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It was going to be a hell of a long night.
By the time he’d returned with the puppies, she’d lined up food bowls on the floor in front of the crate. After he put them down on the hardwood floor, their feet slid out from under them as they tried to scramble to their food.
“Try again, guys.” He stood them all up on their paws.
“And girl,” Tasha said, kneeling beside him.
Tasha’s fresh-rain scent did things to his insides, and he battled an intense desire to nuzzle her hair. Yet there was something so vulnerable about her. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but any move he might make felt like he’d be taking advantage of her.
She was nothing like the women he’d dated. Women who knew the score. Who had been around. No one got hurt, and nothing got messy. But Tasha was a whole different toolbox he didn’t know his way around.
And he’d be damned if he hurt her.
In the back of his mind, though, he couldn’t stop wondering if keeping his distance was more about protecting himself from Tasha. Just as his mother had suggested during their call, maybe that was his MO, the way he’d always held himself back from every other woman, fearing that no relationship could stack up to his parents’ perfect, open, honest love story.
Until his mom had started talking about bumps.
Damn it, he wasn’t letting that thought inside his head right now. Not when he finally had Tasha here for an entire night.
“Sit, Darla.” He tapped her behind. “Good girl,” he praised. Then he let her eat before doing the same with Spanky.
“Are you trying to train them already?” Tasha gathered up Froggy like a protective mother. “They’re just babies.”
The affronted frown on her brow made him laugh. “They did their business outside when I told them. So I figure they can learn to sit for a meal. Why don’t you try the command?”
She harrumphed, so damn cute the need to kiss her consumed him all over again. But she set Froggy by a bowl, said, “Sit, Froggy,” and tapped his little bottom. When he sat, she applauded him, then let him eat.
“See? It works.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Only if I tap his butt down.”
“Good training habits start early.”
She narrowed-eyed him this time. “You said you’d never had a pet, so how do you know?”
“Intuition.”
“Yeah, right.” She laughed.
He loved the way her face lit up when she forgot to be wary. It was just how he wanted her—sweet and hot and laughing.
Without thinking, he reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear. She went still, and his heart beat harder in his chest, throbbing in places way down low. He’d never felt this mixture of desire laced with nerves before.
He’d always asked for what he wanted, never worried about mixed signals, never wondered if someone might get hurt—because none of his previous dates had had any chance of lasting for the long haul. They’d known it as well as he had.
But with Tasha…
His thoughts scattered as she turned to him slightly, her mouth so damn kissable. Trailing his finger around the shell of her ear, he touched her lobe, slid down to her throat, her skin warm to the touch. Her lashes fluttered down, and she finally breathed, her lips parting. Inviting.
He was so close to kissing her. Barely a breath away from drowning in her scent, in her warmth.
“Oh look, see how much Darla’s eating all on her own this time.” Her voice trembled, but whether it was with desire or nerves, he didn’t know. “She’s finally on the mend. And so are the other two. They just needed food and water and TLC. Don’t you think?”
“I do,” he said, squashing his disappointment that she hadn’t fallen into his arms. “They’re going to be fine.”
Maybe he should have kissed her and to hell with thinking things through. But he wanted her to be just as into him as he was into her. He wanted to know he wasn’t the only one slowly going crazy with need.
And the truth was that he needed to understand her better before they took that step, so they could avoid any pitfalls waiting around the bend.
