“Hey. Hey, Lauren. Look.”
Lauren sat up with a start. She looked around and noticed she was in the exam room of the vet clinic. She must have fallen asleep.
They’d watched those kittens for what felt like hours, and she’d split an order of fries with Caleb after he ordered delivery from the diner. The little sick kitten had hardly moved at all, but Caleb had kept checking his breathing to make sure he was still alive. But as the night had drawn on, Lauren had become increasingly convinced the little guy wouldn’t make it. The very idea devastated her, and she kept wondering if she’d done enough, if she should have insisted on more aggressive care, or if the kitten had been doomed from the outset.
Lord, she was tired. Her back hurt from the weird angle she must have twisted herself into to put her head down on the table.
She looked up and met Caleb’s gaze. He had a small smile on his face. “Look.” He pointed at the box.
The little sick kitten was up on his feet and cautiously checking out the other kittens in the box. They all sniffed each other.
“He’s okay!” she said, jumping up. She hopped around the table. “He’s okay!” Then she threw her arms around Caleb.
She hadn’t meant to. The joy of watching that little kitten standing and beginning to engage with his brothers and sisters had overwhelmed her, and she’d just reacted. But now that she had her arms around Caleb and she could feel just how strong and solid he was, well… It was hard to let go.
Was she really so hard up that rubbing the surprisingly well-muscled arms of a man who clearly disliked her seemed like a good idea?
She kept a hand on Caleb’s bicep but glanced back down at the kittens. The little one waved his little tail as he investigated the other kittens. Caleb’s arm came around her.
“I can’t believe I fell asleep.”
“It is three in the morning.”
Caleb was warm and he smelled good. Slightly medicinal, like the medical-grade antibacterial soap near the sink, but he must have used some kind of piney cologne or aftershave, too. Caleb was handsome in an effortless way, like he rolled out of bed like this every day. Pretty with smooth skin, albeit prickly. But now he wasn’t being condescending or mean; he was staring at her like he might like to eat her for breakfast.
Or she was reading too much into it. But what else could that look mean?
She shifted her weight and turned to face him. He gazed down at her, a smile playing on his lips. He was tall and… Well, he had nice shoulders and a trim figure, and he was pretty foxy. Her first impression of him had been that he was the kind of guy she might like to get to know in a naked way, after all.
“I’m glad he made it,” Caleb said.
“Yeah.” Lauren met his gaze and stared at his eyes, which were grayish-blue and intense. His light brown hair was tousled in a very 3:00 a.m. kind of way, like he’d been up for many hours consecutively and was too tired to care what he looked like. Lauren put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, because just looking at him made her feel warm and tingly. And being this close, touching him, smelling him, well, the tingles were in very specific places. “I’m so happy.”
“Me, too. I honestly didn’t think he’d make it through the night.”
She leaned a little closer feeling his breath on her face. “I’m just…ah… I’m so relieved,” she said softly.
“Mmm. Me, too.”
“We’re, ah, not fighting with each other.”
“Nope.”
Then Caleb swooped down and kissed her.
Warmth spread through Lauren’s chest. She put her hands around Caleb’s neck, trying to hold on because she knew this was fleeting, some bit of temporary insanity, but she was enjoying it a great deal.
He pulled back slightly. “We’re kissing.”
“I’m fine with it. Good, even.”
He smiled. “Well, all right then.”
He kissed her again, but this time, he hoisted her up on the counter, right next to the box of kittens. The stainless steel was cold on the back of her legs, but it didn’t bother her much. She wrapped her legs around his hips and he pressed forward. She could feel him hard against her; it thrilled her that he was just as turned on as she was.
He brought his hands to her face, sliding his tongue into her mouth. She tangled her tongue with his in return. She put her arms around his strong shoulders and held him there.
The kittens were fine and Caleb was kissing her like the world was ending. What a crazy night!
But…
She pulled away. “I don’t think I can do this in front of the kittens.”
He chuckled and rested his forehead against hers. “Fair.”
“Not that I don’t want to do this, because I definitely do. Just, you know, this table is kind of cold, and the kittens are watching, and… Gosh, you’re sexy.”
He laughed. “So are you. But I take your point.” He stepped back.
She slid off the table with some reluctance. “But we could, like, take this to my place after your shift is over. I live right upstairs.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Convenient.”
“Yeah. Uh, when does Olivia come in again?”
“Not for another four hours.”
“Is there a sofa we can make out on or something?”
He laughed and looked in on the kittens. “Maybe. This seems very out of character for you.”
“Hey, I can be sexy and spontaneous. And these are unusual circumstances. It’s like, thank-god-we’re-alive sex. Except in this case, thank god the kittens are alive.”
“So, just to be clear on your intentions, if I come with you back to your apartment, you intend to jump me.”
