Foster Siblings 3: Brokedown Hearts (8 page)

“I’ll keep doing the job,” Ben assured him. “Hell, I don’t have anything else to do. I just didn’t feel right continuing without sharing my thoughts on the subject with you.”

“So now you’ve shared.” With a slow withdrawal of eye contact, Jonah spooned grits from his bowl, resuming his breakfast. “Better get back to it before he wakes up and starts his day.”

“Will do.” Ben knew a dismissal when he saw and heard one. Jonah’s tone made his hackles rise, but he heeded the silent command anyway. He didn’t need to get in a dick-waving contest with Jonah Roberts in the middle of breakfast. “I’ll talk to you again soon. Bye.”

Ben strolled out of the restaurant at an easy pace, but on the inside a battle ensued. Jonah and his temperament had pissed Ben off, but at the same time, Ben had withheld crucial information about his interaction with David last night. He’d never done that with a client before.

Fuck
. Ben did an about-face and took a step back toward the restaurant door.
Maybe I should go back inside, tell him everything, and recommend another investigator to take over the job.

Ben reached for the handle, but before he could wrap his fingers around the metal, his hand fell dead to his side. What if he made a suggestion for a new hire, but Jonah was so pissed off at him for not completing the job that he found someone else, and that someone wasn’t as gentle with David as the man so clearly needed? If some asshole investigator harassed or attacked David out of some perverse sense of duty, Ben would never forgive himself. To Ben’s trained eye, David was working overtime to keep his nose clean and stay as invisible as possible. He didn’t want trouble. Ben didn’t have to have a database of criminal behavior logged in his brain to see that. But if some overzealous low-rent PI wanted to prove to Jonah how big his balls were, then David could get hurt.

Or maybe you just want to keep hanging around town because you’re horny and you want to fuck him.

With an internal growl, Ben told the insistent voice of reality in his head to shut the hell up. For once, he didn’t want it to be right.

* * * *

In David’s motel room after work, Erin told him, wearing a grin, “Well, your little guy is a little girl.” After giving the kitten one more look over, she gently set the animal on the bed. “From what I can tell, she seems to be healthy.”

David scooped up the tiny bundle and cradled her on her back in the palm of his hand. Examining her again, he muttered, “Shoot, I thought I was getting better at identifying gender in the kittens.”

As Erin slung her bag onto her shoulder, she chuckled. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’ve been working with animals for all of two weeks. I don’t expect you to be an expert already. And if this little sweetheart is even five weeks old yet”—she gave the animal a scratch on the belly—“I’d be stunned. It can be hard to tell the sex of a kitten when they’re so young.”

Erin walked to the door, and David followed, tucking the kitten into the crook of his arm.

Erin cracked the door, just about to swing it open, when David bit his lip and then blurted, “Listen, do you think I can squeeze this kitten in for a checkup when the vet is at the shelter tomorrow?” God, he almost wished the floor would open up and swallow him rather than have to ask for a favor, particularly from his boss of two weeks, but the purring ball of fur in his arm pushed him to finish. “Dr. Hazel doesn’t have to give me the discount rate she gives you. I’d pay her full price. I just want to be able to get the kitten in to see someone as fast as possible.”

“Of course you can bring her to see the doc. And keep the carrier for as long as you need it.” Erin had sent David home with a soft-sided travel case full of supplies for the kitten. “And of course you’ll get the discount. Or rather, I will get the discount.” David parted his lips to protest, but Erin lifted a finger and shut him down. “If you’re fostering the little gal until a spot opens for her at the shelter, then the least I can do is take care of her bills.”

“You don’t have to do that,” David protested. “Really, it’s too much.”

With one shake of her head, Erin grabbed the door again. “I have to run, so we’ll fight about it later.” She swung open the door but pulled back instantly, looking up, up, up. “Oh, hi.” She grinned and studied Ben, where he stood poised to knock on the other side of the threshold.

David’s heart started hammering, and his mouth went dry.
He came back.

After giving Ben the once-over, Erin declared, “You’re rather tall, aren’t you?”

Ben arched a brow. “So I’ve been told.” He then lifted his gaze to David, and a soft smile graced his lips. “I just came to say hi and check in on the little lion.” His tone gentled too, and David went all fluttery and warm inside. “How is he?”

