shifter, the gesture makes a lot of sense. We pull away from each other, get up, and head down to the dining car.

I can’t help but think that this vacation isn’t the only thing that’s only just started. Whatever this is between us is starting out, like a brand new flower blooming. It’s refreshing and exciting, yet at the same time, it has a naive beauty to it. I want to hold my hands over it and protect it. More than anything, I want to get to know Spencer even more and see where this goes.

Lunch is BLTs with a side of chips. I get a soda while Spencer indulges and orders an orange soda float.

These feelings, at first I thought they were lust. Spencer is hot and it would be easy to assume I’d like to fuck him, just to scratch the itch. But somehow, I know it’s more than that. I don’t just want to fuck him, I want to watch him sleep again. I want to see what he’s writing in his notebook. I want to fall asleep next to him to the sound of his soft breathing.

There’s an instant connection between us, one that I can’t really wrap my brain around but instead of trying to overthink this and figure out each and every facet of my feelings, I think it would be best just to sit back and enjoy it. Enjoy my vacation, enjoy the time Spencer and I have together, and of course, enjoy Spencer himself.

After lunch, we head back to our personal cabin. Before walking in behind Spencer, I turn back to the hallway towards Matthew.

“Hey, Matthew? Do you by chance have alcohol for purchase? Maybe a sweet red?”

Matthew nods his head. “I’ve got just the thing! I’ll bring it over in a jiffy!”

“Thank you!”

Spencer is sitting on the floor, his back against the wall. He tilts his head. “What was that?”

I smile as I step into the room and close the door behind me. “I was just asking Matthew something.” I kick my shoes off and get on the floor, sitting across from Spencer. “I thought we could get to know each other better.”

“I would like that a lot.”

Matthew knocks on the door. Popping his head through the door, he gives us both a grin as he passes over the bottle of wine. Then he leaves just as quickly.

I hold the bottle up, flashing Spencer a smirk. “And I got us a little something to take the edge off while we do it.”

Chapter Four

Spencer

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