Chapter Seven
“Thanks for giving me some space for clothes.” I beamed mischievously. He looked at my face, trying to read my expression.
“I have a feeling things are going to be quite different up there, aren’t they?” He was spot on.
“You can always change your mind.” I fluttered my eyelashes.
“No chance in hell, sweetheart.” He set the table with everything for dinner. It smelled divine.
I walked over to the table just as he was setting down some drinks. If this man was trying to win me over, he was doing a good job of making my stomach Team Wild. There were alfredo noodles in a big bowl, a yummy looking salad, and garlic bread that was calling my name.
“I didn’t know if you were allergic to shrimp, so I put it on the side.” He set down a smaller bowl full of steamed shrimp next to the pasta.
My stomach growled in anticipation. I quickly sat down and poured myself some of the water with lemon that was set out.
“You really like to make meals, don’t you?” So far he’s gone all out for me with food. I looked up at him, teasing.
“Gotta puff out my chest and show I can provide for my woman.” I rolled my eyes. Funny guy, that one.
“Looks good,” I commented, as he sat down. Together we loaded up our plates, with shrimp included. I moaned when the noodles hit my tongue.
“Okay, you win. I’ll marry you. Just cook for me every meal of the day.” I stuffed my face like a pot smoker with the munchies. I did not care if I looked like a total cow as I ate the pasta and crunched through the bread. Pure heaven.
“That was easy,” he commented and smiled as he took some bites. We ate in silence for the rest of the time. Both busy eating. I was beginning to like that little routine. Once we were done, I sat back and took a deep breath. I didn’t come up for air much during dinner.
“So, what exactly will I be doing this week? Cleaning poop? Petting kitties? Playing house bitch?” I was genuinely curious about what I would be doing. Jake sat back and looked me in the eyes. Yum.
“Just normal stuff. I’ll give you a tour in the morning, introduce you to a couple of the people working here. We’ll feed some animals, clean cages, have lunch, pretty much take care of whatever we need to.” Physical labor. By the end of this week, I was going to be as fit as Rayne. Well, not really, but I was going to have some serious bicep definition going on.
“Alrighty then.” I nodded. I was in, no matter what. Cammy Jennings was no quitter. A whiner? Sure. A little dramatic? Yep. But no quitter. I was down one hundred percent.
“So what now?” I looked around, unsure what to do.
“I have to go back out and take care of a few things, so why don’t you just relax? Do the peeking around I can tell you want to do.” He smirked. Okay, it was weird that he knew so much about me. I was totally dying to look around the house. I was such a creeper. I wanted to search through every nook and cranny of this place. I raised my hands in surrender.
“You got me there. No worries, that clawfoot bathtub of yours is calling my name.” I rubbed my hands together like I was hatching an evil plot.
When I entered his bathroom before dinner, I was stunned to see such a pretty clawfoot bathtub and a large glass encased shower next to it. It was quite luxurious for a ranch- style home.
He simply chuckled and grabbed our cleaned plates, then put them in the sink.
“I’ll clean up. The least I could do.” I stood and started helping put things away. He helped me find the Tupperware and I subtly organized his big fridge. Everything this man had was big. Big ranch home, big shower, big fridge, big…muscles? Yeah, I wanted to say cock. But I was still unsure about that. I thought I felt something when he went all caveman on me at the bar, but I was pretty knackered. As soon as we were done, Jake left to go do whatever Jake does at the rescue, and I made my way upstairs to start winding down for the night.
I turned on the light and stopped. Binksie the giant cat was lying in my open suitcase that I had left on the floor.
“It seems you and I are at an impasse.” I stood tall, not letting him see the nervousness in my eyes. He just looked at me, curiously.
“I’m going to be staying here for the week.” I walked slowly towards him, trying not to freak him out.
“Now as you can probably tell, I’m not a huge animal person, but I promise I won’t bother you, if you won’t eat me at any time during my stay.” As slowly as my burning quads would let me, I crouched down and held out my hand to the beast. I took a deep breath.
“If you’re going to bite me or something, just get it out of the way now so we can move on and be civil.” I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain to occur.
Bump.
My eyes opened to see the cat’s head butting my hand. Cautiously, I put my hand on its head and moved it around. My heart was thumping a mile a minute. This was freaking scary as hell for me, considering my past with animals.
It wasn’t until I heard him start to purr that I felt at ease.
“Huh, maybe you aren’t a vicious creature.” I petted his head and scratched behind his ear. Maybe I made my first little friend here.
“If you keep this up, I’ll have to sneak you some catnip. Then we can really have some fun.” I pulled my hand back and decided to let my new friend hang out in my suitcase. It seemed a little small for him, but hey, that was his choice. I made my way into the bathroom and found my lavender bubble bath that I had the foresight to bring. I turned on the water to my desired temp then added in my bubbles. I watched as they grew into little bubble mountains. Oh yeah, I was going to be submerged in bubble heaven.
I cracked the door so if Binksie wanted to come say hello, he could. I stripped down and stepped into the sweet euphoria of the water. I covered myself with bubbles, because that’s what you do in a bathtub. You make a bubble bikini, although I probably looked like I was buried under bubbles. I settled in and cleared my mind. A lot was going on this week.
