“No. I assumed he dognapped her from some diva starlet or something. Stole someone’s doggie purse and didn’t realize it had a half-hairy piranha in it.”
Zoey’s face lit up in a grin and she winked at Oz. “No, although that would make a damned good story.”
Oz looked up and narrowed his eyes at her. “You don’t need to tell the long version, Zo-Zo.” He turned to me with a slight flush to his face. “The short version is that I agreed to take her off another model’s hands. End of story.”
Zoey met my eyes. “Not end of story. The model in question, an ass named Jacko, was cruel to her. He’d brag about leaving her unattended for days on end, locked in a bathroom with multiple bowls of food and water, since he was too cheap to hire a pet sitter when he traveled for work. She’d have to poop and pee in the tiny room on newspaper until he came back. The fucker didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.”
Zoey’s hand came out to brush through Oz’s hair as she smiled at him with affection. “But when Ozzie-Bear found out about it, he begged the guy to let him take care of her. Jacko thought it was a joke. Then he thought it was a game. He kept telling Oz no until finally Oz offered him money.”
“Zo…” Oz said softly, glancing over at me with… I wasn’t sure. Embarrassment? “He doesn’t need to hear about this.”
Zoey reached out and scratched Boo under the chin. “Oz ended up having to pay the guy six thousand dollars to get him to give her up.”
Oz closed his eyes and dropped his head. I got out of my seat and, with Boo in my hands, knelt down next to his. I kissed Boo’s crazy mane before handing her to him and then looked into Oz’s baby blue eyes and cupped his face.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all. You’re one of the kindest, most loving men I’ve ever met, and Boo is so very lucky to have you as her daddy.”
I leaned in briefly to kiss his sweet mouth and then forced myself to return to my seat instead of carrying him off to bed like I wanted. I tried my best to listen to Oz and Zoey talk through their plans, but when most of it revolved around what they’d do when they got back to New York, I had to tune them out because it just hurt too fucking bad to think about where I’d be when that time came.
Not that it really mattered.
Because without Oz, no place I ended up in would ever be home anyway.
Chapter 21
OZ
The way Jake looked at me after hearing Boo’s story set my heart on fucking fire. And my dick. As inappropriate as it was under the Zoey circumstances, I couldn’t stop thinking about getting Jake naked behind closed doors.
I must not have been very subtle about it, because after about fifteen minutes of trying to talk about her moving into my apartment back in New York, my best friend suddenly raised her arms and put on a hugely dramatic yawn and stretch routine.
“Holy cow, am I bushed,” she said with a wink in my direction as she stood up from the table. “Do you have an extra pillow and blanket for the sofa?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Jake beat me to it. “No way. You’re taking the bed. Doctor’s orders.”
“Agreed,” I added. “I’ll take the sofa and Jake can…”
I tried to hold back my sigh when I realized what that meant. “And Jake can sleep at his place.”
We must have looked pretty pathetic because Zoey started laughing so hard tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. “No way. Isn’t Jake’s cabin that one right there?” She pointed through the window to where the moonlight was barely enough to show a reflection on his darkened cabin’s windows. “Why don’t you two sleep over there and just come back in the morning? I’ll let you cook me breakfast.”
I glanced at Jake with an apologetic look before turning back to my best friend. “I don’t want to leave you alone tonight, sweetie. I’ll stay here with you.”
Zoey crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Ozias, you will not treat me like an invalid. You are as far away from me in that cabin as you’d be if we were on opposite ends of a fancy hotel suite, for god’s sake. Think of Jake’s place as a different wing of the same house. It’s right there. If I need you, I’ll just call or tromp over there and bang on the damned door.”
I looked at Jake with uncertainty.
“She’s right, Oz,” he said from where he was sitting across from her. “If anything, her story tonight should prove to you how strong and independent she is. She could probably use a little time to herself after such a long day of travel.”