Page 29 of She’ll Steal Your Heart
Chaos sank the claws of his front paws into her jeans and looked up at her with wild eyes. His tail twitched, and then he lunged, attempting to climb her like a tree.
“Don’t get any ideas, big guy,” she said, putting a hand in front of his paws to block him. In response, he bit her finger. “Ouch.” She managed to free herself from him, thankful he hadn’t bitten hard enough to draw blood, and walked to the back wall to pick up a toy he could play with instead. He leaped into the air to chase the feather on the end of the stick, and she laughed.
“He’s an energetic one,” a man at a nearby table commented. “How old is he?”
“Six months,” Lauren told him. “Still full of kitten energy.”
“I can tell,” the man agreed. “May I?” He gestured to the toy she held.
Lauren handed it to him. “Chaos and his brother Mayhem are available to adopt together if you’re looking for a pair.”
“Great names,” the man said as he waved the toy. Chaos did a somersault in the air, grabbed the feather, and then rubbed his head against the man’s legs, purring. “Although they sound like a handful. I’m Darius, by the way.”
“Lauren,” she introduced herself.
Darius wore a white button-down shirt and gray slacks, as if he’d come here from the office. He had dark brown skin, close cropped hair, and an easy smile. “I’m not sure Chaos here is the right cat for me, but I am looking to adopt. My daughter visits on the weekends, and she loves animals. I thought a cat might be a nice surprise for her.”
“I’m sure she’d love that,” Lauren said. “I would have been over the moon if someone had given me a kitten when I was a little girl.”
“I think Kelsey will be too. I come here once a week or so to enjoy the coffee and visit the cats. Kind of getting myself used to the idea, I guess.”
“Sounds like a great approach to me.” Lauren looked up to see Mia walk over to the woman with the laptop and set a mug of coffee on her table. They exchanged a smile, and Mia fiddled with her hair. Her expression was one that Lauren hadn’t seen before, one that made Lauren’s stomach sink. Mia was flirting, and judging by the warm smile on the other woman’s face, her interest seemed to be reciprocated.
And that was…fine. Mia had told Lauren just last night that she was ready to start dating.
“If you see a calm, easygoing cat who’s good with kids, let me know.”
Lauren redirected her attention to Darius, who was still twirling the toy for Chaos. “I sure will.”
* * *
Mia was exhaustedby the time the café closed that night. It was a good kind of exhausted, the kind that followed a long and satisfying day of work, but beneath that, she was drained from yesterday’s migraine.
“You look tired,” Lauren commented as she swept the floor.
“I am,” Mia admitted. “Probably going to be an early night.”
Lauren kept sweeping. “I’ve got another exciting night of filling out rental applications ahead of me.”
“Any leads?” Mia asked.
“Not yet, but there are a lot of people in Brooklyn looking for an extra roommate. I’m sure I’ll find something soon.”
Mia rolled her lips inward. She didn’t like the idea of Lauren rooming with strangers, but she supposed people did it all the time. God knew it was expensive to rent in this city. “Fingers crossed. You don’t have any friends you could crash with, at least for a little while?”
Lauren flinched. “I had to disable all my accounts—except my anonymous fandom Twitter—when I left town. I’ve tried to get back in touch with my local friends now that I can be online as myself again, but…no one has replied to me. And I wasn’t even asking for favors. I was just trying to explain where I’d been.”
“I’m sorry,” Mia said. “I lost a lot of friends after the divorce too. People can be disturbingly fickle sometimes.”
“Yeah, unfortunately.” Lauren pushed one of the tables to the side before sweeping beneath it. “So did you get her number?”
“What?” Mia paused as she wiped down the table in front of her. “Who?”
“Beth Pfeiffer, the pretty businesswoman with the laptop?” Lauren gave her a knowing smile.
Oh Lord. She’d noticed Mia’s pathetic attempts at flirting? Well, that was embarrassing. “No. I…no.”
“She seemed into you,” Lauren offered.
