Just Add Heat Page 13

  What? He was going to let the cat defeat him. I. Don’t. Think. So.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Oh no she didn’t,” I told Carter as he turned to face off with Monique. “We are going to finish our date.” On this point I was standing firm. I was starting to remember and I wasn’t going to let my mother’s cat derail something good.

  “Juss, I have to concentrate right now. This is serious business.” He hadn’t taken his eyes off of Monique. “Could you please go over there and open her crate for me? I need it to be ready.”

  He was going to crate her? I frowned on that. My mom was entrusting me with her most precious thing. And, no, the irony that the cat was more precious to her than her own flesh and blood did not escape me.

  “Carter, I don’t think we should put her in the crate. My mom wouldn’t like that.” Boy, talk about understatements.

  “Babe, you don’t know the full situation. This cat doesn’t like me.”

  Did this cat like anyone? “She doesn’t like me either, but we can’t just keep her locked up.”

  “Juss, she attacks me at every opportunity. She draws blood. I’m not putting up with her for a week. I’m sorry; I know I should have said something earlier.” He’s not putting up with her? Excuse me, but wasn’t this my house? Okay, so I realize he lives here, too, even if I don’t fully remember yet, but I wasn’t going to have him putting the cat in a small crate for who knows how long.

  “I’m sorry, Carter, but I can’t let you do that. My mother is counting on me.”

  “I’m not going to crate her for a week; I’m just going to use it to carry her to the laundry room so that I can shut her in there for tonight. I think we are going to have to get her out of the house.”

  “Why? I know she’s kind of a pain and she doesn’t get along with Lucy, but really, she isn’t that bad.”

  He just looked at me like I was slow and shook his head. “She’s out to get me, Juss. She attacks me. Do you understand what I’m saying? She wants to destroy me.” Where was the sexy and protective Carter from before? I was almost embarrassed for him. She wanted to destroy him? Where did he get this stuff?

  “Look, she hasn’t done anything to you yet. Let’s just give her a chance. She might have mellowed since you last saw her.” I could tell he didn’t want to let it go, but he sighed and backed away from Monique, taking my arm and pulling me away, too.

  “Let’s just eat our mousse and relax. We have a date to get back to, right? Come on, we’ll take them to the couch and watch something on TV, okay?” He nodded and grabbed our dishes since I was still holding Lucy. Carter walked over to the stereo and turned it off with his elbow before coming to sit with me. I made sure Lucy was sandwiched between us before I took back my mousse and I started eating. It really was delicious. Carter turned on the TV then put his feet up on the coffee table.

  “Shark Week.” He looked over and gave me a grin. Okay, he might be scared of a cat, but his grin could get me every time. Dammit! I just wanted to remember him fully. The snatches I’ve been getting had all made me feel better, but there was still just a little bit of weirdness there. Even after having mind-blowing sex. Maybe because of the sex, I didn’t know anymore. All I was sure of was that Carter and I were together and he was, quite possibly, the most romantic guy ever born. Reenacting our first date was awesome. Even if I had my memory, that would be romantic. Ahh.

  I nodded and took another bite. Maybe I should do a web show on mousse. Maybe I already had. I needed to know these kinds of things. That was going to be on my to-do list for tomorrow. Learn how to do my job.

  “Carter, have I done a show about mousse yet?”

  “No, but for the next series of recipes that would be a good addition.”

  “What do you mean series? Don’t I just do a show and post it?”

  “Uh uh. It’s more complicated than that. We have to do repeat shots sometimes and then there’s the lighting and sound to set up, not to mention the editing involved before it’s ready.” Wow. It sounded almost like a real TV show, or what I knew about a TV show.

  “Who does all of that?” Surely the two of us couldn’t do everything.

  “Paulo. He brings his stuff over and we try to do at least three segments at a time. It really saves a lot of time that way. He edits them for us, too.”

  Hmm. This sounded like a professional operation we had going here. I felt a surge of pride. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would actually be able to do a cooking show, but here I was with a show and a book coming out. This was fantastic.

