Page 87 of Harvest Heat

Caleb smiled. “Don’t worry. He won’t, but I appreciate you wanting to defend me.”

“He sounds like a monster.”

“More or less, but I don’t want to talk about him anymore. Let’s go see Mallow.”

Rhys followed him upstairs, and as soon as Caleb opened the door of his apartment, Mallow jumped up and climbed his leg, telling him how annoyed she was that he hadn’t come to feed her yet.

“She’s so cute and so fluffy.”

He turned to face Rhys. “Mallow, this is Rhys. He wants to be your friend.”

Mallow meowed and leapt from Caleb’s chest to Rhys’s shoulder. He winced as her claws dug into him. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.” He picked her up and cuddled her. She settled against him and started purring. “I think she likes me.”

Caleb grinned. “Of course she does.”

“So I was wondering…” Rhys looked down at Mallow, and Caleb stepped closer to him.

“Wondering what?”

“I wanted to see if you’d have dinner at my house and maybe stay with me tonight.”

“You want me to spend the night at your house?” Caleb wanted to be sure he’d heard right. He’d never even been to Rhys’s house before, and he knew how Rhys felt about privacy.

“Yes.”

“I would love that, but I’d need to bring Mallow with me.”

“She can come over, or we can stay here if that’s easier. I would just need to go get our dinner.”

Caleb pulled Rhys to him, and Mallow jumped down and headed to the kitchen. “You’d really let Mallow stay at your house?”

“I’d love for her to.”

If it were possible, Caleb loved Rhys even more in that moment. “I want to see your house, and I’d love to spend the night there.”

“I’ll have to move a few plants and put a blanket on the couch. I could get Mallow a scratching post and a litter box so⁠—”

“You don’t have to do all that. Just knowing you’re okay with her is enough.”

“I’ll do anything to make you and Mallow comfortable.”

Caleb kissed him as Mallow meowed loudly from the kitchen. “Thank you. Obviously, I have to feed Her Highness before we can leave.”

Rhys laughed. “Obviously.”

CHAPTER 32

When they arrived at Rhys’s house, Mallow wandered around for a little while checking out the new environment, but fairly quickly, she settled on the fleece blanket Rhys had put on the couch for her and fell asleep.

“It looks like she’s happy here,” Caleb said.

“Good. I want you to be happy here too.” He was fidgeting and wandering around, obviously nervous about having Caleb in his space.

“I am.”

“Okay.” Rhys played with some espresso cups displayed on a shelf. “Do you want me to show you around or start dinner or⁠—”