“Wigs!” She scooped it up, scratched its big head and kissed it on its whiskered cheek. “How’s my big sweetie?”
“Mrow-mrow.” It started purring, the sound very deep. Rumbly. Like an outboard motor heard from across a misty lake.
Elise said...to Jed this time, “Just set those down inside the door. Thanks.”
He set the boxes where she wanted them and then turned to leave, figuring he’d escape before she asked him any more questions about why she’d come home to find him with his ear pressed to her door.
No such luck. “Why where you worried about Wigs?”
Resigned, he stopped and faced her again. “You left the cat locked in there all day. That can’t be good.”
“Well, that’s kind of sweet of you.” She seemed bemused.
He hastened to disabuse her. “I am never sweet.”
She actually giggled. He despised gigglers—or at least, he always had until this moment. She held up the cat. It hung from her hands, totally relaxed, and big enough that its rear paws dangled at the height of her knees. “See? He’s fine. I left him plenty of food and water. He doesn’t mind a little alone time.”
“A little? You’ve been gone for eleven hours.”
Her soft mouth pursed up. “It’s my day off. How is it any of your business how long I’ve been gone?”
It wasn’t and they both knew it, which meant there was absolutely no point in answering her. So he didn’t.
Eventually, she got tired of waiting for him to defend himself and informed him icily, “I have one day off a week and I had a lot to do.”
Yeah, he felt like a jackass. But somehow, he couldn’t just apologize for invading her private space and move on. “That’s a big cat.”
Her mouth got tighter. “Thank you, Captain Obvious.”
He narrowed his eyes and flattened his lips. “That cat needs space.”
“He’s fine in my room. My apartment is a studio, smaller than my room here. He was perfectly happy there.”
Smaller than her room here? That was way too small. And she was a Bravo. He’d grown up in the area and he knew of her family. The Bravos had always had enough money to be comfortable, at least. The Bravos didn’t live in cramped one-room apartments. He wanted to ask her how she’d ended up in one.
But that would be a personal question and they were not getting personal. “Next time leave your door open, that’s all I’m saying.”
She blinked as that statement sank in. “You mean, let Wigs have the run of the house?”
Suddenly, his throat had a tickle in it. What was that about? He never got a ticklish throat. He coughed impatiently into his hand. “Yeah. And come to think of it, don’t lock that cat up in there at all. Let it have the house to roam in.”
A tiny gasp escaped her. “You mean, all the time?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
“But what about how you hate cats?”
“I’m making an exception in this case,” he growled at her. She looked at him with distinctly dewy eyes, so he commanded, “Don’t make a big deal out of it.”
“I...well, okay. I won’t.”
“Good,” he said, scowling as hard as he could. And then he turned on his heel again and started walking away fast.
“Jed?”
He stopped. But he didn’t turn. “What?” he grumbled at the great room in front of him.
“Thanks.”
He almost said You’re welcome, but caught himself just in time.
* * *
In the next week, the work continued to go well. Very well. Elise just kept typing, never dropping a word or making a sound, no matter how loud and aggressive he became while acting out the voices of his characters.
On Thursday, he cleaned three of his rifles and a couple of Glocks as they worked. She seemed to take that in stride—didn’t even bother to comment when she saw the weapons, gun oil, cleaning rags and brushes laid out that morning on a folding worktable.
Jed had never been a happy man. He found the concept of happiness more than a little silly. A man did what he had to do in life and what he had to do was rarely that much fun.
But with Elise working out so well, the pressure was off in terms of his deadline and hopefully his career. He was getting more work done, faster, than when he had Anna. It was a hell of a relief. Maybe this was happiness.
If it was, it wasn’t half bad.
The damn cat had free rein of the house. The animal talked too much and had a tendency to climb up on tall cabinets and drape its giant body on the wide-beam staircase railings and along the backs of couches. But so what?
Jed had told Elise that the cat could roam free and he wasn’t a man who reneged on his word. He ignored the creature. It wasn’t that hard.
Another week went by, as smooth and productive as the previous one. Jed dared to feel confident that he was out of the woods at last. He was going to make it. He would have the book turned in by the final deadline—or maybe even before, at the rate they were going. Elise was a damn treasure.
His only concern now was her plan to leave once this project was finished. He really needed to do something to keep that from happening.
Fortunately, he had until November 1 to figure out what.
* * *
Two and a half weeks after he hired Elise, Jed woke at 0200 to a rumbling sound.
He’d been dreaming of a misty lake and the soft roar of a motorboat coming toward him through the fog. Shaking off sleep, he pulled himself to a sitting position and peered blearily into the darkness.
Gold eyes gleamed at him from down by his feet and the strange rumbling sound continued. The motorboat had followed him right out of his dream.
But it wasn’t a motorboat.
It was the damn cat.
“Out!” he commanded, sweeping an arm toward the door for good measure.
But the cat was not impressed. It just watched him and continued to purr.
He stared it down for several seconds and then ordered, “Get!” good and loud.
No effect whatsoever. In time with the purring, it kneaded his comforter with its big paws.
Jed gave up glaring and growling and took action. Shoving back the covers, he scooped up the animal into his arms. Unconcerned, the cat kept purring as Jed carried it to the upper hallway, set it on the floor and firmly shut the door on it.
* * *
The next morning, he purposely went down to the kitchen early, when he knew Elise would be there.
And she was. He found her at the counter near the six-burner range with eggs, butter, a golden loaf of homemade bread, milk and several spices spread out in front of her.
The staircase met the ground floor just beyond the open-plan kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder and spotted him as he descended the last few steps. That wide mouth bloomed in a smile of greeting.
Strange. It was only a smile, yet it caused a distinct and disorienting stab of pleasure right to his chest.
“Jed. What a surprise.” She turned to face him fully. She looked good, fresh and well rested in curve-hugging jeans and a big, white shirt of some silky material that clung to her tasty breasts.
He