11. Hazel

Chapter Eleven

HAZEL

“ I need to get you on my table right now.” I glare at Knox, not giving one single damn about how puffy my face probably is or how my totally on point subtle smoky eye has probably mutated me into a hideous, melting raccoon.

“Not until you tell me—ouch! That fucking hurts!” He grits through his teeth. “Stop trying to tenderize me.”

I glare at maximum power and bury the urge to smack him. “And why does it hurt, exactly? You had hardly any pain after our last session, you were almost able to lift your arm shoulder level without so much as flinching and now I can’t even touch your clearly swollen shoulder without you acting like I’m performing an amputation without anesthesia.”

“Quit changing the subject.” Jeez, Knox is starting to sweat. He must be hurting even more than I realize.

Which is why I scoot back enough to get off my bed, head to the kitchenette for an ice pack, then grab four ibuprofen, two Tylenol, and a bottle of water.

The big lug needs it for sure, and no matter how all over the map we are, I need to take care of him.

“Here.” I hand over the meds, watch to make sure he takes them, then sit back down in front of him so I can strap the gigantic ice pack to his beat to hell shoulder. “You’ve been training again.”

Not a question because I don’t have to ask. It’s obvious and not just because that’s the only way he would have been able to inflame his injury this badly so quickly.

“Who is Stan?”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Was he your date? Were you on a date with that douche canoe?” Knox narrows his eyes. “Were you going to sleep with him if I hadn’t shown up?”

An unattractive and inappropriate laugh bubbles out of my chest, one that causes me to snort. I kind of like jealous Knox, but he’s so worked up right now I can’t fully enjoy it. My poor bear of a man is probably going to crash really fucking hard tonight, and I’d love for him to do it here. Better put him out of his misery though, so we can both collapse into bed and pick this mess back up in the morning.

“ Stan, as you so kindly keep calling him, is on the board for a charity my nona used to donate to?—”

“I didn’t want his fucking bio and list of accomplishments. I want to know what you were doing with him and where I can find the fucker.”

I roll my eyes, grab Knox’s hand and extend his arm to see how far the swelling goes. “If you’ll let me finish, I can tell you everything except his address.”

He purses his lips, keeps those deep dark chocolate eyes narrowed, but gives me a curt nod.

“Stan is a board member for Hugs and Treats for Friends with Four Feet . It’s a smaller organization in this part of the state that raises funds and awareness for rescues and live shelters. They help find placement for animals in their last days at kill shelters, their members are all certified to foster, they have an 89% adoption rate, and they specialize in rehabilitation for all kinds of scenarios.”

Knox’s eyes narrow to slits.

Clearly, he’s not interested in their backstory right now.

“Anyway, Stan is on the board and every year they have a donor appreciation banquet where they recognize those who have helped, as well as fundraise with a silent auction and raffle, then they have a huge parade where they bring out a bunch of pets that are available for adoption and?—”

“Hazel.” He grits. “I am trying to be patient.”

“Right.” So, I smile in his face. “Nona donated to them for years, went to the banquet as one of the honorees and since she died, I’ve been donating and going in her place.”

Knox blinks. Waits. Stares.

“What?”

“That literally told me nothing about who that fucking guy is to you.”

I roll my eyes. “I told you everything!”

“Hazel.” He stills my hands as they land on his also swollen biceps. “I’m seconds away from a total meltdown, alright? I need the words in plain English, not Hazel Hollis-ese. You want my words, you gotta give me yours, too.”

So cute. “We were not on a date. Stan used to take Nona to the banquet and now he takes me. As a friend. I wasn’t going to go because of, well, I’ve kind of been a train wreck, but when I tried to cancel, he wouldn’t let me.”

“Because he wants to fuck you.”

I frown. “Because of Nona. This organization meant a lot to her. She got her Doberman from them years ago and she was one of their biggest contributors forever. Stan wouldn’t let me cancel because of that, because it’s one of the small ways I’ve been able to honor her memory and cope with her loss. He knew I’d regret not going no matter how upset I was, so he made sure I went, that’s all.”

“And because he wants to fu?—”

“Oh my god, Knox, Stan is gay,” I huff.

He scowls. “You’re just saying that so I lay off.”

“Hardly. Stan is a very proud gay man who moonlights at the drag club down the street two nights a week as Lady Antoinette Dubois. He’s never even kissed a girl before.”

“He kissed your cheek.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, well, he kissed Nona’s too, and he occasionally felt her boobs in order to make sure he had realistic fake ones when he performed. Nona had a great rack.”

Knox fights a grin and shakes his head. “But?—”

“But nothing. Stan is gay and even if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter because I’ve been in love with your grouchy ass for years and was pretty content to die a crazy old cat lady. You’re kind of it for me, Mr. Riley. If I can’t have you, then I don’t want anyone.”

