Eve’s eyes fell. “And the other two?”
“Are in my bedroom,” Josie told her gently.
“Which two?”
“Come see.” Josie opened the door, and there were Blanche and Hamilton curled up in the middle of her bed, fast asleep.
“Oh.” Fresh tears spilled over Eve’s cheeks.
“Are you ready to adopt them now?” Josie bumped her shoulder against Eve’s.
“Yes,” she whispered, walking over to sit on the edge of the bed. The kittens woke, stretching and bounding toward Eve at the same time. “You didn’t save these two for me, did you?”
“I wish I could say I had predicted this moment, but no, Jules actually picked Phantom and Pippin on her own.” She sat next to Eve on the bed. “I did see the irony of it when it happened, though.”
“Blanche was always my favorite,” Eve said, as the white kitten scrambled into her lap.
“I know.”
“I didn’t necessarily want two, though. Don’t you want one?”
Josie shook her head. “I’ve already got Nigel, and it’s better to adopt two, anyway. Then they can take all their kitten energy out on each other, instead of on you or your apartment.”
“Sold.” Eve scooped Hamilton into her lap with Blanche.
Josie lifted both kittens and set them on the floor. She pushed Eve flat on her back, climbing on top of her. “I think we have some lost time to make up for.”
“Yes, we do.” She flipped them, pinning Josie to the bed, a wicked gleam in her eyes. “I want to make up for every night we missed.”
“And then some.”
Epilogue
Six Months Later
The first thing Eve noticed, as always, was the scent of Josie’s shampoo. Next, she registered the warm weight on her feet. Her eyes blinked open into the hot pink depths of Josie’s hair. She brushed it aside to kiss her neck, resting her face against Josie’s shoulder as she looked down, spotting Blanche curled over her feet.
The tiny kitten who had once fit in the palm of Eve’s hand looked like a full-grown cat now, although she still acted like a kitten most of the time. She was becoming quite cuddly too. Eve woke to find Blanche on top of her most mornings, more often than she woke beside Josie. With their backward schedules, they still didn’t see each other as often as they’d like, although Josie had Fridays off now, which meant they got to wake together every Saturday morning like this.
Hamilton strolled past the open bedroom door. He was more of a loner. He liked to be in the same room with her, but he wasn’t a lap cat. Together, he and Blanche made the perfect pair.
“Morning,” Josie mumbled, rolling to face her.
“Let’s spend it right here in bed.” Her hands slid over Josie’s body beneath the sheet.
“Can’t.” Josie eyes looked almost green in the morning light, offset by her pink hair like some kind of magical fairy. “I have something to show you.”
“Yeah?”
Josie nodded. “It’s at my place.”
“Okay.”
“But first…” She rolled Eve onto her back, kissing her slow and deep. Eve nudged Blanche off the bed with her foot as she and Josie undressed each other, hands and mouths roaming as they made love in the soft morning light. It was gentle and unhurried, their movements slow and lingering, but Josie still managed to shatter her into a million blissful pieces with her talented fingers.
They showered and dressed, stopping at the café down the street for coffee and breakfast before they rode the subway to Brooklyn. The routine was as comforting as it was familiar. In the months since they’d been back together, they’d spent a lot of Saturday mornings like this. They didn’t see each other every day, but they managed to spend at least one or two nights a week together, and often more.
Tonight, Eve would probably spend a few hours at Dragonfly. She and Kaia had become friends over the past months as they hung out at the bar, keeping Josie and Adam company. Eve had added quite a few people to her circle recently. She gotten back into the habit of visiting Lisa’s parents in New Jersey and had even met Regina for coffee a couple of times.
