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Like in the literal sense.
The man’s skin is an inferno,I thought as my hand came up automatically to brace against it. My cheek rested somewhere between his sternum and abdomen, and I realized how tiny I was compared to him. Hair prickled my cheek, and I inhaled the scent of grass and a woodsy soap. The combination just screamed ‘man’ to me, and despite everything, my mind instantly flew into the gutter, lustful imaginings flooding through my brain.
And I was totally unequipped to deal with it.
I’d been with men before—hot men. My most recent ex, Mateo, was very attractive by most accounts, tall and slender with a rockstar vibe. But none of them had ever affected me this quickly and deeply before. I’d never been knocked completely off kilter by a man I had just met, who smelled like lawns and storms and was just…so intrinsically masculine. There was no other way to describe it.
This was a man.
And I wanted to stay where I was and have him hold me for as long as possible.
So much so that every thought of Roscoe or escaping the embrace disappeared from my mind as my hand distractedly began smoothing over his skin. My heart beat in my ears, and I had no clue what I was doing. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I could hear his strong heartbeat, too, steady and powerful.
I wasn’t sure how long we stayed like that, but suddenly, the firm hand around my waist disappeared. He snatched me by the arm instead and pulled me away from him, glowering down at me.
Something dark glittered in his cold eyes.
Awareness and embarrassment immediately flushed through me.
“Oh my God, I’m so—” The apology caught in my throat because he brushed past me and continued his advance to wherever he was going. I was frozen in place for a few seconds, wondering what happened and realizing with increased humiliation that I had been practically groping the bully, who currently still had my dog in his villainous grasp.
Damn, Tillie, what is wrong with you? Is the lack of sleep starting to affect your reasoning capabilities now?
Truthfully, it most likely was.
“Wait.” I ran after him, only to pull to a stop when he paused two houses over from mine. I knew the house used to belong to an older couple in the cul-de-sac, but after his wife died, the owner moved to a retirement home and put the house up for sale. I had no clue anyone had moved in since then. But before I could wonder for long, my attention instantly shifted to the yard.
I gasped in horror. The rosebushes were completely destroyed. Dirt lay in piles next to about a dozen unevenly dug holes. Leaves and trash were scattered over it, making a total mess of the property. It was like a hurricane hit only this small area and decimated it. The dirt was fixable, but the shrubbery…that would take a miracle.
The man turned to give me a meaningful stare, and a lightbulb went off in my head.
“Wait, Roscoe did this?” I asked, hoping against hope that he would say no, that my dog had nothing to do with it.
But then Roscoe took one look at the mess and gave a little doggie smile as if proud of his handiwork.
Oh no.
This was an entire disaster, and it would probably cost a lot of money to fix. Money that I didn't have. I lived on tips at my waitressing job and had a debt to pay off.
Horror filled me as I got ready to plead for my life, but he didn’t give me a chance.
“If you can’t train him, then you shouldn’t own a dog this wild,” he said as he finally shoved Roscoe into my arms.
“He’s not wild,” I said indignantly, still feeling the need to defend my dog. After all, it was my fault he didn’t get enough exercise since I worked so much and couldn’t get anyone to dogsit. “He’s just…energetic.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Well, then you tell your energetic dog that the next time I catch him digging up my yard, I’m going to shoot first and ask questions later.”
And then, with that, he stormed off back into his house, closing the door behind him with a quiet but decisive click.
I sighed before glancing down at Roscoe, who seemed happy to no longer be suspended in the air. He gave me a little lick of gratitude as if to say, “Thanks for getting me away from that crazy man, Mommy.”
Except the man might not have been crazy after all. Because this yard looked a mess, and it was my fault.
But I still felt unreasonably irritated at the stranger. I mean, sure, Roscoe was wrong, but did he have to be so harsh with him? And why did he stare at me so condescendingly the whole time?
Because I could sense his judgment from a mile away. Then again, I was used to the judgment of the people in this town. I didn’t exactly come from the finest of stock, and unlike most of the younger people who left town once they could to get an education, I’d been stuck here and waitressing ever since I was a teenager. And this was probably going to be a dead end for me. I tried not to think about it. I had too many things on my plate already. Besides, if I didn’t look forward to the future and didn’t hope for things, then I couldn’t get hurt by things I couldn’t have.
But knowing I was probably going to die in this dead-end town without amounting to anything was depressing, even under the best of circumstances.
