“I love you, heart and soul, and honest to God, I wasn’tkeeping the news about Michael from you because I didn’t trust you with it.I’mliving in a cloud of happy goodness, and I wanted to just hang here for awhile, and I like you being here with me.”
“A cloud of happy goodness?”
“It’s fluffy.”
He stared at me.
I stared at him.
“Fuck, I love you,” he said.
“Are we going to have sex on the kitchen island?”I askedhopefully.
“Absolutely,” he answered.
I could tell he was going to make a move to initiate that.
Except he couldn’t.
The doorbell rang, and when I say that, I mean someone wasleaning on it so it didn’t stop.
Alarm sizzled over the surface of my skin.
“Stay here,” Darius bit, and avoided me standing frozenright in his space as he got off the stool and went straight to the laundryroom.
He came out of it with a gun.
“Where’d you get that?”I asked, my eyes rounding.
“Gun safe.”
“There’s a gun safe in the laundry room?I didn’t knowthat.”
“I know,” he said as he moved into the living room.
By the way, through all of this, the doorbell didn’t quitgoing.
I went to my purse, nabbed my phone, and was wondering if Ishould have 911 ready, or Lee, or alternately Eddie, when I heard Tex boom,“About fuckin’ time.I was out there forever.”
I dropped my phone and went to the doorway between thekitchen and living room to see Tex walking in with a pet carrier in one handand a massivePetsmartbag that looked heavy heftedover his other shoulder, like he was Santa Clause.
“Yo, woman,” he said to me,shrugged the bag off his shoulder and set it down with athunk.
He then put the pet carrier down and unlatched the gate.
Tentatively, an utterly adorable, teeny, tiny, black andwhite tiger striped kitty slunk out of the crate, gazing around curiously.
“Kitty!” I squealed and dashed forward.
The kitty froze at my motions so I caught her (or him)before she (or he) could retreat to the crate.
I picked her (or him) up and cuddled her (or him) to myface.
Her (or his) fur felt just likesilk.
Oh myGod.
Instantlove.
