by Anne Conley
Zane probably had a woman in his bed for every night of the week, and she wouldn’t be another conquest. Barring that, she knew from past experience that the more self-assured a man was, the more he demanded of his relationships.
And she wasn’t down for that either.
“Hey there, Lettie.” His gum popped in his mouth, and she ignored the flutter in her belly as she wrangled the stray images in her mind. He grinned at her, exposing a dimple in one cheek she also ignored.
“Morning.” Her back safely to him once again, she concentrated on getting Otis out of his carrier in the back of the truck. Zane’s arms came across her line of vision with a leash in his hands, and he clamped it around the furball’s neck before she could protest.
“Here’s my little buddy.” His voice lowered as he spoke to the dog, and something unfurled inside Lettie at the sound. He stood next to her while he fussed over the puppy, cooing to it.
Cooing. He fucking cooed, his voice all low and grumbly. She had a hard time tearing her eyes away from the man and his throat as it worked, making all those sexy noises at a puppy.
Lettie cleared her throat. “I brought your adoption paperwork. As soon as I get these guys all settled, I’ll get it for you.”
Zane looked at her and smiled, his teeth sparkling and his gum peeking out between his incisors. “Awesome. I’m up first this morning for the shoot, so I’ll be able to fill it out at some point.” He lowered his face to Otis’s. “You’d love to come home with me, wouldn’t you?”
As he rubbed the dog’s nose with his, a pang of something hit Lettie as she watched. He seemed genuine in his affection for the puppy, and the puppy undoubtedly had something for Zane. Apparently, he tasted delicious, as Otis’s tongue lolled out and swiped up Zane’s face.
Zane laughed, and Lettie ignored it all, desperate to get the rest of the barking puppies out of their enclosures.
“If you want to help, there’s a stack of folded crates behind the cab. You can bring those inside.” She needed him to do something besides distract her mercilessly.
A half-hour later, all the animals were inside and set up in the corner of the garage with the soothing blankets on the cages of the most jittery.
Wanda rushed up to them. “Okay, I need you,” she pointed to Zane, “in the pants, suspenders, and hat.” She thrust a bottle of baby oil in his hands. “Glistening, please.” Turning on Lettie, she continued. “Find me someone fluffy and get him or her brushed out so he’s all shiny and stuff.”
“I’ve got just the one.” She pulled Otis out of Zane’s arms and started brushing him. Wanda murmured her approval before going to the cameras and adjusting the light reflectors. Thankfully, Zane went to the other end of the room, where the lockers were, and began disrobing. She didn’t look. Much.
Who the hell was she kidding? Arranging herself so she could see Zane while watching the animals, Lettie picked a smallish Doberman-mix puppy to groom in case Wanda wanted something different. She’d initially chosen Otis so he could bond with Zane before the adoption. The mostly white puppy with the brown spots was a nice contrast to his dark skin, but the Doberman would complement it.
And holy cow, was there a lot of skin on display.
She tried not to gawk as his smooth skin was exposed, but she couldn’t help it. Her tongue suddenly too big for her mouth, she tried to swallow as Zane undressed to his underwear, completely immodest. He tugged on the pants and pulled up his suspenders, muscles flexing and clenching. The pants were baggy and hung low, only held up by the suspender straps. He turned to reach for his hat, and Lettie stopped looking at the “V” and started looking at the rounded top of his ass. She dragged her eyes up to something more appropriate and saw Zane had a tattoo of what looked like a cross or something on his shoulder, but she couldn’t tell from this distance.
And watching him oil up felt just sinful.
Her body was reacting to the display in ways she didn’t fully appreciate. Her breasts got heavy, and her nipples puckered and tingled as he ran his hands across his torso, leaving a glistening trail behind. There was something about it. She wanted to help him, and when Wanda went over and pointed out spots he’d missed, he struggled to reach them, and Lettie almost jumped up and offered herself as tribute.
No. She wouldn’t do that.
