Chapter 8
Lucky opened his door and smiled at the sight that greeted him. Devyn was sitting on the floor next to a dog bed, with her back resting against the couch. Angel had her head resting on Devyn’s knee and Whiskers was on her back in the bed, with Devyn petting her belly.
The smile Devyn gave him warmed him from the inside out.
“They like me…well, they like me this morning,” she said.
“I see,” he told her, moving slowly toward the trio so as not to scare the animals. He crouched down in front of them, and the tip of Angel’s tail began to move back and forth. It was the first time he’d seen that kind of reaction from her since the Humane Society, and it thrilled him.
“You guys have a good morning?” he asked rhetorically. “I see you’ve got Dev in the palm of your hand, don’t you? What a good dog. And cat. The bestest animals in the world,” he crooned.
Devyn chuckled softly. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who baby talks to them.”
Lucky turned his head to smile and realized his face was inches from Devyn’s. “Morning, beautiful.”
“Morning,” she returned, blushing a bit.
“Sleep okay?” he asked.
“Extremely. You?”
“Best I’ve slept in a hell of a long time, if you really want to know. Must’ve been the human pillow curled up against me,” he said with a smile.
Her eyes dropped to the bag in his hand. “Are those doughnuts?”
“Depends. Did you eat something healthy this morning?” he teased.
Devyn pouted. “Seriously?”
“Yup. You were the one who admitted you’d eaten fourteen damn cheese sticks yesterday.”
“Cheese is good for you,” she protested.
“Maybe, but you have to eat other stuff along with it. Like vegetables and fruit. And protein. Pop-Tarts and peanut butter eggs don’t fit into any of those categories.”
“Are you seriously going to keep those doughnuts from me until I eat something you deem worthy first?”
“Yup,” Lucky said, not feeling bad about it for a second.
“Well, then, it’s a good thing I had a bowl of oatmeal already, isn’t it?” she crowed.
Lucky laughed, startling Angel and sending her scurrying backward.
“Sorry, girl,” he told her softly. “Didn’t mean to scare you.
Dev’s being silly this morning. Did she really eat oatmeal, or is she just saying that to get her hands on one of my doughnuts?
Maybe she fed you guys the oatmeal to get me to think she ate it.
Huh? Did you get a second breakfast this morning? ”
“Step away from the doughnuts and no one will get hurt,” Devyn warned in a fake serious tone.
God, Lucky loved this. Bantering back and forth with Devyn. Teasing her.
He moved without thought, putting his lips on hers.
They both froze in surprise for a heartbeat, before Devyn sighed and brought a hand up, clutching the front of his T-shirt in her hand.
The kiss went from light and teasing to deep and serious in seconds. She tasted like brown sugar and coffee, and Lucky couldn’t get enough.
He hadn’t meant to do this. Not right now. But since he was, Lucky was going to enjoy every second. He reached out and put a hand behind Devyn’s neck, increasing the intimacy of the moment. Their tongues moved together, learning the taste and feel of each other.
After what felt like minutes, but was probably only fifteen seconds or so, Lucky felt a nudge on his knee. He pulled back, licking his lips and staring at Devyn, trying to decide whether to throw her onto the couch right behind them, or put her over his shoulder and take her upstairs to his bed.
But a small sound caught his attention, and Lucky looked down.
Angel was standing next to him, and when she saw him looking at her, she put a paw up on his knee and whined.
Lucky hadn’t taken his hand from Devyn’s nape, and he felt as much as he heard her chuckle. “I think she’s jealous.”
Moving slowly, Lucky reached out with his free hand.
“Is that it, girl? You jealous? No need. You’ll always be number one with me.
But Dev here is gonna be around a lot. And I’m gonna kiss her again too.
So you’ll need to be okay with that. But me kissing her doesn’t mean you’re any less important.
Nope, you’re my pretty girl. You and Whiskers.
” Lucky knew he was talking nonsense, but he couldn’t deny he freaking loved that the dog had reached out to him.
It was the first time for a lot of things this morning, and he couldn’t be happier.
Lucky gently petted Angel’s head and rubbed her ears as he looked back at Devyn. “That was…” He was suddenly at a loss for words.
“Amazing? Wonderful? Pretty damn awesome?” Devyn said with a smile.
“Yeah. That,” Lucky agreed.
Angel was apparently done showing affection, and she turned and went back to her dog bed, curling up around Whiskers, who immediately started purring.
