His hands held the backs of my thighs tighter as he stopped for a moment to open the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs.He walked through, then closed it behind him as the cute Basset Hound puppy whimpered when he was left behind.
“I’ll be back to deal with you in a few, Travis,” he said over his shoulder to the dog.
“Seriously, what are you doing?Put me down,” I warned, though I couldn’t stop laughing.
He stepped into the room and deposited me gently on a plush king-sized bed before stepping back and allowing his eyes to roam my body once more.
“I thought I made myself clear,” he said, taking a few steps back as he grabbed his hoodie from the back and pulled it over his head.The fabric caught on his t-shirt underneath, pulling it up with it and showing a sliver of the most beautifully sculpted abs I had ever seen.“You’re not sleeping on the couch.Since you said it means so much to you thatIdon’t sleep on the couch, the only solution to our problem is that we share my bed.”
“What?”I asked, leaning forward as I hung onto his words and my jaw dropped.“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nope.”
“But we can’t share a bed,” I said with a nervous laugh.
“Why not?”
“Well...I ummm...There’s...Ummm...My cousin would bepissedif he found out,” I finally blurted out, hating that I didn’t have a good excuse for not wanting to sleep in his bed other than because I wasn’t sure I could stop myself from trying to touch him.
“I hate to break it to you, but I don’t give a flying fuck whatyour cousinthinks.Gage is the least of my concerns right now.”
“Why is that?”I asked dumbly.It was obvious, but for whatever reason, I still wanted to hear him say it.I needed to hear him say it.
“Because keeping you safe is the only thing I’m worried about right now.Gage can be mad if he wants to.But I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to you while you’re staying with me.That includes allowing you to sleep on a shitty couch in a cold living room.”
I nodded and sat on my hands to keep from fidgeting.I couldn’t remember the last time a guy had cared so much about my well-being.Scratch that—I couldn’t remember the last timeanyonecared at all about my well-being.
“I need to go get Travis settled for the night.Feel free to set up whatever you need in the bathroom.We’ll do laundry in the morning so you’ll have clean clothes to wear, but for the time being, help yourself to anything you want in my closet.”
He smiled warmly and walked out of the room, leaving me sitting there as I tried to process how I had gotten myself stuck with being taken care of by the most caring man in the world.
Eight
Patrick
After I got Travissituated and secured in his kennel, I headed back upstairs for the night.Having a puppy was fun, but it was seriously what I expected to be the equivalent of having a human child.He couldn’t be left alone more than a few minutes without me having to worry that he was destroying something.His current obsession was chewing anything and everything he could get his paws on, which was why I had waited to buy new furniture.I didn’t want to get anything new until he was out of this phase, although I wasn’t sure it would pass anytime soon.
