“Don’t you have an audiobook lined up soon?” I asked.
“Oh, I had to ask the author to change the due date on one, because of that mess. But I’m almost caught up with my schedule and I can start on some new projects. I’m taking on a…” He looked around. “Cishet straight romance.”
I stage-gasped, “No!”
“Right?” He waggled his eyebrows. “It’s a deliciously filthy BDSM story, though, and I had trouble getting through it without a cold shower.”
“Did you take the shower?”
“Yes, but it was warm and there was a lot of soap.”
I nearly choked on the piece of bread I had just taken a bite of. After a moment to recover, I laughed and shook my head. “I thoughtmynewly awakened libido was going to be the problem tonight.”
“I’m pretty much constant sexual innuendo if I’m in a good mood,” Marcus said. “It’s gotten me in trouble. In fact you almost got me in trouble today for smiling at my crotch during the meeting.”
“Why…why were you smiling at your crotch?”
“Because you were sitting there.”
“Wait…”
“My phone. Before things went bad, I had you perched on my dick so I could feel it when you texted me.”
I nodded solemnly. “Better than a Fleshlight.”
He choked on the wine this time. “Okay, I deserved that.”
The whole meal was like that. Just innuendo after innuendo, and I hadn’t laughed that hard in a very long time. Marcus didn’t want anything more than for us to eat and get to know each other a little more. It was a relief in a way, because even though I desperately wanted in his pants, he wasn’t clawing after the demisexual gay man hoping for a lucky break.
It was so hard to find people like Kieran and Marcus, and that one of them had a spark that attracted me was even better.
Abramovich’s store was shut up tight by the time we headed back to the apartments. We headed up the stairs and into my apartment, to check on Pollux and the kittens. They were all sound asleep, but it had been nearly five hours since their last feeding and we had to wake them up.
“I’ll take Pollux out for a short walk, and you get all the KMR mixed up. I’ll come back and help you feed them,” Marcus said, grabbing the dog’s leash from the back of the front door.
And sure enough, just about the time I had finished with the formula, he walked back in and the bottles were ready.
“That was a really short walk,” I said.
“He just needs to stretch his legs, maybe leave me something I have to scoop and that’s about it. He’s good aboutdark means in.”
I picked up two of the kittens and handed them to him, then put all four bottles on the table. I picked up the other two kittens and a blanket and got everything arranged to get them on the nipples.
These little balls of fur were too adorable for me. That they were living in a wall with their mother just blew my mind. I wondered how they got in there, and how they would have gotten out. I was happy they were all in good health and that I could help their mother in whatever way I could.
“What time does the vet open in the morning?”
“Nine. They’ll be there nine to two, and they’ll be waiting for us,” I answered. “Marcus…”
“Let’s wait to make any kind of decisions until we hear what the vet found from the tests and scans,” he answered my unspoken question. “We just don’t know what her condition is and you’re going to find I’m ruthlessly optimistic.”
I grinned. “I need ruthless optimism sometimes.”
“I find it preferable to sitting in the corner, rocking and weeping,” he said. “Did that already.”
That I filed away for another time. There was a lot to unpack there, and while we were feeding kittens was not the time to do it.
“When we get these guys settled again, would you like to come over to my apartment?”
