Hosed (Happy Cat #1)(45)
“No?” she whispers, leaning in closer. “Cross your heart and hope to die?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die,” I say, threading my fingers into her hair. I’m seconds away from a good morning kiss when George leaps onto the end of the bed with a hiss that’s downright menacing.
Cassie jumps away from me, clutching the sheets to her chest while I glare down at my sorry excuse for a wingman. “No, George. Mind your manners. I’ll get your breakfast in a minute.”
At the word “breakfast,” George’s ears perk up and Cassie laughs. “I hear you, George. I’m pretty hungry myself.”
I’m feeling empty too, I realize. “We never ate dinner last night, did we?”
Cassie shakes her head, her eyes dancing as she says, “No. We were too busy with other things.”
I grin. “We were, weren’t we? Way more fun than dinner.”
“Way more fun,” she says, laughing as her stomach lets out a long, gurgling growl. “But I could go for an energy boost.”
“We definitely need to keep your energy up,” I agree, tossing off the covers and swinging my feet to the floor. “So I can help you use it up again later.”
“Sounds perfect.” Her lips press together for a beat before she says in a rush, “Thank you for making my first time so perfect. It was better than I ever imagined it could be and I know that’s all because of you.”
I lean in, hands braced on the mattress. “Not true. It takes two, Sunderwell. Chemistry isn’t a solo operation.”
She winces. “That reminds me… I should head home and get dressed for work. I’m helping out in the lab while half the staff are home hiding from the press.”
“Can’t you play hooky? I’ve got the day off and nothing to do but make you a big breakfast and spoil you rotten.”
“I think you already did that last night,” she says, her cheeks flushing pink.
“That wasn’t spoiling you, that was my pure and complete pleasure,” I say, voice going husky as I recall how hot it was to have my mouth between her legs, tasting her sweet, salty heat, making her come for me.
She blushes even brighter red in response and it’s so cute I can’t resist pressing a kiss to her dimple, a display of affection that summons another outraged squawk from the end of the bed.
“Fine, fine,” I grumble, winking at Cassie as I pull away. “Hold that thought. I’ll be back with breakfast in bed and no obnoxious fur baby. If I can’t convince you to stay, at least let me feed you before you go.”
“I could probably be convinced to stay.” She watches me pull on a pair of pajama pants and cross to grab a shirt from the bureau with obvious appreciation, making me wish George had stayed out raising hell last night instead of coming home like a good trash panda. The look in Cassie’s eyes makes me want to take clothes off, not put them on. “If you’ll help me with some brainstorming in between fun stuff. I want to get a list of app ideas off to my virtual assistant in Bangkok by tonight. That way he can start coding the framework that I’ll dress up with all the pretty stuff later.”
I nod as I back toward the door, heading toward the sound of George banging his silver bowl on the floor in cacophonous objection to my lollygagging. “Totally. Sounds like fun. You helped me with my art, now I can help you with yours.”
She beams at me. “Yeah. It is like art. Just art with numbers instead of a blowtorch.”
George howls like he’s being slowly disemboweled and Cassie laughs and slides out of bed, making shooing motions with her hands. “Go. Feed him. I’ll come make coffee. I’m too excited about my day off to stay in bed.”
I’m sad about her not staying in bed, but not for long. The sight of Cassie padding around my kitchen in nothing but a tee shirt that barely skims the top of her thighs is not something I’m going to complain about.
Thirty minutes later, she slides onto a stool beside me at the kitchen counter, grabbing a fork and tucking into the eggs and bacon I whipped up in the cast iron skillet. She gives a happy moan. “Oh, man. I don’t think breakfast has ever tasted so good.”
“It’s the cast iron skillet,” I say around a bite of sinfully good smoked bacon. “And starvation. That’s part of my game plan. Make sure you’re so hungry anything I feed you will taste restaurant quality.”
Her eyes dance. “Speaking of restaurants… Since we have the whole day, I was thinking maybe we could go for a bike ride together first, before we take George for his. I mean, it doesn’t seem right to have eggs and bacon without a cinnamon roll.”
I grin. “I like the way you think, Sunderwell.” I lean in, bringing my lips a whisper away from hers. “I like the way you kiss even more.”
“Ditto.” She kisses me, slow and sexy, her tongue teasing against mine, confirming that everything is indeed better with bacon. Even smoking hot kisses.
After breakfast, I dress and take George out for a brief weed of the garden while Cassie runs back to her place to shower and call into the office to announce that she’ll be working remotely. While I’m watering the cucumbers, I check in with the town InstaChat page to see if there have been any new developments only to find the gossip mill running wild. News of Cassie’s conversation with the sheriff has gotten out and the warring camps are escalating the conflict to outright warfare.