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28
I waiteduntil the middle of the afternoon before heading over to Taavi’s tiny apartment, even though I had nothing else to do and I knew he was a morning person. Because I was putting it off.
Like I’ve said, big fucking chicken.
I had a whole tote bag full of dishtowels, soap, a couple extra mugs I’d actually had to dust off, an extra sponge… random shit lying around my apartment that I hadn’t used in I didn’t even know how long. All of which I’d agonized over trying to decide if bringing it was insulting or nice.
I still wasn’t sure.
But Taavi smiled when I held out the bag and he took it from me, his fingers just brushing mine. I ignored the tingle that rippled through my arm at the contact.
“Come in.”
I tried for a couple seconds to come up with an excuse, mentally kicking myself for not thinking of one on the way over. When I couldn’t, I stepped inside, following Taavi into the kitchen.
“Drink?” he asked me. “I have water and orange juice.” He gave me a slightly apologetic smile.
“No, I’m good. Thanks.”
He just nodded. “Hart—”
“Please don’t thank me again,” I interrupted. “Anyone would…” I trailed off at the look on his face.
And, yeah, he was right. Anyone absolutely wouldnothave taken him in, even if they’d thought he was just a dog, much less a shifter. Anyone would have called animal control or turned him over to the cops to sit in a jail cell or possibly get the shit kicked out of him while they tried to force him to shift.
“Okay, fine,” I admitted. “Anyone wouldn’t have. But anyone doesn’t have my parents, who raised me to help people who need it. And you needed it.”
“I did,” he agreed. “But you didn’t have to—”
“Well, maybe not legally,” I interrupted him again. “ButIhad to.”
He tilted his head to one side, giving me the weirdest sense of déjà vu before I placed it. He’d tilted his head to one side as a Xolo dog all the time. It’s just that this was the first time I’d seen him do it in human form.
I shrugged. I couldn’t explain why I’d felt compelled to do what I did. I just… had. So I did it.
“I know you don’t want to hear it,” he said softly. “But thank you anyway.”
I nodded, awkwardly shoving my hands on the pockets of my jeans. “Yeah, sure.”
“Hart…” But he trailed off.
I looked up, arching one eyebrow in a question.
He was standing right in front of me, barely making it past my shoulders, his head tipped back to study my face. Not for the first time, I wondered if he could see anything out of the white eye—and while he could have answered me, it felt like an awfully personal question.
I made myself look at the other eye, the brown one the color of milk chocolate, warm and curious.
Then he grabbed me, his fingers twisting in the collar of my shirt, and pulled my face down to his.
Holy fucking shit.
His lips were soft as sin, and he tasted like water and sunlight, although I couldn’t for the life of me have described what that meant. Tingles spread throughout my nervous system, sending sparks through my whole body from just the slightest brush of his tongue against the edges of my lips. I wanted nothing more desperately than to melt into the kiss, to pull his smaller body up against mine, but even as everything in me demanded that I give in, there were alarms telling me I had to back the fuck off.
I pulled my head away, slowly, both because I was still dazed by the whole thing and because I really didn’t want to, even though I knew I had to.
As Taavi eased back, I stood up straight again, putting my lips out of reach, because what had just happened absolutely couldn’t happen again.
My heart was pounding in my chest, blood rushing in my ears and straight toward parts of me that it really shouldn’t have been rushing toward. Two days ago this guy—this admittedly reallyhotguy—had been afucking dog.
