Текст книги "The Taming of the Billionaire"

Автор книги: Jessica Clare

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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

Chapter Five

As Edie lay in bed that night, she stared up at the ceiling and kept thinking about that kiss.

Cats climbed over her, trying to get comfortable on her crowded bed. There were cats on each side of her leg, one curled up by her head, and one currently kneading her breast and purring as she absently stroked its fur. Most of her cats tended to be elderly and sick, the last-resort cats at the shelter. She took them in and gave them a home and loved them, because no one else wanted them. She knew how that felt. She could relate to that.

But today . . . someone wanted her. Someone had kissed her. Asked her out on a date.

It seemed like forever since she’d been kissed, she thought, her hand brushing her mouth again. It still felt bruised from the intensity of his kiss.

If I didn’t like you, would I do this?

He wouldn’t have. There was no reason for him to kiss her otherwise. And it had been a good kiss. It had made her toes curl, and her long-dormant needs spring forth like a bear coming out of hibernation.

She didn’t understand Magnus at all, but heaven help her, she wanted to accept that date. She was terrified to, though. Dating meant getting hurt. It meant opening yourself up to another person and complete and utter rejection.

The last time she’d been rejected, it had been so ugly, so bone-deep that she still wore the scars. She was afraid to take another chance. After all, she thought as she scratched a whiskery chin. There were always cats.

Damn. Bianca was right. She really was going to turn into the crazy cat lady.

With a heavy sigh, she moved as carefully as possible in bed, trying not to displace the other occupants. She reached for her phone, ran her thumb across the screen to turn it on, and texted Gretchen.

So . . . what do you know about Magnus Sullivan? He asked me out today.

Gretchen’s answer came almost immediately despite the late hour. I know that I’m a GODDAMN GENIUS for sitting you two together. Name your first kid Gretchen for me, mmmkay?

All right, Edie texted, But if it’s a boy, he’s gonna get picked on.

Gretchen: Nah. I will buy my godchild the best kung-fu lessons possible.

Edie: How did we get from “should I date this guy” to teaching my imaginary child kung fu?

Gretchen: The power of imagination?

Edie: Seriously, how well do you know him?

Gretchen: I don’t know him at all, toots, but Hunter likes him enough to include him in the wedding. He sold him that kooky-as-shit art warehouse thing. Have you seen that place? It’s a monstrosity. An expensive one.

Edie: I saw it.

Gretchen: Damn girl, you move fast. Use protection.

Edie: No, not like that! He got a cat. I’m working with it.

Gretchen: Huh. He didn’t seem like the cat type to me.

Edie: Right? But it’s a beautiful one. F2 Savannah cat if I don’t miss my guess.

Gretchen: Blah blah blah. Is it naked like my Igor?

Edie: No that’s a different breed, you ding-a-ling.

Gretchen: Igor says hello by the way.

Edie: Focus, please. Ask Hunter what Magnus is like.

Gretchen: Girl, you do realize he is giving me the man-stare and saying he is “fine”? Men are not good with the whole “but is he considerate in bed” and “does he kiss well” questions. Just date him. You guys have to go down the aisle together anyway.

Edie: . . . At your wedding, right?

Gretchen: Bingo. But consider it practice for the real thing. :)

Edie: I’m going to bed now. Thanks for being no help.

Gretchen: Anytime! Give me deets. Especially the filthy ones.

Edie: No deets. Night Gretchen.

Gretchen: Night!

Edie put the phone down, thinking. Should she go to Bianca and . . . talk? God, no. She shut the thought down the moment it crossed her mind. Bianca was . . . well, she thought every date was preparation for her future as a Trophy Wife. Despite being sisters, they had always had zilch in common. And even though Bianca was her assistant, sometimes Edie wondered if she even liked cats. She’d be no help. Bianca knew a lot about manipulating men, but when it came to simply dating one or having a conversation about normal things? She was no help.

