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chapterthirteen
jackson
Walkingslowly into the house,Imotion for her to follow me. “Thisis the living room.Thosedoors lead out to the backyard and the pool.”
“Whois this?IsthisOats?”RobotSelenais gone, replaced by someone capable of human emotion.Apparentlyonly for my dog.
“Yeah, that’sOats.”Hiswhole body is quivering, wanting to come and say hello.ButsinceItold him to stay, he’s hovering above the ottoman, but not jumping down.
“Okay,Oats.Release.”Atmy words, eighty pounds of curly blondeGoldendoodlelaunches himself atSelena. “Shit.”
Steppingin front of her,Itake the hit ofOats’ paws on my chest. “Alright,Oats.Iknow you’re excited.Butwhere are your damn manners?Getdown.Down.”
Oatsdrops to stand on four paws instead of two, and then wiggles over toSelena, his entire body wagging.
Shedrops onto her knees, defeating the entire purpose of me gettingOatsto behave.Shelets him lick her neck and cheeks and hands with his gross dog-tongue.Ilove this dog more than anything, and evenIdon’t let him lick me on my damn face.
“Hi,Oats.It’sso good to meet you.I’veheard so much about you.Andyou just sound like the best dog.Areyou the best dog?Areyou the best boy?”
“He’salright,”Imutter from behind her, with a slow smile creeping across my lips.So, she really likes dogs.
Afterwhat feels like ten minutes,Iinterrupt the displays of mutual affection between everyone in the room except me. “Weshould get moving.”
Sherolls her eyes at me.Sheactually rolls her damn eyes at me. “Okay,Oatsie, your dad saysIcan’t play with you anymore.ButIpromiseI’llgive you lots of snuggles and kisses later, okay?Canyou shake on it?Shakea paw.”
Mydog is no slouch in the tricks department, so he gently holds out a paw forSelenato shake.
“Ineed a treat to give him,” she announces, tearing her hazel eyes away from my dog long enough to look at me likeI’vefailed her already.
“Right.Whydon’tIget you one?”Imutter, crossing over to the treat canister on top of a nearly empty bookshelf.Grabbinga couple of cookies,Ihand them toSelena.
Shegives them all toOatsfor doing one measly trick and then stands up again.
Roomby room,Ishow her the house.Seeingher here, practically every inch of her covered in a bright color,Inotice for the first time how white my house is.Ihired a decorator to make it liveable and didn’t pay much attention.Butthe whole place seems boring compared to her.It’sa new build in theHollywoodHills, modern, sleek lines, lots of concrete, lots of glass, lots of chrome, gigantic windows, bigger garage.
Whenwe get to the end of the long hall,Iopen the door to my bedroom. “Thisis my room.”
ThenIturn across the hall to the guest room. “Andthis is your room.Forwhen you sleep over here.”
Hereyes immediately snap to mine. “WhywouldIneed to sleep over?”
“Becausewe’re adults.Whoare supposed to be dating.We’dbe having sex–-a lot of it–-if we were really dating.”
“Ohhh, right.”Hermouth falls open, letting me see her pink tongue. “Buthow canIsleep in there ifI’msupposed to be sleeping with you?”
“Allof my staff haveNDAs.Weshould try to keep up appearances in front of them.ButI’mnot going toforceyou to sleep in the same bed as me,Selena.Jesus.”
Sheblanches.Apparently, the thought of sleeping in the same bed as me is horrifying.Great.Thiswoman really is fantastic for my ego.
“Look,I’mnever going to try to get you to do something you don’t want to do or make you feel uncomfortable,Ipromise.Alltouching was agreed to in the contract you signed.So, you don’t have to worry about me trying to pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do.”
She’sfrowning up at me now. “That’sthe last thingIwas worried about.”
“Good?”
Thenwhat the hell was she worried about?
“Whatdo you want me to call you?”
