More nothing.

“Dammit, cat.” He turned off the flashlight and rubbed his temples. At a complete loss, he did the first thing that came to mind. He called the only person he knew that the cat actually liked.

“Hello?” Willa answered, sounding soft and sleepy.

“I woke you. I’m sorry.”

“Keane?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve got a problem.”

“Still?” She yawned. “Aren’t you supposed to call a doctor if that conditions persists for more than four hours?”

He froze for a beat and then laughed. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he shook his head. “Not that kind of problem.” He paused. “And I’m pretty sure there’s no guy on earth who’d actually go to a doctor for that.”

“Yet another reason why men die younger than women. What’s the problem, Keane?”

“Pita.”

“You have her today too?”

“Yeah. My aunt had to go into a rehab facility with assisted living. While I was working, Pita went down a vent and either joined a rat compound or she’s just enjoying fucking with me like every other female I know, but I can no longer see or hear her.”

Silence.

“Willa?”

“Your aunt had to go into a home?”

Hadn’t he just said so? “Yes, and—”

“And you’re holding on to Pita for her? Indefinitely?”

“Well I was,” he said. “Now I’m pretty sure I’ve accidentally killed her.”

“I’ll be right there.”

 

 

Chapter 12

 

#WheresTheBeef

After Keane’s call, Willa slipped out of bed for the second time that morning. The first had been an hour ago at the desperate knock at her door.

That had been Kylie. “Remember Vinnie?” her friend had asked, pulling the tiny puppy from her pocket. “My so-called pal never came back for him, can you believe it?” She kissed the top of the puppy’s head, which was bigger than his body. “I think she abandoned him, and me . . .”

Oh boy. Willa looked into Vinnie’s warm puppy eyes and felt herself melt. “So what’s your plan?”

“I’m keeping him,” Kylie said firmly. “He’ll be a Christmas present to myself. My problem is that I have to go to work. Is there any way you can help me today?”

Which was how Willa had ended up back in bed cuddling a three-week-old puppy until Keane had called. Now she scooped Vinnie up, cuddling the tiny handful close. “We’ve got a search-and-rescue situation, buddy. You up for it?”

Vinnie yawned bigger than his entire body, which wasn’t all that hard. Juggling the little guy, Willa ran around handling her morning routine as quickly as possible. She had to set Vinnie down to brush her teeth, which turned out to be a mistake because when she turned back around, she found him sitting proudly next to what looked like a pile of fresh Play-Doh. Except it wasn’t so much fresh as incredibly stinky.

He was looking at her as if to say, It wasn’t me, nor was it me who just chewed the shoelace off your shoes. I have no idea who’d do something like that, especially given the poo situation; that’d just be mean.

With a sigh, she cleaned up the mess and then pulled sweats on over her pj’s. She grabbed the baby bottle Kylie had left with her for Vinnie, who got very excited at the sight of it and began panting happily, short little legs bicycling in the air as if he could fly to the bottle.

“In a sec,” she promised. She grabbed her bag and a jacket and ran out the door, ordering an Uber on her cell as she waited for the elevator.

The car ride was a luxury she couldn’t quite afford but it was pouring rain and she had Vinnie, and Keane had sounded . . .

Vulnerable.

She’d have gone for that alone because . . . well, curiosity had killed the cat and all. But it wasn’t just nosiness that had her hurrying.

She cared about Petunia, and more than that, she cared about him.

“Not good,” she told the puppy as he finished his bottle, tucking him into her sweatshirt beneath her jacket to keep him warm. “Not good at all.”

Sticking his head out the collar of her sweatshirt, Vinnie licked her chin. His eyes, bigger than his head, were warm and happy as he stared up at her in adoration.

“Okay, so here’s how we’re going to play this,” she said. “When we get there, we’re not, repeat not, going to get attached to the hot, sexy guy that lives there, okay? It’s no use getting attached to someone who isn’t going to get attached back.”

“Then why go to his house this early if you’re not going to get attached?” the Uber driver asked. “Didn’t your mother teach you better than that?”

“Hey, no eavesdropping,” she said. “Or judging.”

“How much you like this guy?” he asked, his gaze scanning her clothes from his rearview mirror. “Because maybe you want to dress nicer.”

Said the guy in a grungy gray T-shirt and hair so wild and crazy it touched the roof of his car. “These are my favorite sweats,” she said.

“But they’re not getting-laid sweats. They’re more like . . . birth control sweats.”

She looked down at herself as they stopped in front of Keane’s building. Good thing she wasn’t worried about getting laid.

Wait . . . was she? Well, too late to worry about it now.

“Leave me a good review?” the driver asked as she got out.

Willa sighed. “Sure.”

Keane had barely refrained from tearing down the wall—the new wall—between the living room and the dining room to get to Pita when he heard Willa’s knock.

She stood there in the pouring rain, hood on her parka up.

“Hey,” she said, clearly just out of bed and looking sexy adorable. “S&R at your service.”

He knew how hard she worked, and that today was probably a rare day off for her, and yet she’d come when he’d called. Okay, so she was there for the cat and not him, but still, he felt pretty wowed by that.

By her.

It didn’t happen often in his world, help freely given like this with nothing expected in return, nothing to be held over his head later. And that meant a lot.

He pulled her inside, getting her out of the rain, which was dripping off her.