“Why is there a dog on me?” Josie grumbled.
“I will kill you, dog.”
“Don’t say that!” Her fingers slid through the dog’s matted hair lovingly. “He won’t kill you. No, you’re such a good dog.”
The white mutt ate it up, his tongue darting out to lick her face again. Rolling my eyes, I marched over to the couch and grabbed the dog by the scruff, yanking him off my couch.
“Hey!”
“There are no dogs in this house.”
“I didn’t bring him in here,” she snapped, throwing the blanket off her body as she stormed toward me. Her clothes were all disheveled and her eyes were sleepy and tired, but she looked fucking edible.
Not that any of that mattered right this minute.
I flung the dog out the door, then slammed it before he could come back inside.
“That was mean!” Josie shouted.
“He’s not my dog, and you don’t belong in my house. Why don’t you go home?”
“Why can’t you just be nice for two seconds? He was a sweet dog!”
“He was sitting in my truck! Inside,” I reiterated. “Not in the bed or on the ground outside. In the damn truck. I don’t even know how the hell he got in there!”
“Well…that’s not his fault,” she spluttered. “Maybe he was just cold!”
“He has a fur coat.”
“He looks hungry!”
“Then you can get him some food.”
Her eyes flashed with indignation, sparking something deep inside my gut, but I wasn’t about to let her messy hair and smeared makeup do a damn thing to change the fact that no dog was going to stay in my house.
“You’re so?—”
“So, what?” I challenged, taking a step closer.
“So infuriating!”
“And you’re intruding on my space,” I countered, taking another step until I was almost flush against her. To her credit, she didn’t move a single inch. Her breasts heaved, nearly skimming my chest. And the way her eyes darted back and forth between mine almost had me grasping her by the neck and hauling her body against mine.
Almost.
Gritting my teeth, I stepped back and grabbed the door handle, determined to get this woman out of my life. “You can leave.”
“All I did was come over to say thank you.”
“You brought your kettle and your mug. I’d say you had bigger plans than just saying thank you.”
“You know, a normal person would say you’re welcome,” she spat.
“I never was a normal person.” I motioned out the door.
Huffing, she stomped past me and out the door. I slammed the door, relieved to finally have my house back to myself. I needed a beer and it wasn’t even the afternoon yet.
I spun on my heel and stopped in my tracks at the sight of the white dog on my couch. His tongue panting, he gave out a high-pitched bark and his tail wagged happily.
