Not knowing the neighborhood sounds, and since the houses were close in Baker, I couldn’t be sure, but just in case it was Axl, I got up and went into the kitchen.

I was done with my coffee anyway and needed to clean the glass.

I was right.

It was Axl.

And as I set the rinsed glass in the dishwasher, he came in the back door, wearing navy cargos and a navy tee.

We both froze in place and stared at each other.

We did this for a long time, like if one of us moved, the other would go up in a puff of smoke and under no circumstances could that happen.

Then we did this for even longer, like we were prepared to do it forever.

And I had to admit I could do this forever, because Axl was just that easy to look at.

But more, I liked what this said. How much it meant to him I was standing in his kitchen, which made it safe for me to share how much it meant to be there.

Dainty Cat broke it up by slithering to Axl and rubbing up against his leg.

I chanced speaking.

“Your cat doesn’t like me.”

“My cat doesn’t like me,” he replied. “She’s only being nice because you’re here and now she has someone to like less than she likes me, and she wants to make sure you know it.”

I burst out laughing.

Axl moved to me while I did it, and he was grinning.

He stopped close, though he could have gotten closer.

Like, hello kiss closer.

Sadly, he didn’t give me hello kiss close or a hello kiss.

When I got a handle on my laughter, I said, “If asked, I would have said you were a dog person.”

He shook his head. “Dogs are easy. You get a dog. You train him what to do, he does it. There’s no fun in that. You can’t train a cat. A cat does what a cat wants to do. It likes who it wants to like. A dog lives to please you. A cat lives to be pleased. Randomly, every week or two, she curls into me while I watch television. I feel like I’ve won a medal.”

Through all of this, I was smiling up at him, and when he stopped speaking, I didn’t quit.

Then he kept talking.

“Though, if I wake up in the middle of the night, almost always, she’s with me at my feet or in the bend of my knees. Last night, she slept on the back of the couch. She senses me awake and then she’s gone. So I know somewhere along the line, I won her. She just wants to make sure I keep putting in the work.”

Keep putting in the work.

I was still smiling, but my heart had started beating a lot faster.

I ignored that and asked, “What’s her name?”

“Cleo, after Cleopatra, because she’s a queen.”

Oh wow.

Okay.

I was getting that he really liked his cat.

“Did you rescue her?”

“Nope. I stole her.”

I felt my head twitch in surprise. “You stole her?”

“Yep.” He nodded. “My neighbors are assholes. Their kids are arguably bigger assholes. I saw the kids out there with her, I knew shit was about to get real. I was right. I didn’t like what I saw, and I won’t share what it was. I was deciding how to intervene when I was coming home from a run, and Cleo, still a little kitten, was in their backyard alone, freaked, mewing repeatedly, wandering the grass like it was a war zone and every step she took might mean she’d hit a mine. I jumped their fence and took her. The dad saw me, came over and got in my shit. I told him either he let me keep the cat or I take the cat to the vet and he can talk to a cop about why he’s letting his kids abuse an animal. And I advised him to keep that in mind if he thinks about getting his kids another animal. Haven’t talked to the man since. They still live there, and Cleo’s three years old. And they never got another animal.”

He hadn’t shared the exact truth.

He did, indeed, rescue his cat.

Just not the normal way.

So, Axl was a man who would rush into danger to rescue Ryn and jump a fence to rescue a cat.

Yeah.

How did I get this lucky?

I didn’t want to ask my next.

But I asked.

“Did you …take her to see a vet?”

He nodded, this time shortly.

“She was malnourished, dehydrated and favoring her back right paw, but no breaks or tears, so the vet figured it was bruised. It took me a bit to talk him into letting me keep her. He was concerned I’d done that to her. I managed to convince him she’d be safe with me. So Cleo got the realm where she’d reign and I learned that, even if your cat views you as her subject, it’s seriously nice to share space with another living being who depends on you.”

Okay.

He just said that.

He just said that.

“That’s sweet,” I whispered my understatement.

“Maybe. Mostly it’s true.”

I had no reply.

In fact, I didn’t want to talk anymore.

I wanted a very belated hello kiss.

This must have communicated itself to Axl because he got even closer.

So much closer, I could feel his body, even if it wasn’t touching mine.

And he had to bend his neck even more to hold my eyes.

“So, you like my mattress?” he murmured.

“It’s like heaven,” I said to his mouth.

“Hybrid,” he replied.

“Mm?” I hummed.

“Memory foam and regular.”

I was sure what he was saying was fascinating.

But I was fascinated with something else.

I’d never really noticed how magnificent lips were when they moved.

Especially lips like Axl’s.

“ Hattie?”

“Yes?”

“Do you wanna kiss me?”

“Yes.”

“Then, baby, kiss me.”

“Okay,” I breathed, pushed up on my toes and kissed him.

No hesitation, his arms closed around me, he angled his head and he kissed me back.

Axl ended it with me pressed to the sink, my arms around his shoulders, his tall, hard body molded to mine.

Man, he was a great kisser.

And when he finished kissing me, and I swam out of how that made me feel, one could say I instantly became a disciple of that hot, hungry look on his face.

“The Pac-Man machine is my favorite part of your house,” I whispered.

“Did you play?”

“Your deck beckoned.”

His lips quirked. “Right. Another time.”

I hoped so.