Page 21 of When We Burn

And I’ll get to it, as soon as I’m finished enjoyingmy porch.

Meow.

My eyes pop open, and I listen, and then suddenly, there’s a calico cat on my lap, staring at me with wide, gold eyes.

Meow.

“Hey there. Who do you belong to?” I tentatively hold my hand out, and she leans into my touch, rubbing her cheek against my fingers. Her motor immediately kicks into gear, and she’s a tiny purring machine. “You’re sweet. You’re a baby, aren’t you?”

I don’t know much about pets. By the time I was thirteen, Holden made Dad stop bringing home animals that weren’t either horses or cattle, and my sisters and I were so grateful.Not that we ever said that out loud.After all these years, I can still hear Charlie’s and Alex’s cries after whathedid to a tiny kitten. My sobs into Holden’s chest as my dad laughed with glee at our torment.Why did he torture those poor animals? How did he become so ...barbaric? It was horrible. Okay, that’s an understatement.

So, I’ve never really taken care of a pet before. Not that I’m about to start now.

“You should go on home,” I inform her, but she just turns in a circle and begins to wash her paw. “You’re going to take a bath on me? Really?”

A minute later, Bridger and Birdie get home.

“I have to use the bathroom,” Birdie announces loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear after she climbs out of the truck, slams the door, and runs inside the house.

Bridger, on the other hand, looks over at me, then proceeds to walk my way.

He’s in jeans and a tight white T-shirt that molds over his broad shoulders and bulky biceps in the best way ever,and the short sleeves show off his tattoos. He has sleeves on both arms, colorful and sexy as all get-out. He’s lean of hip, with a flat stomach, that razor-sharp jawline, and lips that a girl could probably lose herself in.

I mean, I would assume.

“Hey,” he says with a crooked smile as he approaches, and then his eyebrows climb when he sees the cat. “New friend?”

“Help me,” I whisper loudly. “She just jumped up here, and I don’t know what to do.”

His eyes soften as he approaches, squats next to us, and runs his hand down the back of the cat, making her purr even louder.

And who can blame her? I’d purr, too, if his hands were on me.

“You could try petting her,” he says.

“She has to go home.”

He frowns down at the cat. “She’s really young. Probably just a couple of months old. Might be a stray.”

“She can’t stay here. You take her.”

Bridger drags the backs of his knuckles over my cheek, and I want to melt right into his touch. “I can’t. Besides, she really likes you. Looks like she’s claimed you as her human.”

I feel my eyes go wide as panic sets in. “I can’t.” Iswallow hard and stare down at the cat. “I can’t keep this kitten. I don’t even want to touch it.”

“She isn’t a snake or a spider. It’s just a kitten, sweetheart.”

He chuckles, but this isn’t funny.

“Bridger. I can’t—I don’t know how—” I shake my head, and then he blinks as though it dawns on him as to why I’m freaking out.

“Whoa. Okay, I get it. I’m sorry, Dani. She’s just a kitten. A baby. It doesn’t look to me like anyone’s missing her. She’s pretty skinny, sort of dirty, but no fleas or anything like that.”

I swallow hard, and the kitten looks up at me and blinks, as if she’s totally content here in my lap.

“Hi,” I whisper to her.

Meow.

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