Deep down I thought he could be.
Without breaking stride, I kicked off my flip-flops and headed back to the bedroom to find Chase perched on the edge of my bed with Timber sitting in between his legs, his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth, giving the naked man on my bed googly eyes.
Once again, proving the dog I raised since a puppy, fed expensive food twice a day, bought birthday and Christmas presents for and took on daily walks was a traitor.
One handsome man walks in my door and my four-legged companion turns into Benedict Arnold.
Why didn’t my formerly loyal dog have more discerning taste?
Oh wait. Maybe I should ask that of myself.
“Timber,” I called. “Out.”
Timber didn’t move.
Of course he didn’t. Not when he had someone scratching him under his chin.
The expression on my dog’s face went from adoration to ecstasy.
Great. I should be the one in the middle of ecstasy.
“Timber, out!”
I ignored the man who raised a single eyebrow at me, and concentrated on the dog with selective hearing. When I got closer, I tossed the condoms and lube on the mattress and spotted a tennis ball peeking out from under the bed. I snagged it, showed it to Timber, then whipped it out the door.
With a shrill bark, Timber shot out of my bedroom at warp speed. I slammed the door behind him and sighed.
When I turned back to the bed, I barely caught it in time when Chase’s lips pulled up slightly and for a shocked second, I thought he might smile. He managed to catch his reaction and hide it.
I rolled my eyes. “How can I both like someone and dislike someone so much at the same time?”
“I keep asking myself the same question.”
“And yet, here you are.”
He tipped his head to the side. “Here I am.”
“Just a reminder, since you showed up here uninvited, I’m not responsible for any…” I also tipped my head and widened my eyes in a silent message.
“I’m aware.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“If it did, I wouldn’t be sitting naked on your bed waiting for you to come over here so I can show you how much I won’t be bothered.”
“Ooooh.”
“Yes, oh.”
One side of my mouth pulled up. “Now I like you a little more than five minutes ago.”
“I’m relieved.”
“You will be. But… uh…” I lifted a wait-a-minute finger. “Let me grab a towel.” I headed into the full bathroom attached to my bedroom, snagged one from the linen closet and when I came back out with it, I tossed it at him. He caught it against his chest, removed the bedspread and tossed it onto the floor, then spread out the large towel as I stripped off my clothes.
By the time I was naked, I was hard once again.
I wasn’t the only one.
Once he sat back down on the edge, I moved to stand in between his legs in the same spot where Timber had been. “Should I get on my knees so you can scratch me under my chin?”
“Will your leg twitch like Timber’s?”
Ah, yes. There it was. A hint of a sense of humor.
That alone made me think, yes, this would be worth it. He would be worth it. I would just need a little understanding and a whole lot of patience.
“My leg has the potential of twitching but not from chin scratches.” His dark eyes rolled up from my erection, now perpendicular to the rest of my body. “Impressive, right?”
“You call that impressive?”
I barked out a laugh. “Not the size—though, now you’ll give me a damn complex—I meant the ability to recover so quickly.”
“Ah.”
“Ah?”
“You’re not going to need it,” he explained.
“Yes, you already made me aware of that fact,” I said dryly.
“Do you have a problem with that?”
“Normally, I might. Tonight, I’m making an exception for you. I hope you appreciate it.”
He surged up from the bed, making me take a step back. When his hand snaked out, curled around the back of my neck and yanked me to him, it slammed me into his chest.
He immediately put his mouth to my ear, the wiry hairs tickling me, to murmur, “I appreciate it.”
A shiver shot through me.
It wasn’t only his voice that turned me on, it was everything about him. The power in which he held onto me. The breadth of his shoulders and chest. The dark hairs that covered his torso, lower stomach and thighs. His thick erection pressed to mine.
While his personality might be lacking, everything else was not.
Even better, with the way he looked at me like he was a hungry lion and I was an injured gazelle, I realized I might have unleashed a beast.
I was perfectly okay with that.
I could take gentle or rough. Words or silence. Quick or slow. I was fine with whatever Chase dished out as long as I was getting a piece of whatever he was serving.