  I settled back into the couch feeling happy. Really happy. Look at me, Justine Taylor, sitting on the couch with an incredibly sexy man who had just rocked my world, eating chocolate and thinking about my awesome career. It really didn’t get much better than this. Well, besides the amnesia. But Carter was even helping me take care of that.

  I couldn’t bask in the glow of happiness long because, out of the corner of my eye, I could see a flash of black and white fur. Monique had climbed up the back of the couch and launched an attack. Carter screamed and threw his cup of mousse into the air as he jumped up with Monique attached to his head.

  “Aaaah!” Monique was holding on with her claws and Carter was flailing around trying to peel her off of his scalp. “Help me!”

  I was already trying to get to him but it was hard since he was moving around so much. “Hold still!” He paused with his hands covering his eyes and I grabbed Monique by the front legs. Wow, she was really in deep. It took me a moment to pull her off of him.

  I had her in my hands and Lucy was barking at all of the frantic activity as Carter lunged for the crate. I shoved her inside before she could turn on me. What the hell just happened? Carter set the crate down with more force than necessary, but I didn’t blame him. There was blood seeping from his hairline. I pulled his head down closer to my eyes and I could see three tiny puncture marks in his scalp.

  “She got this side too,” he said as he turned his head to show me. I felt like an ass. He said she was after him and I hadn’t believed him. Now he was injured and it wouldn’t have happened if I would have let him put her in the laundry room.

  “I’m so sorry, Carter. I didn’t think she would go after you like this.” I led him into the kitchen and tore off a paper towel and wet it in the sink. I started dabbing it on his puncture wounds and realized they weren’t as bad as I had originally thought. Whew.

  “I tried to tell you, she’s the devil.” He said it with such sincerity that I couldn’t stop the smile.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. Well, you don’t need stitches, anyway, and there’s too much hair for using a Band-Aid. We can just keep it clean.” I paused and looked over to the cat crate. “We can set her up in the laundry room.” I knew we were going to have to board her now. There was no way I would feel comfortable knowing Monique was capable of this kind of behavior. She had never shown me this amount of aggression. She must really hate Carter. He hadn’t done anything to her since she got here, but I knew she must have been planning this all along.

  When I picked up the crate Monique looked at me as if she were the victim. I wasn’t going to fall for it. She had hurt my man. Yes, my man. I may not remember him fully, but I was claiming him. Even if I didn’t already know him I would be falling for him on my own right now. He was great company and he was thoughtful and sensitive, and that’s not even considering the sex. That was a whole other issue. I set the crate down in the laundry room and turned to see Carter behind me with her food and water bowls. He set them down as I bent to open the crate.

  “Wait. Let me get out of here first.” He bolted to the door and shut it behind him and I carefully opened the door of the crate half expecting her to launch herself at me, but she sauntered out and went to her food bowl. If I hadn’t just seen it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed she could be so vicious. She had betrayed me by attacking Carter after I had gone to bat for her to keep her from being locked up. I w
as totally on Carter’s side and I wasn’t ashamed. By the time I made it back to the kitchen Carter was wetting a dish rag.

  “I spilled my mousse,” he said as he walked back to the living room. A long brown stripe was splashed across the floor. Luckily the glass hadn’t broken; it rested on the floor next to the mess.

  “At least it didn’t get on the rug,” He just looked up and kept wiping. I could see his wounds were still oozing so I held out my hand. “Here, let me.” I pulled him up before taking the rag from him. “You should probably go clean your head up.”

  He looked down at me and my heart started thumping. I wanted him to kiss me in the worst way but he just smiled and turned toward the bathroom. I looked down at the mess on the floor and sighed. Fucking Monique.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I looked down at the mousse covered rag and went to wash it out in the sink, deciding to use paper towels to finish the cleanup. Remorse was eating at me. It was my fault Carter was in the bathroom cleaning his injuries right now. If only I would have listened to him.

