You'll Think of Me by Wendi Zwaduk

hiding spot. Instead, it wobbled over to his position, its gold eyes wide.
    As he rubbed the animal’s furry belly, his fingers smoothed over every single rib. Melanie liked felines, especially strays, and she’d always wanted an orange cat like the one in the commercials. She suggested she’d like to get a cat after he left for Afghanistan. She claimed she needed the company. He wondered, as he snuggled the kitten, why she never followed through. “I know where you can get a good meal and all the attention you can handle, once we get rid of the dirt and fleas.”
    Melanie’s distant sobs shook Cade to the core and sent him running to her side, kitten in hand. She dropped to the grass before he could catch her. “It’s gone. It’s all…gone.”
    Cade knelt next to her and wrapped his arms around her, pinning the contented kitten between them. Melanie buried her face against his neck. “My camera, my portfolio, my computer… They’re all gone. Why? Tell me what I did to deserve this.”
    He pulled her into his lap and stroked her hair. The kitten mewled and cuddled closer. “I don’t know what to tell you. You know I suck with mush.”
    Melanie raised her head to stare him in the eye. “Can I really stay with you? It won’t be too weird or stressful for you?”
    “I’ll have more stress if I can’t protect you.” Cade chuckled and nodded to the kitten. “How about naming the little addition. If it likes you, then we’re good.”
    More tears rained down her cheeks, even as she laughed and stroked the dingy, purring kitten. “Where did you find it?”
    “It found me, but didn’t you say you wanted a furball about a year ago? I think he’s a sign.”
    With a smile, she hugged him. “I agree.”
    “Then consider coming home with me.” He cupped her jaw. Desire sizzled in his veins. “You can stay in my room.”
    A blush crept up her neck and blossomed on her cheeks. “So you and Tracker will sleep on the floor in my old room?”
    He knotted his brows together. “Who?”
    “The kitten.”
    A lump formed in his throat. If the kitten was a sign, then the fire was too. He needed her more than the air he breathed. “The guest room is Rhett’s until he leaves for Kansas, so I’ll sleep with you.”
    “Cade—”
    He silenced her with a kiss. He twined the fingers of his free hand in her hair, careful not to press the lump on the back of her head or to squish the feline kneading his stomach.
    Cade feathered kisses over her cheeks. Melanie winced. He gave an inward curse and kissed the top of her head. “Did I hurt you?”
    “No. Sharp kitten claws in my forearm.” She wrapped her legs around his torso and kissed his neck. “I’ll live. Now, kiss me again. I need you, Cade.”
    He carried her to the truck and placed her on the seat. “Good because Killer can’t sleep alone.”
    Grabbing the wadded up sweatshirt he kept under the seat, she swathed it around the kitten. “Killer? He hardly seems like a killer to me.” She moved the ball of cloth and sleeping animal to the driver’s side floor of the vehicle. “Sappy as it sounds, I like Tracker because he tracked his way to you.”
    Cade threw his head back and laughed . Really laughed . For a moment, the world seemed right and the dread in his soul faded. She truly was his other half. He caressed her bare knees as she sat on the edge of the truck seat. “Why don’t you follow his lead and come here?”
    With tentative movements, Melanie scooted the last few inches to the edge of the door. “Yes, let me lose myself in your arms.” She rubbed her forehead on his chest and parted her legs. “Make love to me and make the sadness go away so I forget why I wanted to run.”
    Cade blinked and processed her words. Just a moment ago, she was a heap of tears and now, she wanted sex? His brain fuzzed. No, she wanted him to make love with her. Well, fuck. She made no sense and perfect sense at the same time. The only way to prove they were alive and