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As I slowly come back from bliss, he’s laughing.

“You can let go now.”

“Oh my God!” I release him and almost fall backward into the sink.

But he catches me, pulling me close with his free hand as he slowly pulls his other out of my folds.

He sets me down on the ground. “Well, that was some ride, yeah?” Callahan leans in close. “I like a little bit of rough, Lucie. That was… good.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Ah, so do you, less than me, but you like it hard.” To prove his point, he slams his mouth on mine and kisses me so hard I almost melt to the ground, boneless. “See?”

“Pig.”

“Callahan.”

I bite my lip to stop laughing.

And he licks his fingers clean.

“I worry.”

“You do, don’t you?” he says softly. “I’m a bigboy, though.”

“So?”

He puts his mouth by my ear as he opens the door. The girl waiting looks the other way, and I suspect he just gave her his death stare.

“So it’ll take some getting used to.”

“What the fuck,” Callahan says when we get inside the house and he’s met with a tiny smudge of angry black fur, claws, and teeth sitting on the top of the coat rack, hissing at him, “is that?”

“Clawzilla,” Declan says cheerfully, plucking the kitten off and putting it on his shoulder. “Blame your wife. I said no.”

There’s a whine and then a snout and a furry face appears from the darkened study, staring into the hall, then at the cat, and finally back up to Callahan.

Callahan bends down and holds out his hand and the dog steps out, wags his tail, and trots up to him.

“Sorry, I don’t have a treat,” he says, rubbing Arnold’s ears. But the dog, after a moment of sniffing around at Callahan, just accepts the loving rubs. “Why didn’t you eat the kitten, Arnold?”

Arnold lets out a reproachful whine, like he knows what Callahan just said about his new friend, then looks over to me.

“She doesn’t have any treats either.” Declan laughs and puts the kitten on the dog’s back. Then he looks at Callahan, shaking his head. “Eat it? Your dog chose the kitten and Lucie said yes.”

“We’ll return the kitten tomorrow.”

“No.” I look at Callahan. “He loves it. The kitten makes him feel strong. He’s protecting it, like you decided to do with him.”

Callahan nods. “And he told you all this, did he?”

“No.” I narrow my eyes as Declan disappears. “I can tell.”

“Can you now?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you get upstairs and convince me?”