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I smiled down at her, leaning forward until she was stretched out on the granite, my arms boxing her in. “I thought of a perk to it.”
“Oh?” She traced patterns in my hair while she stared up at me with warm adoration in her eyes.
“I think it pushes us and makes us want to be better. Not that long ago, you would’ve never told anyone about us, and I would still be floundering, stuck living at home with no prospects. I know it’s not exactly healthy per se, but that anxiety didn’t do a bad job of getting us closer to where we needed to be.”
“I guess that’s true. So where are we supposed to go from here?”
I shrugged, following the press of her fingers to come closer. “Do we need to know that?”
“I suppose not. We both have goals up the wazoo right now. I’m not sure how many more I should add to my plate.”
The koala cling of her limbs around me filled up the hollow spaces carved out by worry. I carted her over to the nest. Neither of us worked tonight, and I had every intention of keeping her cuddled in blankets and curling around her so she slept without worry. It still fascinated me that her restlessness disappeared in my arms.
“Don’t make me a goal. You’ve already pushed far beyond anything I expected. I know how hard that is for you, how scared you are of exposing yourself to my family about this, so don’t put the pressure on yourself. I’m not going anywhere. There’s no rush.”
Luna wedged herself between the couch cushions and my body, the blankets up to her chin. “I’m kind of sad we didn’t get to tell Nicky and her pack yet. I was mentally prepared for it.”
“They’ll be back in a few days and you can get prepared again,” I promised.
“I wish we were watching this place in better planned circumstances. I’m scared to use any of their stuff because I have no clue how it works. They need an instruction manual on this whole place.”
“I’m sure they’ll plan for it better next time. I know they’re going to appreciate you stepping up like this.”
“You too. They didn’t even ask you to help, and you’re here anyway.”
“I couldn’t leave you alone here. Even if you weren’t freaked out by yourself, you’ve never had cats before and it’s a big house to monitor.”
As if they sensed us speaking about them, Spud and Roscoe joined us on the couch nest, the two of them settling into little loaves on top of Luna.
“Is this a normal cat thing?” she asked.
“I’ve never had cats either, but from what I’ve seen on the Internet, yes.”
“Personal boundaries aren’t really a thing with them.”
“Nope.” I laughed, smoothing my hand over Luna’s hair and continuing down the line to pet each of the cats. “I think that’s part of their charm. I’m surprised you’ve never had a cat. It seems like they would fit your vibe pretty well.”
“How so?”
“You can’t make a cat do anything it doesn’t want to do. They come to you on their own terms, love you in their own way, and bless you with their attention. They’re independent, but secretly love being taken care of.”
“Are you like a dog, then?” She stared at me with only her eyes peeking through the blankets. “Eager to please, too cute to say no to, and the sweetest protector?”
“I’ll be the dog to your cat any day.”
Apparently displeased that Luna wasn’t giving him attention, Roscoe crossed over to me, his tiny feet digging into my spleen as he maneuvered to sit on my chest and smash his face into mine. I scratched his ears, utterly content to be surrounded by the cats with Luna pressed against me. Despite the hurdles, I was rather enjoying living with Luna, however temporary it was. It was too early to broach the subject. I wouldn’t be able to move into her place with it being an omega-only building, and since she hadn’t moved into Stella’s instead of me, I could only assume it was because she didn’t want to. Maybe that would change with Rodney out of the picture. I made a mental note to ask a few months down the line.
One day at a time. She would come to me in her own time, or she wouldn’t. I could only hope she would come to crave being with me like this every day the way I had come to crave it with her.
The pack house was beautiful, but it was a lot to manage. Plenty of people hoped for riches and had extravagant plans for what they would do with the money, but I had only ever wanted security. It was nice to experience a luxurious home like the pack house, but it wasn’t my style.
When it was time to head out for my club shift, the guard at the gate stopped me. “Ms. Barlow, I received word from Pack Gibson, and you’ve been officially added to the access list.”
It was about time. “Great, thank you.”
At least I would be able to come straight back here when I was off at the club instead of bed hopping. If they were contacting their security, the heat had to be wrapping up soon. They hadn’t messaged me, though, so it couldn’t be that close to over.
“How’s playing house with your boy?” Auggie asked when I met him at our lockers.
