Cattitude (27 page)

“You’re not angry?”

“No.” Why would Belle be angry? She always
knew she wasn’t engaged to Phil. It was the others who’d believed
him. But they were human, and humans put too much importance in
words. As if Belle didn’t see the way Phil looked at Tory that
first day, like a dog drooling over a juicy bone.

“Well, okay.” Tory’s hands unclasped. She
laughed softly and bent forward, hugged Belle quickly, then pulled
back. “I wish Max were as understanding as you. He’s acting like a
guard dog.”

Belle shrugged. Ever since Belle got into
this human body, she’d noticed the resemblance between men and
dogs.

“Then you don’t mind if I go mountain
climbing with Phil?”

“Mountain climbing?” Twisting around, Belle
looked out the window. In the distance, she saw hills, but where
was the mountain?

Tory’s laugh rang out. “Not a real mountain.
It’s inside a building, a wall with handholds and projections like
a mountain. It’s great exercise.”

A
fake
mountain? Why would anyone...
“Go ahead,” Belle said. Humans did so many odd things, she hardly
noticed anymore.

Did that mean she was becoming human too?

She shivered as if a cold wind blew at
her.

With a wave, Tory bounced out of the room.
Belle started to read her book again but stopped when she heard
Max’s voice in the hall.

Her heart skipped, a happy bounce like Tory’s
walk.

She was happy because he was near.

When she was a cat, she wandered over to Max
whenever she felt like it, day or night. She missed being with him.
She missed him telling her she was a pretty cat. She missed his
petting.

She put the book on the table. Humans talked
all the time. She could talk to him.

As she stood, he strolled into the great
room. Her lips didn’t curve up, but a smile grew inside her chest.
He’d come to her. He hadn’t been able to stay away.

Halfway to her, he stopped.

Her breath caught in her throat.
Keep
going, I want to be close to you. Real close.

A door in the back slammed. Tory was leaving,
Belle thought, her gaze not wavering from Max’s blue eyes that
watched her intently.

“You can change your mind and come with me.”
He took a step toward her.

“You can change yours.” She took a step
toward him.

“It’s what I’ve always dreamed of.” He took
another step.

“Then you have to do it.” She took another
step. “Just the way I have to stay here.”

“You can’t stay here forever.” Another
step.

“Why not? Ted won’t mind.” Another step.

“It’s not what people do.” Step.

“I’m not like most people.” Step.

“I can see that.” Step.

He stood an arm’s length away. One more step
would take her so close that his breath would touch her face.

The smile inside her was bright, warming
every inch of her like the sun.
Max
was like the sun.
Drawing her to him even though she knew it was wrong.

She’d always wondered why humans did some of
the things they did. Now she knew.

How could anyone resist the sun?

She took the last step.

His arms curved around her back.

Her arms clutched his neck.

“This is a mistake,” he said.

“We shouldn’t do this,” she agreed.

His chest brushed her breasts, his lower half
pressed against her stomach. From somewhere inside her came the
urge to line up her lower half with his, and she stood on her
tiptoes.

He made a sound inside his throat that she’d
never heard in the four years she’d lived with him. His head came
down, his lips meeting hers.

He
was
the sun!

Rays of brightness and heat spread through
her. She clutched him, trying to hold him closer and closer.

“Open your mouth,” he muttered, his voice
rough.

“What—”

His tongue went inside her mouth. It felt
odd, and then it felt right. Nice. Warm. Joining them. Now she knew
why the humans on
The Love Chronicles
wanted to kiss all the
time.

His hand rubbed up and down her back. His
hips moved against hers.

She pressed her hips back against him. Little
sunbursts traveled to her center. She pulsed with warmth. With
need. She wanted to touch his skin, experience the feel on her
fingertips. Put her human scent on him.

She moved her head back, their tongues
disengaging. A small sense of reason returned.

She knew what was going to happen. Sex. His
body connecting with hers. She’d seen rabbits and birds do it. The
men and women on TV did it all the time beneath the bed covers,
especially in
The Love Chronicles
.