She stared at her phone a moment longer. She needed a sign that dating Magnus was the right thing. That it wasn’t going to break her spirit into a jillion pieces once more to go out with a guy. Sleepy, her elderly white cat with three legs, came up and head-butted the phone, wanting to be petted. It pushed the phone forward, smacking Edie in the chin.

Well, that could have been a sign, she supposed. Steeling herself, Edie pulled up Magnus’s name, which she’d recently added to her contact list, and texted him.

Okay, I’ll bite. Where are we going on our date?

***

The text came across his phone at close to midnight, just when Magnus had climbed into bed. His phone buzzed on his nightstand and he picked it up, curious.

Okay, I’ll bite. Where are we going on our date?

Hot dog. He’d thought for sure that his kiss had scared her off. Magnus grinned to himself and contemplated his answer. Even as he did, Lady Cujo (as he was now calling her) jumped up on his bed. She mewed at him, and he automatically reached out to pet her, a little surprised when she allowed it, but pleased when she butted against his hand and demanded more. It was kinda cute. He petted her for a minute, and then picked up his phone again, studying the text. Then he answered.

Magnus: Want to do the dinner-and-a-movie thing or is that too cliché for you?

Edie: I guess we could do that. I just thought a guy like you would have more imagination.

Magnus: A challenge, eh? I will accept. All right, be ready for a slightly more interesting date.

Edie: Okay, where are we going?

Magnus: I’ll surprise you.

Edie: Shall I get Bianca to drive me down to NYC?

Magnus: Sounds like a plan. Tomorrow?

Edie: Can’t tomorrow, she texted back, which surprised him. How busy was a damn cat lady?

Magnus: When, then?

Edie: Day after tomorrow, maybe. I’ll let you know what my schedule looks like.

For a moment, it pissed him off to have to wait on a cat lady, and he nearly texted her back with a similar comment, like “I’ll let you know what my schedule looks like, too.” But he worked for himself, and his schedule was always more or less open when he was in creative mode. Plus, the sooner he got Levi back on track, the better. So he texted her back with Fine, just let me know.

Then he tossed his phone aside and curled up with Lady Cujo, wondering when his life had gone so off the rails that he was lying in bed petting a cat and waiting for a cat lady to make time in her schedule for him.

Jesus. Even saying it back to himself sounded pathetic.

***

“A zoo, huh?”

“Come on,” Magnus said, gesturing at the lion enclosure. “I thought you’d like the zoo. These are your people.”

She snorted, but there was a smile on her face. “I do things other than hang out with cats, you know.”

He gave her a clearly skeptical look.

She tilted her head, the two short braids flipping against her shoulders. “Okay, not much other than hang out with cats, but occasionally I have been known to be social when animals weren’t involved.”

He chuckled at her playful tone and her mock-wounded expression.

It was a weekday and the zoo wasn’t very crowded. The weather was overcast, a slight chill in the air. As a result, it felt almost like the two of them were alone in the big park. Which was rather nice, all things considered. It meant they could walk as slow as they wanted without making it seem as if Magnus was slowing down his normal stride for Edie’s limping gait. Not that he’d do that, because he knew she’d get pissed. But he found that he liked taking his time to admire his surroundings with her.

Mostly, it gave him time to admire her, too.

She was dressed low-key again, in jeans and a dark pullover sweater that had a few cat hairs on it that she kept picking at. Other than the braids, she had a dark knitted cap tucked over her head. And she was wearing that bright red lipstick again that had fascinated him so much before. Today she seemed very much like her own person—comfortable in her own skin and sexy in her own way. He was surprised that for a date she hadn’t dressed much differently than she would for work . . . and he liked that. He liked that she wasn’t trying to change into some sort of sexy vamp now that they were going out. She was still just . . . Edie.

