Searching for Always (Page 76)

sixteen

STONE! WAKE UP!”

“Five more minutes,” he groaned, rolling away. His body was shaken harder than a bad eighties Polaroid picture, causing him to open one eye. Where was he? Oh, Arilyn’s place. After sex. Great sex. Hell, the best sex he had ever had in his entire life, including when he lost his virginity to Sally Poole in the tenth grade. And that had been epic.

She squinted those incredible green eyes and moved closer. Poked him as if he were a dead body she was trying to investigate. He held back a laugh. Damned if she wasn’t as cute in the morning as when he got her all riled. Her hair was a tangled mess, her eye makeup was smeared, and a crease from the sheets ran across her right cheek.

“Stone! You have to go!”

His other eye winked open. Huh? His gaze dropped to where her peach-tinted nipples peeked from over the covers. Had they really fallen into slumber after only two times? He needed to make up for his lack of planning. The emotion stuff actually threw him off his game, but he’d get back to the main goal of wringing as much pleasure from her as possible and—what? “Wait. Are you throwing me out?”

She gave an impatient huff and climbed out of the bed. The morning light spilled through the window and bounced off her skin. She was gorgeous. She seemed frantic to find something she had lost, opened up a closet, and muttered to herself as she finally tugged something out and wrapped it around her. The silky black robe clung to her skin the way he wanted to. He lost the vision of her bare ass and mourned. “You have to go! I completely forgot that Pinky is at your house, and she’ll be scared in a new environment, and you need to feed her and change the water and the poor thing hasn’t been walked.” She nibbled at her lower lip, ginger brows snapped in a frown, and took out a pair of striped socks. Hopping on one leg, she donned the socks while he enjoyed the bobbing up and down of her breasts. “Are you listening to me? You need to get home to Pinky.”

“I heard you.” Only the first day of being a dog owner and he hated it. Why the hell would anyone want to leave a warm bed and a gorgeous half-naked woman to take care of a dog? Were people truly nuts? He sat up and gave her his best come-hither smile. “Half an hour more won’t make a difference to Pinky. But it will to me.” His dick screamed with happiness as she seemed to struggle with the temptation.

Then she belted her robe tighter. “After you take care of Pinky.”

“I live across town!” he bellowed. “You’re seriously kicking me out this early? Pinky won’t care. Hell, she probably pooped in the house anyway; I’ll deal with it later.”

The familiar stubborn lines of her face told him a battle was about to be launched. “Pinky needs structure and routine. She needs to trust you. Leaving her alone with no care will only enforce what the old owners did to her. I’m sorry, Stone, but fostering is a full-time job and it’s important. You have to take it seriously.”

He glared at her, still aroused, and now mightily pissed off. “I didn’t volunteer for this shit,” he reminded her. “You forced me, remember? You can’t call me out on not doing a job right that I never wanted in the first place!”

She pressed her lips together. “Semantics. Now, get dressed, take care of Pinky, and we’ll see where that leaves us later.”

Forget this! Now, she wasn’t gonna get any because he was mad. He got out of bed buck naked and stabbed a finger at her. “Fine. I’ll go and take care of the rat fink. But next time you want a bit of morning sex, you’ll . . . you’ll . . .”

“Yes?” she prodded, her eyes filled with amusement.

“You’ll be denied!”

He ignored her quiet laughter, stomped to the bathroom, and slammed the door. He dressed in his suit again, totally flaunting the whole man-whore walk-of-confidence vibe, and made his way into the kitchen. This time Robert didn’t come flying at him but looked up from his food bowl with an eager look on his face. Stone smothered a groan. The dog would be with Arilyn for two weeks, so he should try to make friends so he wasn’t scared shitless. Hunkering down, trying not to wince, he held out his hand. “Here, boy. Ugh, Robert. Good boy.”

The dog couldn’t wag his tail, but his ear pricked. He dragged himself away from his precious food bowl, moving slowly, as if he knew Stone was nervous. Finally, he got close enough to push his wet nose into Stone’s palm, nuzzling.

Huh. Kinda cute.

As if he realized he’d gotten through round one, he moved an inch closer and rubbed his head against his hand, giving him a quick lick. Stone’s muscles relaxed, and a sense of comfort flowed through him. Reaching out with the other hand in careful motions, Stone stroked his body, eliciting a rumble of happiness and another lick.

Arilyn laughed. “I knew it wouldn’t take you long to be friends. There hasn’t been a person Robert hasn’t won over.”

Stone looked up. With her shapely bare legs peeking out from under the silk, her socks pulled up to mid-calf, he longed to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless. Drag her back to bed for the entire day, until they both couldn’t walk normally. Instead, he tried to hold on to his grouchiness at being thrown out.

“Can I have any coffee before I go?”

“Sure, I have a pot here. Black?”

“Yes.”

She fixed him a mug, and with one last pat, Stone stood and took a grateful sip of the hot brew.

Then choked.

“What the hell is this?” he asked. “This isn’t coffee!”

She cocked her head with confusion. “Yes, it is. Organic beans specially roasted.”