by Codi Gary
“To answer your question, he has,” Kelly said.
Dustin washed his hands and then came up behind Rylie. He slipped one arm around her waist and grabbed a donut with the other. “See? My question wasn’t that crazy.”
“I-told-you-so’s are not sexy,” Rylie grumbled.
The sound of crashing in the other room made Dustin laugh. “Are you sure? Because when you say it to me it makes me so hot, baby.”
Rylie turned in his arms and started whacking him on the shoulder. “You are so gross.” Her tone was heavy with mirth, and Dustin danced away from her with a wink.
“You think I’m adorable and you know it.” Then he hollered, “Raider! What did you break? Now your mom is going to gloat that she was right!”
Dustin left the room, and Kelly watched Rylie, still smiling as she delivered Kelly’s coffee to the counter in front of her. Kelly picked the mug up and walked over to steal a donut. “He makes you happy?”
“Very much.” Rylie lifted her own cup of coffee to her mouth and sipped lightly. “It’s funny, because after all the romance novels I’ve read, I never really expected to find anything like this. When we fight, I have this knot in the pit of my stomach, because the thought of losing him is so unbearable. I’ve never had that with anyone.”
“I am so glad. You deserve the best.”
Rylie shot her a pensive look. “So do you.” She paused a moment, cradling her coffee cup between her hands as she stared at Kelly. “This Hank guy…is he going to be a problem?”
“How do you mean?” Kelly asked.
“Like a stalking, won’t-take-no-for-an-answer, kind of problem.”
Kelly knew Rylie’s concern came from her own terrifying experience with an unhinged man she’d dated last year, so she didn’t laugh.
“No, he’s fine. Just likes a challenge.”
“At least you have Christian watching your back at work.”
Kelly involuntarily frowned at the mention of her friend. Even though they had talked and watched TV last night, it had been…off. Anytime she moved, he’d stiffened or gotten up to get something. As though he was afraid to touch her. Whatever was going on between them, they hadn’t resolved it.
But as much as she adored Rylie, she wasn’t going to talk about it. Besides, she had no idea what the problem was, so there was nothing to say.
“Yep, I’ve got Chris.”
Chapter 12
Chris hadn’t waited the full week to reach out to Rachel. In fact, he’d called her on Sunday and asked her out for Friday night. She’d sounded pretty excited, which made him less self-conscious about Maria’s comments.
To his surprise, Kelly had cancelled on him for Wednesday, telling him she’d had to help Veronica with her first wedding. He’d almost dropped dinner off to them at the office but told himself that she’d done him a favor. He’d wanted to put some distance between them, and she’d done it for him.
But he missed her. Her smile, her laugh. Her body cuddled up next to his while they watched a movie.
God, he was a fucked-up mess.
He picked Rachel up from her place and took her to dinner at a Mexican-Korean restaurant. It had been her choice, not his; he wasn’t a fan of overpriced, fusion food.
Dinner was fun, although he was still hungry. The tiny plate of tacos they’d served him had not been enough to sustain him. Rachel was two margaritas in, and getting flirty by the time he paid the check.
When they got outside, she asked, “What now?”
“I was thinking we could check out what’s playing at the theater.”
She stepped closer to him, her arms twining around his neck. “Or, we could go back to my apartment and see what’s playing in your pants.”
Chris grimaced. Talk about stupid pick-up lines.
Before he could respond, Rachel rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him. She pulled his head down to hers and opened her mouth against his lips. Chris was used to taking the lead, so he increased the pressure, putting his arms around her waist.
Nothing was happening. Not even a small stir of excitement. She was soft. She smelled good…but his cock was as limp as an old carrot.
“Get a room!” someone yelled as they drove by and it was the perfect excuse to end the kiss.
“Let’s go,” he said.
She took his hand as they walked to the car. He was attracted to Rachel, always had been. Maybe it was just because the kiss was so aggressive and out in the open that he hadn’t been able to get into it. He was completely sober, while he knew Rachel was at least buzzed. He didn’t feel right going to bed with her unless they were both in their right mind.
Meanwhile, Rachel was drawing little finger hearts on his upper thigh the whole way back to her place. She obviously had no issue with the two of them taking this to the next level.
Still, nothing.
After he parked, he climbed out and headed over to open the passenger door. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something small and white run under a bush.
He helped Rachel out and let her take his hand again, but his attention was on the shrubbery.
“I am so glad we finally did this,” she said.
Chris nodded distractedly. “Me too.”
They passed by the bush and Chris heard a little squeak. He slowed his steps and stared down into the dense branches, searching for the source of the sound.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I heard something.”
He released her hand. Then, Chris squatted down next to the bush and stuck his hand out to move some branches.
A tiny, white paw poked out and attacked his fingers with pinprick sharp claws.
Chris jerked his hand back with a startled laugh. “Hey, who is in there?” He turned to Rachel. “Do you mind getting the flashlight out of my glove box?”
“Ooookay.”
Chris ignored her obvious irritation. He stuck his hand in again, and drew it back. This time, a tiny kitten popped its head out, its arms reaching for him. Its eyes were dilated, and its mouth was wide open, flashing its teeth playfully.
