Her eyes bugged as she craned around to glare at him. “No, but what if I had? Would I have killed Victor?” She wore a look of panic.
“Babe, no. We’d take him to the emergency clinic. He’d be fine.”
“Oh my God! One grape and we’d have to take him to the emergency clinic?” The whites of her eyes seemed to double in size. “Why would you even buy grapes if you knew that?”
In the next instant, he watched her pitch her bunch of grapes over the side of the kayak.
Sploosh.
“Hey—” Before he could speak, she reached back and did the same with his.
Splish.
With his mouth hanging open, he watched the rippling surface of the lake where his grapes had disappeared. “I was eating those.”
“I don’t care,” Wren said, shaking her head and raising her hands. “It’s not worth the risk. Promise me you’ll never buy grapes again.”
“Um, Wren—”
“You just can’t have shit like that around. I mean, he’s your responsibility. You have to take better care of him. He needs—”
“Wren—”
“Let me finish! He needs you to look out for him. You’re all he has." Her eyes were pleading with him now, and Lee had the feeling they weren’t talking about puppies and grapes anymore.
“Wren?”
She was frowning at him, the little crease between her brows signaling her distress. Lee wanted to wipe it away.
“Yeah?”
“I’m training Victor to eat only what I give him. He doesn’t eat anything that drops on the floor unless I tell him to take it. He’s really good about it." Lee had started the training from the beginning, and Victor had become a pro. Even if a piece of sausage fell from the kitchen counter, Victor would look up at Lee and wait for permission before he broke his stay.
Wren blinked. “Really?”
He had to work hard at not laughing at the look on her face. “Really.”
She bit her bottom lip and dipped her chin.
Contrition looked damn cute on Wren Blanchard.
“You just threw half my lunch into the lake,” Lee said, only just managing to keep a straight face.
She slapped her right hand over her mouth to smother a mortified giggle. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry,” she spoke against her hand, and the words came out muffled.
He raised a brow. “Now what am I supposed to do?” There were more grapes and chicken in the cooler. He certainly wasn’t going to starve, but teasing her was too much fun.
Her lips disappeared between her teeth, and her eyes got wide again. Wren rotated in her seat to face him with the chicken breast in her other hand. She raised it up.
“You can have some of my chicken." She pulled off a piece of meat and held it toward him. Feeling like the devil himself, Lee leaned forward and captured it between his teeth.
Wren gasped.
Surprise flashed in her eyes, and the animal in his DNA awoke. “More.” He knew he was pressing his luck, but he’d just discovered that eating from Wren’s hands was one of the sexiest acts on earth, and he wanted to do it again.
She watched him for a moment, and he knew she was debating — doubting —but he knew other things, too. Her lips had parted, and he could now see the pulse at her throat. The wind stilled, and the lake went silent.
And then she tore off another piece of meat.
