Lapping me from chin to cheekbone. Then a rattle of tags, anda needy whimper. A thumping tail, a rustle of sheets, then a quiet, “Good morning.”
My eyes fly open.
Fuckity, fuck, fuck, double fuck! I wrench away from Ripley and Hudson. Goddamn bed, goddamn dreams, goddamn hazy morning with this woman too close to me.
“I’ll take the dog out,” I blurt, then bolt out of bed in my boxer briefs and T-shirt and hustle to the door, the dog at my side, and my…
Great. Just great.
My morning wood is pointing the way.
Ripley chuckles from the bed. “Have fun walking him like that.”
“It’s fine,” I mumble, then spin around and head to my suitcase to grab a pair of workout shorts. I tug them on at the speed of sound as Ripley pushes herself up to her elbows, eyeing me with too much amusement.
“You sure it won’t be too hard?” she deadpans. “Walking him and all, I mean?”
“Won’t be,” I say but my dick is a traitor. He won’t stand down. Rude.
“True. If you get lost, though, just use your internal compass. Looks like it’ll point you back.”
I grit my teeth. “Built-in GPS.”
“Handy,” she says with a smile like she’s eating this up. “Just don’t bump into anything. You might break it.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“You do that. Flagpoles can be seriously dangerous.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
I grab the leash from the floor, then open the door. Hudson bounds ahead of me. As he waters a nearby patch of grass, I close my eyes, pretend I’m in yoga class, and find a mantra to deal with this situation.
I am letting go of the things that don’t serve me.
Like this annoying erection. Which, finally, after a few deep breaths, settles the fuck down.
With that matter settled, I leash up the dog and take him for a walk around the property, passing the maze that looks perfect for kids to play in. “You like that maze?”
He pants.
“Bet you know it perfectly,” I say.
As we walk, I flash back to last night in bed with Ripley. Sometime in the middle of the night, I must have curled up next to her. Tugged her close. Held her tight. An image flickers before my eyes. Me roping an arm around her stomach. Her wriggling near to me, her sweet ass pressed against my dick.
I groan audibly as I replay the moment. We can’t keep cuddling each other in our sleep. Cuddling leads to morning wood that needs to be talked down.
I’ll apologize to Ripley when I return, and we’ll agree to move on. I’ll do better tonight. Hell, that shed sounds good right about now.
I reach for my phone to turn on some Brahms to distract me but come up empty in my pocket. Right. I’m the idiot who ran out the door without a phone, without even brushing my teeth.
Gross. Morning breath sucks. I hope I don’t run into anyone I need to talk to.
Like I’ve summoned her, there’s Tabitha coming my way wearing a baseball cap, a tank top, and a pair of running shorts. She’s racing toward me, arms tucked by her sides in a runner’s stride, legs moving fast. When she nears me, she slows and pops out an earbud. “How’s it going, Banks? Did you sleep well?”
Like I was in an OnlyFans waiting room all night long. “Great,” I say, making sure I don’t expose my dragon breath to her.
With a deep sigh, she glances around, gesturing to the long country road stretching in front of her, then to the violet blooms forming a blanket across the property beside me. “I haven’t slept that well in ages. It must be the quiet out here in a small town. Not a single siren, or argument on the street, or even traffic at three in the morning. You know how it is in Los Angeles. There’s always traffic.”
