Page 30 of Hell's Kitten

During the short journey I’m worried that Nim is going to have changed his mind and want to back off. But as soon as the door is closed, he steps right up into my personal space and rests his hands on my shoulders.

“May I?” he asks.

I’m trembling, feeling his soft breath on my cool skin. It’s not helping my brain to do its job, especially when I can’t drag my eyes away from his plump, wet lips.

“Uhh…may you what?”

He chuckles, but it’s not unkind in any way. If anything, it’s fond. Affectionate. “May I get you out of these wet clothes and take care of you, kitten?”

There’s that word again, turning my mind into scrambled eggs. “I…I’d like that,” I say breathlessly.

If I thought I was shaky before, it’s nothing compared to when he starts trailing kisses along my jawline as he slips the leather jacket off me, and drops it to the floor. I moan and tremble, my knees feeling like Jell-O.

“Do you like being called kitten?” he asks.

Immediately, I blush and squirm, like he’s discovered my secret. Which is ridiculous because he’s the one calling me it. “Um, yeah,” I confess. “Is that weird?”

He chuckles and nips at my earlobe. “No. I like kittens.”

“You…do?” I say, not quite sure I’m following. “Of course you do. You run a cat café.”

He’s peeling me out of my hoodie. I’ve never been undressed by anyone before. It’s wildly intimate. I’m resisting the urge to giggle from nerves and sheer overwhelm.

“Yes,” he says. “I like those cats a lot. I also like men who wear ears and tails and chase balls of yarn around.”

I stare at him, not sure if he’s mocking me. It doesn’t feel like he is.

I know full well that lots of people love to dress up like cats. Not just as a costume thing but a personality thing. It made me relieved to know that I wasn’t alone in feeling that way. But it never really occurred to me that would be somethingother peoplewere attracted to. I thought it was something I had to hide away.

Until I met Nim, that is.

“Really?” I say, watching him crouch down to undo my sneakers.

“Yes,” he says simply.

I frown and take a moment to think about that. “You like men cats…and I’m a man cat…and we just happened to meet each other?”

He grunts and flicks his gaze up at me to let me know that this coincidence has not escaped his notice, either. My heart is banging fast, thinking about how he encouraged me to be free and wear my little ears and stuff.

Suddenly, it makes a whole lot of sense how he’s basically been hiding from me.

“Nim?” I ask softly as he stands again. We look into each other’s eyes. “Is this okay? I wasn’t trying to tease you with my clothes or anything, I promise. But I do really like you so much. You’re kind and thoughtful and, um, like, really, seriously hot.” He huffs out a laugh, and that helps me relax. “I’ve never told anyone about the cat thing before. Is it really something you’ve done with other people?”

He nods and gently runs his hands up and down my bare arms. “Yeah,” he says. “I have. And you weren’t teasing. And…yeah. This is okay. It’s what I want. If it’s what you want.”

“I really,really,want it,” I say. “But you’ve got reservations, I can tell.”

He clenches his jaw and looks down at my collarbones. “You’re young?—”

“Not that young,” I interject hotly. His mouth twitches with a smile, but I’m serious. That’s not an excuse not to pursue this.

“You’re my tenant,” he tries.

“That just makes it much easier to see each other,” I counter. “No schlepping across town between apartments.”

He rolls his eyes, but I’m sure I’m amusing him. “We just met,” is his next feeble argument.

“People sleep together on first dates. Hell, people meet specifically to have sex and then go on to have relationships after that.”

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