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„No, you’re not,” he objects.
I frown at him. „What is with you and public transport? Why am I not allowed to—”
„You’re coming with me,” he cuts me off. „Alexander can drop you off on our way.”
He doesn’t wait for a response, but turns around and strides back to his assistant with determined steps—and the apparent expectation that I will follow him without backtalk.
So, that’s what I do.
Chapter 14
Aston
„I think one of them peed inside the box,” Claire pipes.
She’s sitting next to me, holding the carrier with the kittens on her lap, while the one with the mother cat is sitting between us. She’s giggling as she bows down to look inside the carrier.
„Which one of you guys was a bad kitty, hm?” she flutes in a high-pitched voice—and I roll my eyes at her. The kittens meow back at her in unison, and a couple of tiny paws poke through the lattice door of the carrier.
„I hope they don’t spoil your pants,” I say, sounding like a robot.
What the hell have I gotten myself into here? Why did she have to be at the shelter? And why did I have to bring her inside my car? This doesn’t look good, no matter how you look at it, and I could get in big trouble if anyone saw us out in public together.
„I don’t mind,” she says, barely looking at me. „But I think we should get them home as soon as possible. Poor things, having to sit in their own pee.”
„We’ll drop you off first,” I say.
She inhales audibly and straightens her back before she looks at me. Her cheeks are flushed, her hair tied up in a messy bun and she’s wearing torn-up jeans and sneakers beneath her thick winter coat.
And I have never wanted her more. I’m aching for her, and all the things we were set out to do.
„I live close to campus,” she says. „In university housing. Do you really want to risk being seen with me crawling out of your car in broad daylight?”
She’s raising an eyebrow at me, as if this was some sort of challenge.
And I hate that she has a point.
„I think it’s best if we bring these kittens to your place, so they can get out of that damn carrier as soon as possible,” she says. „And I will just take the bus or the subway from there. Unless…well, I guess that plan kind of depends on where you live.”
„I live in Back Bay,” I reveal, like the idiot I apparently am.
„Oh, that’s…nice,” she responds, and I notice how her eyes are scurrying through the car, pausing on Alexander in the front for a while before she looks back at me. She doesn’t need to speak for me to know what she’s thinking. My wealth does not align with my position as a college professor—and I doubt that any of my colleagues could afford a townhouse in Back Bay like the one I own.
„Well, that’s not too far then,” she says. „But just far enough.”
She winks at me, and I hate what that does to me. It’s hard enough to be in her presence without doing all the things I want to do to her, but it turns into straight-up torture when she’s acting cheeky like that.
The kittens have been meowing the entire ride, and now their mother chimes in from the middle seat, just as my nose is filled with the stench of cat urine.
I carefully lift the carrier, to see whether it’s wet underneath, but thankfully nothing seems to have dripped out to ruin the leather of my Maybach.
„Alexander, we’re going to Back Bay first,” I say.
From the corner of my eye I see her grinning at me, but I choose to ignore it. She’s right about the risk of being seen together so close to campus, but if she thinks I’m going to send her back on public transport, she’s gravely mistaken.
„Good call,” she says, and I want to spank her for the attaboy-tone in her voice. „The cats really need to get out of those carriers.”
The kittens meow in agreement.
