Chapter 5 #2
Well, I did love getting on the cover. I turned my head slightly, careful not to dislodge Cheeto, and found myself staring directly into Troy’s dark eyes.
He was so close I could feel the heat radiating from his body, could smell his cologne mixing with the oil.
His smile softened a fraction, becoming something more genuine, more private as he smoothed a hand over Olive’s soft head.
“You’re good with the kittens,” he said quietly, still scratching Cheeto’s chin. “Suits you.”
My heart hammered so hard I was sure everyone in the station could hear it. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Troy’s gaze dropped briefly to my lips, then back up to my eyes, so quick I might have imagined it. “Makes you look almost approachable.” The teasing broke the tension between us, putting us back on familiar ground.
“Fuck you,” I said, laughing. “I’m extremely approachable. I’m the most approachable person you know.”
Troy threw back his head and laughed. The camera clicked again. I couldn’t process it, couldn’t think of a clever comeback. My brain had officially short-circuited.
“That’s a wrap,” the photographer announced, lowering her camera. “Great chemistry, guys. These are going to be amazing.”
Troy stepped back, the spell broken, and turned to talk to the shelter volunteer. I stood there like an idiot, still holding Cheeto on my head and Olive on my chest, trying to restart my brain.
“They seem to really like you,” the volunteer said as she walked up with a carrier. She was pretty in a girl-next-door way, with brown hair pulled into a practical ponytail and a name tag that read “Melissa.”
“Can I cuddle them a little while longer? I don’t want to wake them.” I eased a sleeping Cheeto off my head and snuggled him close to Olive. He made a grumpy little sound before settling back down. “See? They need their nap.”
She grinned. “They do! I can tell they’re taken with you. Cheeto is usually quite standoffish with new people.”
“I have a way with troublemakers,” I said, scratching his ears. “Recognize a kindred spirit, I guess.”
She laughed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Why don’t you keep holding them while we do the next photograph. I have to wrangle a puppy, but these two are done.”
“Sure,” I agreed, carefully sitting down and cradling them against my chest, wondering where Troy had wandered off to. The kittens purred happily against my chest, all tired and snuggly now, the perfect distraction.
At least someone in my life appreciated my toned physique.
Melissa wandered off, working with the photographers to get a shot of another one of the guys.
I slouched back in my chair, cradling the warm bundles of fur against my chest. Olive’s tiny body rose and fell with each breath, her whiskers twitching in some kitten dream.
Cheeto had curled himself into an impossible orange spiral, one paw stretched across his sister’s back.
Something tight in my chest loosened as their synchronized purring vibrated against my skin.
I’d never held anything so small, so trusting.
When Melissa returned a few minutes later, clipboard in hand, I was still lost in the simple pleasure of being needed by these tiny creatures.
“So what happens to these little guys after the shoot?”
“Well, they go back to the shelter and find forever homes.” Melissa’s eyes turned wistful. “They’re both still quite young—about four months old. They came in together. Found abandoned in a cardboard box behind a grocery store.”
“That’s awful,” I said, looking down at the kittens.
Olive blinked up at me with big green eyes, while Cheeto batted playfully at my arm hair.
“People suck.” Something about the image hit me harder than it should have—two tiny things left behind in a box, nobody coming back for them.
I knew what it felt like to be in a house where nobody noticed if you were there or not.
“Some do,” Melissa agreed. “But then there are people like you guys, helping raise money for animal rescues.”
“Will they get to stick together?”
“They’re a bonded pair, so we’re really hoping we can find someone to adopt them together, but often they need to be separated.”
I looked down at the two tiny cats, imagining them being torn apart.
“Are you allergic? Your eyes are watery,” Melissa said.
I cleared my throat, blinking back the sudden wetness in my eyes. “It’s the bright lights. Or dry air. You know what? I’ll take them. Adopt them, I mean.”
Melissa’s eyes lit up. “Really? That’s wonderful! Let me get the paperwork!”
She hurried off, leaving me standing there with two kittens.
