“Don’t you?” I asked, picking them both up and holding them under my face. “Look at them.”
I’d never had cute aggression quite so bad as with these kittens.
“You’re so lucky you get to have pets.” They were allowed in my apartment, but I was always worried about leaving a pet alone when I had to work. Wouldn’t they get lonely? I wasn’t experienced with animals enough to know what they needed. Being around Vail’s kittens was the extent of it for me lately and it was really nice. Stace and Hunter had a dog, but I didn’t know them well enough to go over and ask if I could pet or walk him.
“They’re literally so much work,” Vail said, rubbing her eyes. “They like to race each other in the middle of the night and the racetrack includes my bed. I’ve literally woken up by them jumping directly on my boobs.” The mention of her chest made my eyes directly toward it. Vail had a gorgeous chest, in my opinion. I mean, I hadn’t seen the goods, but they weregood, from this vantage point. I wondered what they’d look like when they weren’t encased in a bra. At the very least, I knew I could fill my hands with them and that was all that mattered.
And now I’d been very clearly staring at her tits. I unlatched my gaze from her chest and found her studying me with a smirk flirting on her mouth. She knew exactly what I’d been looking at and thinking about.
Shit. I’d lesbianed too close to the sun.
The kittens wiggled in my hands, a welcome distraction.
“Ouch, that’s my flesh,” I told Tana, who was trying to gnaw my thumb off. “Play with your mouse.”
The mouse toys were tiny, but still pretty big to the kittens. I set them down and got up to wash my hands and also to try and pretend I hadn’t been looking where I’d been doing.
“So, um, have you ever been to Sapph?” she called from the living room as I finished and then poured myself a glass of cold water from the pitcher in the fridge.
“Yeah, a few times.” James had gotten me to go and I’d loved it. Not only a fun place to get a drink, but karaoke night was always a blast, and they even had a book club and drag nights.
“Oh. I was thinking about going. Seems like it’s the place to be around here.” It was. I hadn’t been in a few weeks because I’d been so busy with work, but it would be great to go and grab a few drinks and dance.
“I’ll go with you,” I said after I’d gulped down the rest of the water. Seemed like the right thing to do since she hadn’t gone before. Usher her into the world of Sapph.
“You will?” She met my eyes over the back of the couch. The house was open concept, but smaller than I would have thought for her. It was full of bright colors and patterns and art that didn’t quite match, but it all clashed charmingly. It was so different from what I’d thought it would be. I guess I’d expected more…bland. White. Sterile. Like her mother.
This house was a giant middle finger to every one of her mother’s decorating styles. It was awesome.
Vail’s house also had a lived-in quality to it. The couch was a little worn, and some of the furniture had dings, and you could see where she’d patched some holes in the curtains herself, I suspected for kitten-related reasons. There was also a cat tree that dominated one corner that had these woven baskets for the cats to lay in that were lined with fluffy material. I’d never been jealous of a cat before but living in Vail’s house looked pretty great if you were a kitten.
“Yeah, I’ll take you to Sapph. If you’re really nice to me, I might even buy you a drink.” That wasn’t flirting. That was being nice. There was a difference. I didn’t know what it was right at the moment, but there was.
She smiled at me and rested her chin on the couch. Her hair was down today, messy and all over the place. She didn’t even have any makeup on, her face pale and clean. All I could think of when I looked at her was rainy days curled up under a hand-crocheted blanket with a favorite book.
She looked like home.
That thought startled me so badly that I jerked in surprise and then had to cover it with a cough.
“What was that?” she asked.
“I felt like something bit me,” I said, looking down and pretending to check my hip. Unfortunately, the kittens were now tackling each other in the living room so I couldn’t blame either one of them.
“You okay?” She started to get up like she was going to help me. I slapped at my legs a few times to try and sell it.
“Yeah, fine. Anyway, are you hungry?” I wasn’t, but bringing up food was a good distraction.
“Sure. Let me make you something.” That time she did get up and join me in the kitchen.
“You’re always doing things for me. I’ve got this,” I said, pushing her away with a laugh. She grabbed onto me and took me with her so we both lost our balance and crashed into the fridge, magnets tumbling all over the floor.
“Oof!”
“I’m sorry!”
We managed to untangle ourselves and make some space between us like we’d been caught doing something wrong.
“Sorry,” I said again. “Did I hurt you?”