Lettie outlined, yet again, the reasons she wasn’t going to get involved with Zane. But as the puppies calmed and got used to their surroundings, she got lost in watching Zane pose for the camera.
For the most part, he ignored the hoots and hollers from the other guys, which spoke to a self-confidence that terrified her. Thomas, her last boyfriend, was charming, but he was so broke and had managed to convince her to let him borrow her credit cards. Lettie still had no idea how that had all happened, but instead of helping her pay them back—like he’d spelled out in his hedgehog-breeding scheme—he’d maxed them out and disappeared for a month and a half, leaving her with a mountain of debt and ruined credit. Then, to make matters worse, he’d come back—all smiles and shit, like nothing had happened—and acted like they were still a couple. It was her own damn fault. She’d forgotten he was part of testing the theory she had, and that had been an expensive lesson learned.
She smiled as Zane casually flipped the bird to an especially vocal group of men standing off to one side. When his gaze landed on her, he caught her smiling in his direction, and something heated in his gaze.
“Hold that. Right there, that’s perfect. I just heard panties exploding.” Lettie couldn’t tell who exactly Wanda was talking to. It should have been Zane but sounded like it was herself. Apparently, it was everybody because the hoots and hollers got even louder.
Her face fired with heat, and Zane’s got even more sinister-looking. At least that’s what she told herself. In actuality, his eyes had darkened to near coal-black, and he licked his bottom lip as he stared at her. In a move that should have been super-cheesy but made her panties disintegrate instead, he bit his bottom lip and just stared at her while Wanda clicked away with the camera.
Her smile long gone, Lettie dropped her face into the puppy’s fur. The Doberman-mix had fallen asleep in her arms, and she inhaled the clean puppy smell hoping to get her libido under control. She couldn’t find the prior feelings of indignation she’d just had while she’d been trying to enumerate all the reasons she couldn’t do this. All she could imagine was what Zane would feel like when they kissed.
Because now she had to.
Lettie had a theory about men. So far, the theory had served her well. All she had to do was kiss Zane, and however he kissed was what sort of boyfriend he would be. She had ignored Thomas’s lackluster kiss. The carelessness of it should have been a warning for her because that’s exactly what sort of boyfriend he’d been.
The theory had developed in high school. It was a good theory, but she’d had to test it out and actually date the guys she’d kissed to carry the experiment through. Thomas had been a careless kisser, as well as a careless lover, and had certainly been careless with her financial well-being. She wasn’t even going to think about her emotional stuff during their relationship.
Before Thomas had been Cedric. He’d been a sloppy kisser. And a sloppy man. She’d never had sex with him but could only assume he was an equally sloppy lover.
Before Cedric was Ian. Ian’s kisses had been prim and proper, his hands never straying far. As they’d done in all things.
The list didn’t go on forever because it was exhausting, and she was Lettie and hadn’t tested it as extensively as a more outgoing woman would have. Since Thomas, she’d vowed to let the kiss do the telling, so how Zane kissed would be how he would be. And she wouldn’t do the dating thing to figure it out this time. She would save herself the trouble.
If she ended up with his damn chewing gum in her mouth, she was done. There was no way.
After Zane’s shoot was finished, he went to a meeting in some back room and was gone for most of the day. By the time they were finished, Lettie was packing up the dogs and cats to go put them back for the day.
“Sorry. You got the paperwork for Otis?” He jogged back to where she was, making it look effortless. It made her a little sick. If she’d jogged through this building, her face would be red, her hair would be flying out of her bun, and she’d have sweat stains in her pits. As it was, Zane just looked gorgeous.
“Yeah.” Lettie dug around in her backpack and came out with a clipboard and an attached pen before looking away. “Fill out the top three pages, and then the bottom two are yours to keep. I’ve got his shot record in my truck. We can get that after I get these guys taken care of.” Which was now. She gathered the remaining dogs’ leashes, having already put the cats and half the puppies in the truck.