He’d gone casual as well, a plain knit sweater over jeans. Both items were extremely expensive and well coordinated, because his personal shopper had picked them out. Magnus liked to spend money to make sure that others knew he had money. It was a vanity of his, but he didn’t care. He also guessed at the way Edie’s expression hadn’t changed when she saw his clothing that she had no idea how much it cost. Which was also amusing in its own way. He suspected his socks probably cost more than her entire outfit.

“I picked the zoo,” he said. “Sue me.”

She wagged a finger at him, but she was still smiling. One hand held a small bag of popcorn that they’d gotten from a cart, and she nibbled on a piece, then offered him some.

He took a large handful, chewed, and then shrugged. “It was either the zoo or a video gaming convention, and I picked this. Clearly I did not choose wisely.”

Edie shrugged and threw a bit of popcorn at one of the nearby birds that hopped around on the trails between animal enclosures. “I would have gone to a gaming convention if you’d have asked nicely.”

“So asking nicely is the key?”

“The key to everything,” she said, a gleam in her eyes.

“Then may I have a kiss if I ask nicely?”

“You may . . .” When he leaned in, she shook her head, giving him a teasing smile. “Not.” And she walked away, tossing him a sassy look over her shoulder. “Not on the first date.”

Magnus chuckled and followed after her. “I already kissed you once.”

“That one you stole. That doesn’t count.”

He just grinned.

The zoo had been a good choice, he decided. At a gaming convention, there was always awkwardness between men and women. Half the women came dressed normally, and the other half came in costume, some skimpier than others. There were always the fanboys that ogled every woman, and then he had to deal with his own contingent of fans from Warrior Shop. But at the zoo? All they had to do was be themselves.

And he found that Edie was pretty fun to be around, which surprised him . . . and yet, not. She had a wickedly sharp sense of humor, she gave no quarter, and she knew a lot about every species of cat that they saw. He watched her melting expression as they passed by the leopard cage and she saw a baby leopard being tongue-bathed by its mother. She had a soft heart when it came to animals.

“I’m surprised you’re not climbing the fences trying to get in there and free the animals,” he told her, teasing.

She laughed. “No, contrary to what you might think, a lot of zoos take good care of their animals. There’s always a few bad exceptions, but for the most part, the zoo employees care about what happens to them.”

“So what made you decide to become a cat whisperer?” he asked her as they strolled toward the reptile house.

“Cat behaviorist,” she corrected, scattering the last few bits of her popcorn for the birds that waited nearby and then ditching the bag. “And it seemed like a good second choice.”

“Second choice?”

A shadow passed over her face and her smile faded. Then she looked at him, shook her head, and kept walking.

He held the door for the reptile house open for her, pondering whether or not he should push and ask what she meant by that. But they were still too new to each other, and this date was about getting her to fall for him. If it ended early, Levi’s date with Bianca would also end early, and they’d have to go through this shit again.

No, this date was a one and done as far as he was concerned. He’d date Edie, have a pleasant enough time, and then Levi would settle down to work once more and they could get back to The World. Already they were overdue on the schedule Magnus had made for his brother. Neither one of them could afford to be distracted by woman troubles.

Not even when the woman had a full, smiling red mouth and a sly tongue that loved to cut.

Still, he found himself following her into the reptile house, watching the sway of her hips. It was an awkward movement, unique to her because of her limp, but he still found it sexual, because when she balanced her weight on one side, it made her hip cock out. The reptile house was dark inside and completely empty except for the two of them and the scaly inhabitants. And with the privacy, his thoughts turned to lustful ones as he watched her hip push out again in that exaggerated motion.

“So what about you?” she said to him as he moved to her side.

Distracted, he glanced down at her. “What about me what?”

She nudged him with her elbow. “What made you decide to become a game programmer or maker or whatever it is you do?”

“I wear a couple of different hats, actually. Designer, programmer, developer.” He shrugged. “I like to have my hand in everything so I know it’s done just the way I want it to be. As for how I decided to do it . . . I just did. Levi and I used to play computer games when we were kids, and we were constantly trying to hack the games to improve them. From there, I got a degree in programming and started to make a few of my own games on the sly. I’m good at making things happen, but Levi’s the creative one.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. I’m sure you’re creative, too.”

