Hearts in Motion by Edie Ramer Page A

on Mom’s bed. She settled back down to sleep. Humans spent too much time talking to the phone. She wasn’t quite asleep when another noise came to her ears. A fast padding of cat feet. She opened her eyes in time to see a black streak leaping through the air toward her. Quigley.
    She didn’t flinch. He wouldn’t dare land on her.
    He landed in front of her. Did you hear the phone? It was Ryan. He’s not coming tonight.
    Good. He’s like the water. Mom is like the sun. She would go better with the earth than the water.
    How can we find a man like the earth?
    Holden is the earth.
    I know that. Quigley nipped at the base of his tail before whipping his head back to Minnie. But he has another woman. I heard Mom tell Grace. Quigley’s voice rose, excitement in it. I know what we can do. We can scratch him and bite him and make him fall and hurt himself, and he’ll have to stay here with Mom.
    If you bite him, he won’t fall. He’ll take Cara away and won’t bring her back. Humans don’t like being bitten.
    Quigley jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. Minnie waited. In seconds, he flashed back into the bedroom, his fur ruffled. Then you think of something better.
    Minnie stretched. Her body was older than his, but she was still in her peak. I know what we can do.
    What?
    The phone rang again. Her ears perked up, and she ran to the kitchen.
    Because she didn’t like her idea. Thinking of it made her feel funny inside. It could hurt her. It could kill her. She would only do it for the love of Mom.
    She would wait to see if the humans would fix everything so she wouldn’t have to do it.
    ***
    One damn brother after another, Abby thought, picking up the phone in the kitchen. When Holden spoke, his voice was like dark chocolate. The kind that was a little nutty, a little rough-edged, which was strange, as he was so reined in. Strange because Ryan’s was smooth, and he wasn’t reined in at all. Every night, she’d had to warn Ryan to pull it back. She wasn’t jumping in bed with him.
    Or the back of the car.
    Or her couch.
    Or any other surface.
    She suspected the challenge to make her say yes had kept him coming back.
    But after tonight’s abrupt phone cancellation, it appeared he’d tired of the challenge. He’d given up and was going after easier conquests.
    Now, his brother...
    If he really wanted someone, wanted her with all his heart, he’d be like a bull and keep charging until he conquered.
    “Would you mind keeping Cara for a few hours tonight?” Holden asked.
    “How few?” She gazed at the living room where Cara was making a monster puppet out of a kit that had belonged to Grace when she was a child. Last Tuesday, Abby and Grace had dug a box out of the attic, and every day, the three had played with it, she and Grace having as much fun as Cara.
    “I should pick her up about nine.”
    “You have a date with Portia?”
    He didn’t answer at first. When he started to speak, she talked over him. “Don’t answer, it’s none of my business. I was just...” Feeling a little crazy? “Not thinking.”
    “Yes, I’m seeing Portia,” he said.
    “Tonight’s fine.”
    There was silence for a moment. She watched Cara put a tutu on the puppet then balance a hardhat on its head.
    “I hope it’s not ruining your plans,” he said. “Of course, I’ll pay extra.”
    She wanted to tell him not to pay extra. That with tonight’s date off and Grace sleeping over at her friend’s house, she was glad Cara was staying with her.
    And then there was the way she felt... Restless. As if the blood flowed too fast in her veins. As if a fire blazed through her body. She wanted to do strange things. To dance a flamenco. To tap her toes and heels. To swing her hips until every man on the planet looked at her with his loins stirring. And she’d look back, a flame in her eye.
    She wanted to swirl. She wanted to feel heat. Not with Ryan. No, no, no. Just...with someone else. Someone who made her blood quicken.