Page 27 of A Furry Thing Called Love (Friends of Gaynor Beach Animal Rescue #7)
Jordan
“Ow!” Picking up the kitten in my lap, I hold her in front of my face. “No, no claws, please.”
“ Mrow ?” She tilts her head and I chuckle a little.
“You’re too cute, but I have things down there I’d rather not have clawed, thank you very much.”
A soft chuckle has me looking up to see Arthur peeking into the cat room. “Want to take one home? We just got those in, and there’s already been a bit of interest in them. I’m hoping they’ll go fast.”
I look down at the kittens crawling over me. “I’d love to, but I think my boyfriend will murder me if I bring a kitten, or kittens, home without consulting him first.”
“Boyfriend? That’s new.”
I smile. “Yeah, very new, but it’s going good, and I’d like to not get dead.”
Arthur snorts. “Fair enough. Well, you know where we are, if you’re able to talk him into a kitten. I think it’ll round your menagerie out well.”
“I’m trying for chickens right now, so maybe I’ll barter with him; kitten first, then chickens.”
Arthurs laughs. “Jordan logic.”
“Yep!” Standing, I hand him the kitten. “I need to get going, but I’ll be back to visit soon. Hopefully, you’re not here when I do.” I pet the kitten on the head. “I have to go pick up Indie from doggie daycare, so I’ll see you later, Arthur.”
“Since when does Indie go to daycare?” he asks with amusement.
“Long story that involves my boyfriend. Anyway, I need to go before she drives Brooklyn up a wall.”
Arthur moves away from the door so I can pass, carefully making sure none of the cats currently roaming around the cat room try to escape as I make my way out.
It’s weird not having Indie by my side all day, but the separation is probably good for us both. Besides, she has Millie, so hopefully, she hasn’t been too much of a pain in the ass today.
I let myself into Arlo’s house, undoing Millie’s leash as soon as the door shuts behind me. “Let’s go find your owner,” I tell her, hanging the leash on a hook beside the door while kicking off my shoes.
Arlo is in his office, and he looks over his monitor to smile at me when I enter the room.
“Hey, how was she today?”
“Good report for them both. Brooklyn said Indie can visit anytime.”
“That’s great. The pictures he sent of them both are hilarious. It looked like Indie made friends with everyone, with Millie as her trusty sidekick.”
I laugh. “Yeah, I got those pictures, too.”
“How’s Millie? Did she go crazy when she saw you?”
I shake my head and move further into the room. “Nah. I think having Indie there helped her to realize we weren’t leaving her again. She’ll be fine going over there once or twice a week, I think.”
Arlo lets out a breath. “Good. I was worried.”
“I know you were, but everything is okay. You don’t have to be.”
He snorts but scoots his chair backwards so I can stand between his legs. Leaning down, I press a kiss to his lips. “All done for the day?” I ask.
“Yeah.” He reaches up and grips the back of my head, kissing me firmly.
I don’t need any prompting to sit in his lap, my knees hitting the arms of the desk chair, but I’d rather be uncomfortable than not get as close to Arlo as possible.
“You know what we haven’t talked about?” I ask when the kiss breaks.
Arlo takes a shuddery breath. “Sex…”
“Mmhmm.” I lean in and kiss him again. “We don’t have to, if you don’t want to. It can wait, I’m not in any rush.”
He laughs. “You, in a rush for sex? I’d believe Hell is freezing over first.”
“Shut up.” Pressing our foreheads together, I close my eyes.
“You’re the only one who’s ever really understood me, Arlo.
Who accepted the whole ace thing like it didn’t matter.
I mean, Val was great in helping me figure it out, but by then I knew them too well.
I knew it would come between us eventually, no matter how badly we wanted our relationship to work. ”
I love Val, but I learned a long time ago that love was always as a friend. It doesn’t mean I’m not thankful for their presence in my life.
“It doesn’t. Hell, there are a hundred different ways to say you love me, and being sexually attracted to me isn’t one of them.”
I almost fall off his lap, as I laugh so hard at his wording.
