His dark hair is shot through with silver threads at the temples, and he’s too well dressed for an animal shelter. Not everyone would notice. But the immaculate fit, and expensivefabric tailoring of his dark grey slacks scream custom tailoring. They’re paired with a pale pink dress shirt and matching grey tie with pink flamingos scattered over it. But then I glance down at the pristine white sneakers I’ve got on my feet and shrug. Who am I to judge?
“Follow me.” He spins around.
Luna follows my gaze down to my shoes, and her mouth twists at the corners. Speaking of judging someone for their clothes. I can’t resist leaning in to whisper in her ear. “Lulu?”
The face she gives me looks like that grumpy cat from the memes. “Don’t even think about it.”
Damien turns around. “What was that?”
“Nothing, Damien. Lead the way. I think Beauregard is getting tired carrying that heavy bag. He must not have been keeping up with his workouts.”
“I…” Her laugh cuts off my response, and I shake my head.
There’s a hint of eau de furry critter in the bright white lobby. But once we pass through the swinging door into the back room, it gets so much more intense, overwhelming my senses. But I’ve smelled way worse in the hockey dressing room, so I suck it up, swallowing hard.
“You can put that bag down in the supply room here. And don’t worry, I know Luna is messing with you. You look more than strong enough to handle that load. In fact, if you’re going to make this a regular thing, I’ll invite you over with some more of your team to help unload our next food delivery. The driver always dumps it in the hall, and my skin is too soft to be hauling food bags.”
Wilder looks at me again, eyes falling to my hands, and now she’s smirking. “Sure.” At this rate, I’ll be committing my life to this damn place just to spite her. Maybe that’s her game.
Chapter 9
The Prince & The Paws
Luna
AmItakingalittle too much joy in his discomfort? Maybe. Do I care? Not in the least. If I’m going to be stuck working with him for the rest of the semester, then I’m going to do everything in my power to make it as tolerable as I can. And the tense set of his mouth, the slight wrinkle in his perfect brow, let me know he’s not at ease in the situation. And boy am I glad he wore those white sneakers. They might not be quite so shiny by the time we’re done here. Not that he can’t afford a new pair or three. His family has fuck-you money. An amount I could never even wrap my head around, according to the internet search I gave in to last night.
I didn’t realize my shoulders had crept up to my ears until we step into my favorite room and a chorus of meows welcomes us. My entire body relaxes. My fuzzy favorite comes trotting up to me, butting his little head against my ankles.
“Bluebeard, how’s my handsome boy?” I squat down to stroke a hand down his sleek steel-grey body. He’s come so far from when he got here, and I’ve got so many mixed emotions aboutthe little guy. I want him to find his forever home. He deserves it, but I’m going to miss him so much. He lifts his whiskered face up to peer at me through his one blue eye.
Beau is standing next to me all awkward, shuffling on his feet.
“So, I’m going to ask you two to work in here today. Your favorite,” Damien says with a smile. He turns to Beau. “Don’t worry, Luna is a pro. She’ll show you the ropes. Let me or Carol know if you need anything else. And other than that, enjoy.”
There’s a very subtle twitch of Beau’s right eye as he nods.
“Oh, and feel free to film in here all you want. Just tag the shelter in all your vids. I am more than happy to co-star if you need to add a little extra class to your channel.” Damien gives another wink.
“You know I can’t put you on my channel. They’d all abandon me for you. I can’t risk it.”
He smiles. “I know. I’m sorry. You can’t keep this level of charisma contained. If only I could bottle and sell it, I’d be a millionaire.”
“You know it.”
“I’ll leave you to it. Have fun.” He singsongs his last sentence, sashaying out the door.
“Oh, Bluebeard, you’re so needy today. Want to go see Beauregard? Maybe he wants to give you some pets.”
“Oh, I’m good.”
I laugh. “Don’t worry. I was teasing. Bluebeard is my shy guy. He doesn’t really like strangers. Takes him a long time to warm up to new people. He had it pretty rough before he got here. Took him three months to let me pet him.”
A shadow falls over me, and I look up to see he’s taken a step closer and squatted down over his heels. The sharp angles of his face soften as he watches the cat nuzzling my leg.
“What happened to him?” He reaches out, then pulls his hand back. The movement catches Bluebeard’s attention, and he perks up, tilting his head to stare at the hockey player.
He’s wearing that special look you only see on a cat. Pure, adorable judgment. And then he does the most unexpected thing. He takes a cautious step toward Beau. His little black nose twitches as he tests the air, searching for who knows what. Danger, prey. I wish I could see what’s going on in his fuzzy little head.
