His Temporary Assistant

“Um, I think that would be all right.”

Disappointment hit me the closer I got to the couple. The two little kittens had wormed their way inside me already, but I could tell they weren’t mine to have.

The young woman, barely old enough to drink, tucked her long, springy red hair around her ear. A lanky man with a spotty beard, wearing clothes that were two sizes too big, stood next to her, sweetly rubbing her back.

Yep, those cats so weren’t mine.

“Hi, I’m Ryan.”

The girl toyed with the fringe on her bag. “I’m Melody, and this is Lonny.”

“You guys are interested in the two kittens?”

The young woman nodded and tucked her hair again, an obvious nervous habit. “They’re so sweet. Lonny and I just moved in together last month, and we’ve been hoping to add to our family.” Her voice was soft and uncertain. “We saved up to donate here. Dr. Thorne was so sweet to me when I had to put my cat down this past winter.”

Well, shit.

I reached out and covered her trembling fingers. “They’re yours. I couldn’t possibly keep them from you.”

I pushed a little soothing energy into her to ease her mind. She was clearly a sweet soul. I didn’t read auras as easily as Luna did, but I knew good people when I saw them.

After digging into my bag, I pulled out a card. “If you’re one of those people who takes a zillion photos of your babies for social media, do you think you could send me the link?”

Her eyes widened. “How did you know?” She looked down at my card. “Oh, you’re a psychic?”

“More of a tarot cards and divination kinda gal. But I had a feeling.”

“I’m a photographer.” She leaned against Lonny. “We both are.”

“Then I expect all the photos of those two crazy kittens. Careful of the black one.”

“Oh, we’ve already named him Lucifer,” Lonny said with a smile.

“See, they were meant to be yours. That’s exactly the name I was thinking of when he took a swipe at me.”

We all laughed.

We said our goodbyes, and I stopped in to let Tracy know I’d deferred to the couple for the adoption. She looked relieved and pushed a pamphlet on me for the next event.

By the time I made it back to Preston, Grant had moved on to answer questions about another cat. PMS was sitting with the gray cat in his lap, and he was purring loud enough for me to hear it from ten feet away.

The cat, not PMS, but it was a close thing.

“Got yourself a cat, hey?”

Preston frowned, but he couldn’t stop stroking those long fingers down the cat’s head and neck. “I shouldn’t.”

I crouched outside the pen and hung my arm over the side to pet the cat. My fingers tangled with Preston’s, and the cat’s bright green eyes widened before his purring intensified.

Quickly, I pulled away my hand and stood. “Well, let’s get you two home.”

And me home, preferably into an ice cold shower.

Thirteen

I was going home with a cat.

And my assistant. I wasn’t sure which was more troubling.