All the Rules of Heaven (All That Heaven Will Allow #1) - Amy Lane Page 0,31

he whispered in awe. “They’re beautiful. What a marvelous idea. Are we really going to bring one home?”

Tucker’s lips curved up wryly. “Yeah,” he said, and the word was gentle.

“Go ahead,” Margie told them. “I’ll go get you two some iced tea—it’s hot out there! You stay here and pet kittens.”

Margie practically danced into a kitchen that, all told, was as large as the one in Daisy Place, which was saying something. Tucker and Angel were left to pet kittens and try to figure out how to not give away the fact that she was looking at a ghost.

“Here,” Tucker said after a couple of awkward moments where the two of them looked at her over their shoulders and then looked at each other. “Let me get one. Any preferences?”

Angel shook his head. They were all equally lovely. Except the particularly squishy little gray one, lying on its side, trying to eat its own feet. Well, he did seem to be just a tiny bit… more special than the others.

“This one,” Tucker said promptly, picking up the foot-eating wonder. “I can see you gazing at him longingly.” Tucker picked the cat up with an unanticipated gentleness, and Angel was caught between looking at the cat as it melted into Tucker’s capable hands and looking at Tucker’s capable hands.

“Hello,” Tucker mumbled, burying his face in the kitten’s ruff. The kitten played with his fingers and then gave it up and tried to eat its feet again.

“Look at its paws,” Angel mumbled, scooting into Tucker’s space and running a finger along the smooth pink of the kitten’s paw pads. “They look like squishy little beans.”

The kitten lifted a paw and batted at Angel’s finger, and Angel batted back, fascinated. Its fur was soft—so soft—and Angel could feel it against the backs of his knuckles. He gave a little yelp when the kitten sank its teeth into the pad of his thumb.

And then he rocked back on his heels, locked eyes with Tucker, and gasped.

“Angel…,” Tucker breathed, “what was that?”

“He bit me,” Angel said, half laughing. “It hurt.”

“But you are a”—his voice dropped—“ghost. How did that happen?”

Angel thought carefully to make sure he told the truth. “I have no idea. I am not supposed to be corporeal.”

The kitten, unimpressed with their great and existential matters, started kicking at Tucker’s wrist, catching it with his back paws.

“Easy there, Squishbeans,” he said, holding the kitten up to his face. Tentatively, Squishbeans patted his nose, and Tucker smiled. Then he looked at Angel with consideration and held the kitten up to Angel’s face. The kitten’s cool little paw hit his nose with a tiny barefoot sound.

Angel gasped and then blew a cool stream of air across the kitten’s nose.

Squishbeans closed his eyes and let the breath fan its whiskers.

“This,” said Angel, “is very interesting.”

“It’s not interesting, son—it’s a kitten!” Margie laughed as she came back in, a tray of iced tea in her hands.

Angel risked looking up into her eyes. He saw nothing but a warm smile and a somewhat motherly woman fussing with iced tea.

“It’s a lovely kitten,” he said formally. “Tucker, is this the one you want?”

“Possibly,” Tucker said, pulling Squishbeans into his lap. “But I think I shall have to pet every one.” He looked meaningfully at Angel, and for the first time, Angel got the hint. Angel needed to pet every kitten to see if they all reacted to his presence like that.

“I’ll do the honors,” Angel said, reaching into the pen.

He didn’t try to pick them up—mostly he just chased them around, because no, the kittens did not like his presence. He could feel them batting at his hand, but when they didn’t connect, they’d hiss and go pounce on the next kitten down the line.

“You’re stirring them up,” Tucker said, his voice quiet. Squishbeans was still in the crook of his arm, purring.

“We know the one we want anyway,” Angel agreed, something swelling in his chest, sweet and piercing.

And then he saw it, the slight quirk of disappointment in the corner of Tucker’s mobile mouth.

“I’m sorry,” Angel said, suddenly not mindful of Margie in the least. “This was supposed to be a thing for you, and it turned into a thing for me. That wasn’t supposed to—”

Tucker winked and hugged the kitten even closer. Squishbeans started to purr so loudly Angel could hear him from four feet away. “It’s a thing for both of us. We’re roommates. It’s okay.”

“That’s roommates in the code way, right?” Margie said, breaking the intimacy