“We’re going to spoil her,” Anya says decidedly.
“We are,” I confirm, smiling as Winter looks up from Anya’s arms. Her tiny pink nose twitches as she scans the room, sniffing and observing her surroundings.
“Oh, God,” my girl breathes out, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m going to end up with like eight cats, aren’t I? You won’t leave me if I get too many cats, will you?”
I drop a kiss into her hairline and shake my head. “I grew up with eight brothers, baby. I can handle eight cats.”
She giggles tearfully. “Why is she so precious? I have to show her to everyone. Do you think she’ll get scared?”
“If she does, she’ll just hide in your arms.”
“So, this is the surprise, then?” Anton’s voice rumbles softly as he finds us.
Anya lights up, looking toward her father. “Papochka, isn’t she so perfect?”
“She looks like my suits are never going to be free of tiny white hairs again,” he mumbles but softens, seeing how happy his daughter is. “You should introduce her to Nadya and Irina. I’m sure they’d love to see her before they leave.”
“Winter,” Anya informs him, standing up slowly. “Her name is Winter.”
She walks past him, shuffling so that she doesn’t move too quickly and scare her new beloved pet.
Anton looks at me, and not for the first time, I can’t tell what he’s feeling. He could be pissed off that I brought an animal into his house without asking. Or he could be surprised that I did something to make his daughter so happy. But either way, he blinks and says nothing.
“So…want to help me build a cat tower?”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Anya
It’s only been two days since Matteo gave me the best gift ever, and Winter has already started to become less shy. She loves her cat tower, especially since we put it in front of a window. She adores basking in the sun and taking in its warmth from the safe indoors.
Matteo has been bribing her with plenty of treats and toys. She seems to favor the gross-smelling chicken puree sticks, and the floppy fish toys that move when she attacks them. Just watching her roam around and get used to her new home has already given me so much joy.
I insisted that Matteo call the humane society and inform them that we would be adopting Winter straight away. He tried to tell me that I should at least sleep on it, but one stern look from me and he picked up his phone. I didn’t need any time to think about keeping the sweet, shy girl. She was mine as soon as Matteo put her in my arms.
We just finished converting one of the unused rooms on the second floor into a perfect little cat room for her. Of course, she’sallowed in my bedroom and we’ve started to let her roam around the house some. But this space is all hers. Filled with toys, her food and water, various bedding options, and her tower to climb. The closet has been made into her litter box room, with a little kitty door for her to come in and out of.
Although Dad doesn’t seem overly excited to have a cat in the house, he helped Matteo and I with setting up the room, and he’s pet her a couple of times, too. He seems like he doesn’t know how to act around her, but he’s working on it.
Irina and Nadya love her, of course, and both of them have bought her little gifts. Some toys, brushes, and even a little purple collar with a diamond heart in the center of it. Arealdiamond.
It feels like Winter is fitting into the family so well in only a couple of days, and giving her so many people to care for her feels even better than I expected. I didn’t know that it was possible to love Matteo even more than I already did, and then he went ahead and gave me the best possible present.
“Lunch?” Matteo asks, dusting off his hands. He has a bunch of broken down cardboard at his feet, having just finished cleaning them up.
“Yeah,” I agree with a smile. “We should eat before we go.”
“You sure you want to go today?” he asks, softly running his hands up my arms to rest them on my shoulders. “It’s a little chilly for the beach.”
“It’s not swimming weather,” I agree. “But I just want to walk around.”To stare into the ocean and watch waves break against the sand.“And maybe get some ice cream before we come back home.”
“Ice cream for a semi-chilly day at the beach,” Matteo says with a grin. “Sounds perfect.”
“And we won’t have anyone watching us,” I point out, blushing.
“Oh?” Matteo lifts a brow, barely suppressing a smirk. “Does that mean I get to kiss these pretty lips until they’re puffy and you’re panting?”
My stomach flips and I nod, bottom lip being captured by my teeth.
