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“This is your plan?”
“Well, making youdisappearwouldn’t go over well with the town council, so I had to go with option two.”
Amusement glinted in his eyes.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me,” Aria ordered.
“I wasn’t going to.” He shrugged. “Plenty of towns raise money to save old buildings. It’s an admirable goal.”
She stared after him as he returned to the van. He was probably being decent about it because he knew she didn’t stand a chance against Imperial Properties’ millions. Orbillions, as Callie had so helpfully reminded her.
Aria snapped a rubber band around the rolled-up sign. She could easily imagine what Hunter was thinking.
Sure, little girl, have fun with your homemade donation jar while I have a conference call with my property investors.No doubt he’d tell all his partners about the Crazy Cat Lady when he went back to New York.
She walked to the van, where he was fitting the box alongside the table. Aria reached around him to grab two empty crates.
“You bring the cats with you for adoption?” He picked up two more crates and followed her back to the enclosure.
“Yes.” Aria climbed over the plastic fence. Three of the cats swarmed around her feet, mewling. “I got five applications today. Sue has to process them and follow-up with a screening to make sure the cat and owner are a good match before they can be officially adopted. Then if the shelter is full, she brings me another one who doesn’t yet have a home. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get them back into the van.”
Aria knelt to coax Libby into the open crate and locked it shut. Before she could stop him, Hunter grabbed the crate by the handle and strode back to the van.
“Come on, Jumbo.” She cornered the tabby and guided him into the crate. The second she locked the door, Hunter appeared to take the crate to the van.
Maybe he thought being helpful would soften her up. Hah. Once upon a time, she’d have fallen for such a trick, but not anymore.
She reached for Fang. The cat bared his teeth at her, his eye glinting with suspicion. Aria backed away and corralled Porkchop and Buster before Hunter carried them back to the van.
“How’s Porkchop’s leg?” he asked.
“It’ll be fine. Thankfully it was just a mild sprain.” Aria extended a hand to the old one-eyed cat. “Come on, Fang.”
“Is he the last one?” Hunter set the crate next to her.
“Yes. He has a lot of anxiety, but Max suggested bringing him today to help with socialization.” Aria eased closer to the cat and gentled her tone. “Come on, sweetie.”
“You want me to try?”
“Fang doesn’t likenicepeople.” She threw him a derisive look. “He sure as heck isn’t going to like you.”
A smile twitched his mouth. “Well, I don’t like cats. So since old Fang and I share a mutual dislike, we already have something in common.”
He stepped forward and crouched on the balls of his heels beside Fang. The cat glowered at him. Aria bit back a laugh. Both the man and the cat also had the art form ofgloweringin common.
A deep rumble came from Hunter’s chest.
Aria almost gasped, swinging her gaze to him in shock. “That’sit.”
“What?”
“The purr. The noise you made when you caught Porkchop. Thetiger rumble,” she added, when he continued to look bemused.
Too late, she realized she’d done the unforgiveable by mentioning that night. The one they weren’t supposed to talk about. The one that “had never happened.”
“You mean this?” He rumbled again.
The sound rolled through Aria in a hot, slow wave and settled right in her core.Pulsing.