“Not quite like Levi. He’s able to take ideas and spin them out of nothing.”

“I see. Was he the one who came up with the idea for Warrior Shop?”

“Actually,” Magnus frowned, thinking. “That was me. Levi helped me figure out a lot of the parts, though. He’s integral to everything I work on, especially with The World.”

“That’s the new game you’re developing, right? Did you come up with that concept or did he?”

“I did.”

“Mmmhmm. I think you might be less dependent on Levi than you think,” Edie said.

She wasn’t getting it. Or maybe she was choosing not to understand. “Well, let’s take Bianca for example. Are you dependent on her?”

“Yes,” she said flatly, and she didn’t sound pleased.

He was surprised to hear that answer coming from her. She valued her independence so fiercely. “You are? Really?”

“I can’t drive for long periods of time or my leg cramps up. Bianca drives me everywhere. She’s also my assistant.”

“But she’s vital to your business as it is, right? Kind of how Levi is to mine.”

Edie shrugged. She looked unhappy with the subject. Bad move, Magnus, he told himself. He didn’t want her to feel cornered or like she couldn’t talk, so it was time to distract her.

“So,” Magnus said, pressing closer to her. Edie was sandwiched between a wall and a row of glass enclosures for the reptiles. “What if I ask you nicely again? Do I get a kiss?”

Her brows drew together. “Let me get this straight. Seeing all these snakes and lizards made you horny?”

“No,” he said, but grinned at her words. “Being alone in the dark with you made me horny. Plus, I’m a guy. It doesn’t take much to turn us on.” He leaned in closer, his nose practically in her hair. He could smell her shampoo—sweet and clean. “Is that a no, then?”

Edie looked up at him thoughtfully.

“What?”

“Just thinking.”

He arched an eyebrow and put his thumb to her chin, angling her face up to his. “Don’t strain anything.”

She batted his hand away, but his tease brought a smile to her face again. “I was just wondering . . . why me?”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugged and looked away. “Why are you interested in me? There’s lots of girls out there for a guy like you, and I’d bet they’d be a lot nicer than I was. But you . . . you got a cat to ask me out, didn’t you?”

Edie was astute, he’d give her that. “Of course not,” he said, keeping his words light. “I love Lady Cujo. She’s absolutely what I was missing in my life.”

“Uh huh,” she said, smiling. “So I guess my question is . . . why me? We didn’t exactly click when we first met.”

Because my brother’s an idiot and he’s in love with your sister? Because he won’t buckle down and go back to work until he bangs her, and that’s why I suddenly have a cat and a date with you? Except he couldn’t say any of that, because the fair Bianca seemed to be holding out on Levi, and if Edie found out what was happening, she’d blurt it all out to her sister, and then Levi wouldn’t get what he wanted in order to be creative, and then Magnus would be the one who suffered.

It was all pretty damn exhausting, really. And no matter what he did, Magnus felt like he was the one getting the short end of the stick here.

But Magnus could be charming when he needed to be. After all, he’d managed to squeeze two billion from a computer company for one single computer game. He could romance a cat lady.

So he brushed a finger along the edge of Edie’s jaw. “Why not you?”

“Seriously?” She pushed his hand away again. “How about giving me a non-bullshit answer?”

Annnnd this wasn’t working. New tactic. “All right. Here’s some non-bullshit for you. You want to know why I like you? Because you can cut like a knife with that tongue. Because you don’t let me get away with anything. Because you have a pretty banging body, and because that mouth is incredibly fuckable. Because you’re smart, and the whole cat thing kind of intrigues me, despite myself. And your mouth is really damn sexy. How’s that?”

Her lips curled in a faint smile. “Better,” she murmured, voice husky.

“That, too,” he said. “That throaty thing you do with your voice. That’s on the list, too.”