With one look from Ben, acrobats started going crazy in David’s belly. He parted his lips to reply; his mouth gaped, but no words came out.
Oh God. No. Don’t start looking like a nut job in front of this guy
. David tried again, but only a croak came out.

“
She
,” Erin answered for David, hopefully before his lack of response looked too weird, “the lioness, is very well. And I have to go, so I’ll let you help David bathe her.” Glancing up at David, Erin squeezed his arm. “See you tomorrow, sweetie.”

Erin pinched David’s forearm one more time, and the shock of concentrated pain snapped David out of his stupor.

“Bye,” she said again.

Metaphorically donkey kicked back into life, David looked at Erin and prayed she could see in his eyes the gratitude he felt. “Thank you again. For everything.”

She gave him a little nod in return. As she breezed past Ben, she wiggled her fingers at him too. “Bye-bye.”

“Bye.” Turning in a circle, Ben eyed Erin as she strolled to her van. When he completed the circle and his gaze landed back on David, he arched one of his raven brows halfway up his forehead. “Sweetie?”

“Oh.” David’s cheeks heated, and he grinned sheepishly. “She’s my boss.”

Ben switched from the brow lift to the side eye. “Kind of makes me want to ask more questions rather than less.”

David mentally replayed what he’d just said and muttered, “Oh, duh.” The burn rising to the tips of his ears, David quickly explained, “Erin calls most people at the sanctuary ‘sweetie’ but only started doing it with me today.” A different kind of fizz bubbled within David, awakening new pride and shyness at the same time. Good God, his burgeoning feelings for this man were misplaced and not healthy, but how he wanted Ben to think well of him and respect him. “I think that means she’s happy I rescued the kitten, and it made her start trusting me,” he admitted, a hint of thickness in his voice.

“That’s a good thing.” Rocking on the soles of his heavy boots, Ben tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Right?”

“Yeah.” Like a tree lifting toward sunlight, David stood up straighter. “I think it’s very good.”

Ben stepped a bit closer and braced his shoulder against the doorjamb. He held eye contact, and good Lord, the glints of gold in his hazel eyes twinkled like mad. After a heartbeat of silence, he asked, “May I come in?”

David jerked. “Oh shoot.” The kitten yowled in David’s arm, and he immediately stroked her. “Sorry,” he said to her and then looked up at Ben and repeated, “Sorry.” Stepping out of the way, he welcomed Ben inside with his free arm. “Of course you can come in. Please.”

“Thanks.” After entering and shutting the door behind him, Ben dipped down to the point of nearly touching noses with the kitten and scratched her behind the ears. “So our little boy is a little girl, huh?”

“Yep.” David readjusted the purring kitten along the length of his forearm. “I washed her down with a cloth last night. I got some shampoo and flea meds from the shelter today, though, so I’m about to give her a real bath.” He wrinkled his nose. “She needs it.”

Standing back up, Ben wore a pinched look too. “I noticed that when I came back last night. You want some help?”

Erin’s decree from before came rushing back to David with mortifying results. “Oh, Erin was just teasing you. You don’t really have to help me.”

Legs crossed at the ankle, hands back in his jeans pockets, Ben leaned against the closed door. “So then you don’t want my help?” The man’s surprisingly full mouth somehow twisted into a frown and yet lifted at one edge at the same time.

“No, I didn’t mean— Crap.” Before embarrassing insanity could grab hold of his tongue again, David snapped his mouth shut, took a moment to breathe, and regrouped. Once the racing in his brain slowed to what he thought felt like a normal speed, he explained, “I’m sorry. Again. I’m acting like an idiot today. Yes, if you’re willing, I’d love some assistance.” He even managed to smile in what he hoped was an inviting manner.

In response, Ben grinned slow and easy. “Then lead the way.”

Oh God
. David spun and marched to the bathroom, with one wrong, wrong thought filling his head the entire way.

If he glances down, I hope he likes my ass.

Chapter Four

Not five minutes into bathing the kitten, Ben howled as the wet animal clawed her way up his arm and set his flesh on fire.

“Grab her! Grab her!” Spewing a parade of curse words, Ben slipped from his kneeling position, fell on his ass, and banged his head on the wall as the kitten leaped off his shoulder and bolted for the door. “Don’t let her get away!”

David dived for the kitten, missing her, while Ben slammed the door shut with his foot seconds before she wiggled into the bedroom to freedom.