Now he’s smiling, that pretty smile that he rarely uses, the one that makes my heart flutter and my panties wet. “Yeah?”

“Yes. Jeez, do you really need me to stroke your ego all the time, or can we call it good now?” I giggle, lean forward and kiss him because I can. “I love you, Knox, no one else.”

“Damn straight.” He goes to kiss me again but as if summoned by my cat lady remark, Boris, Princess Glitter Butt and their new sister, Splat, jump up on the bed. “And who is this?” Knox smirks.

I giggle as Splat walks across my lap, gets up on her hind legs and rubs her face all over Knox’s. “This is Splat.”

“ Splat ?”

“Splat.” I grin. “She’s a two-year-old Munchkin mix from a kitty mill.”

“And you named her Splat?”

“Of course. Look at her.”

She’s tiny but stocky and her fur is mostly black with big splatters of calico patches. I’ve never seen a cat that looked like her before and when I saw her on the list of animals that were going to be at the banquet, I adopted her before she had the chance to join the parade.

Stan took me to the pet store to buy what I needed before dinner, then we dropped her off at my apartment, where she fell madly in love with her brother and sister, so I felt comfortable enough to leave. I won’t tell Knox that right now, though, even knowing Stan has zero interest in anything I have to offer, except maybe my lipstick collection. I doubt he’d appreciate me sharing his involvement with my newest fur baby. Little as it may be.

“I guess it does suit her,” Knox says as he plants his butt on the floor with a wince, then picks her up and holds her so they’re eye to eye. “You do look like a Splat.”

“Yep.” I giggle again. “And she looks even tinier in your big old paws.”

“She’s travel size.”

“She’s practically pocket size for you.”

He flashes me a smile and keeps loving on my new baby. “She can be my cat then.”

As if he totally understood, Boris jumps down from the bed, practically marches over to Knox, walks into his lap and sprawls out like he’s king of everything. And because she must be included, Princess Glitter Butt does the same, but she’s huge and fluffy so she ends up lying on top of Boris, only his tail and ears visible from where I’m sitting.

But what makes me smile like a loon is the look on Knox’s face. He’s happy . Happy and content being claimed by my misfit fur babies, happy to just love on them until they’re putty in his hands.

“Traitors.” I smirk, and maybe pout a little. “I’m supposed to be your mother and you three turn your backs on me the second a big sexy brooding man is around. I see how it is.”

“Aw. You butt hurt, Sunny?” He grins up at me, covered in cat. “Jealous I’m getting all the kitty snuggles?”

“Yes.” But I’m smiling.

He is too, even more when he says, “Maybe we should go to the shelter tomorrow then. I’ll pick out a cat for myself and when he or she decides they love you more, we’ll be even.”

“Your one cat to my three? That doesn’t seem very even, Mr. Riley.”

His brow lifts, a subtle keep calling me that and you’re playing with fire. “Then maybe we should adopt three more and turn our crew into a pride. We could get all kinds of crazy and adopt until we need to buy a house for all our fur babies.”

Oh, be still my silly little heart.

Knox called my babies his, then said we should adopt more. We . Not me or him, but we. And never mind the whole bit about buying a house together. I’m sure some people would think that’s too fast, but Knox and I have years together in some form or another and being face to face only solidified it. This man is my forever and talking about ways to make that happen just seems right.

“Sunny?” Knox pulls me from my dreams of a big house full of cats and kids and him. “What do you think?”

“You’re serious?”

He shrugs and keeps smiling. Man, I don’t ever want him to stop smiling again. “Why not? I know how much it means to you to help these little fuzz balls, and I’ve always wanted a pet.”

“But what about your travel schedule? You?—”

“Retirement fight, remember? I won’t be traveling anymore after I kick Chapman’s ass in a few weeks, not unless it’s with you and even if I did, you’d be at home waiting for me with our fur babies, right?”

I nod my head with my own smile, one that probably makes me look a little unhinged. “Right.”

“Then it’s settled.” Knox somehow scoops all three cats into his arms, rubs his nose over their faces and starts baby-talking them. “Right? All settled. Mommy and Daddy are going to adopt more brothers and sisters for you to play with. Would you like that? You want Mommy and Daddy to bring you more siblings? Maybe two more brothers and a sister so it’s even? Keep the testosterone and estrogen balanced until we decide to give you a furless brother or sister?”

I suck in a sharp breath as my eyes water.

That’s it.

I’m done.

Knox wants to adopt all the fur babies and have people babies with me. Human babies? Baby babies?

Whatever.

Knox wants to have pets and babies with me, and that makes me so happy I could explode.

No one has ever wanted to have either of those things with me before, but this man does. This huge, growly bear of a man wants all of that with me. I have no idea what I did to get so lucky and hit the good things in life jackpot, but I did, and I’m not about to question it.