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“That’s why my sister gave me the picture. She said it was like when people frame the first dollar their store makes.”
She laughs. “I love your sister.”
Her sincerity makes me smile.
“Okay, well, that’s the dick pic explained.” Her eyes wander down to Mike, now licking his smooth ball sack on the floor by her feet. “Now what about the… cat?”
As if knowing we were talking about him, Mike pauses mid lick and jumps back up on Campbell’s lap, his bony legs balancing on her thighs. Both tilt their heads and regard the other quizzically. It’s hilarious.
“He’s a hairless cat. A sphynx. Good for people with allergies.” I reach down and scratch behind Mike’s ears. It’s like touching raw chicken.
“You have allergies?” Tentatively, Campbell brings her hand to Mike’s back. When he starts to purr, she lightly pets him.
“Uh, no. But that isn’t exactly a requirement to own a sphynx.” Once again, I avoid mentioning my ex. Bell runs hot and cold, and I don’t want to give her any excuse to freeze me out after we’ve come so far.
If you count elevator and car rides far.
“Hmmm.” She quirks her eyebrow at me while a sexy smirk twitches her lips. “And the name?”
Feeling like a kid caught with a porn mag, I smile sheepishly at the floor. “Well, I mean, if I’m going to own a hairless pussy, he might as well own the name.”
Mike leans into her touch and purrs louder, and Bell’s smirk turns adoring. The damn bastard may be a pussy, but he’s also my number one cock block at the moment.
“He’s so soft.” She leans her whole body forward, cuddling into him. Mike wastes no time in nuzzling her chest. “Such a sweet boy, aren’t you?”
The damn cat looks back at me while she pets him. I swear the hairless bastard is smiling at me.
Fucker.
“I had a pet once.” Bell sounds slightly sad. “A dog.” She continues cuddling Mike. “Since then, I’ve always considered myself a dog person, but Mike’s kind of great, isn’t he?”
She’s cradling him in her arms now, like a baby. Like a saggy-skinned, ugly-as-fuck baby. But the soft smile on Campbell’s lips keeps me from being too jealous.
“Just the one dog?” I think back to the number of strays my sister brought home to us over the years. As long as the animals stayed in the kids’ wing of the house and my parents didn’t have to deal with them, they didn’t much care what pets we had.
“Yeah. His name was Elvis.” She continues to talk while looking down at Mike. “He was awesome.”
“Elvis? You’re kidding me.” Although that would explain her affinity for his songs.
A light chuckle bats back the sadness in her voice. “Nope. Mom and I always loved Elvis Presley. It was kind of our thing.” The sadness returns. “I got puppy Elvis when I was nine. But when I went to college, I wasn’t allowed to take him with me. Had to leave him at home.” She hugs Mike to her chest. “He died while I was away.”
I picture a younger version of the woman in front of me, heartbroken and far away from home. The vision makes me angry, though I’m not sure why. “That sucks.”
“Yeah. It did. But it was a long time ago.” Mike licks her cheeks, and she smiles, giving him an Eskimo kiss.
“And now?” I ask, wondering at this softer side of Campbell. “Why not get a pet now?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I spend my time between a small apartment in Houston and my parents’ old house outside of a small town in the country. Plus with how much I work and travel, I don’t think I’d be a good pet owner.”
From the motor humming in Mike’s chest at the moment, I’d disagree with that. Who’d have thought Campbell was a natural-born cuddler? It would’ve been nice if it had been me and not my two-faced sphynx wedged between her boobs right now. “Hmmm.”
The usual pinch of concentration between her brows has smoothed out as she pets the bag of bones in her lap.
“So your parents still in Houston?”
“No.” Her voice is soft. “They passed away a while ago.”
Great. First I got her to bring up her dead dog and now her parents. Smooth, man, real smooth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be such a Debbie Downer.”
