“And she told you it would cost a small fortune.”
“Yes, she did,” I told him. “And it did.”
“It never occurred to you not to spend the money, did it?”
“Of course not,” I assured him. “I mean, after I had my jacket on him—and keep in mind he’d been on fire so he had to be in horrific pain—I had to pry his feet off the ground because he was stuck there, but even as I was doing that, not once did he try and bite me or anything.”
“He knew you were there to save him.”
I took a breath, because the memories always flashed through my brain for a moment when I told the story. It had gotten better as the years passed and now was barely a blip of horror, drowned in memories of five years of living with the little freak.
“What happened to the guys?”
“Charges of animal cruelty, which you don’t fuck around with in Chicago.”
“Oh really? They have good animal protection laws here?”
“Yeah. It’s a felony, and not only cruelty but neglect, abandonment, fighting, all the shit people do.”
“Oh, that’s amazing.”
“Yep,” I agreed, “Illinois is a lovely state to live in.”
“Is it now?”
“Oh, yes. I would highly recommend it.”
He snickered and let go of Kevin, but not before smoothing all his thick fur back. My cat walked away from him, flicking his tail, casting a look over his shoulder like Benji was nuts, before moving over to me and stretching up high on my leg.
“Did Nuan give you treats?” I asked, crouching down to pet him, to scratch behind his ears and let him bump his nose on my chin. “Did you get the gross shrimp heads you love from her mother?”
Lots of comments on that, and then, surprisingly, even though Benji mauled him, he went back for more loving.
“Oh, Shaw, he’s so sweet,” Benji cooed.
He was not. What he was, was the greatest wingman ever.
Clearing my throat, I straightened up. “So the code for the door is––”
“Really?” Benji asked, rising as well with Kevin in his arms. “You’re just going to give that to me?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Oh, no reason.”
When I was done and after he repeated the digits back to me, he asked, “Are those numbers special or random?”
“You ever watch Castle?”
“The show with Nathan Fillion?”
I grimaced. “I prefer to think of it as the show with Stana Katic.”
“Ah,” he said, grinning at me. “Had a little crush on Detective Beckett, did you?”
“Just a bit,” I admitted, “and that’s her badge number from the show.”
He chuckled. “That is adorable.”
“It’s probably creepy, but I don’t care.”
“No. It’s very cute.”
How he was looking at me with the heat in his eyes made my mouth go dry. Nervously, I gestured around. “So the layout of the house is easy to get. Everything’s on this level except the bedrooms and the two full bathrooms. There’s a half bath next to the laundry room.”
“But your bed is upstairs?”
“Yeah, it… yes,” I answered once I pried my tongue off the roof of my mouth. Really, his heavy-lidded eyes were making it hard to push air through my lungs. I wasn’t sure he had any idea how beautiful he was, how alluring, how much I wanted him.
“Okay,” he whispered, and my face felt like it was on fire.
It was a relief when he turned away—I felt like I was out from under a spotlight—and then he was out of sight, and I heard him on the wooden stairs to the second floor.
“Do you want any water or anything?” I asked, walking out into the middle of the living room so I could see him when he reached the balcony and looked down at me.
“Nope,” he answered, walking to the first open door and going in. The lights went on, and I heard his gasp. “Oh, Shaw, your bedroom is gorgeous. I love all the blue.”
I swallowed hard, more nervous than I could ever remember being. And it was insane. I wasn’t unsure when it came to sex. I knew what I was doing. So what the hell was with me not charging up the stairs after him? Why was I still in the middle of my living room when he was probably stripped down and under the covers of my bed?
“I love all the windows in this room.” He continued, talking like everything was normal. “And the skylight as well.”
Why was this different than every other time? What the hell was happening?
“Hello?”
Looking up, I saw now that he was only in his jeans, leaning over the railing, smiling down at me.
“I would like to be ravished now, sir, if you don’t mind,” he teased me.
I opened my mouth to say something and then closed it at the same second.
“I promise I won’t think I can keep you just because you have sex with me.”
But that wasn’t the problem at all. In fact, it was more that the reverse was true.