I’m not a woman,
she reminded herself.
I’m a cat.
But she didn’t feel like a cat. Instead she felt
all woman.

If that was what a taste of him did, what
would the whole meal accomplish? Would she be able to change back
to a cat afterward? Could she take the chance?

She shivered and turned her head away from
him.

“Having second thoughts?” he asked, his voice
hoarse like the wind rushing through the trees, shaking the
branches.

She nodded.

He slid his hand beneath her ribbed shirt and
up her back. Blindly seeking, she turned her head to him again, her
mouth open, her eyes closed, her doubts sliding away. She wanted to
know what it felt like to be with Max. She
needed
to know.
She never liked to deny herself. Why start now?

She drew away from him. His face flushed and
he pulled his arms back, as if he were holding himself from
grabbing her to him.

Then her hands lifted to the top of his shirt
where it was buttoned. Gripping the material by each collar, she
yanked down. On
The Love Chronicles,
Amanda had done this
with Jeremy once. Buttons had popped loose, flipping through the
air onto the carpet.

Nothing happened. Belle pulled again, jerking
the material.

Max’s hand lifted and cupped her right hand.
“We have all night,” he said. “Don’t be in such a hurry.”

“I want to touch you.”

“I want you to touch me. I want to touch you
too.”

She tugged her hands away, then started to
unbutton his shirt. He wore a blue T-shirt underneath. On
The
Love Chronicles
, the men never wore anything underneath their
shirts.

“Let’s go to my bedroom,” he said.

The walk to the bedroom seemed to take
forever.

He closed the door, the click loud.

“You can still say no.”

“Yes,” she said, and smiled. “I say yes.”

He jerked his T-shirt up and over his head.
Locking gazes with her, he tossed it onto the floor.

She laughed and started to strip off her own
top and pants while he unbuttoned his jeans and pulled down his
zipper. With his head start, he took off his briefs while she
tugged off her socks. Anticipation thrummed through every cell of
her human body. She wanted him, she wanted him, she wanted him.

She was going to have him.

She took off her bra and panties faster and
tossed them into the air, not caring where they landed. Then she
jumped on the bed. He followed more slowly, taking a moment to put
something over his penis. Then he was next to her, kissing,
touching, holding. And she was kissing, touching and holding
back.

Her skin slid against his, and for the first
time she saw the benefits of being furless, every slide bringing
more bursts of sensation. The lovely, lovely, lovely feelings made
her move closer to him, curling one leg over his hips.

She wanted more.

“We’re moving too fast,” he said in that same
funny voice. “I want to make this last. I want it to be a night
you’ll always remember.”

She bit his shoulder, the taste of salt and
warm flesh in her mouth. Humans. They complicated everything. Even
something that should be the most natural thing in the world.

He moaned and moved on top of her and kissed
her, long and wet and warm. The perfect kiss, the perfect man, the
perfect place for him between her legs. Her hips moved, rubbing
against him. His breath sucked in.

“I can’t wait any longer.” His voice sounded
like it came from his belly.

“Don’t wait.” Her voice sounded like it came
from a place lower than her belly.

Then he pulled away, and all of her internal
alarms went off.

No! He was not leaving her. Not like
this.

She wrapped her other leg around him to hold
him close and keep him from getting away until she was done with
him. But he was already coming down, pushing against her, coming
inside her, watching her face. Then he was inside all the way,
stretching her, filling her. He pulled in and out, rubbing against
her at the most wonderful places.

A sound came out of her mouth, a long,
“Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.” They moved together, her body
knowing exactly what to do, and she closed her eyes to savor all
the sensations. They were dancing lying down, the best kind of
dance.

She pulsed around him, small screams coming
from her throat. This was so good, so good, so good, so— Her body
shuddered, her hands clutching, her nails digging into her
skin.

Then his body was shuddering and he roared
out, his head raised, the cords in his neck showing. He collapsed
on top of her, weakened, his body still convulsing, his skin
sheened with sweat.

She wrapped her arms and legs around him,
holding him tightly.

As if she never wanted to let him go.

