Crush - Kelsie Rae Page 0,56

I decided to put my nurturing instincts elsewhere and become a vet. It didn’t take long for me to realize how shitty the neglected animals are treated when there’s a huge lack of resources, so I started donating my time to help spay and neuter the animals. Then one thing led to another, and I wound up with thirty cats in my house.” She snickers as Ben’s entire face blanches. “I know. It’s crazy. Don’t worry, though. We’re planning on curbing the numbers once Little Miss is born so we can get into a routine. But right now, we’re pretty packed with cats, and we didn’t want to bring you by if you had any allergies, which is why I brought this up in the first place.”

“I’m sorry…did you say thirty cats?” Ben repeats, still hung up on the number.

Anthony interjects again, “Our record is thirty-seven, but only because two of them were pregnant when they were brought in.”

“It’s chaos, but we have a pretty good system,” Sway tells us as if she’s had this conversation a thousand times before. “Honestly, you probably wouldn’t even think much of it unless we gave you the actual numbers. That being said, I know cats aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, so if you’d prefer to go out instead of coming to our house for dinner, we get it.”

“Honestly, you’ve piqued my curiosity,” Ben replies. “As long as Marcy doesn’t have to change any kitty litter, I think we’d love to come check it out.”

“Kitty litter?” I pipe up.

Resting his hand on my knee, Ben explains, “Cat litter can contain a parasite that causes toxoplasmosis infection, and since you’re pregnant, you can pass it onto the kid if you get it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s crazy.”

“Don’t worry, though. Anthony lost a bet. He’ll be cleaning the kitty litter for the next month, so I won’t put you to work…this time.” Sway winks.

Enthralled, I ask, “Lost a bet? Well, now, I gotta know the terms.”

“Anthony’s grumpy old cat, Jasper, refuses to sit on anyone’s lap but his. Anthony started getting a big head about it, so I made him a bet that I could get Jasper to sit in my lap by the end of the day. Anthony didn’t believe I could actually pull it off, so we bet that the loser has to clean the litter boxes for a month, and guess who got Jasper to sit in her lap?” She looks over at her husband with the cockiest expression I’ve ever seen. Hell, she’s practically daring him to disagree with her, and it doesn’t take long for him to do exactly that.

“You cheated!” Anthony argues, slamming his hand against the steering wheel, though his amusement cracks through his icy exterior as he laughs. “I didn’t exactly expect you to bribe the guy with a six-ounce filet of salmon!”

“Worth it!” Sway quips, shamelessly bragging about her success as we pull up to the hotel. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay with us? I feel bad leaving you here––”

“Sway, let them enjoy their vacation,” Anthony admonishes. “We’ll see plenty of them over the weekend, and they’ll still be able to have some alone time to do whatever they want. Besides, do you honestly think they’d want to stay with us on their first vacation together? Call me crazy, but if it were us, I’d want a little privacy.”

Sway covers her open mouth as soon as she pieces together what Anthony is eluding.

“Oh my gosh, I didn’t even think about––”

“I appreciate the offer, Sway,” I tell her. Please stop talking. “That’s really sweet of you.”

“Anytime. Seriously. With everything you’re doing for us, I guess I just feel like I’ll always be in your debt, but I can definitely see the appeal of a little”—she coughs—“alone time.”

My face heats up as an awkward laugh bubbles out of me. “Umm…I’m not even going to address that last part.” I peek over at Ben to find him grinning from ear to ear. Covering my cheeks, I scramble to change the subject. “As for the whole debt thing, I’ve already told you that I didn’t sign up for this to get anything out of it. I did it because I knew there were good people out there who deserved the chance to be amazing parents, and you two definitely fit the bill.”

“And I think you’re one of the most generous people I’ve ever met, but I’ll leave it at that,” Sway announces. “We’ll pick you up tomorrow night around six for dinner.