“Oh, you’re tough.” He grabbed ahold of the kitten and pulled him out of the bush. He felt the little body vibrate as he brought it against his chest. The tiny cat was purring up a storm. He rubbed the kitten’s ears and its eyes closed for a brief second.
Then, he wrapped his paws around Chris’s hand and bit down gently, followed by a sweet lick on the back of his hand.
“You’re a friendly little guy.” Chris hadn’t had a cat since he was a kid, but it seemed young. He could cradle the creature in one palm.
“What is it?” Rachel asked from behind his left shoulder.
“A kitten.”
“Oh, great. I was afraid it was going to be a mouse.” She took a step toward her apartment. “It’s probably one of my neighbors’. They never fix their cats. They just let them outside and they keep breeding.”
Chris frowned. “He’s pretty little and skinny. I’m surprised he hasn’t been a snack for something, being out here on his own.”
“Well, he’s obviously doing fine, so you should just put him back,” Rachel said.
Chris thought about it. He could be someone’s pet, but there was a busy road not too far and if Rachel was right and the people never fixed their pets, would anyone miss him if he disappeared?
“Which apartment has the cats?” he asked.
Rachel stared at him as though he’d lost his damn mind. “I don’t know. I’m allergic, so I avoid them.”
Chris could just start knocking on doors, but it was after nine. He didn’t really feel like pissing a bunch of people off.
He started to put the little guy down, but suddenly, the kitten climbed up his chest. When the small head was right under his nose, the fur ball rubbed his face against Chris’s cheek.
/> And that was it. He was owned.
“I’m going to keep him.”
Rachel bit her lip. “But…I…I can’t have him in my apartment.”
“That’s okay. We’ll head home.”
“What about coming in?”
“I should get this guy back to my place and feed him.” He almost leaned over to kiss her cheek, but remembered her allergies. “I’ll call you.”
“Fine. Goodnight.” He could tell she was miffed as she stomped to her door in her four-inch heels, but Chris was too caught up in the needle-sharp teeth currently eating the end of his finger. He had no idea what he needed for the little guy, but…
Kelly would.
He climbed into his truck and under the dome light, took a selfie of him and the kitten. Then he sent it to Kelly.
I made a new friend. Help me?
Seconds ticked by before she finally answered.
Get your ass over here.
Chris laughed and started the truck. One good thing about Kelly was no matter how mad she might be at him, she could never resist a critter in distress.
Chapter 13
Kelly took several deep breaths, telling herself to calm the hell down. This was Chris, her dear friend and colleague. This wasn’t the first time Chris had come over late at night when she was in her pjs. No reason to freak about it now.
So what if she’d had two sexy dreams about him in the last week? Who cares if she’d been so turned on when she’d woken up that she’d needed to alleviate the pressure with her battery-operated buddy? She couldn’t control where her subconscious went and that was no reason to be weird around him.
She heard Chris come through the front door and pulled her gray sweater tighter around her body. She came around the corner to find him standing in her living room, holding a little ball of white and tabby fur in his big hand.
“Oh, my God, where did you find him?”
At the sound of her voice, the kitten’s head popped up and he yawned adorably.
“Under a bush at an apartment complex.”
“Outside? Poor pumpkin. He doesn’t look older than six weeks.” She walked closer to get a better look. The kitten’s ears and back were brown striped while the rest of him was snowy white except…were those bald patches on his ears?
Oh boy.
“Bring him into the kitchen so I can get a better look at him.”
Chris stroked the kitten’s head and back as he passed her by, the scent of his cologne wrapping around her like a cozy blanket. She felt a little like a floating cartoon character following him with her nose in the air.
Dammit, she really needed to get a grip on herself!
She stepped closer to him, studying how small the kitten looked in Chris’s big hands. Kelly didn’t want to take the chance of meeting his pale blue eyes, especially less than a foot away. She scratched the kitten under his chin, turning his head this way and then the other, concentrating on searching for hairless spots and not on the fact that Chris’s chest looked hot in the blue T-shirt he was wearing.
Once she got a good look at the little fuzzbutt, she noted the scaly bald spots and knew without a doubt she wasn’t wrong.
“Hey Chris…”
“Yeah.”
“Your new kitten has ringworm.”
Chris turned into a statue right in front of her and she couldn’t help meeting his wide eyes with amusement. “What is that?”
“It’s a fungal infection. It won’t hurt you or him, but it will need to be treated.”
Chris held the kitten away from him a bit, and Kelly backed up quickly or his hands would have hit her right in the face. “What does it do?”
“It causes hair loss on cats and dogs, and little rings on people. It’s really not a big deal.”
Kelly couldn’t help laughing at the horrified look on his face.
“Will you relax? We’ll just get some anti-fungal cream, apply it several times a day and in a couple of weeks, it will be gone. Here, let me inspect him for more spots. I see at least three on his ears and head, but the paws and belly are also good places for the fungus to grow.”
