Page 34 of The Boss I Can't Stand
“Might as well be.”
“Well, maybe I should get my own shelf then.”
“So you can bring in more of your questionable food products?” He scowled at me. “No. Make me a list of what you want, and I’ll have the housekeeper track down products that are not on the verge of sentient life.”
“I can buy my own food.” I put more things in the fridge, and he immediately rearranged them. “You know a relationship is about compromise, right? Even a fake one.”
“Okay then, how’s this for a compromise? You stop trying to contaminate everything in my fridge, and I will cook dinner.” He waved me out of the kitchen.
Was this a good deal? On the one hand, I wasn’t about to say no to food I didn’t have to prepare or order myself. On the other hand, did he even know how to cook? Was I about to get food poisoning? Maybe I’d be better off with my yogurt. It wasn’tactuallybad yet,just…borderline. I picked up another box of food items. “But I have more?—”
Finn snatched it from me. “I’ll deal with this. You go unpack the rest.”
I turned around, a tension headache already throbbing behind my eyes. “What the hell is that?” I cried as a hairless, wrinkled thing with wide-set eyes, pointed ears, and a whip-like tail went slinking by me.
13
SIERRA
Ro came to stand next to me, barking out a laugh. “Looks like a gremlin!” She eyed Finn. “Did you feed it after midnight?”
Finn walked around the kitchen island, the wrinkled blob of skin sitting down at his feet. He scooped it into his arms, stroking its fleshy hide. “It’s a Sphynx cat,” he said, narrowing his eyes in a perfect imitation of the cat.
“It looks like it has a medical condition,” Ro said.
“It’s a hairless cat,” he grumbled. “It’s supposed to look this way.”
“You have a cat.” It wasn’t a question because I could see it right there, but at the same time. It was a cat. “How did I not know you have a cat? What if I had allergies? This would be a deal breaker.”
“Do you have allergies?” His eyes were still doing that cat imitation.
“Well, no. But you have a cat.”
“Yes, I’ve already established that.” His frown was making his forehead wrinkle and I didn’t want to point out how much they sort of looked alike.
“Why didn’t I know? Does anyone know?” I really needed to shut up about the cat, but I was in shock.
He rolled his eyes and he was back to looking more human. “Well, it’s not mentioned on my IMDB page, but I don’t keep it a secret.”
“Maybe you should,” Ro said.
I tilted my head, examining the cat. It really did look like a gremlin. But judging by the immaculate state of Finn’s place, it wasn’t a total surprise that he wasn’t the type to want to deal with cat hair. Maybe it made sense that this was the kind of pet he’d choose although I couldn’t imagine him havinganykind of pet. Next thing he’s going to tell us, he has hobbies.
“I don’t know,” Ro continued, “it looks sort of…saggy. Maybe it needs to be on medication? I think you should at least take it to see a vet.”
“Lord Meowington III is in peak condition,” Finn said, clearly taking offense. “Thanks to his diet of organ meat and whole fish.”
“Meowington?” I said. Oh Lord.
“Better watch yourself,” Ro muttered, nudging me hard. “Or you might get added to his raw diet.”
“No chance of that,” Finn said. “All the RevX in your body would kill him.” He whirled around, taking a yowling Lord Meowington III with him.
“Finn did not strike me as a cat guy. Interesting development,” Ro said. “You think there’s a Lord Meowington I and II around here somewhere?”
God, I hoped not. I really should have asked for more than Ro’s directorial debut if Finn and his entitled, pampered cat were going to be this insufferable.
For the next hour, Ro and I directed the movers to my new digs. Finn had finally shown me to the guest room once he was done being offended by my dairy products and whispering sweet nothings to Lord Meowington. The space was furnished like a swanky hotel suite, not that I’d ever stayed somewhere that expensive in my life.
