"It just seems like you don't know a lot about cats, is all. I'd be worried for the poor thing if its owner didn't know how to take care of it."
"What's there to know about cats?" He spread his hands wide. "You feed them and water them. Done."
I held back a smile. "It's plants that get watered. Cats have food dishes."
"See, I knew you'd be able to help me."
He flashed me a grin. My head went dizzy again. I'd read about charming smiles, but I'd never thought it was an actual thing people could do in real life until I'd met Nathan Walker.
"So," he said, breaking my thoughts. "Cat stuff?"
"Right." I waved my hand to the bags of litter, determined to remain professional. "Let's go with the most important thing first. Do you know what brand the cat likes?"
"Nope."
"Cats can be picky sometimes."
"I'll get one of each, then."
"We have ten different kinds."
But he was already moving on, acting as if there was nothing more between us than a simple shopping trip.
"I don't know what kind of food she eats," he said. "Maybe I'll get one of each of those too."
"We carry fifteen brands of cat food."
I had a feeling he wouldn't care about that, either. World-famous rock stars made a lot of money. Now I really regretted not making commission.
"And what about toys?" he asked. "I don't want Cleo to get bored."
"Her name is Cleo?" I asked. "Short for Cleopatra?"
"Cute, right?" A fond smile crossed his lips. "My mom named her."
"It is cute," I agreed. "How old is she?"
"Only a year. My mom got her to keep from getting lonely once I started going off touring."
He looked around and fiddled with some catnip bags. I noticed the thin red lines all over the back of his hand.
"You're all scratched up," I said, alarmed.
"Cleo doesn't really like me," he said with a rueful grin. "Animals in general don't like me." He examined the scratches on his hand. "What about toys? You got anything cool? Maybe I can keep her from using me as her scratching post."
My eyes lit up. "We just got these great new cat trees. They've got multiple levels and tons of scratching posts and this part where you can hang a dangling toy for them to bat at."
"You've sold me on it," he chuckled. "Sounds fancier than the toys I got as a kid."
"Some people do pamper their pets like children."
"So you work at a pet store and volunteer at a hospital?" Nathan asked as I rang everything up. "Must keep you pretty busy."
The store was technically closed, but I wasn't going to kick out a paying customer. I'd convinced him to only buy three bags of litter and five cans of food for now. If Cleo was picky he could always buy more. I didn't want to risk the rest going to waste.
"It's not really a pet store," I explained. "We don't have any live animals on site. It's more of an animal accessories and products store."
"Too bad," he said. "I was looking forward to singinghow much is that doggy in the window?"
