Page 28 of Hell's Kitten

I’m saved from doing something really stupid by his phone pinging, suggesting he’s received a message. His head immediately snaps to his jeans, where the device must be resting in his pocket.

“Fuck!” he yelps, already wading over. But I wave my hand and crouch down.

“Don’t get out. You’ll freeze.”

“I have to get out at some point,” he argues, but he does also stop where he is.

Good. I’m glad. He’s having fun, and I don’t want that to stop. Not yet, anyway.

“Let me get it for you,” I insist.

He thinks about that for a second before nodding. I go over to his pile of clothes and fish inside his jeans pocket. “Who’s it from?” he asks. “What does it say?”

“Unknown, and I can’t tell beyond ‘Dear Jessie, thank you so much for…”

“FUCK!” he shrieks so loudly several birds take flight. “It’s my tryout result! Hold the phone up so I can unlock it with my face.”

For a second, I consider telling him to get out after all. I feel like this is his news, and if it’s bad, he might want to react to it in private.

But then I decide to indulge him by coming closer to the pool. Selfishly, if itisbad news, then I want to comfort him. I don’t want him to lock me out. I don’t know if that’s what his reaction would be, but I know that’s what I’d do. So I take the easy way out and just do what he’s told me to.

First, though, I place both our jackets down. Mine has my phone and keys in it, so if I slip, I won’t fuck anything up in the water. Then I crouch down by the edge, and Jessie wades over so he’s now exposed from the waist up. Water runs off his smooth, lithe body in rivets. I have to concentrate really hard to make sure I don’t drop his phone.

The sensor obviously recognizes his face in a second, and then he’s shaking his hand and blowing on his finger in what Iassume is an effort to dry it. Because I’m an absolute sap, I offer the sleeve of my Henley.

“Use that,” I tell him.

He does, holding my wrist with his other hand to steady himself. But then he keeps his grip on it as he starts tapping his phone, opening up the message, and reading it.

I don’t have to wait long to find out the result.

“I’M IN!”he bellows to the high heavens, his eyes bugging out with shock and then tearing up with happiness. “I’m in! I made the competition squad!ARGH!”

“Well done, baby,” I say with as much sincerity as I can muster in just three words. He gave up his dreams to take care of his mom, and I’m sure she’s going to be just as proud as I am to hear that he’s going to be competing again. He’s a born cheerleader if I ever met one.

His hand is still wrapped around my wrist, and he’s staring at me with his jaw hanging open. It’s only then that my brain catches up to my tongue and I realize that I called him ‘baby.’

Fuck.

I open my mouth to try and walk it back, but no words come. We’re just staring intently at each other as he clings to me. His chest is rising and falling as his eyes search mine. I know I should regret it. This is exactly the kind of complication I’ve been trying to avoid.

But I can’t run from the truth. Calling him ‘baby’ and ‘kitten’ and ‘sweetheart’ just feels so right. I want him to be all those things.

I want him to be mine.

Swallowing, I scramble for what to say. In that moment, it’s as if we’re locked together. There’s something pulsing between us, heating up the air. My heart is racing, and try as I might, I can’t tear my gaze away.

My head knows it’s wrong. But my heart doesn’t want to listen. He is my baby kitty. I’m his Daddy. In a way, we’re already in too deep.

That’s why when he suddenly yanks my wrist and his lips crash into mine, I stop fighting. I only just have the sense to toss the phone behind me before I’m falling into the water after him.

CHAPTER 12

Jessie

We both come spluttering back upto the surface, and Nim’s looking at me in utter shock. Oh god. Have I completely fucked everything up? I was so deliriously happy when I got the news about the squad, and then he went and called me ‘baby,’ and it was like all my dreams were coming true at once. Something in me snapped, and then I was just reaching out for the other thing I knew was going to bring me insane amounts of joy.

Or at least in that moment I hoped it would. Right now, he’s soaking wet and looking at me with something akin to panic.

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