“It’s fine. I got it.” I’m trying to convince her just as much as I’m trying to convince myself.
I take a deep breath and try again. The cat pulls back further until his cranky, multicolored face disappears into the shadows. I’m about ninety-nine percent sure she’s fucking with me. Although she doesn’t have any fondness for me, I don’t think it would be good for business to put me in actual danger. Steeling myself, I reach out again until my hands close around the warm, furry body. It squirms under my touch, and it takes a couple of tries to get a hold of him, but I manage it.
He digs his claws in as I’m trying to pull him out, and I have to put a little extra effort in to drag him out, so I lose my balance a little when he releases. Now he’s fucking with me.
I stumble back, cat in my arms, turning to see that Luna has paused in her work to check out my progress. One of her eyebrows arches as I struggle with the cat, lifting him up to show her before placing him down on the floor.
“Not so hard.”
There’s no defeat on her face, just another smug little smile, eyes locked on the ground. I track them down to see the chunky cat’s butt twitching.
“No.”
I bend down trying to scoop him up, but he’s too fast. He leaps back into his cage, surprisingly agile for such a big boy. The look he gives me is just as smug as hers before he disappears back into the void.
“Come on.”
“Might want to close the cage before you put him down. Thought I explained that to you. Sorry.”
Sure she is. I grumble, cursing under my breath before I start the process all over again.
She finishes hers first, darting over to the sink to wash her hands. I catch her smoothing down her hair and swiping shiny pink gloss over her lips before she steps over to her bag. She pulls a fancy ass looking tripod out of it, setting it up on the table next to the door. I’m still staring at her when she finishes fiddling with her phone.
“Okay. It’s all set up to go. This is an auto-tracking tripod, so it’ll follow us as we move around the room. I’m going to do a little spiel to introduce the live and then I’ll come help you finish the last cage, then we can have a little Q&A session while we play with the cats. You never know. We might even get some of these guys adopted today. That would be fantastic. Failing that, I’ve got a link to the rescue’s website to donate. You ready to go?”
“Um.” I reach up to swipe at my hair before I remember what’s all over my hands. Now I’m all off balance. I haven’t had time to pull myself together. I hate that.
“We can take a pause if you’d like to brush your hair or put on your stage makeup. Whatever you need, pretty boy.”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Perfect.”
She makes it across the room with a couple of long strides to stand beside me and turns to face the camera with a huge smile spreading across her face. “I scheduled this live ahead of time, so I’ve got a bunch of followers subscribed for notifications. That means we’ll probably have a handful join right off the bat. Then others will jump on as we go. Three, two, one. And we’re connecting.”
She pockets the remote, and her gorgeous smile gets even bigger as she faces the screen. She wiggles her fingers in a wave.
“Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining me on my live today. As promised, I brought a very special guest to join me at Paws For Thought. Beau Whitaker!” She sounds so enthusiastic and positive. I almost believe she’s excited to have me here. “Now I know how much you all love the Elles, but the men’s team is not too shabby, either. And of course, they couldn’t do it without their fearless captain.”
I reach back into the cage, trying to stall my on-screen moment, but there’s an insistent tug on my sleeve.
“Come on, Beau, say hi to my followers.”
I school my face into a practiced smile before unfolding myself carefully to avoid smashing my head and turning around.
“Hello.” I wave at the camera.
“Looks like we already have comments coming in, but those are going to have to wait until we finish our cleaning. Beau and I have been working in Room B here at the shelter. We’ve only got one cage left to look after, and then we’ll get to play with somekitties and answer your questions. I promise. Feel free to talk among yourselves in the chat. Click the link in the comments if you’d like to donate to help Paws keep things running here. Or if you’re ready to welcome a cat into your life, you can check out the adoptable sweeties on their website. Anything else to add?”
She turns to me, and my mouth drops half an inch. I was not expecting to talk yet, so I wasn’t exactly planning a speech. My breath catches in my throat, and I’m forced to pull out all the years of practice I have to hide my anxiety.
“I’ll match any donations that come in to Paws for the month of January.” Put on the spot, I come out with the first thought that pops up. I force my lips up into a smile as Luna goes quiet.
She turns to me with wide eyes and one eyebrow stretching toward her hairline in a what-the-heck look, which I return, but then she pulls herself back together.
“Okay, I’m just going to mute us while we finish up here, and then we’ll be back for a chat session. Talk soon.”
She wiggles her fingers again, approaches the camera to fiddle with it, then spins back around. The look on her face is fear-inducing. Even for a hockey defender used to giving and taking hard hits.
