“Are you serious? What if she falls out of your damn jacket?”
“I’ll do it up, and for your FYI, I was very careful. Besides, this happened just down the street. Maybe I need like a carrier thing for her.” He turned to cast his eyes around the pet supplies,while I pondered the words ‘for your FYI’. Finally I shook it off, and showed him some of the pet carriers. They’d all swamp the little mite, but I still didn’t like the idea of him using one on a motorcycle.
“Maybe I should take her for the night?”
“Fuck no. What, now I’m not good enough to keep a fucking puppy alive? I know I’m just a man, but I’m not an idiot.” He grabbed a soft pet carrier and added it to the counter, and while I totalled up his order, and his consultation fees, he set the pup in the carrier, and shrugged off the leather jacket and waistcoat, removing his shirt next.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
I wasn’t looking. The t-shirt he’d had on under the other layers was not clinging to his body like a second skin, nor did it highlight muscles that weren’t evident under the baggy button up shirt, and leather clothes.
Nope. I didn’t see a thing. I watched though, as Rocket carefully tucked his shirt around the puppy, making her a snug, warm nest, and probably not even realising the most important part. The shirt would smell like him, which would comfort the puppy too.
“I don’t like this,” I said worriedly, picturing him trying to take the carrier on his motorbike.
“Don’t have to like it. I’m not exactly offering it to you.”
What? “I don’t… what?”
“I’m not hitting on ya, lady. I’m just keeping my baby warm. Now can you charge me and let me go? You wrote down the feeding schedule, right?”
Mortification is great at stuffing your ears with cotton wool, because I barely caught a word he said after the hitting on me part. I knew I’d blushed as he said it too, because who wouldn’t? I hadn’t meant that at all, but there was no way to convince him otherwise, was there?
“I could follow you to your clubhouse with-”
“Jesus, lady, take no for an answer, please.” He gathered up the carrier, and the bag of supplies, and headed for the door, raising his eyebrows at me as I lingered behind the counter.
“Uh… I’d like to leave, unless you’re planning on kidnapping me, and my little dog too.”
Ugh. Suddenly all I wanted was to get rid of him, so I nudged him aside, and unlocked the door. He stepped outside, and hugged the puppy carrier close as the wind whipped up and probably froze his now shirtless self. His nipples were probably… nope, forget it. He doesn’t even have them. Nope. No body. No nipples. No firm muscles. Just nope.
“Don’t forget to come back in two days for-”
“Whoa, you just can’t get enough of me, can you?” He winked at me as he headed for the large shiny motorcycle, which had blue and silver flames painted up the minimal amount of actual bodywork. I wondered briefly what it was like to get on one of those, especially wrapped around a man who… nope. No men. Not now, not ever.
I watched as he butchered the carrier bag into an over the shoulder kind of monstrosity, and carefully wrapped himself around the pet carrier, leaning close to murmur to the pup before he eased his helmet on. Nope. Definitely not hot. Not at all.
Chapter Three
Thank god the clubhousewasn’t far from town, because I didn’t like trying to hug that carrier to me without bungees holding it on. In future it’d be strapped down for the ultimate safety, but I wasn’t exactly prepared tonight, was I? Hell, maybe we’d need to construct something more permanent for her, probably something I’d need Harley’s help with.
As the prospects let me into the compound, they frowned at the thing I was hugging tight against me, but didn’t comment. Good. It wasn’t their business. To be honest, as I was on my way here, I was trying to remember if there was a rule against animals or pets, because it hadn’t really come up before. Hell, I hadn’t planned on taking in a poor homeless pup, but I wasn’t about to send her away either. She didn’t deserve to be abandoned by me too.
Micro waved at me as I parked up, and I thought he’d disappear into his office, but he was heading my way instead. I was right beside his ride, so maybe he was heading home.
“Got a minute, man?” Oh hell, I was in trouble already? I hadn’t even let anyone see her yet. Did V rat on me? For a second, I realised how dumb that was, but then I realised the whole six degrees of separation thing. She was Caroline’s cousin, who was dating Harley, who was currently at her mum’s house, where V was apparently living. She probably told them, and they ratted me out to Micro.
“Look, before you say anything, I’ll keep her out of the way, and I’ll clean up after her.”
Micro froze, his eyes narrowing at me with confusion, and then something looking a lot more like suspicion.
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, but you’re not keeping a woman as a pet.”
Ha. What the fuck.
“The dog, man, I’m talking about the dog.”
He looked even more bemused. “Okay, I have no idea what’s going on. When did you get a dog? I haven’t even seen a fucking dog.”