  What now? I wanted to go and check on him but what if he was angry? I was still feeling out of my depth, but I had to make sure he was okay.

  I could hear Monique screwing around in the laundry room. She was probably tearing something apart in an act of revenge, but I wasn’t about to go check. After witnessing her treatment of Carter, I wasn’t completely confident that she wouldn’t attack me, as well. I trudged to the bathroom to see what was up with Carter’s head. He had the door shut so I gave it a light tap.

  “Are you all right?” He didn’t answer but he opened the door. I could see the claw marks standing out against his skin and tiny droplets of blood were still coming out of the punctures. He had a washcloth pressed to the other side of his head. I met his eyes in the mirror.

  “I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t realize she would go lion on wildebeest with you, at least not unprovoked.”

  “This isn’t the first time she’s savaged me, Justine.” He pointed to a thin, pale scar on his forearm. “This is what she gave me last time she was here.” I looked closely at his arm. It was really a magnificent arm, but I couldn’t let myself get distracted.

  “Why didn’t you say something when Mom called?” I mean geez, if I had been fully informed of the danger I would have at least listened to him about putting her in the laundry room.

  “It was too late after you got off of the phone, and to be honest, I thought some of the trauma from her last visit might have come back to you.” I looked at him in confusion. “Does diarrhea ring a bell?” He waited expectantly for an answer.

  Diarrhea? Did the stress of cat watching give me diarrhea? Ewww. If it did I certainly didn’t feel comfortable talking about it with Carter. That was too personal even if we were living together. He must have gathered that I wasn’t up for talking about my bodily functions right then because he put me out of my misery.

  “The cat had diarrhea and she didn’t limit it to the cat box.” Oh my god, gross. “She really did a number on the couch and the rug in the bedroom.” Worse and worse. What good was this cat anyway?

  I didn’t have anything left. “Sorry.” I was suddenly enraged at my mother. Surely I would have told her what had happened after the last time she left Monique here. She had obviously either used the amnesia to her own benefit or she really didn’t care how badly she was putting us out. I was leaning toward the latter. She was selfish enough not to put a bit of thought into how much this was inconveniencing us. No, this went beyond inconvenience. She was putting us in physical danger. What sort of a mother would do that to her only child?

  “She must have known all that, right?” He nodded. “Why would she bring her back here?”

  “I guess she was hard up for a cat sitter.”

  “She really doesn’t care, does she?”

  “I do.” Carter reached over with his free hand and pulled me into a hug. I was embarrassed by Gloria’s lack of maternal love. I knew Carter couldn’t even fathom how it felt; Sharon showered affection on Cheryl and Carter. She went out of her way to make sure they knew they were loved. Cheryl was always receiving care packages from Sharon when we were roomies, even though we lived in the same city. Family dinners at their home, while usually unpalatable, were warm and wonderful. Gloria’s…not so much, although things were a little better since she married Bill. He was pretty cool, and I think she tried to put on a front for him. Oh, but she said she divorced Bill. That was just another mark against her in my book.

  I let myself stand in his arms, absorbing his pity like a sponge. I knew it was weak since I have had almost thirty years to get used it, but, as always, it hurt. I let him comfort me for a moment more before I remembered he was bleeding from the head.

  “Sorry. I came in here to see if I could do anything for you and you end up making me feel better.”

  “Stop apologizing, it’s done, but I’m calling a kennel first thing tomorrow.” He spoke decisively. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer and I found that highly arousing.

  “Absolutely.” I gave in on the kennel without a second thought. Who cares if Gloria (I decided she didn’t deserve the title of mom anymore) didn’t want to board her baby? Not me, that was for sure. “Now, let me see the damage.” I stepped back from him and took his head in my hands.

  It was ugly and the sight of blood usually made me feel sick, but knowing that I was partly responsible for the damage seemed to hold off the nausea. I felt strong in the manner of a WWII nurse treating soldiers under fire. I just did what had to be done.