She chuckled, then looked up at him thoughtfully. “It’s been a while since I’ve dated. I’m not sure I’m ready for kissing yet. Especially in these circumstances.”

He had to admit, he was a little disappointed to hear that. He was a guy, after all. His dick was already planning out when it could be inside her. “Circumstances? First date?”

“I was thinking more like the reptile-house thing.”

“We can go back outside?”

She shook her head, smiling, and slid out from under his arm. “The first date thing, too.”

“Fair enough. I can wait for date number two,” he said easily.

“In the meantime, you can tell me about your cat.”

“I sure wish that was a double entendre,” Magnus grumbled.

Edie just laughed.

Chapter Six

“So, did you kiss him?” Bianca asked as they got back in the car. Her sister checked her own appearance in the rearview mirror then glanced over at Edie with a critical eye. She made an approving noise. “You don’t look like you’ve been kissed. I hope you followed my advice?”

“I did,” Edie agreed. “No kissing.” She buckled into the seatbelt and stretched her leg out as far as it would go against the floorboards. It ached from her walking at the zoo, but they’d taken it easy and it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. Plus, she wouldn’t have complained about it for the world, not when she’d been enjoying herself so much. She’d just ice it when she got home.

“Good. You don’t kiss on the first date,” Bianca told her, pulling out onto a side street and merging into traffic. “That’s the first rule of keeping a man interested. You play a bit harder to get.”

Edie twisted her hands in her lap, thinking of Magnus. His playful, flirty green-gold eyes and that wide smile that seemed to make her insides warm when he looked at her. The way he’d loomed over her in the reptile house, trying to finagle a kiss from her. “I really, really wanted to kiss him, though.”

“No,” Bianca said. “Not for at least a week or two. You know the rule. Men don’t buy the cow if they get the milk for free.”

“But what if the cow really, really wants to be milked?”

Bianca shot her a frosty glare. “No, Edie. Not unless you want to be dumped as soon as another milkshake brings him to the yard.”

“Okay, now we’re just getting weird with the milk metaphors.”

“Just trust me, all right?”

“All right,” Edie grumped. “But now I’m hungry.”

Bianca didn’t look over, her gaze fixed on the traffic, and Edie fell silent, watching the streets of New York move past. Bianca was probably right, she admitted. Her sister knew a lot more about dating than Edie did. Edie’s last relationship had come six years ago and it had ended with a whimper, so clearly she didn’t know so much about hooking a man. Maybe she did move too fast. Maybe the trick was that she needed to move slower. Or maybe she and Magnus should have just remained friends instead of trying to take things further.

But she thought of his smiling mouth, his big body leaning in close to hers. A flush crept over her skin. No, she definitely wanted to see where things were going. Even if it baffled her as to why he was attracted to her, one thing was for certain: She was definitely attracted to him.

“So did he ask you out again?” Bianca turned on her blinker and glanced over at Edie.

“Yes. For this weekend. But I told him no.”

Bianca’s eyes went wide. “You what? Why?”

“Because I’m manning a table for the shelter at the Harvest Festival this weekend and I can’t cancel on them.”

“Edie, dating a billionaire is far more important than saving a few cats nobody wants!”

Her jaw set. “Not to me, it’s not. He’s just going to have to wait.”

“Billionaires don’t wait!”

“Then I guess he and I just aren’t meant to be.” She kept her voice casual, but even as she did, she thought of his green-gold eyes, that bright, unusual color, and the way they crinkled a bit around the edges when he grinned, really grinned. He could have anyone. The moment he smiled at a girl, panties would flutter to the ground. Never mind the size of his wallet. Why he was going through an elaborate setup to get to know her, she had no idea. Her knee began to ache, a dull, steady throb. “I doubt he’s seriously interested in me anyhow.”

Bianca made an unhappy little noise in her throat but said nothing.

