Free Cattitude by Edie Ramer Page B

the
house?
    Yesterday hadn’t been one of his stellar
days. Today would be different. Today he’d get Ted to agree to his
plan, relocate Sorcha, find Belle, get his agenda current and back
on course.
    If something happened to delay him, he had
the sick feeling inside that he would never go. Never achieve the
dream he’d had since he was a kid.
    Some days he felt as though they’d been
buried the day his dad died.
    He tilted his head toward the ceiling. “I did
it, Dad.” His voice sounded loud in the bathroom though he spoke
quietly. But he was speaking loud words. “I kept my promise. Ted
and Tory are grown and ready to be unleashed. Now it’s my
turn.”
    Lowering his head to frown at his reflection,
he waited a moment, as if expecting a reply.
    “Stupid,” he said. He left the bathroom and
headed toward his bedroom.
    His knock was forceful. So was the second.
The third. No answer to any of them.
    Maybe she was sleeping, though she’d slept
most of the afternoon yesterday and went to bed right after she’d
eaten all the anchovies and half the sausage off the pizza. He
knocked again. No answer. He brought up his hand again, and this
time he stung his knuckles pounding.
    “Sorcha?” he called. When no one answered, he
pushed the door open.
    The sheets and covers on his bed were more
rumpled than usual, but Sorcha’s slender body wasn’t tangled in
them. He glanced around the room. When he’d checked on her last
night, he’d picked up his clothes from the floor and piled them on
the padded chair in the corner. She’d added her jacket, slacks and
top to the pile, and it looked like the leaning tower of
laundry.
    The door to the bathroom was open and he
heard running water. Why didn’t she answer him? Last night she
mentioned she was dizzy. Could she have fallen and hurt
herself?
    He hurried across the room, calling her
name.
    ***
    Bliss. Belle reclined in the tub. Yesterday’s
bath had been too short. Just as she’d discovered how wonderful the
pulsing water felt, Caroline had barged in to get her. The blond
woman had made her dress in Tory’s exercise clothes. Then Caroline
said if she was well enough to get out of bed and eat, she was well
enough to leave.
    Belle had considered picking up the lamp on
the dresser and conking Caroline on the head. Instead she pretended
to be weak and dizzy, like Annette in The Love
Chronicles .
    Closing her eyes now, she purred. Warm water
jetted out at her back, her sides and her two human breasts. This
strange body sang with pleasure.
    She stretched, her head back, concentrating
on the experience. A knocking sound came but she ignored it. This
was too delicious to—
    “Sorcha? Are you all right? Sorcha?”
    Max! Jolted out of her languor, Belle’s eyes
opened. She sat up straight, water splashing. For an instant, she
forgot how to talk like a human, and a startled noise came from her
throat.
    “Sorcha!” Max rushed into the bathroom.
    She gawked at him.
    “What are you...” He stared at her breasts
then backed up. “Uh...sorry. I didn’t expect... I wanted to see...
Umm.” He swallowed, the lump men had in their throats going up and
down. Backing over the threshold, he pulled the door shut. “If you
want breakfast, help yourself.” His voice sounded thicker than
she’d ever heard it. “I’ll be out looking for my cat.”
    Belle glanced down at her breasts. Was
something wrong with them? They were puffy and inconveniently big,
tipped with pink. And only two of them. That couldn’t feed many
babies at once.
    She cupped them in her hands and felt a
tingle. Her breath gasped at the feeling, like when she rubbed
against the rug and Max touched her and she sparked. But this was a
different kind of spark. Not in way that pained her, but in a good
way.
    Did Max know about the tingle? Was that why
he stared?
    Did he want to do this to her?
    She dropped her hands and stood. Her mind
swirled with all the new sensations. She decided to get dressed in
Tory’s