“You’re supposed to be holding her and helping me!” Laughing, David oomphed as he rolled onto his stomach. Stretching, he grabbed the kitten by the scruff before she made it to safety behind the toilet.

“I was!” Glaring, Ben rubbed the sting from his head. “She’s maniacal.”

Chuckling, David held the squirming kitten against his chest and looked up at Ben with a glitter of blue skies dancing in his eyes. “She’s three pounds. Don’t let her get the upper hand on you.”

With a groan, Ben pushed off his backside and shifted to his knees. “She’s a slippery little sucker all soaped up.” Grumbling, he added, “And look at my arms.” He thrust his scratch-covered forearms toward David, shaking them. “I’m telling you, she has a killer instinct. She’s strong as hell too.” He looked down at the kitten and found her studying him through tiny slits etched into blue. “And she’s giving me the evil eye.”

Biting his lip—Ben just knew the guy was laughing at him—David explained, “I don’t even think her eyes are developed enough to see clearly yet, let alone to be directing amoral intentions at you.”

“They don’t have to be. I can feel her urge to kill lasering into me.” Ben frowned and groused, but truthfully David’s teasing mood made him feel light and bubbly inside. He eyeballed the kitten again and muttered, “She doesn’t want this bath.”

“It’s for the best. She’ll thank us tomorrow.” David held the kitten up to his face and nuzzled his nose to hers. “Won’t you, baby?”

The kitten yowled and swatted David’s cheek with her tiny paw.

David howled this time, and Ben shouted with laughter.

Moving in fast, Ben grabbed the kitten and helped pry her claws from David’s skin. Still laughing, though, he said, “That didn’t sound like a yes.”

His cheeks pinking in the cutest way, David picked up the soapy washcloth again. “Well, she’s just gonna have to trust me.” Wasting no time, he gestured for Ben to put her in the tub and then wiped down her little back.

The kitten mewled like a banshee, but between David and Ben, they were able to keep hold of her and continue with her bath.

As David moved from wiping the kitten down to giving her a good scrub with his fingers, she shifted from a high-pitched wailing to a low groaning, whining noise, something forlorn that stabbed Ben in the heart. Ben continued holding her and let David do what he needed, but murmured, “Maybe we can bribe her to like us again with a treat afterward.”

With a sharp nod, David squeezed another dollop of soap into the palm of his hand. “Erin gave me some formula to mix with wet kitten food. We can hope that will do the trick.”

“Then let’s get this finished before we both have to make trips to the ER for stitches.” The kitten whined and struggled awfully in Ben’s hands, but he steeled himself not to release the grip he had on her little body. “Fast, before that defeated sound coming out of her, like we’re torturing her or something, forces me to let her go.” A whimpering yodel filled the bathroom, and Ben swore, “Damn, she sounds so sad and pathetic. She’s killing me.”

Making eye contact, David grimaced when the kitten let out another terrible noise. “I know what you mean.” He quickly put the shampoo back in a canvas bag, grabbed an oversize plastic cup, and stuck it under the flow of water. “We’re almost done.”

From that point on, quietly and efficiently, David and Ben rinsed off the crying kitten, used two hand towels to rub her fur as dry as they could, and then carried her into the bedroom and set her on the mattress. Immediately she jumped off and ran under the bed.

David leaped to grab her but missed. The soft “Shit, shit” he muttered had Ben biting his lip to suppress another burst of laughter.

When David started dropping to his knees, Ben grabbed his arm and hauled him back to his feet. David jerked up to eye contact and pulled away, but perversely, Ben didn’t let go of the man’s arm. For a lanky guy, David had surprisingly solid muscles. Reflexively, Ben squeezed David’s upper arm. And damn, David’s skin was so fucking warm Ben had to bite down a moan.

David tugged against Ben’s hold again, and Ben knew he should let go. Clear panic streaked through the sapphire in David’s eyes, but his nostrils flared too, as if catching Ben’s scent. Ben’s gut clenched with awareness. Images of slamming a naked David into the wall and tasting every inch of his body before going down on the guy and sucking his dick until he came charged fast and furious through Ben’s mind. And then, before David could recover from his first cataclysmic orgasm, Ben would bend him over the side of the bed, eat his hole until he came again, and then plunge his dick into the man’s begging ass and fuck him until they both exploded all over the ugly bedding.