It was awkward, walking five dogs at once, but she’d almost made it when Zane met her outside. He took three leashes from her, relieving her burden.
“Can I ask you out again? I really want to take you to dinner.” The heat from earlier was gone from his face, replaced with an earnestness. It was hard to say no.
She sighed. “One thing first.” It was now or never. Raising herself on her tiptoes, she leaned forward, resting one hand with the leashes wrapped around her wrist on his shoulder. His eyes lit up and he lowered his head but stayed still, clearly wanting her to broach the distance.
Strike one. He was making her do the work. It was pretty obvious she was coming in for a kiss, so the least he could do was meet her halfway.
She gently caressed his lips with hers, his cinnamon gum overwhelming her with spicy sweetness. That sort of undid his strike of making her make this move. Hygiene was super important, and Zane seemed to take care of himself. He certainly tasted good.
Lettie went to back up to end the kiss, but Zane’s hand went to the back of her head, holding her in place.
Strike one. Again. Since the first strike was erased with the nice breath, this was the first strike. Right?
Now she didn’t have control over the kiss anymore. So yeah. Strike one. Definitely.
His soft lips molded perfectly to hers as he moved his mouth across hers. That was nice. It might undo the first strike again. He angled her head so he could slant his mouth over hers, and his tongue pressed against her lips.
Pushy. Strike two.
But her body didn’t seem to agree. Her breasts were doing that tingly thing again, and Lettie realized she was pressing against him. Or were the leashes wrapping around them, pressing them together?
He licked the seam of her lips, and Lettie gasped. Taking advantage, Zane swept his tongue in effortlessly. That would be another strike, except Lettie couldn’t think anymore. His cinnamon flavor was spicy and sweet and completely overwhelming. She’d lost count of which strikes had been overridden and which ones stuck, and what were the strikes for anyway?
His tongue was doing unspeakable things to her mouth, and Lettie realized she was clutching his hair as if it were a lifeline. They were tangled in leashes as the dogs danced around them, but neither of them seemed to care. His mouth closed around her bottom lip and suckled, nipping it softly with his sharp teeth.
This was a nice kiss. Better than nice. Her insides were completely exploding, and she was tempted to wrap her legs around him and grind until she got off. She was surprised. Nobody had ever made her lose it like this.
She pressed against him, a gurgle of approval sounding in the back of her throat at the impressive length against her hip. Lettie couldn’t help herself. She squirmed, his answering groan making her skin erupt in gooseflesh.
And then, as if they were reenacting the scene from 101 Dalmatians, the dogs tightened the leashes at the same time someone yelled, “This isn’t the goddamn Love Boat, Romeo!”
Zane’s head snapped back, and they both lost their balance, crashing to the ground in a tangle of arms, legs, dogs, and leashes. Their heads banged together, and Zane crushed Lettie underneath his massive body.
“Jesus! Sorry!”
That was three strikes in one move.
If the kiss was anything to go by, and it was—she had vowed to make it so—it didn’t matter how great their relationship/dates/sex/whatever was, it would hurt her.
Very telling. Zane would start out nice, explosive even, but anything Lettie started with him would end up a disaster of epic proportions.
Chapter Three
Zane felt like he’d blown any chances with Lettie and couldn’t quite figure out why. Sure, the kiss hadn’t ended well—with the head conking and the tangling of dogs—but that really hadn’t been his fault. Had it?
She had kissed him first, and it had blown his mind. Even still, the memory gave him a hard-on that could totally cut steel.
And he now had Otis, who had zero car manners, walking all over his crotch in an effort to get to the open window.
He managed to get home without having an accident and put Otis inside with a bowl of water before going back out to hit up the store for dog stuff. He’d adopted the puppy but hadn’t planned for it. He needed food, a bed, dog toys, shit like that, and he had none of it.
One hundred fifty-seven dollars later, he thought he was set and on his way back home. Pulling up in his driveway, the phone rang.
It was his brother, Rafe.
