Page 41 of Autumn at the Cat Cafe
Her gaze latched onto his black-rimmed, thick-lensed, exceptionally dorky glasses. She’d never been so turned on.
“Via?” His voice was sleepy. Deep. Husky.
Sir launched out of her grip and into Earl’s apartment. “Sir Meow!”
Leo glanced over his shoulder, then faced Via again, running his hand through his hair.
She’d seen him dressed up in an expensive suit, vintage-casual in Earl’s old clothes, and rocking his Harvard sweatshirt. He’d looked gorgeous in all of them. But nothing, absolutely nothing, prepared her for his nerdy, tumbled-out-of-bed look.
Deep inside the apartment, she heard Sir meowing again. She needed to get that trespassing tramp. “I—”
“He can stay.” Leo yawned.
Her eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I think so anyway. I’m not awake yet.” He pushed up his glasses, his drowsy eyes half open. “Anything I should know while I’m babysitting?”
His quip made her smile. “He’s self-sufficient. I’ll crack open my door so he can go home and use his box.”
A sleepy nod from Leo as he started shutting the door.
She stepped back. “Thanks—”
Click.
Via stilled, stunned that he was willing to keep Sir Meow for a little while. She’d come up in an hour or so and rescue him from Sir’s love fest, though. By that time Leo would be awake and realize his mistake.
Work, she had to focus on work. When she arrived at the café, Fergus was already there for Cuddles and Coffee Tuesdays, sprawled on the couch and surrounded by cats, as usual. She gave him a quick wave and walked to the counter. “Morning, Fergie.”
Birdie nodded to Via as she took an Americano to Fergus. Currently, Mochi and a tabby, Cobalt, were resting in his large lap. Another cat, Flint, was making biscuits against Fergus’s leg with his white paws, the only part of his body that wasn’t black. Cinnamon was perched behind him on the edge of the couch.
“Sure you don’t want to adopt one or three of those lovelies?” Birdie said as she handed him his coffee.
He patted Cinnamon lightly on the head with his beefy hand. “You’re not giving up on that, are you?”
“Nope.” Today’s kerchief was orange, the sweatshirt bright yellow, a departure from her typical monochromatic ensembles. “One of these days you’re going to agree.”
He glanced at the contented cats. “Once again, my standard answer—I’m never home and it wouldn’t be fair to them.”
“You’ll settle down eventually.”
“So you and Mom say.” He smirked, his even teeth showing through his neatly trimmed red beard.
Via watched the exchange with amusement. It was the weekly convo Fergus and Birdie had, and neither of them would budge from their stance. She was sure it was because Birdie couldn’t wait to say “I told you so” and Fergus was preposterously stubborn about things. For some reason he’d sworn off women, although he never said why. If he’d gone through anything close to what she had with her ex, it made sense that he was tight-lipped about his romantic status.
She yawned again as Birdie talked to Bailey Parker, another Cuddles and Coffee regular, who was sipping her drink while petting Squeaks, the café’s newest resident, a gray shorthair who was sitting on the arm of the chair.
Dora was out running an errand, so Via did her morning tasks and helped customers as they came in. By the time business slowed down, a little more than an hour had gone by. She poured herself a much-needed double espresso and leaned against the café counter. An hour without thinking about Leo. A new record as of late. One she’d just broken, because now she was imagining him again, slowly pushing up those sexy glasses as his gaze trapped hers—
“Octavia Bernice.”
She jumped at Fergus’s booming voice. He was holding out his empty mug.
“I’m tempted to make you pay for this as restitution for invoking my middle name,” she said, grabbing it from him.
“Had to get your attention somehow. You were a million miles away. And when you stop calling me Fergie, I’ll stop using your given name.”
She added the inordinate amount of sugar he preferred to his coffee and handed it to him. “Not a chance, Fergie.”
