Page 19 of Meowy & Bright

“Yeah. I feel as my stalker, you should know these things,” I tease.

“I know plenty of things.” He shrugs. “Like how you wanted two of those cat houses but settled for one.”

I bite the inside of my cheek. “Maybe?”

“You’re such a sweetheart. Don’t worry. I got two. One for your place and one for mine.”

I smile but for some reason I have to force it. I think it has to do with us having two houses and that we’ll inevitably have to part once we get back. He’ll go into his house that looks sad without icicle lights, and I’ll go into my glorious Christmas palace.

It’s just that I’ve had so much fun with him, I hate for it to end, but it has to. You don’t meet someone then just start living with them. That’s crazy. I mean, it’s crazy, right? I hated him just a day ago. If I didn’t already know I was a little bit out there, this line of thought would verify it. I should try and rein it in. I know he says he likes my quirks, but I don’t want to be a total wet blanket.

“So you got a house for Charlie, too? That was really sweet of you,” I say to him as he pulls into the driveaway.

“I know you don’t like to wait on Christmas decor, so they’ll be dropping the cat houses off this afternoon.”

I gawk at him. “How have I spent that last year hating you? How?”

“There’s a fine line between love and hate, angel.” He smiles at me, the look in his eyes soft and warm. “And sometimes we only hate things because we fear them, because they’re unknown. But now we know each other.” His smile warms even more. “And I have to say I’m loving every minute of knowing you, Ariadne.”

Heat explosions, but in a good way, go off inside me, and I can’t string any response together. Thankfully, he gets out of the car and comes around to my side to open the door for me, giving me a moment to try and get my overly expressive face under control.

He takes my hand. “I’ll help you get Mrs. Claws and walk you home.”

“Okay.” My shoulders droop as I follow him to his front door. When I enter, I see our cats in a cute little snuggle ball together. I walk over and pick up Mrs. Claws. I worry she might fight me about leaving, but she cuddles more into me. She may be on a sex high, but she knows who her mommy is.

“I guess I’ll see you later.” I turn, even though my chest constricts because I know I’m going to miss Brendan, and walk to the door.

“Hey,” Brendan calls after me, but I keep walking fast.

I half sprint across the street and make it to my door in time to get the key in. I dart inside and shut the door, locking it behind me. I’m being irrational and crazy. I spent the whole morning with him, after all. He said he’d see me later, but still it upsets me. Iamthe stage-five clinger his mother warned him about. Mrs. Claws gives me an irritated look, her tail flicking from the jaunt across the street.

“Angel.” His voice rumbles through me. “Open the door.”

“No, you have things to do. Thank you for all you’ve done for me. I’ll see you later.” I fight a sniffle.

Why is he getting to me? Gah, I’m such a wet blanket!

“Angel, please.”

I put Mrs. Claws down before turning and opening the door again. I grab him by the shirt and pull him down to me to kiss him. It’s fast but sweet.

Then I shut the door in his face again. I have no idea why I do that, but I also have no idea why I do a lot of things that I do.

11

BRENDAN

I’m smiling so hard my face hurts. “I had a great time with you, angel. I’ll see you after lunch and help arrange the Christmas cat house for Mrs. Claws.”

“Thanks,” she calls, and I can tell she’s still leaning against the door.

I want to say more, to tell her I want, more than anything, to carry her across the street, into my house, and straight to my bed. But I can’t. I check my watch. The hack I’ve had working is nearing completion, and I can’t botch this job. If I do, I have no doubt a member of the Brotherhood—an assassin agency—would show up on my Christmasy doorstep with the gift of a lead bullet or two. Not to mention the payment I’ll receive once this job is done will set me up for life.

Leaving Ariadne to settle in at her place, I hurry across the street. The house grows uncomfortably warm as I walk to the guest bedroom where my server is set up. I have an extra window unit and fans running constantly to cool it down, but it’s working hard. I’m pulling computing power from every server in a fifty-mile radius, some of them powerful Bitcoin miners who don’t understand why their algorithms have suddenly slowed. But I need all of it to break into my target’s government security and access what I need to do my job.

I strip off my coat and toss it onto the hall floor and sit at my desk, bringing every one of my monitors to life with a simple voice command. Quickly scanning through the data, I see I’m only moments away from breaking the very last lock. This is it. It’s almost there, and it couldn’t have come any sooner, especially given the upcoming snowstorm. Ariadne was right, the weather is about to turn, and if I lose power, I’m dead in the water. No generator could handle my enormous power needs for longer than an hour, at most.

Charlie struts in and sits in front of the server where it’s the warmest. I’d roll my eyes at him if I weren’t so focused on the screens in front of me.

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