Her quick movement stirred the air around him, and Lucky realized for the first time that he stunk. He wrinkled his nose. “I need a shower.”
Devyn smiled. “Yeah. You do. Did you run a marathon this morning or what?”
“Only ten miles. Well, twelve, since Brain said something to irritate Trigger and he made us keep going.”
“Oh, only twelve. Slacker,” Devyn joked.
Lucky shook his head and stood.
“Hey!” Devyn said, reaching out and grabbing the hem of his shorts.
Lucky’s brain almost short-circuited, seeing her fingers so close to his cock. He managed to control his reaction so he didn’t freak her out by popping a woody in her face.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Gimme my doughnuts,” she ordered, holding out her hand and wiggling her fingers.
Lucky burst out laughing again. He’d smiled more this morning than he could remember doing so in the recent past. “Right, sorry. Here they are,” he said, holding out the bag as if it contained a bomb that might go off with the least amount of movement.
Devyn beamed and snatched it, immediately looking inside.
“I didn’t know what you liked. So I got a plain glazed, a cream-filled chocolate one, a cinnamon twist, and a cake one.”
“I like ’em all,” Devyn said with a smile. “Which is your favorite?”
“I don’t usually eat doughnuts,” Lucky told her honestly.
“If I held a gun to your head and told you that you had to eat one, which would it be?” she asked, still smiling.
“The cinnamon twist.”
“Okay. I’ll save it for you,” Devyn said. “But if you take ten years in the shower, I can’t guarantee it’ll still be here when you get out.”
“I’m not going to take ten years,” Lucky told her. “And if you want to eat them all, go for it. I can get more.”
“Not sure my ass needs four doughnuts added to it. Probably doesn’t even need one,” she mumbled.
Lucky reached down and put his finger under her chin so she had to look up at him.
When he was sure she was paying attention, he said, “I think I proved earlier that I like you exactly how you are. It wouldn’t matter to me if you put on a hundred pounds, or lost fifty.
Neither would exactly be healthy, but it wouldn’t make me like you or want you any less.
I don’t care if you don’t like to work out, or if you do yoga for an hour every night.
I want you to be healthy because I want you to be around for a very long time.
But anything you want, I’ll bend over backward to get for you because most of all, I want you to be happy. Okay?”
She swallowed hard before nodding. “Okay.”
He backed up and headed for the stairs without taking his gaze from hers.
When he reached the first step, Lucky looked back and said, “That was the best kiss I’ve had in my life.
And I’m not just saying that. We’re gonna work, Dev.
I’m gonna do everything in my power to help figure out what’s mucking up your head, and we’ll get through it.
You know what I do, what my job is, and if you can handle that, we can handle anything. Literally.
“I’ll be back after I get cleaned up and we’ll talk.
Then we’ll take the girls out and see if we can’t get them to take a short walk.
I haven’t done that yet, just tried walking them in the yard, so I don’t know how it’ll go.
But we’ll give it a shot. And I know you have to work this afternoon, but I can drop you off and head to post, then pick you up when your shift is over and bring you back here for dinner.
We’ll play the rest of the evening by ear. That all right with you?”
“Yes,” she said softly.
“Good.”
There was a lot more Lucky wanted to say. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, and if she ultimately decided she didn’t want to be with him, it would devastate him.
But instead, he turned and headed up the stairs to his bedroom.
He knew this would be the quickest shower he’d taken in quite a while.
He wanted to spend as much time as possible with Devyn.
He liked being around her. Bantering back and forth.
And he couldn’t help but admit he was dying of curiosity to know what was on her mind.
Devyn fell back against the couch and let out the breath she’d been holding with a long whoosh.
Good God, the man was lethal. He was a master at kissing.
She’d never gotten goose bumps from kissing someone before.
But the second his tongue wrapped around hers, she was a goner.
Then when he’d palmed the back of her neck? Goo.
She sat up and looked down at the animals. “Your dad is lethal,” she whispered. Neither Angel nor Whiskers responded, they just gazed up at her cautiously.
Moving slowly, Devyn stood and brought the bag of doughnuts into the kitchen.
She might’ve exaggerated her obsession with the tasty treats, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to enjoy the hell out of them.
She wasn’t picky when it came to her favorite.
She ate just about anything…except strawberry icing.
It was just fundamentally wrong to put fruit icing on a doughnut.