Page 36 of Keystrokes and Kittens

“That’s great. We can reassess tonight.”

“Quinta thinks you’re cute. She says she wants to meet you.” My eyes fluttered shut. “I’m just going to, you know…”

“Rest your eyes?”

Yet another yawn. “Yes. But I’ll help make lunch.”

“When I’m back.”

“Yep.” This time, I suppressed the yawn. I sensed Soren rising. I felt his kiss to my temple. I wanted to react. I really did. Instead, I let sleep pull me under.

Chapter Ten

Soren

Sam was fast asleep when Tibby and I returned from our walk.

After she’d drunk her fill of water, my girl headed over to the windows facing the lake. She hunkered down in a beam of sunlight.

Black dog, warm day, hot sunlight. Of course. Why not?The glass was tempered and the worst of the heat would be blunted, but she was still liable to overheat. Ah well, I’d check on her after I made lunch.

Sam had somehow curled into a ball on the couch with his hand resting against the grate of the door. The crate was secure and, to my amusement, Jack and Peaches had crawled over so their noses rested against Sam’s finger. The heating pad was available in the back for them to crawl onto, so I didn’t need to worry about them getting cold.

I grabbed the bottles and headed into the kitchen. After cleaning them, I set about making lunch. That took little time, and the question of whether to wake Sam or not was resolved when he poked his head into the kitchen.

“Hey.” He yawned.

“Hey, yourself. I hope you’re hungry, I’ve made lots.”

He rubbed his stomach. “Yeah. A little bit. I woke and, for a moment, I couldn’t figure out where I was. Then everything came back to me.”

I moved the simmering soup to a cold burner, shut off the stove, and moved to him. When I held open my arms, he stepped into them. To my relief, he didn’t appear to be crying. Not that I couldn’t handle tears—because I totally could—but I didn’t want him to feel even more pain.

After what felt like a really long time, but was probably only a minute or two, he pulled back. “Thank you.”

I gazed up into his dark-brown eyes—so filled with pain. “I’m here for you, okay? Food first, then we can do whatever you like.”

He swallowed. “I don’t know what to do. On Mondays I work. I mean unless it’s like Christmas or the Fourth of July, I work.”

I caressed his cheek. “We have this one day. Thank Desiree and let’s make the most of it.”

His brow knit. “I don’t know what you mean.”

In truth, I didn’t either. I had a dozen ideas—but most of them involved us leaving the cabin and in no way would he ever agree to that. I smiled. “I have a couple of streaming series queued that I’d like to watch. Or we can just hang and talk. Or we can just, I dunno—” I considered. “Whatever you want.”

He ducked his head. “I like the idea of spending time with you. Getting to know you. Because this—” He gestured between the two of us. “—is more than I expected, and I’m not certain how to deal with it.”

“Let me get the soup and sandwiches, and then maybe I can help you sort out what you’re thinking.” I pressed a thumb to his frown line. “It’s as easy as smiling.”

After a long moment, he did just that. “Yeah. Okay.” He held my gaze. “Can we eat on the couch?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Tibby poked her head out from under the kitchen table where she’d been lounging. “Maybe get some baby carrots? Some for us and a couple for her?”

Sam’s grin broadened. “Oh yeah, that’d be awesome.” He adored giving Tibby treats—and making her do tricks for them.

In turn, she did everything he asked of her. Not just because she loved everything he procured for her—although she did—but also because she so clearly enjoyed putting on a show for other people.