Sanctuary Found (Pelican Bay 2)

I really didn’t care.

Isaac stood nervously just inside the door. “Should I take my boots off?” he asked. “I should take them off,” he amended before I could respond. “Not because I’m staying but because I don’t want to mess up your floors.”

His show of nerves was both disheartening and exciting at the same time. On the one hand, he’d had this same level of verbal diarrhea when he’d been upset with me that day in the small animal building. On the other hand, I had to believe he’d made the trip out here to do more than just deliver cat supplies.

“Where do you want this stuff?” he asked as he lifted the items in his hands. He’d toed off his boots. I smiled at the sight of his rainbow-colored socks.

“I’ve got him set up in here,” I said as I motioned to the bathroom at the end of the hall. Isaac nodded and hurried past me. He talked incessantly about each item as he set them up in the sizeable bathroom, but I was so busy ogling his slim frame as he moved and his delectable ass every time he bent over, I barely heard anything he said.

Was he wearing the feminine underwear?

Did I want him to be?

The answer to that was an unequivocal yes.

But I’d be just as happy if he were wearing boring boxer briefs, white granny panties, or going commando. I doubted I’d have a problem with anything this man was wearing because he was just so very beautiful.

And he was all that without even trying.

“Dallas said Snotrod will probably want to sleep with you, but you should still put out this bed for him just in case. It’s not new–it’s from the sanctuary. It’s the one he and his brothers and sisters slept on, so it’ll smell like them,” Isaac explained as he approached me. I was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, so there was no way for him to get out. When he realized that, his nerves kicked up even more and he suddenly thrust the bed at me and took Snot from my hands and cuddled him to his chest.

“Where are you going to put it?” he asked as he motioned to the bed. He pressed a kiss to the top of Snot’s head and all I could think was, damn lucky little cat.

I didn’t respond, choosing instead to turn and head to the living room, knowing Isaac would follow. I put the cat bed between my sleeping bag and the fireplace. There was a grate around the fireplace, so I didn’t have to worry about Snot inadvertently wandering too close to the flames. I turned and saw Isaac looking around the dimly lit room. It was a massive space that was overdone with rich blue, white, and gold colors. My parents had had both lavish and garish taste.

Isaac moved closer to me as he explored, and when he reached me he just nodded. “It’s nice,” he finally said.

“No, it isn’t,” I responded.

I couldn’t stop looking at him. With the added light from the fireplace, I could see that he was wearing a different color eyeshadow altogether this time. It was some kind of blend between brown and pink. His lashes looked impossibly long and thick and he had just a little bit of eyeliner on. His lips looked plump and wet but not overly pink, which meant he was wearing his regular gloss, not the tinted stuff.

Isaac’s fingers were almost frantically petting Snotrod, but his touch was gentle and the kitten had once again fallen asleep.

“What you did for Newt was incredible,” Isaac whispered. “I can’t thank you enough. He doesn’t get a lot of presents.”

“What about you?”

“Oh, um, I try to give him presents whenever I can. Especially on his birthday and—”

“No,” I interjected. “I mean, when was the last time anyone got you something?”

He seemed surprised by the question. “Well, Newt always makes me something. He’s such a great kid.”

“He’s got a great brother,” I said. I hadn’t missed the fact that whenever the conversation steered toward him, Isaac always tried to turn it away again. I wondered what drove the behavior.

The air grew thick between us as electricity danced around our bodies. The longer the silence, the more agitated Isaac became. He finally said, “I should go.”

But he didn’t move.

And that was when I knew why he’d really come here.

My heart skittered through my chest in excitement. Admittedly, I was also nervous about what was to come. But I could tell that even though Isaac was clearly the more experienced one, whatever was happening between us was new for him, because he seemed frozen in place.

Which meant if I wanted this to happen, I needed to make the first move.

I reached for Snot and carefully eased him out of Isaac’s hands. I was glad when Isaac didn’t move as I put the sleeping kitten in his little bed. By the time I got back to Isaac, he’d wrapped his arms around himself like he was cold. But with the roaring fireplace, I knew it was a self-soothing gesture.