Meaning, the guy had already been in the garage when I’d closed it. He’d only had to pick one measly little lock to get inside.
And he’d done it.
The man took a step forward, and I could finally see his face.
He was young, and the lower half of his face was covered with a dark beard that barely allowed one to look at the cruel slash of his lips.
He was tall, about six feet, and wiry.
Haggard had three inches and probably a hundred pounds on this dude.
But he wasn’t here…
The guy took another step forward, and I decided now was the time.
Either I did it now, or he’d get too close.
Body snapped his teeth at the man, and the man didn’t pause in his stride.
“Caviar!”
Body took off like he was trained to do.
A long time ago, when I’d learned Body’s ‘attack’ word, I’d wondered ‘what in the hell?’ But Haggard had explained to me it needed to be a word that the family didn’t use that often. It also needed to be a short word that Body wouldn’t be confused if he heard.
And let me tell you something, folks.
Body was not confused.
Not for a single second.
He went after the man like a missile. Honed and targeting the intruder with an intensity that would’ve been unsettling if I hadn’t been the one being protected.
Body hit the man low, aiming for his crotch.
The man put his hands down as if to fend him off, and Body latched onto his wrist and shook so roughly that I swear that I heard the man’s tendons snapping and bones breaking.
The man screamed.
Loud and high-pitched, as if he hadn’t expected the dog to actually attack him.
But I wasn’t making Body stop.
Reaching for the phone that was now in the crack of the chair I’d been in, I dialed 911.
The cops and Haggard showed almost right on top of each other.
I opened the door for the police right as Haggard pulled up in his company truck with his company trailer attached.
He bailed out of the truck and headed for the house, with the truck still running.
He hadn’t even made it to the front porch yet when I did it.
I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms and legs around his massive body.
We were touching from hip to chin, and I was shaking like a leaf.
But with each second that passed, Haggard’s body heat seeped through me.
“What the fuck?”
His rough voice was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.
CHAPTER 4
If you’re happy and you know it, it’s your meds.
-Haggard to Shine
HAGGARD
Anticipation thrummed through my veins at the thought of entering my house and seeing Sophia.
Where would she be sleeping?
My guess would be my recliner, and not Clem’s bed. Because, secretly, I knew that she liked my recliner. I mean, a man knows when shit’s moved in his house, and how convenient that every time she comes over, something is moved on that chair, or in my space?
But, more importantly, I could smell her.
She smelled like warm vanilla and cinnamon. Like cookies on a rainy, cold day.
Something that you wanted to eat, and never stop eating, until you were so full of her that you popped.
I was so lost in thought, and thinking about where I’d find her, and what I would do when I did, that at first I didn’t notice the police lights.
But then I realized those lights were coming up on me really fucking fast.
I sighed, knowing I was about to be pulled over.
Veering off slowly toward the side of the road—there was no way in hell I was getting all the way off with the weight of my trailer—I started to stop. Only, the red and blue lights, without their sirens, raced past me as if I was standing still.
A sick sort of fear started to take root in my gut as I slowly got moving forward again.
My fear turned into terrified knowing when I pulled up to my house and found those police cars that’d just passed me in my driveway, parked haphazardly, and cops running toward my door.
I pulled into my spot and got out, truck still running, and hauled ass toward my front door.
Only, before I could get even up the steps, I spotted Sophia in my t-shirt, looking lost.
The moment she spotted me, she launched herself off the porch at me.
The little ball of heat and shakes hit me like a linebacker.
I hadn’t thought she had it in her.
But the moment she hit me, my hands went two places.
One went around her upper body to pull her in tight so we both wouldn’t fall backward, and the other went to her lower body to support her.
Only, the one hand went so far around her that I was practically cupping her pretty little titty, while the other went to her ass. Her full ass was now in the palm of my hand. So much so that I could feel the edges of her panties on the inside seam of her thigh.