Page 50 of This Wild Heart

Anya laughed—a happy, tinkling sort of sound. “I should’ve added that to his adoption profile when I was still fostering him.”

“Was he listed as the devil cat back then? Makes sense why you still have him.”

With a shake of her head, Anya scooped the giant orange cat into her arms and smacked a kiss on the top of his head. He nuzzled into her neck, purring immediately.

“I swear, if I tried that, he’d rip my throat out.” Spike looked over at me, his eyes narrow little slits that promised death and retribution. I pointed. “You can’t see his face, but he’s plotting my death right now.”

“Oh, calm down, he is not. Go change. Won’t they be here soon?”

I grimaced. “Yes. I left the front gate unlocked. Milicent knows how to get in; we’ve had to do social media shit here before.” I started stripping off my T-shirt, and Anya ducked her head into Spike’s neck, eyes lingering on my chest for just a moment. “She’s terrifying, by the way. Don’t let her scare you.”

“This is perfect. Ugh, you’re just so gorgeous. That smile is perfect, Anya. Just like that.”

I rolled my eyes as Milicentoohedandaahedover Anya as the crew arranged her on my couch for the perfect shot. They took a few candids of her laughing at whatever the camera guy said, and the flash of that dimple in her cheek had my stomach tight. Next to her, in all his three-legged asshole glory, Spike nuzzled into Milicent’s outstretched palm and purred.

“Do you want the cat in the picture?” Anya asked. “I could put him in the bedroom.”

“Are you kidding me? You adopted a three-legged cat. Of course I want him in the shot.” Milicent snapped her fingers in my direction. “Come on, let’s get you in here.”

“Yeah right, that beast will eat me if I try to sit next to her while he’s around. None of you will be able to stop him either.”

Anya laughed, and even Milicent cracked a smile, jotting something down in her notebook. “Have you always been an animal lover, Anya?”

“As much as anyone, I guess. It wasn’t until middle school that I really got involved in volunteering. I used to go to the shelter closest to our house and walk dogs a couple of afternoons a week.” She scratched under Spike’s chin, and he angled his neck up, leaning into the touch. Not like I could blame him. If Anya did that to me, I’d be purring too. “It always made me sad seeing the older animals get overlooked. The ones like Spike who weren’t cute and little and fun because it took so long for them to find forever homes.”

She dropped a kiss on Spike’s head and set him down on the ground, gently nudging him away from the couch. Milicent directed me to Anya’s left, and I eased onto the couch, stretching an arm out behind her. Her legs were tucked on the cushion, angled toward me. Her knees rested gently against my thigh, her shoulder braced against my chest.

Milicent eyed us shrewdly. “Parker. Set your hand on her thigh instead of having it behind her. More visually interesting.”

I let out a deep breath and did as she asked, ignoring the hammering of my heart as I let my palm rest on the warm skin of Anya’s thigh just by the hem of her dress. My fingers dragged up and down over her skin because if this was real, and she was mine, there’d be no way I’d be able to stop myself.

Anya curled her arm through mine, tucking her body more closely against my chest, and her fingers rested along the top of my arm. I’d put on a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up my forearms. The shirt was unbuttoned on the top and paired with some dark jeans. I was happy that Milicent gave me a narrow-eyed look of approval when she walked in.

Milicent moved one of the lights they’d brought, and nodded approvingly at whatever change this brought about. “This isn’t a formal interview for an article, but we’ll use snippets over the next couple of weeks on all platforms. There’s already significant interest in the two of you, so it should do well.”

“Do you want us smiling, or…?” Anya asked.

“We’re just going to talk,” she answered. “Act as normal as possible, and we’ll snap some candids.”

“Totally normal, isn’t it?” I said under my breath.

Anya gave me a sidelong little smirk. The amused look in her eye almost stopped my heart. My lips curled up before I could stop them.

Click.

“God, that’s hot,” Milicent muttered. “Keep looking at each other like that.”

My eyes dropped down to Anya’s mouth, and her lips parted incrementally.

Click.

“Tell me how this happened,” Milicent said, stepping back behind the camera while her crew took almost continuous shots. “People were pretty shocked when the footage came out of you two.”

Anya and I shared another look, and I squeezed her thigh gently.I got this one.She swallowed, her chest rising and falling on a deep breath.

“Anya and I met a few months ago,” I told Milicent. “Through Emmett Ward.”

“At his wedding?”

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