Pinky sighed.
How had this happened? How had a half-catatonic dog suddenly become a manipulative, mushy, demanding pet? Sure, he’d spent a lot of time at the shelter talking to her. Sure, he’d given her a quiet, safe home to heal again, and finally let her sleep in his damn bed. Sure, he took her with him almost everywhere because he couldn’t stand the idea of her crying. But this? Messing up his sex life?
Not gonna happen.
“Move out of the way. I bought you a new bone—it’s the chewy kind, ’cause I know you hate the hard stuff. Probably because you still have baby teeth.” Pinky stared. “For real, you are definitely not a man’s type of dog. If the guys at the station other than Devine caught sight of you, I’d be fucked. And not in a good way. Not like I’m getting tonight.”
Pinky cocked her ear.
Stone grabbed his coat and stomped over. “Go sleep. I left the TV on, and I’ll be over at the crack of dawn again to take you out.” The accidents were hardly happening anymore so somehow, the dog had been trained. Stone tried not to think that the dog had had a good life before she was dognapped or lost to the scum in the world. Hated to imagine she’d once had a family and children to love, and that she was still struggling to process it.
He grasped the doorknob and made a mistake.
His gaze met hers. In those brown puppy eyes, staring from beneath tufts of crazy hair, above her rat nose and strangely proportioned face, he saw it.
Adoration.
She looked at him with pure love, making low sounds of need in her throat, only wanting to be near him. And just like that, the big bad wolf fucking retired to become the wimpy grandma who liked cookies.
“Ah, crap. Fine. But I swear to God, if you give me problems, I’m gonna lose it.”
She wriggled with joy, knowing she’d won, and he scooped her up into his arms.
ARILYN OPENED THE DOOR. Wearing a sexy black camisole, stretchy pants, and bare feet, she was both comfortable yet a bit naughty. She always preferred cotton to lace anyway, and Stone seemed to agree. Ready to jump into his arms and throw him off his game, she dropped her voice to a seductive whisper. “Why, Officer, are you coming to arrest—oh!” She blinked. He filled her doorway, dressed in his usual jeans, a faded blue-and-green-checked flannel shirt, and a fierce frown. His midnight-black hair slid over his brow in tousled disarray, setting off the intensity of his narrowed dark eyes. Waves of irritated male energy beat from his aura. Tucked under his muscled arm, peering out from beneath the cuff of his shirt, was Pinky.
“Look, I’ll leave her in the car if she can’t deal with Robert. The little rat fink was freaking out about me leaving again, so I broke. I told you this would be a disaster, Arilyn. I don’t know why you were thinking I could take care of a dog.”
And that’s when it happened.
The great sex turned into more. Arilyn looked at this massive, pissed-off male cradling the tiny Chihuahua, with her pink collar and soft brown eyes that had come back to life, and did the dumbest thing in the whole wide world.
She tumbled into love right then and right there with Stone Petty.
He loved Pinky. Oh, yeah, he fought it and hated the idea, but he loved her so much, he didn’t want to leave her alone. That was just the type of man he was. He didn’t fall gracefully or willingly, but when he did, Arilyn knew he belonged to you for life. God, how she wanted him to belong to her like that.
What had she done?
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she fought for composure, swearing to bottle up the tide of crazy emotions to deal with later. Smiling through the sting of tears, she reached out and took Pinky from him, murmuring soothing nonsense to her. She shook slightly in her arms, looking back to Stone with an imploring look. “Don’t be silly, I’m glad you brought her. The worst-case scenario: she can stay in the bedroom. But let’s see how she does meeting Robert.” She turned at the sound of front paws skittering over the wood floors and kept Pinky safely tucked in her arms. “Here’s my good boy. Robert, we have a special guest tonight. Her name is Pinky, and she’s been hurt. But she’s a fighter like you.”
Robert’s tongue lolled out in excitement, but he stayed quietly in front of her, waiting for the go-ahead.
“She’s scared, especially of pit bulls, so we need to show her how to trust again. Just like Stone did.”
Robert looked up at Stone as if giving him a doggy high five.
“I want you to stay. I know you’re happy for some company, but don’t move. Understood?”
Robert dropped his head to his front paws and stilled.
“Damn, he’s smart,” Stone muttered. “Good boy.”