“Maybe it’s because I’ll never see these people again. Maybe it’s easier to relax. There’s no risk.”
“Of ruining friendships that mean something to you?” he guessed.
Clever man.
“I suppose.”
“Maybe you could work hard and keep them instead.”
Cam was a hopeful boy. He was a positive person and saw the good in people. She could tell. She liked that about him, and didn’t want to change it, so she didn’t come up with a scathing remark back. Instead, she just nodded in agreement.
He unlocked the cabin door and held it open for her. She didn’t balk against it or insult him. She just let him because she knew he was a man who liked taking care of her, even if it was as small as opening doors for her.
She liked it.
She liked him.
Tomorrow would be hard, but for tonight, she had a little plan. A tiny one. A little kernel of a plan that her inner animal was asking of her. Would it bond them farther? Probably. Did she care?
Not at this moment, when she still felt the buzz of being with him all night and being included in such a fun evening.
He smoothed everything over.
She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek as she passed into the cabin.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“For being my favorite Valentine’s Day date.”
Chapter Ten
She’d done it.
Moira had Changed in front of him.
She’d showed Cam her animal.
She pursed her lips and curled her knees closer to her chest at the thought of it.
Moira had waited until Cam was asleep last night, and then she had Changed into her black cat, crept up to the edge of the bed and waited as her animal took him in.
Her animal hadn’t been able to stop watching him.
And then Cam, who had been sleeping on his stomach, reached for her in his sleep. When he found the bed empty, he’d propped up and looked over at her spot and then locked eyes with the little cat. With her.
He didn’t balk or flinch away. He laid like that for five seconds and then pushed up on the bed and offered his hand for her to sniff.
Her little cat had rubbed her head against his hand, and then did lap after lap rubbing against his hand as he petted her.
And without a single word, Cam pulled her to his chest and hugged the little cat and within minutes his body was relaxed and his breathing steady.
And that was that.
For the next couple of hours, her cat had melted into his arms and went to sleep purring louder than she could ever remember purring before.
And then as always, she got the zoomies at three in the morning, and he had watched her run around like a mad cat with this amused look on his face.
He accepted her.