The ringing phone jerked Caroline awake.
Squinting with sleep, she grabbed the phone and saw her mother’s
name. Her eyes flared open. Brenda wouldn’t wake her from her
beauty sleep unless it was a matter of major importance.

“What is it?” she demanded.

“I’m stopping off at Starbuck’s on the way to
work. Andy Marshall is meeting me.”

It took Caroline’s sleep-hazed brain a moment
to compute the meanings of the sentence: Andy. Knockout drug. Max.
Naked. Her. Naked. Them. Married.

The haze swept away, and she sat up. “Did you
tell him what you wanted?”

“Oh yes. He’s bringing the, er um, package,”
Brenda said.

Caroline put hand over her left breast, her
heart thudding beneath her palm. She needed something stronger than
Prozac, something to take away the feeling that she was about to
step off a cliff.

She shook her head. If only Max had responded
to her, she wouldn’t have to do this. “Aren’t you happy?” Brenda
asked. “Not every mother would do this for her daughter.”

“I love you. You’re the best mother in the
world.”

“Aw, thank you, sweetheart. I know we planned
to go to Olive Garden, but after I pay for the package, I’ll only
have five dollars until my next paycheck.”

“I’ll stop by the phone center on the way to
Max’s and pick it up. How much?” Caroline grabbed one of the two
teddy bears on her left. Looking down, she saw the ribbon on its
head. Mama bear.

“Never mind, I’m paying for it.”

“I looked it up on the internet. The price is
only a few dollars, which is why so many teenage boys can afford
it. How much is he gouging you for?”

“I’m not a teenager,” Brenda said
sharply.

Caroline hugged Mama Bear closer and stuck
out her tongue. Since Brenda turned fifty, mentioning age around
her was like lighting a fuse on a bomb.

“It’s supply and demand,” Brenda went on.
“Andy’s my only contact, and I’m willing to pay more. Don’t argue,
I want to do this for you. I want everything to be perfect for you.
A woman as beautiful as you deserves the best.”

Tears moistened Caroline’s eyes and she
kissed the top of Mama Bear’s head. “The first thing I’m going to
do after Max and I are married is make him put aside a sum of money
for you.”

“Not money. Gold bars.”

Caroline laughed, the tears fading. Only
Brenda understood her. They were two of a kind.

“When do you think you’ll do it?” Brenda
asked.

Caroline thought of Sorcha living in the
house, sleeping in Max’s bedroom. Probably trying her hardest to
tempt him to share it. Caroline didn’t buy Sorcha’s amnesia story
for a second. Sorcha was lazy, strange and rude. In a beauty
contest, the only title she’d win would be Miss Uncongeniality. She
wasn’t even that pretty. But she slept at the house, and Caroline
knew men. No matter what her mother said about men wanting beauty
or youth, most of them settled for availability. Sorcha was
probably waiting for the right time to entrap Max. An old-fashioned
word, but he was an old-fashioned man.

She needed to trap him first. “I’ll do it the
first chance I can get.”

“That’s my girl!” Brenda’s voice rippled with
pride.

***

Three quarters asleep, Belle snuggled against
Max’s hard warmth. It felt so right to sleep next to him again, to
hear the soft throat sounds as he slept, to smell his scent. She
wanted to purr with contentment.

“Ummm,” she said.

Ummm?
A word, not a purr? Her eyes
opened. She was lying next to Max and she was a human, not a cat.
Memories of last night poured back.

What had she done?

Her heart rate fluttered wildly. Her
fingertips prickled. She’d been right to be afraid to join together
with Max, connecting with him in the most intimate way possible. It
had changed something in her. She knew because she wanted to do it
again. She wanted to reach over and grab his shoulder and shake him
awake. No! Not shake him. Kiss him awake.

What was she thinking?

Her breaths speeded to huffs even as she felt
the melting between her thighs.

Oh no, she wasn’t doing that again. The more
she did
that
, the more human she’d become.

Except she felt human now. She’d felt human
yesterday, even before she’d coupled with him. Very human.