I held my breath and braced to move.
After a while, Moxie looked to me and back to Tonks.
She then inched her way to Tonks.
I gulped in some oxygen then held my breath so hard, my lungs started hurting.
A quick sniff, that kind cats did where whatever touched their sensitive noses before they even got close made them jerk back before they went in.
Tonks didn’t move.
I didn’t move.
Moxie moved.
She curled against the fur on Tonks’s chest.
Tonks let her head drop with a plop.
I heard Moxie start purring.
I smiled into the dark.
Okay, maybe sometimes—rarely, but sometimes—life worked out for me.
I was glad, for all three of us, this was one of those times.
I listened to purrs for a while.
Then I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
ELEVEN
Teething
Hutch
“Keep going,” Hutch ordered Mabel.“Keep going.”
Mabel took another step back.
She was a good twenty feet away from Tonks, who was sitting like a good girl and watching her momma retreat without even twitching.
“Okay, release her,” Hutch instructed.
Mabel clapped her hands and bent toward Tonks, chanting, “Come here, Tonks.Good girl.Such a good girl.”
Tonks raced to Mabel, and she gave the dog a full rub as Tonks shimmied against her legs.
Hutch watched, knowing two things.
She worked with the dog when he wasn’t there.
It was Friday.Tonks had now had four sessions with him.But she had “stay” down.
On Monday, they could add “heel.”
The second thing he knew was that Mabel Adams was the single most fuckable woman he’d ever met.
