Corina handed me the cat, still not saying a word as she watched a young lady open the cage for me. After slipping Milo in, I asked, “Kim, would you mind taking Milo to Doc Harris? I’m sure Corina will want to make sure he’s okay.”
The girl who worked at the shelter nodded. “Of course. I’m sure Doc ‘ll want him to stay the night. You can pick ‘im up in the mornin’, if you want.”
Tripp let out a chuckle as Corina stared at Kim with an open mouth. The girl’s Texas accent was heavy as hell and even hard for me to understand.
“Thanks, Kim. Either Corina or I’ll be by to pick him up.”
She took the crate and started talking to Milo. Corina looked worried now, on top of being scared. She still didn’t say a damn thing about the living arrangements, which gave me hope that maybe she secretly wanted to stay with me. “Will he be okay, Mitch?” she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
Lane wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “He’ll be fine, Corina.”
Taking me by the arm, Tripp guided me away. “Listen, I know what you’re thinking. I’m thinking it, too; he’s a slimy fucker. But what you need to concentrate on is helping her through this.”
“Did you say Mom and Dad wouldn’t want her at the house because you wanted her to stay with me? Why would you do that?”
He grinned. “As bad as this shit is, it’s almost a blessing in disguise, Mitch. This is your second chance with her. You’d better not fuck it up.”
Looking past Tripp’s shoulder, I couldn’t help the tug at the corners of my mouth when Corina stepped out of Lane’s hold. She glanced over her shoulder and looked at me. For about five seconds she stared into my eyes, and I knew Tripp was right.
This was my second chance. No way in hell was I letting Lane Loser Lewis steal the only woman I’d ever cared about.
No way in hell.
I stumbled into the kitchen, then stopped on a dime when I saw her.
My dick instantly went hard while I scanned Corina’s body. She was dressed in one of my old T-shirts and a pair of shorts she had pulled to the side and tied a hairband around to keep them up.
Sexy. As. Fuck.
Getting my head out of my ass, I spoke. “Hey, I figured you’d be exhausted.”
Corina stood in front of my coffee maker, waiting for it to dispense its liquid gold. “I can’t sleep.”
She turned around and looked me over. I had on a pair of sweats. And that was it.
I wanted to smile as she took in every inch of my body. She lingered a little long on my chest before snapping her eyes to mine. “Are you going to make it a habit to walk around half-naked?”
I shrugged. “What? Normally I walk in here butt ass naked. So, compared to my normal attire, this is a one-hundred-percent improvement.”
Her eye twitched, and I could tell she was holding back a smart-ass reply.
“Are you going to let Milo live here or is that why you had that girl take him away?”
I narrowed my eyes as I made my way over to the coffee. Corina stepped away. It was almost like she was scared to let me breathe on her.
“Of course he’s welcome here, Corina. And I didn’t let Kim take him away. She took him to Doc Harris. We can head over there now and get him, if you want.”
She let out a sharp laugh. “We? So, what are we now, Mitch? Best friends? Buddies?”
I took out a coffee mug, filled it to the brim, and handed it to her. “The way I see it, Corina, we’re roommates. If you’d rather go shack up with your new friend, have at it.”
Her eyes widened. She opened her mouth and shut it just as quickly. My phone rang.
“This is Mitch.”
“Mitchell, it’s Dr. Harris.”
“Doc Harris, how is Milo?”
Corina reached for the phone, but I pushed her hand away.
“He’s doing great,” Doc Harris said. “Sitting on the front desk flirting with all the women.”
I laughed. “Smart cat.”
“Must have learned that from you.”
“Not this time, Doc. Corina, Milo’s mom, and I will be heading down soon to come get him.”
Corina stopped trying to take the phone from my hands and took a step back. She turned and sat down at the bar.
“Sounds good, Mitchell,” Doc Harris said. “Shame about the young lady’s house. Chief said something was suspicious about the fire this morning at the café.”
That comment pulled my eyes off of Corina. “What?”
“Don’t be saying anything to anyone. I wasn’t supposed to repeat that.”
My hand went to the back of my neck where I tried to rub the instant tension away. Turning my back to Corina, I asked, “What makes him think that?”