Before I could second-guess my decision, Melissa returned with a clipboard full of forms. “Alright, I need you to fill these out. We’ve discounted the adoption fee for the calendar volunteers, so it’s $60 for the pair, which includes their first round of vaccinations and spay/neuter. ”
I nodded, accepting the clipboard with my free hand. “Great. Yeah. Awesome.”
The next fifteen minutes passed in a blur as I somehow managed to complete paperwork while holding two increasingly squirmy kittens.
Melissa went over feeding instructions, litter box tips, and veterinary recommendations, none of which my short-circuited brain properly retained, though I vaguely heard myself assuring her that our apartment was pet friendly.
“We have a temporary cardboard carrier,” she offered, already reaching for one. “But you’ll want to get a proper carrier soon. Here’s their folder. It has a checklist of things you’ll need from the pet store.”
“Right. Pet store.” I was so out of my depth I couldn’t even see the surface anymore. But still, like an idiot, I handed her my credit card and gave her all my info.
It wasn’t until I got into my truck and set the box carefully on the passenger seat that reality finally sank in.
I had cats now. Two living, breathing creatures that depended on me to keep them alive. What the actual fuck had I done?
The passenger door swung open.
“Dude,” Troy said. “Did you just adopt those kittens?”
I turned to find him standing there, shirt back on but still disheveled from the photoshoot, an expression of amused disbelief on his face.
“Their names are Olive and Cheeto,” I said, as if that explained everything.
“And you adopted them because…”
I frowned, eyes trailing down to his flat stomach, imagining the body beneath his shirt. “Olive and Cheeto?”
“Fuck, is this some sort of kitten-induced trance? They hypnotized you?” Troy teased, shaking his head as he walked around to the passenger side. “Move the cat box. I’m coming with you to get supplies.”
I lifted the carrier as Troy climbed in and set it in his lap. He raised an eyebrow at me as he took it.
“Just to be safe. They might get scared in the back seat.”
The kittens mewed from inside their temporary home, tiny paws occasionally visible through the air holes.
I watched as Troy scratched a little nose and smiled. He might act tough, but he was falling for the kittens, too.
“Have you ever even had a cat?” Troy asked.
Had I? “Nah. My parents said pets weren’t good in a doctor’s household.
Wouldn’t even let me get a fish.” Their house had been spotless, quiet, and lonely as hell.
Two surgeons who worked eighty-hour weeks and one kid rattling around a big empty house, trying to be smart enough to be worth their time.
“Not to worry. My sisters used to pick up strays and try to convince my mom to keep them. I know the basics.”
“Did she let you keep them?”
Troy shook his head, looking sad enough that I wondered if he’d wanted to keep the cats, too. “Naw, she said we had enough chaos with all the kids.”
“I still can’t believe you have ten siblings. How did they even keep track of you all?”
Troy’s jaw ticked, and for a second I wondered if I’d hit a nerve. Then he laughed, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “They didn’t, that’s how.”
“Well, since you already have four brothers, you don’t…
have to treat me like I’m your brother, you know.
” I bit my lip, trying to think of how to explain how I really wanted to be treated.
Pinned to the kitchen counter and devoured like I was something he craved.
When I looked at Troy, his jaw was set, his face a stony mask.
“We’ve been best friends for years. If you’re not my brother, not my ride or die, what the fuck are you doing, Rhett?”
I could tell from his low voice and stony expression that he’d taken that completely the wrong way, but I didn’t know how to explain myself without directly asking him to fuck me.
I opened my mouth to say something, anything to fix it, but for once, no jokes would come.
So we sat in silence as I navigated toward the nearest pet store, my mind spinning out of control. Why didn’t he just… know I wanted to?
Maybe I should have moaned more during the kiss.
I glanced his way, wishing we could just go back to before I’d made the brother comment. Before the walls had gone up. Before the kiss.
No. That was a lie. I didn’t want to go back to before the kiss, because now I knew what it felt like to have his lips on mine, his hand around my throat, his body pressing close as Aimee’s breath caught in the background. And I wasn’t about to let that sexy memory go.