He shrugs. “I get close, you get squirrelly. You’re affected by me.Intimidatedby me.Admitit.”
“I’ll admit no such thing.” Clinging to the shredded scraps of my self-respect, I walk stiff-backed across the room and snatch his sweatshirt from the box where I folded it away this morning. The puppy trails in my wake, a tiny red shadow, watching with glossy brown eyes as I slip the garment over my head and yank it down to covermybody.
“When did you get a dog?” Luca asks, dropping into a crouch and whistling softly. The puppy eyes him for a moment, considering, then charges in his direction at Mach speed. Luca’s big hands ruck his fur as the mongrel yips with pleasure and licks at his downturned face. He laughs, a low sexy sound. The puppy yaps, delighted to have someone toplaywith.
I’m not a saint. I will freely admit that, as separate entities, both man and puppy are practically irresistible. Like crack. Or white cheddar popcorn. So, when you pair them together… when you put that adorable ginger puppy alongside the smoking hot red-headedfighter…
Oh. My.Freaking.God.
At the sight, my ovaries literally pang, I kid you not. I can barely look at the two of them wrestling on my bedroom floor without melting into a puddle of estrogen. Motionless, I stare at them, not even realizing I haven’t answered Luca’s question until his eyes lift to mine. He’s grinning with more joy than I’ve ever seen him express which, in itself, is enough to make it hard tobreathe.
“Babe? Stillwithme?”
“Sorry,” I say, shaking myself out of my trance. “He’s not mine. He’s my brotherDuncan’s.”
“Your brother’s here?” The grindisappears.
“He was, earlier. He was gone when I came home. Probably back to California, or off the grid for good.” I pause. “I thought he took the dog with him, but apparently I was mistaken — a fact I discovered about thirty seconds before you arrived, when I laid down to take a nap and found I wasn’t the only one under thecovers.”
“Ah. That explains thescreaming.”
I nod and walk closer, crouching down so I’m on their level. My hand shakes a bit as I reach out to allow the puppy to lick my knuckles. He does so, withenthusiasm.
“Hi, buddy,” I whisper. “Guess I’m stuck withyou,huh?”
His tail wags, as if he understands me. I couldn’t stop the smile that tugs my lips up even if I tried. Much as I might like to pretend otherwise, I am not immune to the canine cutenessfactor.
“And you’re stuck with me,” I murmur, stroking his ears. “Sorry about that, inadvance.”
When I feel the weight of a stare, I glance up and find Luca watching me with a strange look in his eyes. We’re alarmingly close — a foot or so apart, separated only by the furry, four-legged bodybetweenus.
“What?”Iask.
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t anothingkind oflook,Luca.”
He shrugs. “You’ve got a gentleness about you, underneath all that fire. Knew you could be kind; never knew you were sweet,though.”
“I’m not sweet,” I deny immediately. “Sassy, maybe. But definitely notsweet.”
“Beg todiffer,babe.”
“What did I say about callingmethat?”
He smiles, slow and sinful. “You want, I’ll come up with some other things to call you. Doubt you’ll like them anybetter.”
Retreat!
“Or you could just call me Lila, like everyone else on theplanet.”
“Thing is, though…” He leans in an inch and I swear, the air starts humming with palpable tension. “I don’t want to be like everyone else. Not when it comestoyou.”
Fall back! All units,fallback!
I push to my feet so I have an excuse to stop staring at him, taking a series of deep breaths that do absolutely nothing to calm my thunderingheartbeat.
“What are you doing here? Besides picking locks andharassingme?”