High Heat (Hotshots 2)

In his room, he tossed the dog toy on Cookie’s ridiculous pink bed. “Go lie down.”

It took some more encouraging, but finally she spun in a circle and plopped on the bed, leaving him free to make his way to the shower in the attached bathroom. Being able to do this on his own was new too, and it was still a little unwieldy, getting set on the shower chair, making sure everything was in reach, but it beat being scuzzy. Which he’d felt most of the day next to Rain with his pretty shirt and gleaming hair. And not that he cared what Rain thought, but he still took his time in the tub, even shaving with his shower mirror. Like haircuts, shaving had become a when-he-remembered-and-could-be-bothered event.

And thinking about Rain, even tangentially, while warm and wet and soapy was a bad, bad idea. Why on earth did his cock have to pick now to come back online? He’d played around some on his own previously with disappointing results that he wasn’t sure how to bring up to the doctors. Everyone was so focused on getting him walking again that complaining about his dick felt both petty and embarrassing. But now he was raring to go, only he didn’t want to risk ending up in a slippery heap on the shower floor. Also, he didn’t want to be the guy perving on the too-young dog walker who might also be a new friend. And maybe too he didn’t want another disappointment.

On that sour note, he carefully exited the shower and pulled on a pair of stretchy shorts for sleeping. Emerging from the bathroom, he pulled up short in front of the bed where a very happy, very sleepy Cookie was lounging against his pillows.

“Hey! I thought I told you to lie on your bed.”

Thump. Thump. Wagging her tail, she gave him a canine grin.

“That’s the people bed. Yours is over there.” He pointed at her bed. “Go lie down.”

Helpfully, she scooted over about ten inches but otherwise didn’t seem inclined to budge.

“Five minutes, okay? Five minutes and then you’re going to your bed.” Sitting next to her, he adjusted the bed’s angle. Replacing his previous cheap king set with this setup had been a bit of a splurge, but it beat the rental hospital bed he’d had at his dad’s. He was a big guy. He needed his space. And he was not prepared to share that space with a stubborn pooch.

“Go lay down,” he tried again after giving her some pats, but all she did was move to the foot of the other side of the bed. Yawning and out of energy, he was no match for a stubborn dog. “Fine, fine. Let’s not tell Rain that you rejected his bed selection.”

Usually nights were hard—his pain level tended to spike at night in unpredictable ways, his sleep could be fitful, and his mind raced through hundreds of dismal scenarios. He’d never had an anxiety problem before the accident, but lately, calming down at night was particularly problematic. If he was physically exhausted, it was easier, but then physical tiredness tended to mean more pain, which meant more sleeplessness, which meant more time for worries to charge back up.

But that night he didn’t even need to play on his phone and was asleep even before he could try again to get Cookie to move. The next thing he knew it was morning—and not crack-of-dawn morning either, but a sunny eight o’clock. A banging noise was coming from the front door.

Had to be Rain come to walk the dog. And sure enough, his phone was full of several missed messages from Rain asking about a time to come over.

“Coming,” he hollered. Hell. No time to get dressed. Letting Cookie lead the way, he used the crutches to get as far as the wheelchair, then switched to the faster method to get to the door.

“Oh, good! You survived the night!” Rain greeted him cheerily. “And uh—wow. Um. You need me to wait a minute?”

Rain’s gaze was riveted to Garrick’s chest in a blatantly appreciative way he hadn’t experienced in months. Damn. Felt good. Too good. And his shorts were hardly designed to conceal his body’s reaction to Rain’s attention if his dick decided to power up like it had last night. Abruptly, he spun away from the door. “Come on in. Sorry. We slept late. Like ten hours. I can’t believe it. That never happens to me.”

“You must have needed it. Did Cookie stay in her bed all night?”

“She stayed quiet,” Garrick hedged, not wanting to hurt his feelings by telling him Cookie had rejected the bed but also not wanting to outright lie either. “She must have needed the rest too. You want to take her out? I’ll find both a shirt and her medication while you’re gone.”