AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Penny!" I move so quickly my feet don’t seem to touch the floor. I reach her and grab her waist, then draw her to me before she can fall over.
"Tiny, sit," I scold him.
His ears droop. I swear, his jowls hang more than normal, and with a whine, he plants his butt on the floor.
"Aww, poor baby. You didn’t mean it, did you?"
Tiny’s tail thumps with enough force that the ground seems to shake.
She pulls away from me; I release her. She steps toward Tiny, and bending only a little, throws her arm around the big brute.
So, the mutt gets a hug, and I— I’m greeted by the sight of her perfect, heart-shaped behind clad in sweats—pink, of course. She scratches him behind his ears, and his eyes roll back in his head. I know the feeling.Lucky bastard. He gets to feel her touch, to be at the receiving end of her limpid gaze, to feel her warmth as she hugs him, and whoa… Hold on, are you jealous of a dog? Get a grip, man.I shuffle my weight from foot to foot; she ignores me. I clear my throat.
Tiny woofs, and she makes an "awww" sound and pats his head. He, of course, plays it for all it’s worth. He places his paw on her shoulder and looks into her eyes and—
"Okay, that’s enough."
I step forward and glare at the mutt. "Down, boy, and I mean it."
He looks from me to her, then back at me, before he lowers his head and lies down on the floor. He continues to watch us with those big, melting eyes, and that gets the intended reaction from her.
"Why did you do that?" She turns toward me. "I was petting him."
"And you’re done now."
She scowls. "I’ll say when I’m done."
"Oh?"
She firms her lips. "And I thought you’d changed."
Clearly, not enough. I throw up my hands. "You walk into my place. Then, you ignore me. You walk past me without acknowledging my presence and then, you shower this—this—mutt with affection."
She blinks. "He’s cute."
"I’m cute."
"Ha!" She laughs. "You and cute." She shakes her head in disbelief.
"I can be cute."I can be anything you want, if you give me a chance, baby.”
"There are many adjectives I associate with you, but cute is not one of them."
"So, there are adjectives you associate with me, hmm?" I try to keep the gloating out of my voice, but I don’t think I succeed; her brows knit.
"They’re really not anything to be proud of."
"The fact that you spend time thinking of me at all is something I’m proud of."
Her gaze widens. She seems taken aback, then with a last pat on Tiny’s head, walks past me and toward the view of the city from the floor-to-ceiling windows. She pauses halfway. "There’s an armchair by the window," she murmurs.
"Indeed."
"And a bookshelf next to it."
"Mmm-hmm."
"With books."
