Bleeding Heart

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The cat paused at the foot of her platform bed, then stood on his hind legs for a better look. The thought of a stray rolling around on her clean sheets would have sent her scrambling as soon as the cat leaped up, but her earlier spying told her that this cat was Seth’s little prince, used to the luxury of a soft bed like the one he had found.

After a quick exploration of the mattress and an approving twitch of his ears, the animal turned and strutted back to the window.

She stroked him from head to tail. ‘I hope you’re not the first of many men to go running from my bed once you’ve had a roll around in it.’

The cat curled onto her lap, and April settled back. She was down to her last mouthful when the sleeping beauty in her arms lifted his head and pricked his ears.

A moment later, April heard a whistle.

‘Marco! Going out! Window’s closing!’ came a husky male voice.

April jostled the cat, but he simply looked up at her and blinked.

‘Go on. I’m not fighting for custody.’ When the cat still didn’t move, she emptied the cup and set it aside, then scooped the cat up into her arms and set him down. ‘Go home.’

Another whistle, this one more insistent than before. ‘Marco! Get your hairy balls in the apartment or else I’ll wax them when I get a hold of you!’

April giggled. ‘Scoot!’

Another blink, another mournful meow, and Marco sat on her foot.

‘For fuck’s sake!’ came the exclamation from downstairs. Accompanied by irritated muttering, the fire escape shuddered with the extra weight. ‘Marco! Come!’

‘Oh, no, you don’t,’ April exclaimed as the cat made his way back to her window. She scooped him up and cradled him in her arms, then carefully stepped down to meet his owner.

As the bulky figure loomed up like a movie monster from the level below, April stopped in her tracks.

He wore nothing but low-hung pyjama pants. His chest and shoulders went on and on, and all that bare skin was splashed with patterns of dark ink that made him look unearthly.

He looked from the cat in her arms to her hot face. ‘Hey.’

‘Hey,’ she managed to get out breathlessly. ‘Um, I think this belongs to you. He crashed my party-of-one.’

‘Yeah, he’ll do that,’ he replied, and took the last step to bring him to her level – or, to be more accurate, a good foot and a half over her level. As he closed the gap between them, April found herself wanting to retreat, cat and all, into her apartment and away from this intimidating brick wall of a man.

He quickly plucked the cat from her arms and turned his stare upon her.

‘Sorry about that. If you don’t want him hanging around your window, wipe some Pine-Sol on the sill. He can’t stand the smell.’

‘I don’t mind, really. I…’ she began, but her barbarian landlord was already on his way back down the fire escape. The backside was just as intimidating as the front and went on and on.

The fire escape stopped juddering and then she heard the scrape of a window being closed. She blew out a deep breath and leaned against the brickwork.

‘Welcome to Winsloe Court,’ she muttered, then turned to head back inside, a second session with her new vibrator a definite possibility.