Page 11 of Pooch Planet

Antoine wished he could sweep Benji up in his arms and pet his sadness away. “I’m sorry, Benji. I really am.”

Benji idly scratched his neck as he glanced sideways at him. “Nah, I’m sorry. I don’t know what made me tell you all that stuff. You’ve got more important things to worry about.”

Before Antoine could reassure Benji that he was just as important, he was saved from blurting out something inappropriate by Princess’ announcement.

“Everyone wait here. He’s kinda growly when he gets woken up unexpectedly.”

Antoine forced himself not to roll his eyes, but Cyrus did it for him instead. He gave Cyrus’ arm a light smack, frowning at the detective. Next to him, Benji snickered.

Cyrus stuck out his bottom lip and rubbed his arm as if Antoine had punched him with full force. “Hey…”

Antoine spoke next to Cyrus’ ear. “Watch your attitude.” The rookie still had a lot to learn about public relations.

Cyrus gave a small nod. “Sorry, sir.”

Princess reappeared in the threshold of the entrance, one of the wooden, double doors held wide. “Mayor Jones is ready to meet with you.” She regarded Benji. “You wait here while I show them in, then I’ll need your full report on what happened tonight.”

Antoine didn’t miss Benji’s fallen expression and he wondered what was going through the Chiweenie’s head. A moment of panic seized him that he might not have a reason to meet with Benji again, yet, his reaction made no sense.

Laid. You need to get laid—and not with one of the locals.

Everyone was already heading inside but Antoine couldn’t leave without at least acknowledging Benji. After all, what they’d shared had been quite intense.

“It was nice meeting you.” Antoine shuffled on his feet, strangely outside of his comfort zone. Up until that very second, he hadn’t realized he had a comfort zone.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Me too.” Benji looked everywhere but at him.

“I have to go.” Antoine tipped his head back and held in a groan at his pathetic statement.

“I know.” Benji shoved his hands in his pockets. “Are you allowed to, uh, go to bars when you’re off-duty? You know, to grab a drink?” He gazed up at Antoine with wide eyes.

Antoine arched his eyebrows. Hmm. Interesting. He gave himself a mental slap. No. No fraternizing with the locals.

“I’m sorry, Benji. I’ll be working around the clock. As it is, I’ll need to interview witnesses first thing after I meet with mayor.”

Benji’s lips parted and his eyebrows shot up. “I’m a witness. I was the one who discovered Coco the night before last.”

“The poodle?”

Antoine didn’t miss how Benji shuddered, his expression darkening. “Yeah.” He cringed. “The poodle.”

“Hey, Commander?”

Antoine turned and met Tully’s eyes. “Yes, sorry. I’m coming right in.” He indicated to Benji. “Could you place him on our witness list, please? He was just telling me that he discovered the poodle’s body from the night before.”

Tully typed a note into his DID. “Done.” He directed his words at Benji. “I can find you through Captain Princess?”

Antoine sucked in a breath. “No!”

Benji and Tully whipped their heads around. Antoine coughed into his fist. “I mean, uh, no, I’ll handle the interview because…” He tugged on his ear, his mind whirling. “Because I need to go over what happened earlier between us.” Tully stared at him with a blank expression. “When he was almost attacked, I mean.”

A flicker of understanding sparked in Tully’s eyes. “Of course. Good idea.” Tully acknowledged Benji with a dip of his chin. “I’m sorry you’ve been through so much, but we’re here to protect you now.”

Antoine balled his fists. No one was protecting Benji but him, dammit. Benji studied him with concern and Antoine realized he was audibly grinding his teeth. Tully appeared a bit wary of Antoine as well, and that was when he realized he was also breathing with gusto through his nostrils with his lips clamped shut.

“Everything all right, Commander?”

Antoine took one last deep breath then let it out slowly. “Yes. Completely.” He shook out his hands, yanked on the hem of his jacket and stood straighter. “Benji, I’ll speak with your Captain and arrange a meeting after you’ve rested.”

“Sure. I nap a lot, so don’t worry about disturbing me or anything. I can talk anytime you want. I’ll be around. Princess can always hunt me down too, or if you want, I can leave my address. Then you can ask anyone where I am, and they’ll tell you.” Benji swallowed hard as he twisted his hands together. “I’m easy to find. That’s all I meant.”

Antoine attempted to keep his tone professional. “Excellent.” He regarded his rather perplexed lead detective. “Detective Tully. Would you please get Benji’s info while I head inside?”

Without a backward glance, Antoine hurried into the mayor’s home. He couldn’t imagine why he was making such a fool of himself. Something nagged at him, though. Something too unsettling to contemplate.

What if his overwhelming need for a stranger—for Benji—was more than a simple case of lust. What if his life was about to become a lot more complicated?