Just Good Friends (Cheap Thrills 5)

Grabbing up one of the packets of treats, I opened it to tempt the shithead away from her. Sure enough, he was a sucker for whatever the hell was in the bag, so he came straight over and nudged me with his nose to hurry up.

“Cool it, man, you’ll get your treat,” I huffed as I pulled one out and tossed it to him.

Catching it mid-air, he went over to the bed and lay down to chew on it, leaving me with a silently fuming woman. Fuck my life.

“Baby, he’s safe, I promise, and this training means he’ll be even safer, and so will you. It’s like when I started doing my training for Ground Force duties and operations. Mom almost had a heart attack at the thought of me going into a situation where I could be killed or stand on an IED, but my training made it easier to avoid them and protect myself and the others with me. That’s what the training does for Clyde.”

Looking between us, she sighed. “Okay, but I don’t want him getting hurt.”

“Look at the size of his teeth,” I snorted, wincing slightly at the cracking noise as they crunched through the treat. “I doubt he’ll get hurt.”

Satisfied with that, Zuri did something that took me by surprise. Leaning over, she pressed a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth. “Thank you so much for getting me Clyde. I was already blown away by the intricate beauty of my jellyfish, but I’ve always wanted a dog of my own and couldn’t have one. I can’t believe he’s mine.”

Wait until I told Mrs. O’Jones about this. She said it was maybe too much, but I’d totally scored.

Taking the opportunity to kiss her back but stopping when I remembered where his mouth had been, I kissed the top of her head instead. “You’re welcome, pretty girl. And he’s definitely yours. You’ve even got a certificate in amongst the shit in my car that proves it.”

Squealing, she clapped her hands together and bounced on her knees. “I’m so freaking excited. I need to find the perfect place to put all of his stuff. Do the bowls go wherever he is in the house? How would we move them to wherever he is when I go back to work? What about the bed? Shouldn’t he have one in every room? There’s tinned food, but wouldn’t fresh be better for him? Does he have enough toys? What about—”

Unable to hold back, I decided I didn’t care that she’d be licked all over by a dog, I could wash my mouth later, and shut her up by kissing her. Immediately she melted into me, and I’d just flicked her top lip with the tip of my tongue when a cold, wet nose pressed against our cheeks, and hot, mostly unpleasant, breaths were panted right against our faces.

Wiping frantically at my face, I pulled away from her and pointed with my other hand at him. “No cock blocking, or you’re getting your nuts cut off.”

And, just to prove he was a little skeeze, he whined at Zuri like he was looking for protection, earning me a glare from her.

Game on.

Later that night, it was time to wash Zuri’s hair again. I was pretty sure I should hate doing it, but that was far from how I actually felt as I ran my fingers through the soft, long, black strands.

The first time I’d done it, I’d ended up drenched because I kept angling the showerhead wrong and getting myself with it, so now I wore a pair of cut off old grey sweats and no t-shirt.

And tonight I was changing where I stood while I did it and standing pressed up against her back, but not because I didn’t want to get wet. No, because I was changing shit up between us, even washing her hair.

With my crotch pressed lightly against her ass, I leaned over her back and massaged the shampoo into her scalp, smiling when she groaned.

“Feels that good, huh?”

“You have no idea,” she sighed, her voice audible over the sound of the water.

Slowly, I dragged my fingers through the length of the strands, something that made goosebumps pop up over my arms. Was I really getting turned on by her hair? Fuck yes, I was.

I could have asked her to lift the showerhead she was holding for me, but instead, I leaned over her, being careful of her stitches, and took it out of her hand, loving how she shuddered. The good news was, there was still conditioner to go, and I wanted to see how far I could go with her like this.

It might sound like a dirty trick, but I wanted her badly. I hadn’t been in the right place mentally or physically when I’d first met her to do anything other than being friends, but once I was settled here and I had my future in place, I’d made a plan to gauge to see if she felt any interest in me other than friendship.