“Well, judging from their comfort with being picked up and touched, I’m assuming someone’s cat went out on a prowl, got pregnant, and they didn’t want to keep the kittens so they decided to get rid of them.”
“Disgusting. I wish we knew who it was so we could take their existing cat from them too.”
“I know,” he sighed.
The babies ate all their food and begged for more. Of course Samir obliged them. Who knew how long they’d been out there, cold and starving, away from their mother and their home.
They were all adorable too. Not that it would justify the person’s actions if they weren’t, but they were the type of cat people usually sought out to adopt. One was white and gray and skinny as all hell. The other was a darker gray and a creamy white with some orange tufts above its ears. The last one was almost a copy of the second one, only darker, and the majority of its body was gray or orange with very little white. They all had stunning blue eyes.
“How long have you been doing this?” I asked.
“Ever since I could remember myself. If I found a cat in the streets, I’d take it home.”
“And your parents didn’t mind?”
I shook my head.
“They love cats too. Although they tried to stop me from rescuing too many. Especially after Truffles.”
I narrowed my eyes and smirked.
“Truffles?”
“Yeah. The neighbor’s cat. I found her wandering the street behind our house, so of course I took her in. I didn’t know she belonged to the neighbor.”
I smirked.
“Okay. That doesn’t sound so bad. What am I missing?”
“Well, the neighbor saw Truffles lounging on our window one day and caused quite the stir: calling the police on us, accusing us of stealing his cat. Since then, my parents were a little more cautious about rescues. I mean, who could blame them?”
I chuckled, and just then, one of the kitties, the tiny white and gray one, ditched the food and climbed Samir all the way up to his chest. He gave it a nudge up to his shoulder before it nuzzled against him and started purring so loudly I thought there was a lawnmower in the room all of a sudden.
It wasn’t long before they all tried to get some love from Samir, completely ignoring me, and I was sitting there, watching a full-grown adult drink up all the kitty head-butts with the joy one would expect to see in a kid.
He never looked more attractive. And I never wanted him more than here and now, sitting in a dark closet in the back of a bookstore.
“I should probably call Duke and tell him to go to bed,” he said after a moment, and it was only then I realized I’d been staring at him. “Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”
“Sure.” I smiled and took a deep breath.
He put the kitties back down on the floor and turned to look at me, standing on his knees.
“How about kebabs from Mr. Faisal’s?”
The kittens tried to climb him again.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed him by the sweater and pulled him down to me; down to my lips and into my arms.
I kissed him gently but deeply. Tenderly but passionately. The warmth of his body against mine, the taste of his tongue lashing against mine, the scent of his perfume against my nose… They all set me on fire. A fire that burned brighter and hotter with each passing second. Each second that felt like forever in his embrace.
I didn’t want this moment to end. I didn’t want to ever stop kissing him, but when I felt a sharp scratch on my ribs, I was forced to.
We both looked down at the light calico cat with its claws digging into my sweater—and flesh—trying to climb me.
Samir laughed. I laughed. We looked at each other and our laughter turned to smiles and more kisses until the cat dug its claws back into me again, and I had to pull away to help it in its endeavor to climb me like a tree.
I was hot and flustered, and so was Samir from the looks of it. But that second moment of reprieve gave us both a chance to breathe and gave Samir the strength to stand up and walk out of the room, leaving me alone with the cats and my thoughts.