She grinned. “Yes, that’s accurate.”
His grin mirrored hers. “I will take your offer under advisement. In the meantime, it’s probably about time for these little fur balls to eat again. Want to help me?”
“Absolutely. I’m on it.”
***
Rather than making out on the sofa in Olivia’s office, Lauren fell asleep there. Caleb bustled around the office, trying to keep himself busy, periodically looking in on the kittens. The longer Lauren slept, the less hope Caleb had that they’d end up in her bed. Probably she’d remember that they didn’t much like each other. That he thought she was flighty and she thought he was cold.
Although there’d been nothing cold about the kisses they’d exchanged at three in the morning. Caleb had been about to rip their clothes off to show how hot they could be when she’d put the brakes on. Which was probably for the best. What had he even been thinking? Lauren was hot, yes, but she was bossy and ridiculous. Still, she’d been so worried about those kittens, and then relieved when the little one was okay, and then she’d had her hands on him, and, well, there was only so much resistance he could put up.
Olivia arrived precisely on time at six, and Caleb explained the situation with the kittens. They looked in on the kittens together. All five seemed to be doing just fine, mewling and playing with each other. Caleb carried the box to the back room, where Olivia got them set up in a kennel.
“I can take it from here,” she said. “Not the first litter Lauren has brought us from the feral rescue organization, but I haven’t seen kittens this young in a while. But we can put them on a regular feeding schedule and get the techs to help out. I’ll ask Rachel to put up flyers saying we’ve got kittens up for adoption in a few weeks.”
“Thank you. I’m sure Lauren will appreciate it.”
“She spend the night here fretting about these guys? Is that why she’s asleep in my office?”
Caleb’s pulse sped up a little. Obviously, he couldn’t say that she was here, biding her time until they could go up to her apartment. “Yeah, she wouldn’t leave.”
Olivia nodded. “That seems right.”
“Yeah, she’s kind of a pest that way.”
Olivia laughed. “Like I said, not the first time. About six months ago, she brought in a feral that had been badly injured in a fight, and she wouldn’t leave until after the poor cat got out of surgery.”
“Was the cat okay?”
“Yeah, he lived. We patched him up and found him a nice home in a controlled feral colony upstate.”
Caleb nodded. Some feral cats would never make good pets because they were too wild and likely to claw or bite people. Caleb assumed Olivia was referring to the old, abandoned army fort upstate that had been converted into an isolated location for feral cats to live. Scientists studied the colony there to learn more about feline behavior.
“I’ll just go wake her up then,” Caleb said.
“All right. I’ll give these little guys some food.”
Caleb gave each of the kittens a little scratch behind the ears. Then he walked back down the hall to Olivia’s office. Lauren was curled up on the couch there, snoring softly. Caleb hated to wake her, but he couldn’t just leave her here all day. He knelt beside the sofa and gently nudged her shoulder.
As had happened in the exam room earlier, she awoke with a start, shooting upright. She stared at Caleb for a long moment, then looked around the room. She must have remembered where she was and why she was there, because her features relaxed.
“It’s after six,” Caleb whispered. “Olivia’s here, so I’m punching out for the day.”
“The kittens?”
“They look good. Olivia’s feeding them now.”
“Good.” Lauren smoothed down her hair and shifted her weight on the sofa. “So, ah, your shift is done?”
“It is.”
“The invitation still stands, you know. My staff can take care of the café this morning. They have the morning rush down to a science.”
Caleb felt a bit of relief. Maybe she didn’t hate him so much after all, or they’d reached some kind of a truce. Likely nothing romantic would come of this, but a bit of fun in bed with a woman as sexy as Lauren was never an unwelcome occurrence. Wanting to seal the deal, he leaned over and kissed her. She put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him back, snaking her tongue into his mouth. It would be so easy to hook his leg over her on the sofa and…
“Upstairs,” she whispered against his mouth.
“Yeah, getting caught making out in my boss’s office is not a good look.”
“Not so much, no.”
Caleb stood and set himself to rights, and then helped Lauren off the sofa. She was still warm with sleep, and she gazed at him affectionately as he grabbed his bag from the drawer in Olivia’s desk where he’d stashed it. There were still a lot of ways that this could go wrong in the short distance from this office to Lauren’s apartment, and Caleb probably should make up some excuse. He definitely didn’t want to have an excuse, though.
And then he remembered…
“Hank.”
“Huh?”
“My dog, Hank.”
“You have a dog?”
“Yes. He was… He was abandoned here at the clinic and he kind of grew on me. He’s at my apartment now. Way overdue for a walk.”
“Oh. That’s disappointing. But you should know that your compassion for your pet is kind of turning me on.”
Caleb laughed. “Well, hold that thought long enough for me to call my dog walker.”