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Lainey’s neck arched, and she called out the wrong name again. “Matt. Give me everything.”
He gently drove into her body until they were merged, his body with hers, until they were fused together. One being, one heart and one soul.
And they spiraled into bliss.
17
Lainey wasn’t kidding; her dog really was a scaredy-cat. But, as usual, bacon saved the day. She was a pretty border collie. If he had to bet, Lainey took her to a groomer every other week who specialized in abused animals. He’d noticed the high-priced dog food that was in the fridge.
“You’re living large, aren’t you, Xena?” Mateo remembered the show called Xena, Warrior Princess, and as a teenage boy, he sure wasn’t watching it for the plot. Xena was hot.
He crouched down and let Xena nibble half a strip of bacon out of his hand. It reminded him of the pregnant pit bulls at Pepper’s place. Gideon had followed up for him, so he knew that three of the girls had lived to give birth to their pups. One didn’t make it through the birth. As for the males, they were still being evaluated to determine the best ways to rehabilitate the dogs, or if that was even possible.
The whole thing made him sick.
Mateo stopped thinking about it and turned his attention to the beautiful girl in front of him. He gave her a good scratch under her chin and the dog leaned against him. Yep, she liked to be petted, just like her mama.
He got back to cooking. He would have liked to spend more time in bed, but after years in the Navy, sleeping past oh-five-hundred was impossible. He’d cuddled Lainey for an hour before he had to get up and find something to eat. Despite his promise to eat the flan mixito for breakfast, he was looking for some protein, and he’d found it. Lainey was a woman after his own heart. Her refrigerator was packed with good stuff. Mateo even found her waffle iron, which he could now plug in on the other side of the sink.
He wasn’t sure what Lainey would want for breakfast, but he wanted to be prepared for anything. Mateo prepped the fixings for a Spanish omelet, and got the batter ready for the waffles, then cut up the strawberries to go on them. He couldn’t help himself, though; he had to fry up some bacon ahead of time. A man needed protein, and there was the added boon of having met Xena.
Xena walked into the kitchen and leaned against him.
“You want another piece?”
She walked away from him, toward a half-filled water bowl and an empty food bowl that was on a stool. It was probably raised higher for Xena so she didn’t lose her balance.
“I’ll get you your breakfast, girl.”
He fished out the package of food that was labeled Xena and breakfast. There was one that was titled dinner. Of course. His woman was a bit OCD. Mateo stopped right where he was.
His woman?
Xena came over and rested her muzzle against his thigh. “Just a moment.”
His woman?
When had Lainey become his woman?
How about the moment I started defending her to the Lieutenant?
“Dammit,” he muttered to himself.
He turned around to get the kitchen scissors so he could cut into the pre-packaged dog food and found Lainey frowning at him.
“Matt, why are you swearing?”
Shit.
“No reason.”
“Really? You seemed kind of vehement. Are you regretting sleeping with me?”
He couldn’t stand the vulnerable look on her face.
“Absolutely not. I was thinking about what one of my friends said when I first met you. He was totally on point. He said I was going to fall hard and fast.”
“And that’s something to swear about?”
