Page 6 of Keystrokes and Kittens

“You okay?”

He pressed a hand to his stomach. “Not so much. I, uh, am taking care of a litter of kittens. They need to be fed every three hours, and it’s that time again.”

“How are you going to do that?” I gazed around the store. “Are you here alone?”

“Desiree called in sick. It’s just me.”

“Oh.”That really sucks. Wait…is there something I can do?“Can I help? It’s my day off, and I don’t have anything to do. I can’t run your cash register, but I could call you if someone needs help. Are the kittens in the back or at your house?”

“In the back. I was going to bring them out here and try to feed them here.” He gestured to the counter.

“Ah.” Looked kind of tough to me, but what did I know? “Well, at least let me look out for things until you can bring them out. You trust me, right?”

His eyes widened.

Of all the stupid things to say—

“Yeah, I trust you. I appreciate this. I’ll give you a discount. I’m going to head back right now—they can be impatient.” With that, he headed toward the back of the store.

Tibby eyed me.

“We’re just going to stand here and look pretty. I know you can do that. We’ll smile if anyone comes into the store and—

Even as I said the words, the door opened and a striking woman stepped into the store with a cat wrapped around the back of her neck. The woman’s sun-kissed skin glowed and as she lowered her sunglasses, I caught sight of luminous dark-brown eyes.

She smiled. “I don’t recognize you.”

“Just lending a hand. Is your cat okay with dogs? Tibby’s very gentle.”She just doesn’t have a lot of experience with cats.She’d spent time around Noah and Christian’s two…but not much beyond that.

The woman smiled. “Persephone is very chill around dogs. But she won’t leave my shoulders. I’m here to get some food. I’m Miranda, by the way.” She eyed me. “And you are…?”

“Soren. A friend of Sam’s.” Something about the woman had me on edge—and I had no idea why. I was normally an easygoing guy. Today I felt I had to stake my territory.

Not that it was my territory to stake.

“Oh, Sam’s a lovely man. I’m afriendas well.”

No missing the emphasis on the wordfriend.

“Hey, Miranda.” Sam came up the aisle carrying a box.

“Hello, Sam.” She purred the word. Yes, purred.

“Did you need help?” He held up the box. “I have some kittens to feed.”

Now he was closer, the mewling reached me.

Tibby went up on her back paws in an attempt to see what was causing the noise.

Miranda gasped. “Kittens? How lovely.”

Persephone didn’t appear all that impressed. She yawned, closed her eyes, and appeared to go to sleep.

Sam put the box on the counter—as far away as he could from the cash register. “Dr. Genner says they’re about two weeks old. They’ll open their eyes soon.” Very gently, he picked one up.

The tiny white-and-orange kitten was squawking.

“This is Peaches.” He tucked the kitten against him. “She’s, uh, loud.” Within a moment, he had a dropper bottle to her mouth.