Something wet ran over Becket’s face. And what the fuck was that smell?
He opened his eyes to look straight into an open-mouthed Bella. Her face was right there, and she was breathing directly into his mouth. “You know there’s this thing called personal space, Bella?”
Instead of running away, the mutt licked him again.
Fucking hell.
He rolled onto his back and scrubbed his eyes. Never would he have thought a dog would be living in his house, yet here he was. “You’re lucky you saved Sky’s life, or you’d be sitting in a very nice pound right now, eating dry dog biscuits.”
If those words annoyed Bella, she didn’t show it. In fact, she grabbed the bed sheets with her teeth and yanked them down.
“Hey. I’ll get up when I’m good and ready.”
She made a small grumbling noise before running to the end of the bed and walking down the steps Sky had asked Holden to build.
He frowned, finally focusing on the other side of the bed.
Sky. She wasn’t there. She never started her day before him. And why hadn’t he woken up when she’d gotten up?
Bella whimpered from the door.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” He reached for his phone on the side table.
Eight thirty? Fuck, he never slept in this late. Maybe his lack of sleep over the last few weeks, since Sky’s attack, was finally catching up with him.
He pushed up and ran his fingers through his hair.
He hadn’t slept basically at all for the entire first week. Memories of Sky in the middle of that blazing fire had haunted his dreams. How many times had Sky woken to find him just lying there, eyes wide open? Hell, how many times had he finally fallen asleep, only to wake from a nightmare, needing to check that she was still beside him?
Too many times.
But day by day, he was coming out of it. Accepting that, while shehadalmost died, she was still here. She was alive. Safe. And Rosemary Symes would likely never be a free woman again.
Bella made another grumble.
“I’m getting up.”
Her ears perked and she ran out the door.
He followed, pulling on some track pants on the way out.
He stopped dead in the living room at the sight of Sky in the kitchen, AirPods in her ears and only wearing his shirt, which almost hit her knees. She was dancing. Her hips moving in sexy sways that made his dick twitch. Pans sat on the stove and ingredients were everywhere. The room was a mess, but she was all he could see.
He loved her. He loved her so much that heachedfor her.
His feet started moving before his brain could catch up. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.
She gasped, pulling the earbuds out and turning. A slow smile curved her lips as she sank into him. “Hey.”
“Good morning, Peaches.”
A cute frown cut into her brows. “Do you remember when I hated that nickname?”
She used to scowl at him every time he used it. God, he’d been an ass. “How do you feel now?”
“It’s grown on me.”
“Really?”
