Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
“How do I look?” I did a full spin for Nova, who was half-snoozing on my bed, nose nuzzled up against his paws. I’d worn my white halter bikini and pulled on my long flowy boho skirt over the bottoms. “Ready for anything? Because that’s the vibe I’m going for—on multiple levels if you catch my drift.”
Ears perked, Nova leapt to the floor and completed a spin. When he didn’t think I was paying him enough attention, he nipped at the edge of the skirt.
“Hey, hey, hey!” I scooped him up and tapped his little nose, and was immediately rewarded with a long, sticky swipe of his tongue. “Oh, thank you so much. I was just thinking why smell like my perfume when I could go with that special au de dog breath.”
I carried him to the foot of the bed and flopped down with him on my lap, facing me. “Before we go, do you remember what we talked about?”
He neither confirmed nor denied, so I rubbed the tips of his ears between my fingers as I recapped our plan. “You’re going to be an extra good boy and share the spotlight a little, m’kay? No offense, but you tend to steal the show.”
He barked at the seashell lamp on my bedside table as if it’d personally offended him. A low growl came out, and I barely caught him around the middle before he carried out an attack that would leave the glass, fill-it-yourself base in smithereens.
“Seriously? What’s your beef with the lamp? That I collected the shells without you? Because it’s before I met you, and I swear, there are no leftover critters in there, like the ones you find on the beach. Now, back to our plan. I know how much you like Graham, but you already get to spend time with him, and I really like him too. I need him to notice me and the make-out-with-me-already vibes I’m sending.”
The heaved sigh made it clear my puppy did not care.
“I’m not telling you not to be your charming self.” I cupped his muzzle and dropped my nose to his. “I’m only asking for a stolen moment or two. How else will he figure out that I’m also fun to hang out with?”
At the knock at the door, I jolted, but Nova took off like a bullet. His nails scrabbled for purchase, and I stepped into my braided flip-flips and rushed toward the door, the smack of soles and excited scrabbling at the door turning into a whole, raucous ordeal.
Graham tapped on the window each time she jumped, higher and higher to peek through the front door window. “If you don’t give me some room, I won’t be able to let him in, Noves.”
Big surprise, he didn’t listen. The instant I opened the door, my dog charged between the plywood and the jamb, leaping into Graham’s arms, and I knew I’d lost.
I was going on an outing with the guy I’d been crushing on for weeks, while the two of them were rekindling their ongoing lovefest.
Not that I could really blame either one of them. Graham looked more delicious than ever, wearing dark gray pants and a baby blue T-shirt that hugged his pecs and displayed toned biceps. His hair was freshly gelled, and I was fairly certain he’d trimmed up the beard that emphasized his lips.
“Are you ready for your first official All-American day?” I asked, bouncing on the balls of my feet to convey the type of excitement he should be expressing.
“I’m… here.”
A laugh burst out of me. “That’s almost the same thing. Don’t worry.” I patted his shoulder, a whorl of heat unfurling at how firm and rounded it felt beneath my palm. “I’m the best tour guide there is. The perfect mix of information and enthusiasm.”
“Now that, I’m ready for,” he said, straightening and offering his elbow, and everything was primarily going according to plan.
We piled into my car and drove the three and a half miles to the beach. While I’d accounted for the parking situation—it was always a special sort of hell on the weekends—it took driving a few extra wide circles until we got lucky. Not only a spot, but a shaded one.
We hit the boardwalk in style, Nova leading the way. He got up close and personal with Graham’s crotch, and I was a pinch jealous until he took things to the extra mile by sniffing several other’s crotches as well.
“Sorry,” I said to beachgoers for what felt like the dozenth time, my cheeks burning.
“Mind if I…” Graham gestured for the leash, giving it a sideways tug. “Nova, leave it,” he said, with such authority my spine straightened as well. Whatever he wanted me to leave, I was all in. “Good boy,” he purred, and I about melted into the sand, wondering where was my praise?
“It’s okay.” Graham splayed his hand on my lower back and gave me a consoling little rub. “It takes time. You’ve got to put conviction into your voice when you give him commands.”
I sucked air in through my teeth as I crinkled my nose. “I always feel too mean.”
“It’s not mean. He’ll be rewarded for good behavior, and it’s important for him to know how to listen and behave, for his safety and happiness as well. You’ve got to show him who’s in control. So?” His malachite eyes land on mine. “Who’s in control?”
Right now, Graham was. If he snapped his fingers and gave a command, I’d rush to comply. It’d been a long time since I’d allowed a guy to have so much sway over me. A thread of panic stitched its way into my whirring emotions.
Graham continued to stare, and I wanted him to keep on gazing at me like that while also fearing I couldn’t withstand that much scrutiny. It was so hard to stand up to, my flaws always so near the surface. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t downplay who I was to become the woman some guy wanted me to be anymore.
But this wasn’t just some guy.
Anyway, he might not be.
His eyebrow inched higher as his face drifted closer, and I wanted to close my eyes and give into the pull. To press my mouth to his and take a taste. To show him that I was onboard with turning this puppysitting arrangement into more.
