So much.
As an idea formed, my thumbs blurred over the keys. Perhaps after this note, Cabin Fortress would make my decision for me. This would prove how committed he was to getting to know me.
Let the baby daddies fall where they may.
Nine
Murphy
Dearest Fortress,
I have to say your note was very stimulating. I also like sturdy surfaces. But I forgot to tell you I also really like beds. My bed is piled high with stuffed animals and pillows. I can’t have sexy times without lots of pillows around me and under me. I’m petite, and I think it’s a security thing. Also, I always have to bring my bear with me. Sir Mix A Lot has been with me since childhood. You don’t mind if I bring him along the first time we get freaky, do you? He won’t be participating. Unless that’s your kink. Haha.
Still yours,
Vee
“What in the hell?”
The dog barked as if answering me.
I shoved my phone back into my pocket before I scooped my new charge off his current favorite perch. When we were in the truck, he liked to sit on my shoulder and watch the world go by out the window. I couldn’t say I hated it. And I was getting used to him a little too easily.
I gathered all my purchases and muscled my way into the cabin with a dog trying to burrow into my shoulder, enough bags to cut off my circulation, and two different Veronica personalities swimming in my head.
I was officially going insane.
And what the hell was I supposed to do with this new note from Veronica?
I mean, what in the hell? A bear?
I dumped the bags on my table and retrieved my phone again. I reread it, making sure I hadn’t misconstrued anything.
Nope. She’d actually said she liked to bring a security bear with her.
And freaky? She hadn’t spoken like that in all the nights we’d talked online.
I mean, yeah we were getting hotter around the edges with each conversation, but for fuck’s sake. That was some weird shit. And nearly a Jekyll and Hyde situation compared to how she talked to me at the café.
On the last few visits for my daily caffeine intake, she’d been almost manic. That was partly why I’d skipped visiting the café for a couple days.
Today? That was more like how we used to act around one another. Polite with a hint of maybe more than polite.
But she’d looked up at me with those bright green eyes with excitement about her little project while cuddling the freaking dog—Latte, his name was Latte now—and how could I tell her no?
To anything.
I was doomed. And still had ended up with a dog somehow. It had broken my heart to drop off the rest of them at the shelter, but since they were tiny and the hypoallergenic kind, they had a waiting list for them. I knew they were all going to a good home.
And thankfully, they were all healthy regardless of the asshat who’d put them in a box and left them to die. Fucking heartless humans. Why I liked spending as little time with them as possible. I got most of the peopling I needed out of working with Gideon.
I was perfectly happy to be a freaking hermit. Especially if a certain baker might want to hermit with me. Maybe.
If I didn’t totally fuck everything up.
At least I’d cut down on Veronica’s trouble factor with Macy. Macy had been at the end of her rope with the group of women taking over half the café. Adding in a dog to the melee wasn’t happening beyond the meeting. Even that had been pushing it. Though I figured Veronica could work around that easily enough.
“But for now, it’s just you and me, bud.” I tucked him into the hood of my sweatshirt as I did a quick and dirty clean-up of my house.