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“C’mon, sweetie,” she said, dangling the piece of turkey she’d peeled off her day-old discount sandwich. “I know you’d rather this be ham but beggars can’t be choosers.”
Apparently, beggars could be picky as hell because the kitten didn’t budge. To make matters worse, the only thing she could see under the low-slung sports car were tiny cat paws. She would have had to lay flat on the dirty concrete to get a better look.
Why couldn’t the little guy have chosen to hide under one of the Range Rovers?
At least the kitten was under one of the cars that didn’t move during the day. This Ferrari was always parked in this spot when she arrived at six in the morning and would be here when she left at five.
She had been convinced the owner left it here all week. Parking was at a premium downtown. But ever since she’d discovered the kitten, she’d finally seen the vehicle’s small shifts in position relative to the yellow lines, confirming that the owner did move it every day.
Emma winced as the sound of an engine roaring to life was followed by tires squealing at a high pitch.
The damn suits in the building were always doing that—peelingout of the garage like their butts were on fire. Seriously, they were going to hit someone someday.
And that somebody would be her unless she started going the long way around to the back of the building. Because, of course, his highness Mr. Chapman didn’t want the café staff coming in the front doors of the complex. Building rules.
“Did you hear that?” she asked the kitten as another engine started, the post-five o’clock exodus well underway. “It’s not safe to stay here or one of those jerks in a suit is going to squish you.”
She couldn’t let that happen to this sweet baby, no matter how difficult it would be trying to keep a pet at Pedro’s apartment. How would she get the little one to use a litter box when the apartment was full of nooks and crannies only a cat could access?
“You know it’s probably a rat you’ve been hearing,” Bethany said over her shoulder.
Startled, Emma looked up.
Bethany rocked on her heels. “Not to mention the fact a pet is a spectacularly bad idea—you can barely take care of yourself.”
Emma scowled at the unasked-for reminder.
“Shouldn’t you be wiping down the tables inside?” Emma had done them all after breakfast and lunch to get the other woman to agree to close the café.
Bethany lifted a shoulder. “Fine. Get rabies,” she said before wiping her hands on her apron and going back inside.
Emma sighed. The rest of the café staff either didn’t believe there was a kitten or they didn’t care, too wrapped up in their own problems. Rent. Bills. Boyfriends. Girlfriends.
Kyle had a beta fish, but that was it on the pet front. Even her boss Hector was pet-free because he was allergic to anything with fur.
Which means saving the kitten is up to you.Emma had scouted the entire garage and the immediate streets around it. There wasn’t a mama cat. The little guy wasn’t part of a litter. What was it surviving on?
Scratch that. She didn’t want to know.
Sighing, Emma scooted closer, careful not to let the knees of her beige tights touch the dirty concrete floor. They werepart of her uniform and she really needed six to get through the week, but so far had only been able to afford four. She washed them in the sink on Wednesday to cover the entire week.
One of the few blessings of Ernesto’s condition was that his closet was always full of cleaning supplies. She’d also gotten paid today. Once she paid her share of rent and utilities, she’d take whatever she had left to the nearest discount grocery store to buy cat food and a bag of litter.
Unless Pedro already has litter in the apartment?It was entirely possible.
The kitten meowed again.
“Here, little baby.” Emma pinched off a piece of the turkey and tossed it at the little paws, craning her head forward so far she got a shooting pain in her neck.
Swearing under her breath, she stood up just in time to see a wall of muscle in a suit rushing at her at full speed.
She barely had time to scream.
Chapter Five
GARRETT
He knew he had made a mistake the second Emma cried out, the overwhelming terror in the sound reaching into his gut to punch his lower intestine.