I rest my hip on the island, watching him. When we stumbled across the kitten in the driveway I wasn't sure what to do with it. She’d looked so small that I knew I couldn’t just walk past her. I was thinking maybe she belonged to someone, but there wasn’t anyone around.

There is no way that cute bundle of fur belongs to the man lurking these halls. The other option I had was to take her into town for someone to find her a home. My initial thoughts were that I couldn’t possibly adopt a kitten because I’m barely keeping my own head above water.

That plan was shot to hell as I watched Colby and the kitten play this afternoon as I was unpacking some of the boxes. At one point I saw him cradling the kitten like a baby. I watched him kiss her little head. At that moment I knew there was no way I could take that kitten from him. Too many things have been taken from Colby already for someone his age. I won’t add to that list.

“I wish Beast could have come too.” I wonder if he’s given the kitten the name to make it seem tough. Colby looks up at me. “We talked about all the rules here. I know there wasn't anything specifically about kittens on it, but I’m guessing if they find out we have one the list will be updated rather quickly.”

He drops his head. “We have to get rid of her?” His voice is so soft I barely make out what he says. I quickly make my way around the island, coming to his side. My fingers go to his hair. It’s a habit of mine he doesn't like me to do when others are around. It’s hard not to. It's how I used to get him to sleep when he was a little younger.

“I never said that.” He jerks his head back up at me and I see hope there. “I’m just saying she’s our secret. We can take her out sometimes, but she stays mostly in our living area.”

“Okay,” he agrees quickly. The small knot that I didn't know had formed in my stomach loosens when I see he's relaxed again.

“How are you feeling? Is the dust bothering you?” I keep my voice light.

“It’s fine.” He tries to shake off my question.

“I’m going to get to work on it after dinner.” This is a lot of house, but I already hit the areas I know Colby might be more often first. I try not to let it overwhelm me.

“I’m fine,” he says again, annoyed with my mothering. He is fine until he’s not. I tap my finger on his inhaler in my dress pocket to make myself feel better.

“What is this?” I look down at the paper he’s been working on. I get one of his it's no big deal shrugs.

“Making you a map so you don’t get lost around here. So you can find your way back to… ” He pauses. “To our room.” I think he made it so that I’ll always find my way back to him, but I let it be.

“You worried about me?” I ruffle his hair.

“Stop.” He wiggles out from under my hand, but I see him smiling. The oven dings, letting me know the garlic bread is done. “There anything you want me to do?”

“Just wrap up what you’re doing. I don’t want you to get spaghetti sauce on my map.” I tell him to pull the bread out before finishing up dinner.

As I thought, no one showed up to join us for dinner. I did, however, put the leftovers away and scribble down a note about how to heat them up for best results.

I’m thankful when we get back to the room that after a bath Colby pretty much passes out as I’m wiping down everything and removing the dust from our living area.

When I know he’s out for sure, I hook up the old baby monitor I brought with us. I have no idea how far the range of it is so I don’t venture far, scared he’ll wake up while I’m gone and panic. This place is still too new to him.

I don’t know what time it is when I finally call it a night. My feet are fine. I’m used to standing for hours when I worked check-out at the grocery store. My arms, however, are not so lucky. I know I’ll be paying for this tomorrow.

When I go back into our room, I smile when I see the kitten and Colby cuddled together, both sleeping peacefully. The bed is nothing to write home about but right now it looks so inviting. I glance to the bathroom. If I want to crawl into the bed, I need to shower.

“Fall asleep standing up,” I murmur to myself as I grab a pillow and blanket instead, dropping them on the floor. I’ll wash them and myself in the morning. I don’t bother getting undressed. I kick my shoes away and lie down.

It doesn’t take long for sleep to take me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m exhausted or I know for tonight I don’t have to worry about my mother showing up with God knows who with her in the middle of the night. It will be the first peaceful night's sleep I’ve had in a long time. The man I work for might be an asshole, but that keeps everyone away. Even from us…. while we’re here at least.

7

Kale

Watching someone sleep is a new low for me, almost as low as the time I bought an apple pie from Connie’s bakery and didn’t share it with my sister. My dad took me behind the shed and blistered my ass. I don’t know that I deserved a beating over pie, but when had my old man needed a good reason to lay a hand on me? This, however, this is the type of behavior that should be met with a cane across my shoulders.

A person should be able to sleep in peace without a stranger peering in on them. I did turn on the maid’s quarters cameras intentionally. All the unoccupied parts of the house are monitored so that if there’s an intruder, the security system sends me an alert and the video feed starts recording. When someone comes to stay at the house like my manager or my sister, I deactivate the system in those areas. I’d forgotten to turn it off before my new housekeeper and her kid wandered in, the cameras started rolling.

Now that the rooms are occupied, I need to turn the cameras off and I will—in a minute. I’m just doing a safety scan right now, and if my gaze lingers on the shapely curves under the blankets too long it can’t be helped. My physical attraction to Summer isn’t something I can control.

I give her one last look before turning off the cameras. I really need her gone before I do something even worse than invading her privacy. If she’s going to leave, then it doesn’t make any sense to renovate the maid’s quarters—not when I have seven other bedrooms in this house. Until she quits, she can stay in the west wing. There are three bedrooms over there, all with attached bathrooms. One of them has a sitting room attached where we could put a bed for Colby. Plus that room is yellow, which suits Summer. I like this idea.

I pad down the hall and pass the sweeping curved staircase into the west wing. This part of the house is used about three times a year, and it shows in the layer of dust covering the side tables set against the walls. In the suite of rooms, I pull off the furniture covers and awkwardly try to dust off the tables and dressers with my T-shirt. I knock over a couple of books and then an empty crystal container before calling it quits. She’s the housekeeper. She’ll have to clean these rooms for herself.

The bed is in good shape. At least it’s better than the floor she’s currently sleeping on. Ridiculous. Ridiculous as her cleaning till all hours of the night. Some things can be left for tomorrow.

I lie down on the covers and think about what it would be like if she were here with me. We’d have to wait until Colby was knocked out, but then I could take her in my arms, peel off her clothes, and map her body with my tongue. After I made her come a few times, I’d snuggle her frame up against mine and fall into a deep post-nut sleep. In the morning, I’d wake her up with my mouth and my cock.