Too bad I’d promised myself and my friends I’d do a better job of thinking things through. Jumping all in, paying no mind to how it’d end made life less boring.
Till you hit bottom.
Hard and unforgiving, and it could take months to heal.
“Now, you try.” Graham placed the end of the leash in my hands.
“Fine.” I batted my eyes. “As long as you have another treat for me in your pants.”
Delete, delete, delete . “Whoa, that came out wrong. I meant it like…” While I’d intended for it to come out flirty, the “in your pants” took it to the super-suggestive level, and his dropped mouth and cartoonish bulge of his eyes made me grasp harder for words to fix it. “Candy or something yummy to suck on.”
Fuck me.
The fire of a thousand suns lit my face at once, and I covered it up with my hands, legit hoping to be incinerated on the spot. “Odin’s raven, I’m making it worse. Which isn’t to say…” I shook my head. “I’m done now.” I mimicked zipping my lip, the handle of the leash bumping my chin. “For the safety of everyone, I’m gonna just stand here and think about my life for the rest of the afternoon.”
Graham chuckled. Gently, he pried my fingers from my face and cupped my chin. “Don’t worry. I enjoy your excitability as much as Nova’s.”
Since I was mature, I stuck out my tongue. Nothing says a guy’s interested better than comparing you to a dog with an overeager bladder.
The way his eyes crinkled at the corners as his smile spread, however, was quite a sight to behold. Here on the boardwalk, he seemed freer. Less reserved and more in the moment. Was this the version Nova got to spend time around?
Another reason to be envious of my bouncy little beastie, who’d flopped down on my shoes, content to rest while I made a fool of myself. Then again, he wasn’t interrupting, so perhaps our pregame chat had made a difference.
“Don’t stick that out if you’re not going to use it,” Graham teased, and his eyebrows leapt up with the words, as if he’d managed to surprise himself by being bold right back.
“Well, are you going to gimme a treat, or what?”
He wound his fingers in the loose fabric of my skirt, twisting until a few extra inches of my shin showed. “Someone led me to believe you were the one treating me today.”
“Now that you mention it,” I said, a dozen butterflies taking flight in my gut, “I do vaguely recall something like that.”
His warm breath wafted over my temple, stirring the strands of hair that’d fallen out of my high ponytail. “Did I mention that I find this outfit you’re wearing rather delicious? As if I didn’t have a hard enough time keeping my eyes off you before.”
Holy shit, he was flirting back. That meant he was at least sorta interested, right? That I could count this as a green light? “Thank you. This way, I’m prepared for wherever the day might take me. And if that includes having your eyes on me, even better.”
His fingers tensed, and his other hand drifted to my opposite hip bone.
Now Nova realized there was more going on, an activity not centered on him, so he popped up and ran a circle around us, binding our legs in his leash in a flash. Normally I wouldn’t complain, as that type of help was in the gameplan, only then he noticed a nearby trashcan, darting full speed ahead to discover its treasures.
“No, Nova. Leave it—aahhh— sit .”
The command rang through the air, dripping with the authoritative tone I’d always struggled to use. Back in school with classmates who were jerks, at the bar when the dudes I should’ve already cut off got super rowdy and handsy. When one of my girlfriends went through my phone without permission or when my last boyfriend would talk and walk right over me, and I’d concede because it wasn’t worth a fight.
I clung to Graham, sure we were going down.
Then Nova’s rump hit the sandy walkway mere moments before we would’ve had she not listened.
A squeal came out as I placed my hands on Graham’s broad shoulders and did the best jig I could while bound. “Did you see that? I gave him an order, and he actually listened!”
He grinned, then stumbled. “Whoa, there.” A phrase found in old western movies, only filtered through a refined accent that belonged in the theater. Shakespeare or the like, and I should probably be more concerned that we were structurally unstable.
Graham slid an arm around my waist, securing me tight to his body as his other palm hit the cement half wall that separated the walkway from the sandy beach.
I lowered myself to sit on the top so we could untangle the leash from our legs, tugging Nova closer to praise him while catching my breath. “Okay, now you can lead the way,” I told my puppy. “But no more crotch sniffing. Even if we did have the money to buy all those people drinks first, that doesn’t give you consent.”
I popped to my feet, and in his excitement, Nova charged off in the direction we’d come. I pulled him short, tipping my head to indicate the other direction. “The place with the burgers, burritos, and sandos the size of your head, remember? And as long as you behave on the walk there, I’ll order you a peanut butter sundae.”
While Nova loved the place and their special doggie sundaes, he wasn’t so great with directions. Or distractions, for that matter, and I was right there with him. Not that I kept my ADHD a secret, but I typically masked as hard as I could so people would stick around and see I was more than a blustery disaster who forgot a lot of things.
I turned to Graham, taking a risk and extending a hand in his direction.
My heart hammered faster and faster, the risk of rejection tightening my belly and drawing out each second.
Not only did he slide his palm into mine, he laced our fingers together, tucking me closer as the three of us continued to the next leg of our adventure: food.