Chapter 10 #2
I quickly turned my back on the sight of the sexy man holding an adorable puppy before I could melt into a puddle right there in the middle of my office. What was it about big men holding tiny animals that made a woman’s ovaries start working double time?
Clearing my throat, I shook off the stupor and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help.”
I glanced over my shoulder just as Raylan rose to his full height with the puppy in his arms. He held him a few inches from his face, chuckling as the dog squirmed and nipped like crazy, trying his best to attack Raylan’s stubble-covered chin. “Help with what?”
“With our little terror.” He pointed a finger at the dog he’d just tucked under his arm like a football. “I said I would, remember? That he was both our responsibility?”
I blinked, my mind slow to grasp what he’d just said as his use of the word our sunk in and sent a spark through parts of me that shouldn’t be sparking. “You . . . you came all the way down here to help with the puppy?”
Raylan’s brows pulled together as his head canted to the side. “Well, yeah. I went by your place first, but when I realized you weren’t there, I came here. After all, we’re in this together, right?”
Damn it. He was being sweet, and I didn’t know how the hell I was supposed to keep my guard up against sweet.
It was so much easier to protect my heart when he was being an asshole.
As it was, I could already feel the burn starting in my sinuses, warning me that I was about to get all soft and weepy.
I didn’t do soft and weepy often, and when I did, it was usually over some poor, defenseless animal, but I felt the pressure building against the dam in my eyes.
It was at serious risk of bursting if I didn’t pull myself together.
I lowered my eyelids and shook my head, giving myself a moment to silently shore up my defenses.
“Um, y-yeah. Okay . . . thanks.” I went back to preparing the bottle, keeping my focus on the task with the intensity of a person defusing a bomb.
Anything to keep from looking back at a puppy-carting Raylan Bradbury.
Hell, I could have made a killing, taking pictures of him with that dog and turning them into a calendar.
Christ, I needed to get my head screwed on straight. I went back to the task at hand, doing everything to tune the man out. If only it were that easy. That soft spot I’d always harbored for Raylan was still very much there, no matter how much I tried to ignore it.
“Hey, you all right?”
“Jesus!” I whipped around, damn near jumping out of my skin. One second he was across the office, and the next he was standing right behind me, so close I felt his breath caress the back of my neck. “Where did you come from? You’re like a freaking ninja.”
One corner of his mouth quirked up in a teasing smirk, the gunmetal flecks in his eyes dancing with mischief.
It was a look I hadn’t seen on him in a long time.
Not since we started fighting like cats and dogs over every little thing.
“What’s got you so jumpy, Chaos? It’s almost like .
. . you’re nervous or something.” He tilted his head to the side, his grin growing into a cunning smile.
I was so busy watching those blue eyes swirl that I didn’t notice his hand coming up until his fingers brushed lightly across my temple, tucking a piece of loose hair behind my ear and setting off a flurry of butterflies in my belly. “What could you be nervous about, huh?”
Oh, that sexy, rugged bastard. He was playing games again.
I was usually a hell of a lot better at giving as good as I got, but I hadn’t been prepared for this.
I was struggling to keep from falling under whatever spell he was trying to weave, and that damn adorable puppy wasn’t helping matters one bit.
Fortunately, someone chose that very moment to knock on my office door, bursting the bubble surrounding us and saving me from myself, because a few more seconds and I wasn’t sure what could have happened.
The door swung open a second later. “Hey, Boss Lady—” Davis’s words cut off the instant he saw Raylan and me standing way too close. I took a quick step back, nearly stumbling over my own feet. Raylan’s free arm shot out, wrapping around my waist and yanking me to him before I could fall on my ass.
Davis’s brows pulled together as I pushed against Raylan’s hold and put some distance between us, but it was too late. The press of all that hard, warm muscle against me penetrated my senses in the blink of an eye, muddling my mind more than it already had been.
“Everything good, Lenni?” Davis asked, his gaze darting between Raylan and me, the furrow between his brows deepening with his frown. Raylan’s scowl closely matched that of my bartender, and the air in the room suddenly grew sticky with toxic masculinity.
“Yep. All good, Davis. Is, uh . . . is there something you needed?”
“Yeah. We got a busted keg line and Stephanie just went racin’ off the floor toward the bathroom. Addy said she’s in there puking her guts up.”
A twitch formed in my eyelid as I blew out a breath and reached up to massage the dull ache between my eyes. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. “Okay, Davis. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll be right out.”
“No problem. You need me to look after that little guy while you go put out these fires? I’m happy to help.”
A low, threatening rumble came from Raylan’s chest before he spoke. “Thanks, David, but I’ve got it. That’s why I’m here.”
Davis bristled at Raylan’s tone. “It’s Davis.”
“Sure, buddy. Whatever.”
I jerked my head around, a frown puckering my forehead as I whispered, “What has gotten into you?”
“It’s just that I know you aren’t really a fan of having random people in your office.” Davis cut his eyes back to Raylan for just a moment.
“It’s really okay—”
Raylan cut me off. “Trust me, bud. I’m a hell of a lot more than some random guy. And this is our dog. We co-own it. So how about you leave me to taking care of my dog and go pour some drinks, yeah?”
“Raylan!” I snapped, my jaw hinging open in shock. “Not cool, man.”
Davis spoke up, offering me a smile that would have probably melted the panties off at least half the women out in the bar just then. “No, it’s fine, Lenni. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure he can handle a tiny dog. I’ll give you a hand out here with the big stuff.”
I was so over this day and the pissing contest taking place in my office, so I did the only thing I could think to do. I shoved the puppy’s bottle at Raylan and pushed past Davis out into the hallway without saying a word.
It was going to be a long freaking night.