  “I should put some antibiotic on it,” I told him knowledgeably. I went to the cabinet and pulled out the first aid kit. I found some in both cream form and spray so I pulled out the spray figuring it would give lots of coverage without me actually having to touch the blood and cuts.

  I held the can near his temple and pushed the button. After a second a weird stream of medicine came spurting out, punctuated by big droplets of white. Hmm, the nozzle must be clogged. I was about to turn the can so that I could examine it more closely but Carter grabbed it out of my hand and set it on the counter. He shook his head at the gooey mess on the side of his face and used the wash cloth to wipe it off.

  “I’ll just use the cream.” He grabbed the tube out of the box and started smearing it on his lacerations as I stood there feeling superfluous. So much for my nursing fantasy; he was obviously fine without my help. I turned to leave the bathroom but he stopped me. “Don’t leave. I like you in here tending my wounds. I don’t think I’ve ever had a prettier nurse.”

  Omigod. It’s like he read my mind. I couldn’t help the smile that bloomed across my face at his words. He always knew just what to say to make me feel better. I knew instantly that I was recalling this from some time in my hazy past, but nothing in particular stood out, just the knowledge that it was true. It kind of freaked me out, this half remembering, and I searched for an escape. The kitchen was still filthy and I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving it like that so I figured now was a good time to leave Carter to his own devices and get my own head together.

  “I’m going to go take care of the dishes. You can finish up in here without me,” I whispered as I fled. It was a relief to be out of Carter’s orbit. He still had the ability to get me flustered. I wondered if I usually reacted like that or if I had gotten used to being around him. I assumed everything was okay since I couldn’t imagine inviting him to live with me if I felt even the slightest bit uncomfortable around him, but who knows? Maybe he dazzled me or something.

  I cleaned the kitchen while thinking of various scenarios under which I would have asked him to move in. Was it a weak moment after sex? That was a possibility now that I had experienced some of his sexual prowess for myself, but still, that didn’t seem like me. Maybe he was hard up for money and needed a roommate so I generously offered him my home. Hmm, that was unlikely. Cheryl got a pretty big inheritance when her grandma died so I figured Carter did too. Maybe I just l
oved him so much I couldn’t stand for him to be too far away from me. While that made me seem a bit needy, it still felt nice.

  Before I knew it the kitchen was spotless and I was standing there with nothing to do. Lucy had been hovering around my feet since her own encounter with Monique so I picked her up and carried her with me into the living room. Carter wasn’t out there like I was expecting. I poked my head into the bathroom and office which were both empty, and when I opened the door to the bedroom he was standing in front of my night table with his back to me.

  “All better?” I asked as I walked into the room. He spun around and I felt myself go hot and cold in one horrifyingly humiliating second. Clutched in his hand was a huge, lifelike penis.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Holy crap. He found my vibrator. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. Would my humiliations never abate? But wait. I didn’t recognize that monstrosity as belonging to me. Oh my god. Had I just caught Carter with his vibrator? My face got even hotter than I believed possible. I didn’t know what to do, but I couldn’t look away. I was enthralled by the sight of that huge penis in his hands. Whoa. I shook my head.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” I started backing out of the room while covering Lucy’s eyes with my hand. She so didn’t need to see this.

  “Wait. Juss don’t go; it’s not what you think.” Well, he would say that wouldn’t he?

  “Hey, I’m no one to judge you. Honestly. I’m open minded.” I kept backing out until I was in the hallway then I turned around and practically ran back to the kitchen. I needed a minute to absorb what I had just seen but I didn’t get it. Carter was two steps behind me still carrying the vibrator in his hands. Well, maybe it was just a dildo; I couldn’t tell from this angle.

  “This isn’t mine.” He thrust it in my face and I couldn’t help but admire the impressive size of it. “This is Vlad, don’t you remember?” He named his fake penis? I thought only I did that. I shook my head at him. I think I would recognize my own special friend.