Free Opposites Attract by Cat Johnson Page A

about a kill joy. This
cat was ruining her flirting with hunky fireman Troy.
    “ Do
you need help with that cat?” Troy grabbed him mid-leap as the
cat was about to make a break for freedom. He cuddled the again happy
cat in the crook of his elbow.
    “ You
sure have a knack with it…um I mean him. Actually I don’t
have much experience with cats.”
    “ No?”
Amy didn’t miss Troy’s sarcasm as he edged past her. He
walked through the apartment to the bedroom where he placed the cat
gently on the bed, then shut the door securely. “There, that’ll
keep him out of trouble for awhile.”
    “ But
what if he has to, you know, do his business?” she asked.
    Troy
tried not to laugh “He can do his business in the litter box.
It’s in the bathroom attached to the master bedroom.”
    He
finally took the time to really study this girl now that the cat was
out of the way.
    She
was adorable, all blushing five feet two inches and perhaps a hundred
and twenty pounds or so of her. He was good at guessing height and
weight. Hadn’t he carried enough people, both on the job and in
training, to know by now how heavy they were? And this girl was curvy
in all the right places, just how he liked them.
    Damn
shame he’d long since stopped checking out the females that
came to visit this particular apartment, pretty much since he had
asked Maria if she wanted to go out for a drink the week after she’d
moved in and she’d informed him that he definitely wasn’t
her type—the problem being that he had a penis.
    That
was fine with him though. After careful consideration, he decided
that dating a woman who lived right across the hall would be a little
too close for comfort. He liked to keep his dating world and his home
life separate. Things were easier that way, especially when they
ended, which they always eventually did.
    But
still, God wasn’t playing fair in his opinion, making women who
had no interest in men look so damn tempting. This one had long wavy
brown hair that set off her warm brown eyes perfectly. And a perfect
button nose that looked made for nibbling on. There were a few other
parts of her he wouldn’t mind nibbling on either, given the
chance. Even under the blue mannish style suit she wore, he could
tell she had all the assets that usually got him going—everything
except the need for a penis attached to her lover, that is.
    Damn
shame, he thought again and worked his way back across Maria’s
apartment.
    “ You
all set for now?”
    The
cute thing who would never want him nodded. “Yes. Thank you
again.”
    “ No
problem. See ya around.”
    “ Okay.”
She smiled sweetly and again Troy resisted the urge to shake his head
at the irony of it all.
    He
took his leave of the tempting tidbit he’d never get to taste
and went back to his empty apartment to watch the college basketball
playoffs on TV.

Chapter 2
    Amy
sat on Maria’s sofa surrounded by the contents of her briefcase
and sighed. Another Friday night spent wading through submissions,
reading about whirlwind romances and happily ever afters for everyone
but herself.
    A
scratching and muffled meow brought her out of her morose.
    “ Oh,
my gosh.” She jumped up and opened the bedroom door. “I’m
so sorry, kitty cat. I forgot all about you.”
    The
look the cat gave her was not at all forgiving as he pranced by and
went directly to his food dish in the kitchen.
    “ Fine.
Be that way. I said I was sorry.” Amy walked back to the work
that currently represented the sum total of her life. Maybe it was
better that she had no man, no house and no children, since she
apparently couldn’t even handle taking care of a cat.
    She
yawned and glanced at her watch. Eleven p.m. About now, Maria was
probably dancing her heart out with her life partner Elena at the
club on board the cruise ship, waiting for the nightly midnight
buffet to open. She knew Henri would be at his favorite gay bar with
his boyfriend Kenneth. And Troy, the hunky fireman