Chris handed the kitten off to her and immediately raced to the kitchen faucet. He turned the water on, lathering his hands up and scrubbing them furiously beneath the stream. She giggled as she turned the kitten over, looking for more spots. She was up to seven, as he was missing hair on both of his front paws.
He meowed in protest when she held up his tail to check his rear end…yep, a he.
“Looks like he’s got about eight spots, including a suspicious one on his belly. We should take him into the vet tomorrow and get him some oral medicine along with the topical cream.”
Chris shook his head. “I can’t believe I tried to do something good, and I get bit in the ass.”
“Geez, ringworm is really common in kittens. Pepper had it and look at him now.” Upon hearing his name, Pepper padded into the room, his tail swishing in the air and meowing long and low.
“Is being a tubby, lazy fur ball a side effect?” Chris asked.
Kelly’s gaze narrowed in irritation as he continued to watch the kitten in her hands as if it was a bomb about to go off. “I’m sorry, were you expecting pet ownership to be nothing but sunshine and rainbows? It’s not. You think I like cleaning up Pepper’s hair balls or scooping his litter box?”
The corner of Chris’s mouth tilted up. “I’m guessing not.”
“You would be correct. Now, take your fungus-riddled cat back.”
“Nice,” Chris said. He took the kitten from her and held it up to look him in the eye. “Did you hear the nasty things she said about you? You have my permission to hiss at her.”
The kitten turned its head into Chris’s thumb as he rubbed its ear.
Okay, so Kelly’s heart melted a bit. She was a big old softy who loved those calendars featuring hot guys and baby animals. What warm-blooded, hetero woman didn’t?
And Chris, in his semi-tight shirt and jeans, holding a one-pound kitten in his hands, was definitely calendar material.
Flashbacks of her X-rated dream swept across her mind and she silently cursed herself.
I really need to stop thinking like that about Chris.
Luckily, he was so focused on the kitten that he didn’t notice her mini-meltdown.
“I don’t suppose you have an extra litter box I could use and maybe some kitten food?” he asked.
“No, but I have some canned food and a cardboard soda flat. We could set him up with a little area in my bathroom while we run back to Walmart.”
Chris groaned. “That’s all the way on Motherlode Drive.”
Kelly rolled her eyes. “Who are you? We used to hit up Walmart just because there was nothing else opened when we were in high school.”
“Yeah, but we are adults now and I’m up past my bedtime.”
She pointed at the kitten. “Look at that face. He needs things. Don’t be an old poop.”
He grumbled behind her as she went about readying the kitten’s room. She wanted to be sure and keep the little guy separate from Pepper, so he didn’t get ringworm again. The stuff was extremely contagious, if harmless, and she didn’t want it in her bed.
Once she had the water, food, and makeshift litter box, she went into her spare bathroom to set up. She placed the food and water dishes closer to the sink while the litter box she set on the other side of the toilet. She bundled an old towel in the corner between the tub and the wall for the kitten to sleep on. Kelly stood up and surveyed her temporary home for the fur baby with a smile.
“All right, I’m ready for him,” she called.
The first thing that struck her as Chris entered the bathroom was that the kitten was rolling over in Chris’s hands, enjoying belly rubs. He hadn’t been as relaxed with her, but some cats were just like that.
They loved their owners from the first moment they met them and tolerated everyone else.
The second was she’d never thought of Chris as imposing, but stuck in such a small space with him, she realized that he nearly blocked the entire door. Not that they hadn’t been in confined quarters before, but this was the first time she was fully aware of him. She was consciously thinking about the fact that if he wanted to, he could block her escape from the room. Maybe push that tight body up against hers and keep her in place until he was finished with her.
Her skin turned feverish and sweat broke out all over. “Here, let me squeeze by you and we’ll see if he’ll eat.”
Kelly turned to the side and his hands, which were holding the kitten, brushed her chest. Heat rose up across her skin and her nipples hardened to pebbles.
She glanced at him to see if he’d noticed her reaction, but he was squatting with his back to her. The minute he set the kitten down, it raced to the food bowl. With both white paws planted in the middle of the kitten food, the kitten growled as he devoured the pâte and gravy.
Chris stood up, and waved his hand toward the door. “Come on, let’s get out of here, and get cleaned up.”
She couldn’t get out of the claustrophobic space fast enough. They walked out of the room into the hallway and Kelly reached for the door at the same time he did. She dropped her hand away like his skin burned her and nervously stepped back as he shut the door.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“Cause you’ve been jumpy since I got here.”
Drat, the last thing she wanted to do was draw attention to the face that something was different between them, even if it was all on her side.
“Sure, I’m great. Just had one too many cups of coffee today.”
She could tell by the arch of his eyebrows that he didn’t believe her, but he seemed to let it go. “All right. If that’s the truth, then we better get gone and back.”
“First, scrub your hands and then get changed. You’ve got an extra shirt here still, right?”
“Yeah, bossy, I’m covered.”
Kelly pursed her lips as her gaze traveled from his head to his feet involuntarily. “Might not be a bad idea to take a shower. Make sure you get every inch he may have touched. I’ll even throw your clothes in to wash, if you want.”