With a snarl, he turned toward Jax and lunged upward, mouth open to bite. Cursing, Jax stumbled backward out of the way, and Snickers just missed the chance to clamp down on a very sensitive part of Jax’s anatomy. Slapping a hand to her mouth, Piper stifled her laugh, but she couldn’t stop her shoulders from shaking with laughter. She watched as Snickers turned back to his food bowl, satisfied he’d made his point, and her shoulders shook harder as Jax glared at the dog.
“Jesus! What the fuck, Piper! Your demon dog just tried to bite my dick off.”
Unable to hold her laughter in, she shrugged when Jax turned his glare on her. Dropping her hand from her mouth, she said, “Sorry?” The word coming out more like a question than an apology.
“Sorry sure as hell doesn’t cut it, and it doesn’t count when you’re laughing, anyway. What the fuck. Did you train him to do this shit to men you don’t like?”
Quelling fresh laughter, Piper attempted a solemn expression as she shook her head. “Snickers is actually mild mannered, and people friendly, men included.”
Shooting her a look of blatant disbelief, he snorted. “Yeah, right. People friendly dogs don’t try to have a man’s dick for lunch. And here he was so calm when I saw him the first time.”
Fighting a smile, she said, “No, really. He just gets very upset if he thinks someone is trying to mess with his food. I tried to call a warning, but I was too late. It wasn’t you. He would have done that to anyone.”
“Yeah, sure. Even you?”
Holding out her arm, she said, “Even me.”
Stalking closer, he took her arm in his hand, and she felt his grip tighten when he noticed the faint silvery scars on her forearm. “He bit you?” he gritted out, hand reflexively squeezing her arm as he looked up at her.
Swallowing hard, she took in his blazing green gaze swirling with gold around the pupils. Ignoring the heat and tingles racing across her skin from his touch, she willed her voice to have substance.
“It was my own fault,” she replied, stopping to clear her throat when her voice came out on the breathy side. “I got Snickers from a rescue organization when he was about five months old. His former owners had starved him, so he’s very territorial about food. He had one of those double-sided dishes, and I reached down without thinking one day to fill up the water side. He thought I was taking it from him, and reacted to that. That’s why he has separate dishes for food and water now.”
Frown easing, he searched her eyes as the green slowly overtook the gold. Rubbing his thumb over the bite marks absentmindedly, he turned his gaze back to Snickers, watching as he ate. “That makes sense. Poor guy.”
Clearing her throat, she pulled her arm from his grip and fought to calm her racing heart, feeling the swipe of his thumb in phantom touches. “Yes, well. He leads a charmed life now. I’ve had him for six years, and he’s a well-adjusted dog. He’s only touchy at meal time.”
Nodding, Jax replied, “That’s good.” As he continued to watch the dog. Brow twitching, he said, “What’s with his fur? The way it’s longer on the bottom, and shorter on the top. Is that some weird side affect from his time with the shitty owners?”
Piper couldn’t help her laugh. “No, that’s a Schnauzer cut.”
“A sch—what?” Jax asked, frowning at her.
“Snickers is a Schnauzer. That’s his breed. And that’s the haircut they give them. Actually, I have the groomer tone it way down, and keep the bottom half just a touch fuller, because I love it when he’s fuzzy. The normal cut is much more drastic.”
“People do this shit on purpose?” he asked, voice incredulous.
She laughed again. “Crazy, right? The normal cut is ugly as sin.”
Jax shook his head, and Piper abruptly became aware that they were conversing like normal people. She was even laughing and smiling, and no, this was the last thing she needed. She couldn’t forget who Jax was, what he did to her in the past. Forgetting would only lead to heartbreak when she inevitably let her guard down and let him back in, and she could already feel herself longing to do just that.
Clenching her fists, she forced the hard tone back into her voice, and clipped out, “Did you fix the water heater?”
Glancing over at her, his eyes burned, but other than raising his eyebrows slightly, he didn’t react. She could tell he knew that she’d remembered herself, but he said nothing about her change of pace, just rolled with it.
“It can’t be fixed, unfortunately. You’re going to need a new one. I’m sorry. I’ve fixed it a few times already, and I warned Helen it wasn’t going to hold out much longer, but you know your grandmother. Stubborn to the last moment, and pinching every penny until it cried out for help.”
Lips curling up in a sad smile as he described Helen to a T, she nodded. “It’s okay. She left more than enough money to cover fixes like this. Do you know where I can pick up another one? Maybe find a place that delivers?”
“I already found a new replacement, and I can go pick it up in about a half an hour. I brought my truck, so I got it. You can come with me, or just write me a check, and I’ll go by myself. If you trust me enough, that is,” he replied with a smirk.
Rolling her eyes, she turned to get her checkbook, saying, “Of course I trust you to get the water heater.” Bending over to write the check, she murmured to herself, “It’s my heart you can’t be trusted with.”
She heard a swiftly inhaled breath, like he’d heard her, but when she turned around to hand him the check, he was standing there with an easy smile. But it didn’t reach his eyes, she noticed. Her remark had struck home, it was clear, and even though she hadn’t meant for him to hear it, she should have every reason to be happy that it hit so strongly. But she couldn’t help the tendril of guilt that wound through her belly at the thought of hurting him.
Pushing those ridiculous thoughts out of her mind, telling herself he deserved those words and more, she said, “There you go. I left it blank. Just fill it in with the amount of the water heater, plus whatever my grandmother would have paid you for installing it.”
“I never would have let Helen pay me,” he said easily, accepting the check and folding it before tucking it in his pocket.