Page 41 of Karma Kitty Christmas
“Oh,” he said, coming to a halt in the middle of the kitchen, his hand still outstretched to his silly, presumptuous, magnificent, still-not-grown cat, who had the temerity tosmileat him in that sunspot.
“Oh, what?” Luca said, glancing up.
“Nothing,” Isaac murmured, turning around toward the fridge to see what condiments he needed. “Just… you know. Having epiphanies and shit. Life is weird. Oh, hey! We’ve got pepperoni!”
“Is that good on sandwiches?”
Isaac didn’t even have to look at him to know Luca’s fine Roman nose was wrinkled and his full lips were pulled up in skepticism.
“It’s delicious,” he said with a little smile. “You’ll be surprised.”
Which is only fair, because I think this place is your home, and it shocks the hell out of me right now, so, you know, even.
His lips twitched at his own petulance, and then he calmed down a little.
Give it time. He’ll stay the night tonight. It’ll be a start. Maybe when school begins and things get crazy, he’ll decide he’s had too much of me.
But as he set the pepperoni down on the counter and got out plates for the other deli meats and the pepperoncini, tomatoes, and pickles, he saw Luca snatch a pepperoni and toss it into his mouth with the sort of expression that said he was fine with trying new things.
Todd had never wanted to try new things. It was like he’d been so excited to have thethingshe thought were good for his life locked down in cement, trying something new—pepperoni on a sandwich or swimming at a friend’s house or a new lesson plan… or a cat—was just too frightening. Too scary.
For the first time, Isaac felt sorry for Todd. All that control he’d tried to exert over Isaac, all that insistence on formality, on having the right furniture, on not being too ostentatious or too interesting…. Todd hadn’t been trying to becruel.
Todd had been trying to besafe. He’d been trying to make Isaacsafe.
But Isaac didn’t need a lover to make him safe—not even from himself. Not anymore.
Luca gave him a thumbs-up and grinned as he swallowed the pepperoni and reached for another. Isaac didn’t warn him he’d spoil his dinner, because he was a grown-assed man, but he did smile and take one for himself because they tasted good, and it was his damned dinner.
Isaac didn’t need a man to make him safe—but boy, did he want a man to share these moments with. Exploratory moments, simple moments—even safe moments.
There was such a difference.
There’d be time to decide if Luca wanted it to betheirhome or not. And even if the answer was not, that might just mean he wanted to keep his own apartment, not that he didn’t want Isaac.
And in the meantime, Isaac was going to treat his moments with Luca like Luca had treated that pepperoni.
Simple, savory, desirable, interesting.
And added to the other things in Isaac’s life, he could only make things better.
Sweetly in the Shadows
LUCA’S SISTERused to be an absolute terror, all the energy, all the excitement, none of the common sense. Pregnancy seemed to have not only knocked her on her ass, it had made her more content about knowing her limitations.
At around nine o’clock, after she’d cleaned up dinner (since Isaac and Luca had shopped and prepped) she stood and stretched, then moved to the couch to kiss first Luca on the cheek and then Isaac.
He watched as Isaac smiled at her, accepting the kiss like he’d always had a sister, like spontaneous tokens of affection were something he’d known all his life when Luca was pretty sure that wasn’t true.
“When you coming tomorrow?” she asked on a yawn. “Maybe you could bring me coffee or a doughnut or something.”
“I’ll get you coffee if you want,” he said, because she’d been limiting herself to one iced coffee a day and her doctor said that was fine. “But I’m going to be staying over.”
“Mmm….” At first she nodded like this happened all the time, and then she blinked like she was trying to wake up. “Uhm… really?”
Isaac concentrated on his knitting, his already sun-kissed cheeks growing a little pinker.
“Uhm, really,” he said without looking up.