***

When Edie had medicated her cats and was curled up in bed with a book, Bianca went up to her upstairs bathroom, quietly shut the door, and pulled out her phone. Today was one of those days that she hated living with her sister, because she had to be quiet and furtive. She turned on the shower to muffle things, and then called Levi.

He picked up on the first ring, as if he was waiting for her call. “Bianca,” he breathed into the phone. “I missed you.”

Of course he did. She studied her nails. The baby pink she’d painted them had chipped on one edge. Damn it. “I missed you, too,” she said automatically, since he expected it. Then she lowered her voice, taking on a sweeter edge. “I’m afraid I can’t see you this weekend, Levi. I’m so upset.” She gave a small sniff to punctuate the upset part.

“No! What’s wrong? I– Is that your shower?”

“I turned it on so Edie couldn’t hear us talk. She’ll get upset if she thinks I’m sneaking around behind her back. You know how she needs me.” Definitely chips in her polish. Drat. That was what she got for buying a cheap color. “I’m sorry, Levi.” She gave another sniff, just loud enough for him to hear.

“What happened on their date?” Levi sounded upset. “Magnus knows he’s supposed to romance her! I’ll talk to him—”

“No,” Bianca said quickly. “Maybe Edie just doesn’t like your brother. Maybe he’s being mean to her.”

“Mean? Magnus slept with half the cheerleading team in college. He can charm the socks off of any woman he wants to. It sounds like he’s just not trying.”

“Well, if you think that’s the case,” Bianca said slowly. Blaming Magnus would make it easier for her than if the problem was Edie. “Either way, we can’t get together this weekend. Edie’s volunteering at the local festival and she won’t go out with Magnus. I won’t be able to drive there to see you.” Her tone became babyish, because she knew he liked that. “And I miss you.”

“God, I miss you too,” Levi said fervently. “If you can’t come to us, then maybe we can come to you.”

“Oh, do you think so?” She put a note of false hope in her little-girl voice and picked at a fleck of fingernail polish. If they came to her and Edie, she wouldn’t have to make that ridiculously long car drive again for a bit, which was good. But she said, “I don’t want to put you out, Levi . . .”

“Don’t you worry about a thing, sweet Bianca. You leave everything to me.”

“O-okay.” She made her voice wobble and flicked the pink fingernail polish chips away.

“We’ll be together soon.”

“Good,” she told him. “I have to go. I’m thinking of you, of course, my sweet Levi.”

“I’m always thinking of you, Bianca.”

“Bye,” she said, and hung up before it could turn into a long, drawn-out session of good-byes. Then, humming, she pulled out a bottle of nail polish so she could fix her nails.

If only everyone were as easy to manipulate as Levi.

***

Edie cuddled the blind Persian cat in her arms. “He’s very sweet,” she told the lady nearby. “Wouldn’t harm a soul. All he wants is to be loved and have a safe environment.” She stroked the soft white fur of the cat. “Why don’t you pet him?”

“Oh, I couldn’t,” the woman said, and began to retreat from the table. “I have two children at home and I’m not sure a blind cat is for us. Do you have any kittens?”

“There are always kittens at the shelter,” Edie said brightly, trying not to judge the woman. She understood, she really did. Kittens always found a home. It was the elderly cats, the ones with issues, the ones that weren’t as cute and charming, that never seemed to find their forever home. Pressing a kiss to the blind cat’s head, she continued to pet it as the woman went to examine the cages full of kittens. The cat had relaxed in her arms and was responding to Edie’s attentions, a far cry from the terrified, trembling thing it had been this morning.

And even though she really couldn’t fit another cat into her house, she was not going to let this baby go back to the shelter. She pressed another kiss to its fluffy, fluffy head.

The Harvest Festival was full of people, with parents holding foam cups of apple cider, children eating candy apples, and people hauling red wagons filled with pumpkins and other crafts. Balloons dotted the air, tied to the wrists of costumed children. It was a cute festival, but Edie wasn’t sure it was the right place for setting up a cat-adoption booth. They’d gotten a few dollars in donations but most people weren’t interested in taking a cat home with them that day.

