Chapter 8
Alina didn’t care that kissing her partner was crazy. Telling the tiny rational voice in the back of her head urging her to be cautious to shut the hell up, she placed one hand on that beautiful chest of his, licked her lips, and prepared to meet his lips head-on.
Then the door to her apartment opened, immediately followed by the sounds of running doggy feet.
Trevor had already stepped back by the time Molly rounded the corner and raced into the kitchen in her exuberant fashion. Catching sight of Trevor, she stopped cold with the oddest expression Alina had ever seen on her dog’s furry face.
“You decent in there?”
Kathy came around the corner…and stopped cold with the oddest expression Alina had ever seen on her friend’s nonfurry face.
“O-kay, apparently not,” Kathy said after a few moments, one brow arched high as she took in Trevor’s naked chest, Alina’s sexy dress, the bandages around his torso, and the scant distance between the two of them.
“Should I come back later?” she asked coyly. “Like in the morning, with two cups of coffee and a box of doughnuts?”
Alina forced out a laugh. “Very funny, Kathy. But it’s not like that.”
Kathy nodded slowly, still looking pointedly at her. “No?”
“No,” Alina insisted. “Trevor got a little nicked up while we were working tonight, and I was applying some first aid.”
“Uh-huh,” Kathy said, giving her a knowing look.
That was when Alina realized her hand was still resting casually—even possessively—against Trevor’s chest. Refusing to let her friend see her squirm, she slowly took her hand away from all that muscle.
“You two have obviously figured this part out, but to make it official, Kathy, this is my new partner, Trevor Maxwell. Trevor, this is my best friend, neighbor, and long-term dog sitter, Kathy McGee.”
“That’s Kathy with a K,” her friend said, not even trying to hide the fact that she was blatantly ogling his naked upper body as she stepped forward to shake his hand. “It’s so nice to meet you finally. I’ve heard a lot about you. Though I must admit, in the stories Alina told me, you were fully clothed.”
“Kathy!” Alina said. “Are you trying to embarrass me to death in front of my partner?”
Her friend held up her hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. I’m just having a little fun. Sheesh. Remember, I work from home, so I don’t get a chance to see half-dressed men that often.”
Alina wanted to ask if that disappointing fact included Kathy’s boyfriend, Armen, but decided not to go there. Kathy very well might tell them more than they really wanted to know.
Silence descended over the crowded kitchen, and for a moment, Alina was worried Kathy might open her unfiltered mouth and say something else completely inappropriate. Fortunately, Molly chose that moment to point out that no one had bothered to introduce her to the new man in the room, so she walked up and wedged herself firmly in between Alina and Trevor, looking at him with her head tilted sideways in obvious confusion.
“This is Molly,” Alina said. “She’s my fur baby, though she spends most of her time with Kathy.”
As Trevor squatted down to ruffle her dog’s ears, Alina wondered if Molly had somehow picked up on the fact that there was something different about him…that he was a shifter. It definitely seemed like it. Molly sniffed Trevor’s hands like crazy in between regarding him with a clearly baffled expression, as if her nose and eyes were telling her two different things.
Regardless of Molly’s confusion, it was safe to say she was captivated by Trevor. Even after he stopped petting her and stood up to slip back into his suit jacket, Molly sat there in front of him, her tongue hanging out in joy and her tail wagging a hundred miles an hour.
I feel you, Molly. There’s definitely something about him that really gets to you, isn’t there?
Alina caught movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Kathy wander over to take a look at the first aid kit still on the kitchen table. Fortunately, the last towel she’d tossed in the trash had been relatively blood-free and covered up the worst of the mess in there. Kathy would lose her mind if she saw all that blood.
“I’ve heard rumors about the federal government running on a tight budget these days, but don’t tell me they expect you two to provide your own medical care?” Kathy asked.
Trevor chuckled. “No. I could have gone to the hospital, but the paperwork would have been horrendous. I didn’t want to deal with it, since it was a little scratch. I was going to ignore it, but Alina wanted to bandage it up.”
Kathy laughed. “Well, at least she’s getting some use out of the kitchen. It’s not like she cooks in here.”
“That’s not true!” Alina protested. “I cook.”
“I’m not talking about the kind of cooking I just walked in on,” Kathy said. “I meant the kind with food, pots, and pans. And before you say it, poking the buttons on the microwave doesn’t count.”
