Page 54 of By Rude Strength

Cass brightened and hugged LA gently. “Thank you.” He paused, hesitating a little as he asked, “It was really all right?”

“It was amazing.” LA smiled. “Best hand-tail-job I’ve ever had.”

Cass purred and carefully picked LA up to set him back on the floor. He still held him close, wrapping his arms around LA’s sides as he kissed his forehead. “This is still taking things slow, yes?”

“Slow enough.” LA snorted. “I think it’s safe to say we had great chemistry.”

“Would you like to go watch the show now?”

“I’d fucking love to.” LA took Cass’s paw to lead the way. “Still gotta figure out what to do for dinner.”

“Remember! We need to eat something healthy.”

“Yes, sir.” LA rolled his eyes. “What about Chinese food? Maybe Thai?” He urged Cass to sit down so he could stretch out and put his head in his lap again. “That’s healthy.”

Cass hummed. “Is it though?”

“Absolutely.” LA grinned as they both got settled. “It has vegetables, uh, rice is good for you, and hey, chicken is a low-fat protein. Or something.”

“I think you’re just saying that because you want more junk.” Cass raised his brow. “And didn’t you say earlier you’d spent too much money on those tires?”

“Yeah, that was before the awesome hand-tail-job. I feel like we deserve Chinese food.”

“Here. I’ll order it. My treat.”

“What? You have a monster credit card?”

“Ha ha, no. I have a Platinum Visa, thank you.” Cass held up his paw and his phone appeared. “Any place in particular around here that you like? I could go ahead and order it now so we don’t have to worry about it.”

“Okay, yeah.” LA smiled. “Hot Dragon over on Wendell Street. My personal favorite.”

“All right.” Cass tapped on his phone for a moment and then passed it over to LA. “Go ahead and order whatever you’d like.”

“Are you sure? I really like Chinese food.”

Cass raised a brow. “I highly doubt you’re going to order more than me.”

“I mean, I wasn’t going to say anything, but you did eat like half the cake by yourself.”

Cass playfully poked LA’s chest. “Doesn’t someone have a TV show to put on?”

“As soon as I’m done picking my food like someone wanted me to.” LA smirked, ordering sesame chicken, vegetable lo mein, beef and broccoli, and two egg rolls. He passed Cass’s phone back to him. “Here. My treat next time, okay?”

“Uh-huh.” Cass batted his eyes as he poked at the phone screen.

LA reached for the remote. “I have the DVDs, but we can just stream it.” His phone buzzed from where he’d left it on the coffee table, and he picked it up on instinct to see who it was.

Oh God, it was hismother.

He immediately put it back down and aggressively thumbed the remote keys.

Cass’s phone vanished in a poof of confetti. “All right! It will be delivered at seven o’clock. I hope that’s not too early. Too late? Oh, hmm, I should have asked first—”

“It’s fine,” LA snapped.

“What’s wrong?” Cass rubbed his chest.

“Nothing.”