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“You can never be too prepared,” she says, not even the least bit put out by the still raging Maggie.
Passing the ties over, Belle swiftly secures her wrists then stands. She moves to my side, loops her arm through mine and meets Maggie’s enraged glare with a smirk. “Oh honey, didn’t I tell you yesterday? Val and I are together now. Turns out you were right; he and I are a perfect match.”
Then she slides her fingers into my hair, turns my face to her, and crushes her mouth to mine.
ChapterSeven
Holy shit,I’m kissing Val… Oh, god, what was I thinking! And why does it feel so freaking good?
Val takes over the kiss before I can end it. One of his big palms lands on the small of my back, drawing me in closer to his body as he tips my chin up with his free hand, changing the angle of our kiss. His tongue glides over my bottom lip and I sigh happily.
Maggie’s furious shriek pierces my ears.
Oh, yeah, that’s what started all this.
Reluctantly, I sever our connection and peer down at her. “Just so you know, Val will be pressing charges.” Then I retrieve my cell from my back pocket and put in a call to a friend of mine at the local PD.
Within twenty minutes Maggie is being escorted into the back of a squad car, and the onlookers at Perky’s are being interviewed. Val hasn’t said a word to me since I pried my lips from his. And if I hadn’t read what I did last night, I’d think he was pissed at me for pulling that little stunt.
As he gives Officer Taylor his statement his posture is tense and every now and again, he throws me a weird look. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s trying to wrap his head around Maggie’s cray-cray display or if he’s just confused about what I did.
Honestly, I’m a little confused myself. I mean, I know I’ve been playing with the idea of fessing up about my feelings not being completely friendly, but I wasn’t intending to lay one on him in the middle of Perky’s. I had a plan, damn it, and this was not it. I gnaw on my bottom lip as I consider my next move.
Maybe I should leave to give him some space to work through his thoughts on his own. I know I sure as hell need to get my head on straight after that kiss, along with everything I read last night. I didn’t even finish before I fell asleep. Which I’m pissed about doing. Who falls asleep on a secret mission? I was supposed to be out of there hours before Val woke up.
Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I neglected to import the file before I started reading. Goddamn it. That means I’ll have to go back again. Cause there is no way in hell I’m letting this slide, but I want to finish the damn manuscript before I broach the topic with him. It was so good. It sucked me in until I forgot I was sitting in his shrubs, in the middle of the night.
Scooping up my purse, I head for the door, only to pause when Perky calls, “Forgetting something, Missy?”
Shit. I spin on my heel and take the end of the black leather leash she holds out for me. “Thanks,” I murmur, then lead Bosco out to the footpath. He trots along happily at my feet, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth as he goes.
Ugh, so gross.
This morning when I got home, I found a note stuck to my front door, then discovered Bosco and his favorite squeaky pink pig on my back deck.
I wouldn’t ask if I had another option. Arlo and I are going up to the city for the weekend and after what happened last time, Bosco isn’t welcome for a little while. It’s not his fault one of the girls fed him a whole block of cheese right before we left the house to go out to dinner and he wasn’t allowed to come with us to the fancy schmancy restaurant, and while we were gone things got… umm, messy.
But you won’t feed him cheese, so there’s nothing to worry about! I promise he’ll be a good boy and we’ll pick him up when we get back tomorrow night.
Kisses, Kida
I’ll have to have a word with Keeds about the difference between asking and doing a dump and run. She clearly has the two confused. Regardless, I’m stuck with the drool demon for the rest of the day and all of tomorrow.
I don’t know why someone else couldn’t take him. We have three other sisters plus dad. Hell, even Doc would have happily taken the slobber pot. Not to mention Val. He would have done it and been grateful for the time with the mutt.
When we get home, I hesitate at the front door. Bosco sits patiently at my feet, staring up at me. I glare back at him. “If you so much as look at my shoes, you’re done. You understand me? I’ll drop you at the pound and tell them I found you in an alley going through trash.”
He blinks, then his tongue flops out and he pants. I take that as his assent, then open the door and release his leash. He waddles inside like he owns the place, his tiny little stump of a tail wiggling as he goes, and I have to admit… it’s kind of cute. Especially when he heads straight to the bed—okay, mini-throne—I got for him from a cute little pet boutique online. Who knew you could get such cute stuff for dogs?
* * *
I don’t hearfrom Val for the rest of the day and I’m kinda freaking out about it. I mean… I kissed him, for god’s sake.
My head spins and I drop down on the edge of the couch and grip my temples. What was I thinking? It was that damn story I started reading last night. It put ideas in my head. Ideas like Val might actually share my feelings but hasn’t said anything up to this point for the same reasons as me.
Yeah, he kissed me back this morning, but maybe he only did that to keep from embarrassing me. Or to get the message through to Maggie that they were done.
I’m pretty sure that’s why I did it in the first place, I’m a little fuzzy on the details after she laid her hands on him. I saw red, and everything that happened next is a bit of a blur until my lips brushed against his and it all came roaring back into focus.
