Page 36 of The Hermit on the Hill

I stood and moved toward the door. If Mistletoe fled, there was no telling where she would hide or what she might pee on.

"Fluffy is gentle and doesn't realize how big he is. Cats scare him."

"He looks terrified." The sarcasm in my tone was absolutely warranted, because Fluffy hadn't seemed to notice me or Mistletoe.

Sam looked up, and his expression softened. He stood and came over to me. "Let me try."

I stared at him as Mistletoe scrabbled against my chest. "She's not good with people she doesn't know."

Sam just grabbed her, pulled her away from me, and wrapped her in his arms, unfazed by her clawing to get away. He murmured to her in a low voice while he petted her and she stilled.

"That's a good pussy." He smirked at me. "The only thing you need to be afraid of is me if you draw blood from Fluffy. Hurt him and I'll bury you."

Mistletoe purred in response, and I melted. I mean, Sam was being a cocky jerk threatening Mistletoe, but there was something so sweet about how he calmed the cat, about how he cared. He could have just insisted I keep Mistletoe in my room or sent her to live with one of my many family members.

Instead, he crouched in front of Fluffy with my cat in his arms. "See. Fluffy won't hurt you. He's big, but he's pure sugar cane sweetness."

I knelt next to them, ready to grab Mistletoe if she went berserk, but she leaned forward and sniffed Fluffy. The giant rabbit took a step back, but didn't run away.

Sam set Mistletoe on the floor in front of Fluffy, his hands out on either side of my cat, ready to grab her. Mistletoe sat, tail swishing, and stared at the giant rabbit.

Fluffy hopped forward and put her nose in Mistletoe's face. Mistletoe swatted Fluffy's nose, leapt up like the floor had burned her feet, and sprinted from the room.

"She's declawed," I shouted as I raced after her, just in case Sam had any ideas about killing my cat.

To my surprise, Sam's throaty laugh followed me out of the room.

***

"Wow. It smells so good." I walked into the kitchen, where Sam was working at the stove, and had to stop and remember how to breathe.

He was wearing gray sweatpants that hung low on his hips and no shirt. His back muscles flexed as he flipped something on the stove. Honestly, he could have been cooking his own hands. All I could see were the dimples right above the waistband of sweatpants that draped perfectly over the two muscular globes of his ass.

I took a seat at an island stool before my knees gave out.

Sam looked over his shoulder, brows pinched together. "You're dressed."

I was wearing a skirt and a tank top. Hardly business attire. "Was I supposed to walk around your house naked?"

He tossed bacon on a plate, put it on the island, and faced me, hands flat on the marble, expression hard. "I want you to be comfortable here. You don't have to get dressed to come down for breakfast. You can stay in your pajamas all day if you want."

"Or I can go around topless." I gestured at his bare top half. My face felt hot, so my cheeks had to be flaming red.

Sam looked down at himself as though he'd just realized he was shirtless and his cheeks actually pinked. He couldn't be blushing. Could he? "I was doing some work outside. It's already hot out there."

He walked out of the kitchen and returned a moment later in a worn t-shirt. Didn't say a word. Just went back to cooking. I picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled. "Do you have coffee?"

He flipped a pancake onto a plate, and my stomach rumbled in hunger. "Coffee is bad for the baby."

"One cup a day is fine during pregnancy."

"You can have decaf or herbal tea. I've got a lemon ginger tea that's not awful."

I should have been irritated, but I was still just so shocked that he cared. That he seemed to want this baby as much as I did. "Just because I'm staying in your house, it doesn't mean you get to tell me what to do."

"As long as you're growing our baby, I do." He set a plate of pancakes in front of me and I forgot what we'd been arguing about. He even handed me syrup. And he put a big bowl of fruit next to the pancakes. "Eat."

I drowned those suckers and made my way through half of them and several more slices of bacon before I had the energy to continue the conversation.

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