Page 26 of A Baby for the Billionaire Cowboy

The dimple flashed again. “Yes. You do know about fun, right?”

He drew himself up in mock outrage. “I know about fun. Me and the rabbits, we party every night.”

She giggled.

He took a step toward her. “Thank you.” He wanted to touch her, give her another hug, something—only to show his appreciation for the gift, nothing more. But he didn’t want to make a wrong move.

“You’re welcome.” She closed the distance between them and stretched up to kiss his cheek. “I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you’ll tell me what you decide to do with it, if anything. But it’s a gift, to do with as you want, so don’t feel pressured.”

He gulped and nodded, unable to speak. He wanted to press his fingers over the place she’d kissed, but that would be too obvious. “I’m sure it will be great. I can’t wait to try it. Um.”

Work. They were supposed to be working, or something. Surely, he had things to do. He searched his memory. “Oh, TC invited us over Saturday. He thought you might like to see the new batch of ostrich babies, and there’s a baby llama too.”

She clasped her hands together. “I would love to! All y’all are the absolute best.”

They smiled awkwardly at each other. At least it felt awkward to Xander. Daisy seemed able to smile at anything. Then she ducked her head and turned toward her desk, and he sat down at his computer and tried to focus on anything other than Daisy.

Chapter Twelve

Daisy cuddled thetwo kittens Xander had brought back from the vet once their health was stable. They were each missing an eye, with the skin sewed closed over the eye socket. It looked a bit gruesome with the stitches, but once the fur grew back they’d simply look like they were winking. In any case, they were adorable, tiny and scruffy and mewing dramatically. Daisy loved them with all her heart.

“We need names for them,” Ava said. “Winky and Blinky?”

Daisy pouted. “Do we have to define them by their disability? Granted, the missing eyes will make them extra cute, but it still seems rude.”

Ava gestured toward the old calico cat that had taken one look at the kittens, hissed in disgust, and jumped up on a high cabinet. “You’re talking to the family that named a calico cat Calico. That was Xander, by the way. He was only nine then and thought it was a pretty word, but still. If he’s hoping to find other homes for these kittens, he’ll figure there’s no point in finding great names, because the future owners will change them anyway. Leave it to him and they’ll be called One and Two, or more likely Alpha and Beta.”

“Hmm.” So great names might help convince Xander to keep the kittens? He’d found funny names for the rabbits, often a twist on the name of a famous scientist, like Charles Darbun, or based on science or math terms. One of them was just named X, which Daisy had thought a bit dull until he explained that it was x as in multiply, because she’d had a litter of fourteen kits.

Daisy didn’t think she knew any brilliant science terms, but maybe she could come up with something from accounting. Insert Function? Auto Sum?

Maybe not.

“Let me look up some math terms.” Daisy did a quick search. Some terms were too long, and some had other meanings, such as slope and root, that would simply seem weird with a kitten. “How about Matrix and Prime?”

“Not bad,” Ava said. “I don’t recall using those before. They sound more like movie or superhero comic names.”

“I thought about Irrational and Chaos, but we don’t want to give the kittens any ideas.” Irrational chaos fit the two pretty well, at the moment. They were constantly moving and adorably clumsy.

“Matrix and Prime work for now,” Ava said. “Whoever adopts them will have the final say.”

Daisy scooped up the kittens and held them under her chin, facing Ava. “How could you let these cute little faces go?” Daisy opened her eyes wide as the kittens wriggled in her hands.

Ava laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t mind having a couple of kittens, but Calico might have other ideas. For some reason, she’s tolerant of pretty much any animal except other cats. We’d planned to wait until she was gone to get any more inside cats.”

“Oh.” Daisy leaned back on the sofa, plopping the kittens on her belly and tickling them. “I guess I’ll have to get my kitten cuddles in while they’re here.”

“You have a few weeks,” Ava said. “I know Xander won’t want to release them until they’re through their medicine regimen and he’s confident they’re healthy. Probably not until they’re fixed, and that will be at least another month.”

Maybe Calico would get used to the kittens by then, and they could stay. Would Daisy’s son get to grow up with these kittens, become friends with them? It was a sweet thought.

Xander came through the back door. “Should we head over to TC’s?”

“Oh. I suppose so.” Daisy handed him the kittens and shifted in preparation of rising.

“You don’t have to go,” Xander said.

“No, I want to. Hold on.” She wriggled her rear forward, put a hand on each knee, and pushed herself up. “It just takes a little while to get this ship changing direction. Give me a minute to grab my bag and pee for the seventy-fifth time today.”

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