She pictured the mostly empty bar downstairs, the way she struggled each month to find enough money to pay the bills and still order enough booze to keep them in business. As her staff quit one by one, she took on their shifts herself, saving money by having fewer people to pay, at the expense of her YouTube channel and her kitten rescue.
Eve could save her bar, if Josie could just convince her to feature Swanson’s onDo Over. This bar had been her dad’s pride and joy…aside from Josie, of course. He’d poured endless blood, sweat, and tears into it, had raised Josie in the apartment upstairs, the one she now rented out to help keep herself afloat, keeping this smaller one for herself. Swanson’s was the only home she’d ever known. After losing her mom to cancer when she was five and her dad to a bullet two years ago, it was all she had left of them.
She’d do anything to save this place.Anything.
Eve placed her hands palm down against the table, narrowing her eyes at Josie, reminding her how long they’d been sitting here in silence, staring at each other. Had she seen Josie checking her out? Was Eve even interested in women?
Josie licked her lips and swallowed. “So I can give you formula and—”
“I can’t keep them,” Eve interrupted, her tone icy and clipped, the way she spoke on her show. “If you don’t take them, I’ll have to bring them to the shelter.”
3
Eve watched as Josie’s eyes went wide before her shoulders slumped in defeat. It didn’t matter that it was an empty threat or that Eve felt an odd twinge in her chest at the idea of Josie being disappointed in her. Right now, she had to focus on finding a replacementDo Overepisode before Friday, and the kittens were better off with Josie anyway. It was as simple as that.
“The shelter will euthanize them,” Josie told her with heartbreaking earnestness. “They aren’t staffed for orphans.”
“You said on the phone that you would call other rescuers?” Eve kept her tone neutral the way she would on camera. The minute Josie realized she had no intention of bringing them to the shelter, it was all over. Eve lost every bit of her advantage.
The truth was, those helpless kittens stirred something maternal in her that she’d thought to be long dead and buried, and the feeling was as painful as it was inconvenient. She didn’t have time for it, not this week. And she wasn’t sure she had the mental strength for it…ever.
“I did,” Josie confirmed, her gaze falling to the bundle on the table between them. “I haven’t found anyone yet who’s able to help, but I’ll keep calling.”
“I can’t keep them,” Eve repeated, not letting herself look at the kittens. She focused instead on the woman before her. Josie was even prettier in person than she had been in the video Eve had watched. Her hair, which had been long and lavender on YouTube, barely brushed her shoulders now, blonde streaked with turquoise.
There was something intoxicatingly…vibrant about her. Her hazel eyes gleamed with affection as she watched the kittens, something so warm and pure there. Eve could get lost in those eyes if she let herself. Which she definitely could not. She needed to convince Josie to take the kittens, and then she needed to get the fuck out of here.
She hadn’t stepped into a bar since…
She blinked away the memory before it had even formed. She couldn’t be here. And she couldn’t let herself get emotionally attached to these kittens. She couldn’t do any of it, least of all let herself feel anything but annoyance with the woman sitting across the table from her.
“I’m working twelve-hour shifts downstairs this week,” Josie said. “These kittens need to be fed and cared for every two hours. I can’t do it, Eve. I had to leave a friend of mine behind the bar just to come up here with you. I mean, who knows what kind of mayhem he’s caused by now.” She laughed, but it wasn’t the same effervescent laugh that had captivated Eve when they first met. Now, she sounded somewhat panicked, eyes darting from Eve to the bundle of kittens.
“I guess we have a problem, then,” Eve said quietly.
“I’m working until we close at two,” Josie said. “These next twelve hours are critical for them. Please keep them tonight, and I’ll make more calls tomorrow.”
Eve’s skin flushed hot as Josie met her eyes.No. Absolutely fucking not.“I’ve never cared for an animal in my life, not a full grown, healthy one, and certainly not a half-dead newborn one that requires round-the-clock care.”
“They aren’t half-dead anymore,” Josie countered. “And you’ve done a great job with them so far.”
“All I did is bring them to you, because I don’t have the first clue what to do for them.”
“Which was exactly the right thing to do,” Josie said, eyes snapping the way they did when she got passionate about something. “You saved their lives when you pulled them out of the trash, and then you searched until you found someone to help you revive them. You wouldn’t take them to the shelter to be euthanized.”
Eve lifted her chin. “I would, if you leave me no other choice.”
Josie grinned as she called Eve’s bluff, revealing dimples that might be Eve’s undoing if Josie hadn’t apparently already undone her. “No, you wouldn’t.”
“Tonight,” Eve heard herself saying. “Just for tonight.”
Josie’s smile grew to encompass her whole face, glowing as brightly as the neon dye in her hair. “Tonight’s a start. We’re going to save these guys, Eve, you and me.”
“You are,” Eve corrected her. “You’re going to save them.”
“With your help.” Josie bent her head and kissed the white kitten on top of the pile. “I’ll even let you name them.”
Eve huffed in annoyance. She was exhausted and starving, had been ready for the quiet comfort of her apartment hours ago, and yet here she was, still in her heels and covered in cat pee. “I don’t want to name them. I don’t want anything to do with them.”
