Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 99(@200wpm)___ 79(@250wpm)___ 66(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 99(@200wpm)___ 79(@250wpm)___ 66(@300wpm)
“Too late.” Romi glances up at me and smirks. “He’s too hard to resist.” She scratches under his chin, and Angus, traitor that he is, settles in like he’s found his forever human. “I think he’s going to be my cuddle bug.”
Angus basks in the attention, and I can hardly blame him as I watch the genuine connection forming between them.
“We should go for a walk in the park,” I suggest, seizing the chance to let go of daily chores mislabeled as exercise. “If we get him enough exercise, he’ll be too tired to cause any trouble later.”
“It sounds like a plan to me.” She doesn’t hesitate. After finding his walking harness, we head out to my truck.
“I warn you, he’s a menace in the park,” I mention playfully as we drive toward town with Angus sitting up front between us.
“I can’t see this sweetie ever being a menace,” Romi counters. Fucking hell. She’s already fallen for the canine’s charms.
Chapter 10
Romi
The afternoon sun casts a warm, honey-like glow over everything as Sullivan drives me back to my apartment. The memory of our morning in the park with Angus keeps a goofy grin plastered on my face.
As we pull into the driveway, I glimpse the ever-vigilant Ms. Viola positioned on her front porch, a steadfast queen overseeing her suburban kingdom. Her hair is in curlers, adding a touch of 1950s glam to her otherwise mismatched outfit of leisure wear, completed by a long, lazy cigarette drooping precariously from one corner of her mouth. And there’s Herman, the old iguana, basking on the banister, looking as if he might issue a decree at any moment about who does or doesn’t belong in his sunlit spot.
Sullivan puts the truck in park and turns to me. “Here we are,” he announces as though we’ve trekked through distant lands instead of just down the road. There's a moment where neither of us particularly wants to move.
“I really had a great time today.” I lean over and place a soft kiss on his lips. “And last night.”
“Me too.” Sullivan wraps his hand around the back of my head and draws me closer.
His warms lips close over mine and my mind shuts down. As he devours my mouth, I forget all about my new canine friend in the back seat and my landlady sitting on the front porch.
When he pulls back, I blink several times, trying to clear the fog from my mushy brain. He tells me, “I’ll see you later on, little treat.”
“I have to work tonight,” I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. God, he just has to look at me to turn me into a bubbling airhead. What in the world is happening to me? Oh yeah. Sullivan stole my heart and blew my mind at the same time.
“I know. I’ll be there tonight to make sure no asshole decides to take his life into his own hands by touching my girl.” His territorial words should raise my hackles, but they do the opposite.
“Okay.” I smile at him and give Angus one more scratch under the chin. Sullivan comes around the side of the truck and opens the door for me. Angus grumbles in the backseat about being left in the truck, but Sullivan ignores his disgruntled canine and takes my hand in his.
As we walk up the sidewalk, he gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Good afternoon, Ms. Viola.”
“Mr. Midnight.” I’m not sure how that cigarette stays balanced on her bottom lip while she talks. “You kept my tenant out all night last night,” she states, and I groan to myself.
“Yes, ma’am, I did.” Sullivan wraps his arm around my shoulders. “And I’m planning to keep her out a lot more in the future.”
“Just make sure you put a ring on her finger before you put a bun her the oven.” I feel my face heat from her words, and I wonder if the universe would do me a solid and have the ground open up and swallow me on the spot.
“I’m planning on doing that, too,” Sullivan reassures her.
“Good.” She seems satisfied with his responses, and Herman turns his head, slowly blinking one beady eye in our direction, a slight nod of sage approval. “Just so you know, Herman approves, and he’s got a better judge of character than most folks I know,” Ms. Viola adds as a puff of her smoke drifts across the front porch.
“I’m glad to have his approval,” Sullivan laughs and leans over the banister to give the lounging reptile prince a little pat on the head. He responds with a flick of his tongue, clearly already over our banal human exchanges.
Ms. Viola chuckles, flicking her cigarette ash casually over the railing before glancing over at me. “Don’t waste time when you know a good one. Boys like him don’t come knocking every week, darling. Trust me. I’ve had my fair share of door knocks.”