Lucky Baby (Crescent Cove 11)

“Typical. My cat is the same.”

“Butch?” Luna paused with a fry halfway to her mouth.

Popping a sausage in his mouth, Lucky pulled out his phone and showed it to her. “We had some excitement today at my job site.” He finished chewing with a sheepish smile. “Ruby here brought me to get my new girl situated.”

Luna dropped her fry and took the phone. “Oh, look at her.” She looked up at him. “Butch?”

“She’s feisty.”

I dragged a perfectly golden potato wedge through my gravy. “He thought she was a boy.”

“Girls can be butch.”

“Without or without a capital B?”

Luna’s laugh was musical. “Both. She’s beautiful. What’s wrong with her nose?”

“Some piece of shit tied her around her mouth to a bush.”

The phone clattered to the table, sending a fork sailing into the air. With ridiculously fast reflexes, Lucky snatched the utensil out of the air before it connected with my forehead and returned it to Luna.

“Yeah, I was angry too.” Lucky’s tone was even, but his muscles had locked. I could practically feel the tension radiating from his big frame.

Luna tucked the fork back under the lip of her plate. “Sorry.” Her big blue eyes went shimmery.

“Oh, don’t cry,” I said automatically. I didn’t do well with all that messy emotion.

Luna sniffed. “Sorry. It’s the baby. I swear, the baby’s empath powers are even more intense than mine.” She reached over to Lucky and patted his arm. “You’re doing an amazing thing for her, and I know she appreciates it.”

Lucky relaxed. “Thanks, Lu.”

“You can meet her tomorrow.” Lucky glanced at me. “Hey, maybe Butch and your cat will get along.”

Yeah, that was going to be interesting. I shrugged. “He’s afraid of his own shadow.”

“We’ll win him over.” Lucky dug into his big breakfast.

I plucked up the cup of butter for my pancakes and slathered it on. I definitely deserved all the carbs today.

“No syrup?” he asked.

“Nope.” I folded the pancake in half and lifted it like a piece of toast.

“You’re fascinatingly weird.”

Caleb laughed around his fry. “Way to win a lady over, buddy.”

“No one is winning anyone over.” I resisted the urge to cross my arms. Not that I had any room.

Luna tipped her head and said nothing.

Lucky kept glancing at my plate and finally did the butter thing on one of his large pancakes. He folded it in half and took a bite, then wrinkled his nose and dropped it back on the plate with a splat. Clearly displeased with my culinary choices, he reached across me and grabbed the syrup that had been jammed against the wall with all the plates.

“You could have asked.”

“Eat your dry pancakes, Ruby.”

I rolled my eyes. “Rude.”