Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
He must speak Dog, since he’s kneeling too, offering her a hand.
“Well, hello there,” Stefan says, and that only makes my girl waggle her butt more. “Who’s a good girl? You are.”
Dammit. My chest tingles at those words. Can he please say them to me?
Wait. Do I want Stefan to say that to me, or Hayes?
Hayes is the guy I’m resisting, right? Stefan is just a handsome afterthought.
But am I his certain someone? The one he mentioned in his comment on my post? There’s a certain someone I might run into today.
Has he been into me since before I showed up at work the other day?
I don’t even know what to think as Roxy taunts me, stretching against Stefan, getting a double pawful of his pecs before sliding her greedy mitts down his bare stomach.
“Sorry,” I say. “I hope she doesn’t scratch you.”
Stefan lifts his face, his eyes locking with mine. “I don’t mind a few scratches.” Heat flickers in his eyes, and I swallow roughly.
Hayes drags a hand through his thick, dark hair. “Yeah, nothing wrong with a scratch mark here or there,” he says in that sexy voice before he joins Stefan in the kitchen.
“Such a good girl,” Hayes says to Roxy, and yes. That sounds delicious too.
The double good girl.
My stomach flips, and my mind goes fuzzy. I can barely think straight as Hayes rewards the pup with more pets and chin rubs.
And she takes them all.
Hayes gestures to the bandana she’s sporting, black lined with chili peppers. “Fashion statement or a warning she’s spicy?”
Huh? Did he ask me something?
Oh, right. A dog question.
“Both,” I say. I try to clear my head and focus on my visit, not the view of two men lavishing praise on the little dog I rescued so she could have a home in her final years. So she could experience love. So she could be adored.
My stupid throat catches.
“Is that why you adopted her? Because she’s fiery?” Stefan asks.
It’s so seamless the way the guys trade off. And it’s good, too, that they’re asking about Roxy. Dog talk makes me emotional, but surely that’s safer than desire.
I head into the kitchen where Roxy is bounding back and forth between the two guys. Yes, better to focus on my shameless girl.
“She is fiery, but mostly I got her because I felt like she needed me. Trina told me about her,” I say, talking over this erratic beating of my heart, this quickening of my pulse. “Trina is Ryker’s girlfriend, and also Chase Weston’s from the Sea Dogs,” I explain to Hayes, but he nods right away. Maybe he’s heard about the throuple. “She volunteers at the shelter where I got Roxy from—Little Friends. But Roxy’s a Florida girl.”
The men are now sitting on the kitchen floor, listening attentively to me, like my rambling talk about my dog matters. They don’t look bored like Xander was when I told him the story. Sure, Xander listened, but then he wanted to go shopping for new bow ties because his favorite vintage shop was having a sale.
These guys look legitimately interested, and it’s irresistible to me. “Roxy’s owner had been in hospice. But she didn’t have a family. When she passed away with no one there except the hospice workers and her dog, she’d left a note to the shelter that said please take care of my girl.” This part of the story always chokes me up, and I stop to breathe past overwhelming emotion. Stefan pops up, grabs a tissue from the counter, and hands it to me. I dab at my eyes. “Sorry. That note always makes me sad.”
“Of course it does,” Hayes says gently. “You feel for the person and the pet.”
My heart warms. “Yes, exactly.”
“Reminds me of my grandmother,” Stefan adds, his tone serious, and it’s one of the first times I’ve heard it that way. “She was in love with cats. I think cats were her soul mates. She was very concerned about what would happen to them when she passed.”
“What did happen?” I ask, a touch alarmed for the cats.
“My mom took them in,” he says simply. Like, what other choice was there?
“I’m glad to hear that. Does she still have them?”
“Yes. She cooks them dinner every night.”
“So, they’re her soul mates now?”
“Absolutely,” he says.
Stefan sits down again, and I join them on the floor, leaning in close, getting in on the Roxy love. “I get that,” I say. “As for this girl, I just felt for both of them. For this dog who’d lost her person and the little old lady who had no one in her later years but a dog. Little Friends helped the Florida folks facilitate the rescue, and when I saw their video about Roxy, I basically busted down the door to Little Friends, demanding, Let me have her.” I swallow the hitch in my throat. “I just felt this intense desire to make her mine. To slather her in love and kisses and attention and bandanas throughout her golden years.”