She still looks at me with that same, questioning expression. I feel my palms get sweaty and I fumble for words. “I… I just figured there’s no reason to make you go outside to come right back in.”
I thumb over my shoulder toward the stairs. She looks up the flight of stairs and then back at me and furrows her brows. Shit. I’m fucking this up so bad.
“Or if you want to go the long way, tha?—”
Her lips finally curl into a grin and she laughs. “I’m fucking with you. You made that too easy.”
I sigh. “Oh, thank god.”
She pats me on the cheek twice. “You’re so lucky that you’re pretty.”
I let out one sarcastic laugh as she walks past me and starts heading up the stairs. I quickly follow which is a huge mistake because now I’m face to face with her ass. Great. I’m definitely going to have to take an extra long shower tonight.
We get close to the top of the stairs when I hear a faint meow. Damnit. I need to feed her.
“Do you have a cat?”
“Yeah, that’s Oscar. She’s harmless.” I reach into my pocket and fumble for my keychain.
“Why isshenamed Oscar?”
“It’s a long story.”
We continue up the stairs and I look down to find the key for the apartment door. When I take my next step and look back up, I come to a screeching halt when my face is met with soft, worn denim. I open my eyes and my heart stops. Well, this is awkward and definitely won’t help my growing erection.
“Well, I’d love to hear about it when your face isn’t buried in my ass.”
I take a step back. “Shit. I’m sorry about that. Here.”
I hold out my key for her. To her credit, she doesn’t seem phased that I just face planted into her ass.
“You keep this locked?”
“Yeah. With the bathrooms right next to the office, you’d be surprised how snoopy a customer that’s had a couple glasses of wine can get.”
“Noted,” she says, taking the key from me and opening the door.
I follow behind her and see Oscar rolling around on the rug in the middle of the living room.
Kelsey hands my keys back. “How did you end up with a cat?”
Her eyes fall to the black cat rolling at her feet.
“Cat distribution network. She just kind of showed up one day. I noticed her following me around when I was looking for Agnes by the creek a couple times. Then one day, she was at our dumpster behind the restaurant. I guess she must have followed me home.”
She lets out a short hum. What I didn’t mention is that after she ghosted me, I walked down by the creek almost every night, replaying my one night with her. I went over every little detail, obsessively trying to figure out what went wrong. That’s when Oscar found me and started following me around.
“And the name?” She still watches the cat on the ground skeptically. So I reach down and scoop my cat up.
“Not much of a cat person, are you?” I hold Oscar to my chest and she purrs, flexing one paw out toward Kelsey.
She shakes her head.
“Well, no one’spurrfect.” I grin at Kelsey as she rolls her eyes at my cat pun, but I keep going. “As for the name, she just kept hanging out around the restaurant’s dumpster. I assumed she was a he and they were kind of grouchy and kept squawking at me, so Oscar it was. A week later, I took ‘him’ to the vet and found out Oscar is a girl, but the name had already stuck.”
“Who takes care of her when you’re gone?” Her eyes follow to Oscar’s still outstretched paw. The motion exposes her claws and I laugh when Kelsey rears back just the slightest bit.
“That’s why I like her. She’s got claws just like you.” I wink and Kelsey glares back with just a hint of the playfulness I remember. “Rich pops up here to check on her most of the time. Sometimes Grace checks on her.”