deluxe.”
Baer looked around the room, a small smile teasing one corner of his mouth as he stopped in front of a poster of a man morphing into a tiger. “I can definitely see why you were so excited to meet me.”
Queenie rested in his office chair, not even bothering to get up to greet Wiley. Not that she usually did. Baer spotted her and walked to her only to have her hiss, jump down, and saunter off. He laughed loudly. “Oh, she’s something else.”
“Could you read her thoughts?”
“Something along the lines of ‘Fuck you.’ She did not want to be touched.”
“I thought as much. She has her moments of sweetness, but they are few and far between.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back onto his heels. “I guess I’ll start getting my things together. What about Queenie? I can’t just leave her here. I thought I could bring her. If that’s not a problem?”
“You can. It’ll be interesting to see how she gets along with Ruby, who loves everyone and everything. She even chases rabbits, hoping they’ll play with her.”
“I’ll grab Queenie’s carrier. Getting her into the thing is always a huge chore.” Wiley picked up a bundle of clothes off the love seat. “You can wait here. Sit or look at all the things around my desk if you want. I have some cool action figures. There’s even one I had made of a character from my books.” He nodded toward one of the shelves. “It’s the guy with the ball of light coming from his hands.”
As Baer wandered in that direction, Wiley hurried into his bedroom. He dumped the clothes onto the bed and started pulling items from the pile. Snagging his only suitcase from the closet, he started tossing clothes into it. Queenie jumped into it immediately, and he gently lifted her out. She turned her nose up at him and pranced to the remaining pile of clothes and started kneading. He folded jeans and T-shirts for the suitcase. He tossed in some sweat pants, underwear, and socks before going out to the bathroom to get his toothbrush and shampoo.
It had been a long time since he’d gone anywhere overnight, so he didn’t have a holder for his toothbrush. He got a baggy out of the kitchen, catching a glimpse of Baer, who was still looking over the items on his shelves.
The man stood only about five ten, but he had such a large presence about him, he seemed to take up more room. He’d pulled his red hair into a tail at his nape. It looked soft, and Wiley wanted to touch it so badly.
Shaking his head, he grabbed all his meds and went into his bedroom to find Queenie back in the suitcase. He gently took her out and since she snuggled into him, he carried her into the living room toward her carrier. She quickly figured out what he was doing and screeched, clawing at his arms. It took some doing to get her into the thing, but he finally closed the little door and latched it.
“Is she scared of the carrier or something else?” Wiley asked. There were some advantages to knowing a guy who could talk to animals.
“Not scared, exactly. She doesn’t like change and knows the carrier means just that. She’s picturing what’s probably her vet’s office. Hates shots. Plus, she has an irrational fear of being too far from her food bowl.” Baer’s low chuckle sent skitters of warmth down Wiley’s spine.
Wiley went into his bedroom and took a moment to stand, running his hands through his hair. His attraction to Baer wouldn’t do him any good. He needed to shut that shit down before it got him into trouble. There was no way a man like that would be interested in someone like him. At least, he was like eighty percent sure Baer was gay. Something about his smile and the way Baer had looked at him in the bakery parking lot had said he might be interested. But that was before all hell broke loose.
Even if Baer was gay, he probably went for the bigger guys. The ripped guys. A skinny geek couldn’t get his attention.
Plus, Wiley had his other problem. He looked at all the meds in his suitcase and shook his head again. That was never a pleasant conversation whenever he tried to date someone, and the dating usually stopped not too long after it.
But Wiley wanted him with a need that