The bed stirred beside me, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when a wet nose bumped my arm. It took me a minute to realize Roxy was curled up into a ball between mine and Alex’s pillows, her tail thumping Alex in the head as she wagged it lazily. I gave her a sleepy scratch on the head.
“You heard there’s another one coming, right?” Melanie asked.
“Another what?” I asked, lifting my head to look at Alex. Damn, he was beautiful in the morning light. All long lashes and messy hair.
“Anotherstorm!Are you even awake? This one is supposed to stop around lunchtime, but there’s another big one coming in tonight too.”
I sighed. Typical fall weather for northern Idaho. “Okay. Let me know if you need help with the drain. And don’t worry about coming in. We’ll close the clinic for the day. Keep me posted for tomorrow. But don’t stress, Mel. Really. If you can’t get in, you can’t get in. We’ll figure it out. I hope you have a plan for when that baby comes, though.”
She laughed. “Oh, Lee already said he’d toss our canoe out there if he needed to.”
“Sounds like him.”
“You might want to check on Alex. I’m sure it’s sounding like the world is ending out there. You know how our building is when the storms are this bad.”
I grinned, wondering what Mel would say if she knew the man was in bed with me. “Will do. Take care of yourself.”
“Bye, Vaughn.”
“Talk to you soon.”
Alex shoved a fist into the pillow as soon as I hung up, propping himself up so he could see me. The muscles of his naked back rippled with the movement, making my already hard cock ache with need. The fact that he was still here made me ridiculously happy, and I couldn’t stop myself from rolling toward him and planting a kiss on his shoulder. Roxy grunted and squirmed out of the way, clearly miffed that I was intruding on her space.
“I need to go make a couple of calls,” I said quietly. “I’ll let the dogs out too.”
Alex gave me a sleepy grin in response, shifting again on the mattress to get comfortable. He mumbled something I didn’t hear.
“What was that?”
“I said, hurry back.”
I kissed the smooth, inked skin of his shoulder one more time before climbing out of bed. I reached for my pajama bottoms and slid them on, then headed toward the bathroom. Noel and Roxy were already standing by the sliding glass door when I came out, and I paused when I saw Roxy’s leg, only now realizing Alex had found a sheet of plastic somewhere in the clinic and had taped it over her cast. I’d been too distracted by him last night, walking in on me naked and ready to explode, to even notice how much effort he’d gone through to protect her cast.
My heart swelled once again at how well he took care of his dog, and I glanced back over at him. That strong, hardworking man had one of the sweetest, most caring hearts of anyone I knew. It was no wonder I was fast becoming crazy about him.
Peeking through the door to be sure there weren’t any huge puddles Roxy could roll around in, I let them outside and made my way to the kitchen to find something to eat. After devouring a muffin, I called all four of our patients on our schedule today to let them know we were closing down due to the weather and suggested they call back tomorrow to reschedule once we could look at our calendar.
Noel and Roxy were at the backdoor when I hung up from the last call, and Noel had a silly sort of grin on her face. I hadn’t seen her smile like that before, and I knew it had everything to do with the sassy little pug beside her. She’d always been content and happy since I’d rescued her, but Roxy had clearly filled something in her I hadn’t known was missing… kinda like howI’dbeen too blind to realize how lonely I was too.
The dogs headed straight for the toy bin once they were inside, engaging themselves in a match of tug of war, which soon turned into Noel dragging Roxy around while she lay on her back and refused to let go of the rope. Their antics made me laugh. “You two are ridiculous.”
Leaving them be, I walked back down the hall, carefully climbed back into bed, and lay next to my mysterious, sexy man. He hadn’t moved a muscle since I’d returned, snoring softly from his place on the pillow. I watched Alex’s back rise and fall with every breath and marveled in the lines inked along his back and arms. It was the first time I really had a chance to see the full design, and I wanted to trace my fingers over each line. This close, I realized some of the lines were actually dark blue and green, but the color had faded over time.
I jumped when Alex spoke in a groggy voice. “You’re staring at me again, aren’t you?”
I grinned. “Maybe.”
He turned to face me, his eyes light with humor. Rolling onto his back, he lifted his arm so I could settle my head against his chest. God, he smelled amazing. A tantalizing mix of soap, pine, musk, and sex.
***
I woke sometime later to a gentle kiss to my temple as Alex shifted on the bed, moving to the edge to sit up. The rain was hitting the window above my bed in hard pelts.
“It’s already noon,” Alex said. “So I think I’ll go get some stuff done. Maybe work on the indoor kennels.”
I rolled toward him, tucking an arm under my head. “Orwe could get some food and watch movies all day. Preferably naked. Kind of the perfect day to do that if you ask me.”
Alex chuckled. “Sounds nice, but I still have some stuff to do.”