“Hey, man. It’s time to come back. Grandpa died this morning.”
“Shit.” Zane had opened his door to find his sofa innards strewn all over the living room, but the sentiment fit with the phone conversation as well. Grandpa had been sick for a while and on hospice for the last two weeks. Zane had gone to his parents’ house a couple of weekends ago to say his goodbyes, but now it was time to go back. He should have thought of this before he jumped to adopt Otis, who was looking at him with an ear cocked, as if wondering what he was supposed to do.
“Yeah. Mom’s pretty upset. I’m not sure why though. It’s not like we didn’t know this was coming.”
“Dude, you didn’t say that to her, did you?” Zane was picking through cushion stuffing, wondering how something so damn cute could be so destructive. At least he hadn’t been super-fond of this couch.
“Fuck no. But I’d like to tell her you’ll be here tonight.”
“No can do. But I can be there tomorrow.” He added calling the chief to his list of things to do. He had some vacation time.
“Close enough. Bring your suit.”
“Give her a hug for me and tell her I’ll be there by lunchtime.” Zane hung up and heaved a sigh. He couldn’t take the dog, and he clearly couldn’t leave him here alone.
Which left his buddies. He called Jude.
“Not now. Annette and I are going to the cabin for a couple of days. I wasn’t planning on taking care of a puppy, if you know what I mean.”
Joey wasn’t much better. In fact, even if he had said yes, Zane was pretty sure Carly would spoil the dog mercilessly and he’d never have a chance to get him back.
And he wasn’t calling Logan—the taciturn dude barely tolerated Zane on a good day. He wouldn’t bend over backward to do anything for him.
Which left one other person.
“Pamona Gulch Animal Shelter, Becca speaking.”
“Uh, is Lettie still there?” Zane looked at his watch, realizing it was dinnertime. She might have gone home already.
“As a matter of fact, you just caught her. Hang on.” There was clatter as the girl dropped the receiver and then yelled, “Lettie! Phone!”
“What have I told you about yelling?” Zane smiled at Lettie’s irritated tone directed at someone else for once. “Yes?”
“Hi, it’s Zane. I need a favor.”
“I won’t go out to dinner with you. I’m sorry, but that’s a no-go.
”
“No. It’s not that, actually.” He deflected his hurt feelings. He had no idea why she’d been so adamant with her rejection after the kiss that could have gone better. “My grandpa died and I have to go out of town. I can’t take Otis with me.”
“You want us to take him back?” She didn’t even try to hide the disgust in her voice.
“No. I want to hire you to housesit for me while I’m gone. You can do your regular stuff, just come home and stay with him at night. I tried getting some of my buddies to do it, but they can’t with such short notice. You’re really my only shot here, unless I board him, and I don’t want to do that. He doesn’t realize I’m his forever guy yet, and I want him to smell me and all my stuff while I’m gone.” He heard the words come out of his mouth and knew exactly how stupid they sounded.
“That’s actually sweet, Zane.”
Okay, maybe not so stupid. His chest puffed up with pride, and he couldn’t stop the ridiculousness from spewing forth. “You want to go out to dinner and discuss things?”
“No. Just give me your address and leave a note. I can figure it out.”
But he heard the smile in her voice. Maybe it wasn’t a lost cause.
Chapter Four
Lettie,
Thank you so much for taking care of Otis while I’m gone. The dog food is in the pantry. He’s got a basket of toys in the living room, but I’m pretty sure he likes my sofa better. We haven’t established a routine yet, so I can’t tell you anything regarding that. I fed him this morning, so if you’ll feed him again tonight and then twice a day, that would be great.
I’ll be calling to Skype with him, so be home around 6:30. That’s after my parents’ dinnertime because they eat at old people o’clock. They go to bed shortly after that, so I’ll be bored and wanting to play with my dog.
There’s a brush and grooming supplies on the kitchen window, but I haven’t used any of them yet. If you need to buy anything for Otis, save receipts and I’ll pay you back.