“Why does she live here?”
“She loves my dad.” I roll my eyes. “Sometimes more than me, I think. Since he’s always here and I’m always at school, we made her a garage cat. She has a sweet set up out back, everything she would need. And she’s a great mouser. Almost too good. We’re always finding dead ones left out like she’s giving us gifts.” I scoot closer to Blake, reaching up to give Raven a scratch on her butt.
“She’s really soft, and so damncute,” he groans, holding Raven out in front of him. “The cuteness aggression is strong with you, isn’t it?”
Rolling my lips together, I try not to reveal the massive grin threatening to take over my face.
Blake, realising what he’s doing, places Raven back on his lap and clears his throat. “She’s okay.”
“Uh-huh.” I nod.
“Whatever.” He looks away with a light blush to his cheeks.
“You’re special.” I tell him and his eyes snap back over to me.
“What?”
“Raven only likes me and my dad. She is okay with the others who work here, but she never lets them pet her, let alone hold her and cuddle. So, it's special for her to already love you that much.”
“Oh.” He blinks, looking down at the cat.
“She’s got good taste,” I tease, but when his eyes find mine again my body flushes with the way he’s looking at me.
We hold eye contact for a long beat before he looks away. Am I so head over heels for this man that I’m making myself see things that aren't actually there? Or did we just have a moment?
I get back to work and Blake grabs us lunch.
“You’re covered in dirt.” Blake stares at my stained hands. “Are you really going to eat that with filthy hands?”
I take a bite of the sub and grin.
“Gross.” He wrinkles his nose.
“It’s not dirt.” I swallow. “It’s grease. And I washed my hands, thank you very much.”
“You sure about that?” He raises a brow.
“I’m going back to work right after eating. I’m not going to spend ten minutes scrubbing my hands clean just to get them dirty again. And the sub is covered.” I hold it up, showing the wrapper.
“If you say so,” he grumbles, eating his own food.
“What time do you work tonight?” I ask as we eat.
“Five until nine.”
I look up and check the time, it’s two. I get off at three. That’s another hour with him before I have to drop him off at home.
Blake ends up getting bored and starts cleaning around my space. I let him be, even though I like the mess. I know where everything is. It’s making him happy and he did stay with me all day when he could be doing something more fun.
When I’m done working, I clean up and drive Blake home.
“Thanks for keeping me company today,” I tell him when we pull up to his place.
“It was fun.” He shrugs.
“Yeah, but you had most of the day off. You could have been at home.”
“I’d have been doing nothing,” he mutters. “Rather be with you.”
