Charlie laughed. “Am I going to get hazard pay for this?”
“Of course! Name your price.”
“I’m going to need to think on what would be appropriate and get back to you. But it’s going to be something hefty.” Charlie grinned at her, clearly kidding.
“All right, let’s do this.” Harper stood and moved to the top of the couch behind Charlie’s head so she could gently wake Franky. She started by just scratching her neck, and Franky’s eyes fluttered opened for a second, but she harrumphed, and they closed again. “Okay, guess I’m going to have to be a little more forceful.”
“She’s really out of it. Is she okay?”
“Yeah, it’s the drugs. It’s why I don’t like to give them to her other than during thunderstorms and the Fourth of July. It’s either zombie mode or total mess.”
Harper leaned down and pressed noisy kisses into Franky’s neck. Franky stirred but not enough, so Harper knew she was going to have to pull out the big guns. She pressed her lips against Franky’s neck and blew, and Franky’s head immediately popped up, eyes wide.
However, when she locked eyes with Charlie, Harper realized with a jolt just how close their faces were. Mere inches separated them. Breathing the same air. Harper’s breath caught, and Charlie’s eyes went wide too.
Panic gripped Harper, and she took three quick steps back. “Come on, Franky. You want a treat?” She tried to regulate herbreathing as she went to the kitchen and pulled out a bag of crunchy peanut butter and bacon treats, Franky’s favorite.
Franky was nothing if not predictable as she slowly hopped off Charlie and lumbered to the kitchen. “Yes, good girl,” Harper praised. “Why don’t you go lie down in bed?”
“She knows to go to bed?” Charlie asked as she pulled the blanket off and sat up, rubbing a spot in the center of her chest. “Man, Franky has big paws.”
Harper was surprised to see that Charlie must have gone home to change before hunkering down with Franky and tried not to stare at the V-neck of her white shirt that provided an enticing glimpse of cleavage. Or the creamy skin of her long legs revealed by her very short shorts. She’d only seen those legs in leggings.
Jeez Louise.
Harper tried to shake some sense into herself. “Yeah, sorry, she’s a bit of an oaf and doesn’t have a lot of body awareness. And, yes, she knows the word bed. It’s one of her favorite times of the day.”
“Mine too these days.” Charlie yawned and stretched her arms overhead before folding at the waist until she touched her toes.
Harper’s mouth went dry, and she blinked her eyes closed, holding them tight as though she could physically block her body’s reaction if she didn’t let a sliver of light in. Spoiler alert, it didn’t work as the image of Charlie, her arms dangling as she swayed, seemed burned on the backs of her eyelids.
“That makes my back feel so much better. Franky did a number on me, but I can feel everything releasing.” She moaned, and Harper thought she might die.
“That, uh, that really helps your back, huh? Just bending over like that?”
“Totally. It’s one of my favorite yoga postures. Aptly calledforward fold.” Her voice was a little muffled as she continued swaying as she slowly stood. When she was upright again, she pushed her fists into her lower back and arched as she turned toward Harper, thrusting her chest out.
Harper couldn’t take it. She pulled a glass out of the cupboard, filling it with tap water, having forgotten about the glass she’d filled just moments before and abandoned on the counter until a glint of reflected light caught her eye. Oh well. By the time she downed the glass, Charlie thankfully seemed to be done torturing her and was grabbing her phone off the table. Harper cleared her throat. “Thanks again for taking care of Franky. You went above and beyond. Are you sure I can’t pay you?”
“I’m positive. Thank you, though.” When Harper tried to protest, Charlie continued, “No, really. Franky was…good for my soul tonight. So it was perfect. She was my therapy dog.”
“Okay, well, thank you again. And drinks are on the house. Whenever, okay?” Harper ignored the urge to hug her and stayed rooted in place as Charlie let herself out. It had to be because it was coming up on four a.m., and Harper was exhausted. That was the only reason her body was betraying her. And Charlie had been so sweet to take such good care of Franky.
It was the only thing that made sense.
Chapter Nine
Charlie awoke feeling much more refreshed than a mere handful of hours of sleep would generally leave her. Especially since the first half of her night had been spent on Harper’s couch under a large dog. She would never have expected that sleep to be even remotely restful, yet it had been.
When Harper had woken her, she’d been so disoriented, she’d thought a lover was waking her up so gently. Which was ridiculous. She hadn’t dated in three years. Maybe four at this point. And certainly, no one had ever done that with the gentle care Harper had shown her.
Franky really had been her savior. Maybe she should get a dog. She certainly had the time right now. But, no, she didn’t know what her plans really were. She wasn’t doing anything more than killing time in Key West as she figured it all out. Hell, it wasn’t like she’d even meant to come here. It was just where the road had ended.
She chuckled to herself as she thought about how strange that all was. She’d never been to the Keys before and hadn’t ever even planned on it, but because she had been in shock and couldn’t make any decisions, she’d literally driven her car until the road ended, which luckily had been at a hotel.
Thinking of her unintentional road trip reminded her that she should text her parents again. After the other night, they’d taken turns texting back and forth. Charlie hadn’t told them that she was in Florida, nor that she was no longer with the bank. But they were probably starting to guess, given the frequency of hertexts and the speed with which she answered them. Even before they’d fallen out, it would normally take her hours to text back when she was at work, which was approximately eighteen to twenty hours a day back then. She had been deep in the trenches at that point.
She tapped out a quick,Good morning. How’s Gainesville today?before she rolled out of bed and headed into the bathroom. While she was brushing her teeth, her mom texted back.