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“I checked it out with your landlady first, and took the kitty for his shots yesterday.” Kaden tried to coax the little fellow into the living room, but he seemed reluctant. Finally Kaden gave up trying and got up. “You can open the box now. Where is it?”

All I could do was point to my bedroom door. Kaden pulled me in after him. While he plopped down in my desk chair as he always used to do, I turned toward the large box, not knowing what else to do. I tore off the packing tape and folded back the lid. My eyebrows shot up. If these were sex toys, then Kaden had sought out the most unusual ones. There were balls and feathers, plastic birds and mice. And lots of…

“Kitty litter?” I blurted out. “You’re giving me kitty litter? That’s the special gift?”

“Not just any kitty litter. It has the same fragrance as your awful candles.”

Sure enough. The first bag was labeled “vanilla,” and the second “coconut.”Oh my God!I burst out laughing, so hard that tears dripped down my cheeks.

Through the blur I noticed that Kaden had stood and moved close to me. He reached out to touch my waist. I fell silent.

“I wanted to show you the tattoo now, and I did hope the cat would scare off the others… but I also don’t know what I was thinking with all this. To be honest, I learned a while back that it’s better not to depend on you when it comes to plans. ‘Cause you manage to make me throw all my plans and rules overboard.”

My eyes wandered over Kaden’s face. His laugh lines, his striking features, his stubble. And his warm eyes and curved lips, which could drive me wild.

“It was terrible with you gone, Bubbles. Everything felt wrong,” Kaden said, his voice rough. “I missed your laugh. Your ability to makemelaugh. The way you make me the man I want to be.”

“I missed you, too. But do you honestly think it makes sense to just pick up where we left off?” My hopes were high. But fear was still in my bones. I trusted Kaden, but did he trust me enough?

“There will be dark days,” he said, as if reading my mind. “Days when I have to be reminded of how good it can be. But I promise you I’ll do everything I can to make the brighter days win out.”

Something tickled my leg; taken by surprise, I looked down—and grinned. Spidey was sniffing at my foot. He looked like a ball of disheveled fur, with orange stripes. Kaden bent down to scratch behind his ears. Spidey began to purr.

“So, Bubbles.” Kaden looked at me. “What will it be?”

Crouching down to the floor, I reached out a hand to Spidey and let him sniff it. He rubbed against my hand, warming me with his gentle purring. I looked up at Kaden and smiled.

“There will be rules.”