Arlo rolls his eyes. “You know what I mean, asshole.”
“Yeah, I do, but you understand how that sounds?”
He huffs and his lips twitch, as if he’s holding back a smile. “I do. But how else do you want me to explain it?”
I shift a little, trying to get more comfortable. “Am I hurting you?”
He shakes his head. “No, you’re fine. Anyway, as I was saying, I don’t need you to try to be something you’re not, Jor. It’s like me with penetration. No one else really understood.
“Well, that’s one thing I can give Will credit for. He was a side as well, so he understood that part. What he couldn’t understand was that sometimes I just couldn’t. Whether it was a bad flare day, or I wasn’t up for it emotionally or mentally, he didn’t understand.”
I shake my head in disgust. “I really want to know what you saw in that guy.”
Arlo shrugs. “I don’t know. I think I just…wanted to forget. I wanted to have some sense of normalcy, even if I knew it was with someone who was never going to be my person.”
Our gazes lock, and the soft look in his eyes takes my breath away.
“Fuck, you’re amazing, you know that?”
He smiles shyly. “No, but I don’t mind hearing you say it.
Knowing how you see me? I don’t know how to explain it.
I’ve had enough therapy dealing with my diagnosis, and how that affects my self-image, to know I don’t need someone else’s validation, but…
it makes me feel as if you love me as much as I do you. ”
“Oh, I totally love you more,” I tease.
He rolls his eyes. “Sure, okay.”
“In all seriousness though? I admire you, Arlo. You could have let your illness define you, and I know from what you’ve told me that it changed who you were.
But to me, it seems you’ve embraced life, rather than letting your MS rule everything, and I’m not sure I’d be as strong as you if it were me. ”
Arlo blushes. Reaching up to cup my cheek, he leans in and kisses me gently.
“You would, because that’s the type of person you are.
Look how fast you adapted to my needs when we first met, how you’re able to balance the various needs of your menagerie.
You’re such a breath of fresh air, Jor. I know how lucky I am to have you in my corner. Even when you’re being a mother hen.”
I chuckle. “I’m doing quite well with that, thank you very much.”
“You are. You don’t make me feel like a burden, or less than, simply because I need help. Does the mother henning get on every last aching nerve I have? Yes, but I wouldn’t change you for the world. I wouldn’t change us . So…sex, no sex, none of that matters to me.”
I let out a shaky breath as a weight I’ve tried not to carry lifts from my chest. Arlo and I, we’ve been through this before, but we both know this was a much-needed conversation.
People change, as do circumstances. Just because Arlo knows me and my history, that doesn’t mean we can skip the whole “I have sex when I want to, but rarely do I ever feel the need to” conversation.
Same as I knew his sexual preferences as a side from before, but anything could have changed in our time apart, be it what he likes, or how his MS has affected his sexual needs.
To know we’re on the same page, that we’ll support each other’s choices when it comes to if and when we have sex…it only makes me fall deeper into love with him. It also makes me want to blow him, but then again, I never mind being on my knees for Arlo.
Before I can make the suggestion, my stomach does an impression of a lion, causing Arlo to laugh. “Have you eaten today?”
“Uhh…” I try to remember what I’ve done today, aside from work and play with kittens. “This morning. I shared a bagel with Indie.”
He shakes his head. “Okay, up. I need to mother hen you now.”
I snort and sneak one more kiss before unfolding myself, only stumbling a little when I climb off him.
“A man who accepts not only my sexual needs, or lack thereof, and my menagerie, and feeds me? I need to marry you.”
Arlo gives me a look I can’t decipher. “Your bar is way too low, Jor.”
“No, it’s actually really, really high.”
“You’re such a flatterer.”
“Or a guy who’s finally with the person he’s supposed to be with.”
Redness spreads across his face and down his throat, and he turns away. I smile, enjoying that I can bring such reactions out of him. I want to do it for the rest of our lives.
The thought should scare me. We’ve only been back together a few weeks, but I think I’ve always known Arlo is the one for me, we just took a long path to get here.