“I’ll keep my guard up when I’m around him,” she assures, giving my thigh a squeeze, and I cover her hand with mine. Thankfully, she isn’t shutting down my concern and thinking I’m being a jealous, possessive boyfriend.

“Thanks, baby.”

“I got your back,” she says as I turn into the dealership and park in one of the empty spaces then turn toward her after I put the engine in park. Unlatching her seatbelt, she crawls over the console between us and takes my face in her hands. “Two more days.”

“Two days.” I smile, because Friday can’t come soon enough. “If I didn’t have so much work to keep me busy, I’m not sure this would work for me,” I say, smoothing her hair away from her face.

“I know.” She drops her forehead to my chin. “But with my parents being here now, I might be able to get away a little more often.”

“Hey.” I tuck my fingers under her chin to raise her gaze to mine. “We’ll make this work. I know you need to be there for your sister and your nieces. I knew that when we started this, and I’m okay with it. We’ll find our time.” I brush my mouth against hers then sigh when I see the time on the dash. “You need to get to work, and so do I.”

“I don’t want to.” She pouts, and I laugh, wrapping my arms around her as her arms circle my back and her head rests against my chest under my chin. “We’ll have the whole weekend.”

“Except I have to work Saturday,” she groans.

“Right, so we’ll have most of the weekend.”

She leans back, and the moment her eyes meet mine, I see she’s as invested in this relationship as I am. That even though she might be afraid of getting hurt, she’s let her walls down. I lean forward and cover her mouth with mine, hoping like fuck she feels how appreciative I am that she’s willing to put her heart on the line.

_______________

As Mia pulls into the driveway, I walk out the front door to meet her. Even with seeing her for lunch almost every day and the amount of work I’ve had to keep me busy, the week has dragged. When I reach the end of the walkway, I brace as she runs toward me and step back on one foot when she jumps into my arms.

“I missed you.” Her hands capture my face as her mouth lands on mine, and I grin as she peppers my face with kisses.

“Missed you too.” I turn to carry her to the house then stop when I see Retro and Mercury heading to the front door. “You brought the girls.”

“Is it okay? I thought since we’ll be here all night it’d be a good time to find out how they are with Soma.”

“Did you bring their leashes?” I ask, and she wiggles to get down, and I reluctantly let her go.

“Their stuff is still in the car. I got excited when I saw you.” She laughs, heading back to the driveway. “I really do think they should be okay. They never seem to pay much mind to any of the animals out and about when we’re on walks.”

“I’m sure you’re right, but sometime between last night and this morning, the kittens learned to scale the gate, so they’ve been out exploring the house.”

“Oh.” She turns to face me when she reaches the trunk of her car, suddenly looking unsure. “Maybe I should take them home.”

“How about we see what happens?” I suggest.

After we have both girls leashed, we open the door and let them into the house, and Soma greets us, looking uncertain about the new guests. “Come here, Mama.” Mia picks her up when she jumps onto the stand near the door then rubs her head.

Both Retro and Mercury for their part ignore her completely after Mia bends down to allow them a chance to sniff her, the two of them more interested in exploring the house.

“They’ve already grown so much since the last time I was here.” Mia laughs when we reach the kitchen, and the kittens scatter in different directions. I watch her drop to her knees, still holding Soma, who I can hear purring from across the room as she bends at the waist in an attempt to lure one of the white kittens from under the edge of the couch in the sunroom.

“My cousin called today to let me know I need to get some soft food for them next week, since Soma only eats the dry stuff.”

“Does that mean it’s going to be time to find them homes soon?” she asks, sounding devastated as she hugs Soma to her chest like I might rip her away from her.

“Not soon. They’re only a little over three weeks, and they have to be at least twelve before that happens. You still have time with them.”

When my response doesn’t seem to erase the look from her face, I know I’m fucked. “Why do I have a feeling I’m going to be the owner of five cats?”

“Because you’re a big softie,” she says as Soma wiggles out of her hold.

“Yeah.” I sigh, watching her smile and her expression soften right before her eyes widen with panic.

“Retro, no!” she shouts, and I look down at my feet where both dogs are sitting and find Retro licking one of the gray kittens, who’s obviously braver than the rest. Retro, adhering to the command, stops what she’s doing before groaning and falling to her belly.

“Baby, relax. If either Retro or Mercury was even a little bit interested in hurting Soma or the kittens, they would have made that clear when we walked through the door. They’re good.”

“I know you’re right, but the kittens are still so small.” She grabs the white kitten when it tries to run past her and holds him like she was holding Soma.

“They’re also fast, and your dogs are lazy. They’d give up after two minutes of trying to catch them.” I bend to pet both pups before unhooking them from their leashes. Like I suspected they would, they don’t use the freedom to run wild. Instead, they sprawl out on the floor where a single ray of sun shines into the room. “Are you hungry?”

“Yes.” She stands up from where she was kneeling and comes with me into the kitchen. “Do you want to order something?”

“I got the stuff to make burgers and a bag of fries we can throw in the oven.”

“Yum.” She leans up in a silent demand for a kiss, and I bend to give her what she wants. “What do you need me to do?”

“Nothing. Get a drink and relax.”

“Never mind.” She rolls her eyes. “I’ll figure it out while you start the grill.” She releases the kitten she was still holding then goes to the sink to wash her hands. I leave her to it and go out to start the grill. After I come in to turn on the oven, I season the hamburger while she cuts up an onion and tomato. We work in sync while talking about the week and then head out to the deck, taking the girls with us when we go.

“Let me get this straight.” I turn to meet Mia’s gaze as I start to take our burgers off the grill. “Mike wouldn’t let your sister and her parents take the girls away for the weekend, but he’s still not going to see them until late Saturday evening?”

“Yep,” she agrees, rolling her eyes. “And Cece is nicer than I am, because I would have told him to shove it. It’s not like he sees them all week, when he could if he wanted to.”

“He doesn’t see his girls at all during the week?” I carry the burgers I just took off the grill to the table.