Growling in frustration, he continued to his house, unlocked the door, and took the stairs two at a time. In his room, he tossed his uniform on his bed, not bothering to hang it up like he normally did.
He was a cop. It was his job. Zoe needed to understand the danger she’d put herself in. Anything could have happened. Anyone could have walked into her house and attacked her. Then what? He was going to go back over there, wake her ass up, and describe in all the gory details what could have happened.
He stomped down the stairs, ready to put his plan into action, except the dog was sitting at the bottom waiting for him. She did some strange half warble, half howl at him as he hit the bottom step.
“You need out? Come on. Let’s go.” He slapped the side of his thigh and led her to the back door, sliding it open for her.
Instead of going outside, she lay down and rested her head on his feet—something she’d never done before.
“What are you waiting for? Go outside.” He gestured toward the door. She didn’t move, only licked her chops and moved her head closer to his ankles.
“Seriously? I need to go.”
She let out a pitiful moan and heaved a sigh. Tim dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling. Looking down at her again, he said, “Do you need attention? Is that it? Come on.”
He eased his feet out from under her chin and sat in closest dining room chair. She rolled up to a stand, shuffled over to him, and dropped her hip on his foot, resting her head on his knee.
“What’s up with you?” He scratched behind her ear and his thoughts turned to Zoe, asleep in her bed. What was he supposed to do? Yeah, he could wake her up and yell at her, but what good would it do? He wanted her to understand the danger she’d been in, but at the same time did he want to get that personal with a woman again?
What would he do if he’d found Mrs. Wilson like that? He would have helped her to bed, locked up, and approached her in the morning to let her know what she’d done was unsafe. Granted, he would have averted his eyes had Mrs. Wilson taken her pants off instead of appreciating the way the lace edge of Zoe’s panties framed the round globes of her ass, but that was beside the point. He would have made sure Mrs. Wilson was safe and understood the mistake she’d made.
So that’s what he’d do with Zoe. To be sure he didn’t miss her in the morning, he’d sleep on her couch. That way he could be sure he didn’t miss her before one of them left for the day.
Mitzy stood and returned to her dog bed.
Tim lifted an eyebrow. “Was that all you wanted?” he asked.
If dogs had expressions like people did, Mitzy would be giving him a “you’re a dumbass” look. Oddly, he wasn’t as angry as he’d been when he’d stormed through his door. Taking the time to pet the dog had given him chance to calm down and think about the situation with Zoe instead of storming back over there and causing a scene. That would not have been the best situation, nor would it have led to the best outcome. He wanted Zoe to understand the danger she’d been in without pissing her off.
“Are you some sort of witch dog?”
Mitzy groaned and rolled to her side, apparently done with their conversation. That was fine with him. He had a couch to go get comfortable on.