“This is kind of a bust,” Edie told Peggy, who sat next to her in the booth.

“Told you we should have dressed the cats in costumes,” Peggy said with a sniff.

Edie bared her teeth and snarled at Peggy. You didn’t dress cats in costumes. Not when they were already terrified. She ignored the other woman’s idiocy and continued petting the Persian.

Bianca got up from her folding chair gracefully, tucking her phone away. “Well, things are slow. I’m going to go do some shopping.”

“Fine,” Edie said.

“I’ll be back by . . .” Bianca glanced at her phone screen again. “Five.”

“Go.” Edie’s mood was getting worse by the moment.

As she snuggled the cat in her arms, people passed by. No one stopped at their booth. Fine. Whatever. She’d make sure the cats felt loved today, and then she’d figure something out. Even as she thought of ways she could possibly squeeze a few more lonely cats into her tiny house, a shadow fell over the table. Edie looked up . . . and groaned. “You’re kidding me, right?”

Magnus grabbed the chair Bianca had abandoned a short time ago, flipped it around, and straddled it, sitting next to her. “Nice to see you, too.”

“Is this a setup?” The cat in her arms tensed, reacting to Edie’s body language, and she forced herself to relax, petting the long hair.

“Of course not.” He grinned over at her and her heart gave a pathetic little flip in her breast. “You said you were busy, I happened to be not busy, and here I am.”

She made an unhappy noise in her throat. “You have a hard time with rejection, don’t you?”

“Nope.”

“Yeah, you do. Try rolling it around on your tongue. Get used to it. Ree-jec-tee-onnn.” She exaggerated her mouth’s movements, and then clamped it shut when she noticed he was watching her lips with something other than detached interest. Okay, that wasn’t the reaction she wanted, but now that she got it, she couldn’t stop thinking about anything else. She remembered his mouth on hers, firm and decisive, and she wanted to kiss him again.

Stupid Bianca and her stupid rules about not kissing.

“So what is this?” he asked. “I’d say you were playing hard to get, but the cat on your lap tells me otherwise.”

She jerked, startling the cat in her arms. It was like he knew what Bianca had been saying to her. Edie’s eyes narrowed. “I told you I was volunteering.”

“Which is great. I can keep you company.” He scanned the busy festival. The only people even remotely near their booth were children sticking their fingers in the kitten cages. No one was approaching her end of the table with the elderly cats, even though she had a sign that said Adoption Fees Waived Today. Magnus leaned in closer to her. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but your scowl is keeping people away.”

Edie gave him a startled look. “What? It’s not me. It’s the fact that they’re elderly cats with issues.”

“No?” He nodded at the white Persian in her arms. “That one looks fine.”

“It’s eleven years old and it’s blind.”

“Oh.” His mouth lifted in one of those huge grins. “Well that explains why it’s not intimidated by your scowl.”

She bared her teeth at him.

“Or that.”

“People don’t want an old blind cat,” Edie said, ignoring his teasing. She pointed at the other two in cages. “That one has diabetes. And the other one only has three legs.”

“So what happens if no one adopts them?”

“They go back to the shelter and wait some more.” She stroked the sweet cat in her lap. “This one’s coming home with me, though. She gets too scared at the shelter.”

“Don’t you already have a lot of cats?”

“A few,” she said defensively. “There’s always room for one more.” There wasn’t, really, but she’d figure it out somehow.

“You have a soft heart, don’t you?”

She ignored his gentle, teasing words, focusing on the cat in her lap. “This cat was loved and cared for by someone for eleven years. Then, because of one small defect, she’s suddenly abandoned by those she loved as not good enough? Thrust into a new scary world where no one loves her and that’s full of frightening noises, and she can’t understand what’s going on because she can’t see? I’m not sending her back to that.”