“Lola, come dance!” I grabbed her hand, the object of her affection busy filling drink orders for a line that nearly wrapped around to the dance floor.

“I have a good spot here,” she protested, even as she got up to join me.

Normally I would dance alone, hoping an alpha would see my mad moves and join me. Tonight, the only one I wanted to join me was Killian, and he had to work.

The dance floor was far less crowded than Omega Night, which was a nice change of pace. The likelihood of someone bouncing into me was significantly less, and I could let myself break free without fear of knocking into a mean drunk.

The music had my hips swaying before we even claimed our small spot on the dance floor. Club Royale spared no expense on their DJ, and even on an off night, the music had my body moving on its own accord.

After the third or fourth or ninth song, I wasn’t really paying attention, as I allowed the music to transport me away, Lola started to sneak away, a smile on her face, just as someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned to find Killian as the music slowed, a rarity here. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought he planned it out.

I stepped into his open arms and we began to sway to the music, our bodies getting closer and closer together with each beat until I was pressed against him perfectly.

“Got off work early, Blondie,” Killian shouted in my ear, the music still far too loud for a decent conversation. Not that I minded, his body moving as one with mine, his breath tickling my ear as he spoke.

“Worried about the pussy?” Because sometimes I just didn’t know when to turn it off. I cringed, hoping my innuendo didn’t ruin our moment. Normally, I was on all the time, but with Killian, I found myself wanting to just be me. Maybe it was the way he comforted me that day Parker found me at the cafe, or maybe it was the little toy he sent Blubby. The reason didn’t matter, even if the effect had me both thrilled and ill at ease.

“Pretty much, yeah,” he confessed, ignoring my lewdness. “And are you sure you can take her? I don’t want you getting in trouble with your landlord. I can put her up for a few days.”

Oh. My. Alpha. He was such a giant softy inside that huge muscly exterior.

“That would be less stressful,” I admitted. I could see the little fur ball had quickly sunk her claws into his heart, and he was just looking for an excuse. “You really don’t mind?”

“Just until I find her a home,” he said.

“If you want, I can still go with you and we can stop by Big Mart. I’ll stay in the car with her while you run in to get a litter box and proper food.” I bit my lip, crossing my fingers I hadn’t crossed some invisible line by my forwardness. I meant it at face value, but given our current proximity, our hips sliding against each other, it could oh-so-easily come across as a pick up line. And I wasn’t entirely sure I didn’t intend that too.

Killian nodded, his face the picture of concern. “I’m not keeping her, though,” he mumbled, but if he didn’t know he was beat yet, he would soon.

“Sure you are.” I leaned in closer. “You luvs her, even if you don’t realize it yet.”

The music sped up, but we swayed to our own beat, my body melded to his. I indulged until my conscience reminded me that poor cat was in a storage room with no litter. I only hoped that she didn’t pee on anything because, there was no way Killian’s job would survive unscathed if she filled the store room with piss.

“We should go.” My body didn’t want to cooperate and stayed pressed against Killian.

“Yeah. We should.” Three songs later, we did.

The cat was sleeping in her box, content as could be when we got there. I sniffed as subtly as I could, and was relieved I didn’t notice any litterbox smells. I marked that in the winning column.

“So Big Mart?” Killian asked as I closed the box, grateful for the handle holes that allowed for ample ventilation.

“Yeah. While you drive, I’ll write a list of essentials. Let me go find Lola and let her know where I’m off to.” I was officially a craptastic friend, leaving her like that so I could dance with Killian and then disappearing into the back. She had no way of knowing it was just to get the cat.

“She left with the bartender an hour ago.” Killian took the box from my hands and started to the door. Had we really been dancing that long? It had barely seemed like a minute, and entirely like a dream.

“Good on her.”

“If you say so.”

“He an ass?” Because if he were, that would change my evening plans dramatically. There was no way I’d leave her in harm’s way.

“No, but he is a player, so if she is looking for more, it might end poorly.”

“If he’s upfront about it, that’s on her.” She’d make a bad choice, but she always did when it came to her love life. She had a love of the unattainable man. That was probably why we got along. Two peas and everything. “As long as she’s safe.”

“She’s safe,” he affirmed.

The list I gave him was very basic, and as he ran in to pick the supplies out, I popped on my phone and ordered all of the things I would want for my kitten, if the place allowed. It was probably over the top, but the purring of the sweet baby in the box beside me made me want to spoil her rotten.

“He name is Sassy.” I announced as Killian climbed in the front seat after dropping off his purchases in the trunk.

“No, you’re not doing that to me. Sassy and Sally?” He turned on the car. It felt weird to have him driving up front with me in the back, but I couldn’t leave the poor cat alone, and the box was far too large for the front seat.

“But Sassy is the perfect name.”

“It is the perfect name, but I’m not changing Sally’s name. She’s had her name for years. So no Sassy.”

“Princess Buttercup?”

Killian stopped at a stop sign and turned around to level me with a look. “Are you being serious?”

I had only been half serious until he challenged me. Now I was absolutely serious. “She’s absolutely a Princess.”

Killian stared at me for a moment before some jerk hole behind us blared his horn, so Killian turned back to the road and started moving. “As you wish.”

My heart revved up. He did not just quote Princess Bride to me. I mean, I’d kinda been asking for it with the whole Princess Buttercup thing, but did he know what “as you wish” meant? If he was able to understand the reference of Princess Buttercup, I had a sneaking suspicion he did. That was thrilling and terrifying.

“Did you know there is an entire aisle of cat litter? An entire aisle.” Killian’s question broke the silence and I eagerly latched on to the easy topic of conversation.

“Did they have the kind I suggested?”

“They did, it just took me a while to find. I think Princess will be good and happy with all I found for her.” He pulled out of the lot and stopped at the corner. “Do you have time to come home with me and set it all up?”

My voice was breathy as I said, “I do.” He turned left, and I couldn’t leave well enough alone. “I… er… I mean, yeah, I have the time. I had planned to stay until the club closed, so…”

“Excellent. Princess loves you, so it will make it easier for her.”

As much as I would like to be able to say I was going for the cat, it would be an utter lie. I had said yes in an awkwardly spectacular fashion because I didn’t want to say good-bye to Killian. I had it bad. I could only hope that he did too.