“Well, hello there, puppy. You didn’t need to tackle me for some attention.”
He licks my face, and I laugh again as I scratch behind his ears. He lets me love on him for a second, his whole body leaning into mine like he can’t get enough, and his exuberance lifts my mood.
“You’re just a sweetheart, aren’t you?” I ask, and he tilts his head up, his eyes drifting closed. I stop petting him to inspect my knee, and I swear I hear him huff in annoyance.
“Spoiled little pup,” I mutter as I look down at my leg and wince. Blood runs down the front of my shin, and there’s a pretty good gash in my knee but the tights I’m wearing are obstructing my view so I won’t know just how bad until I get inside.
“Bear,” someone yells, and I look to the dog at my side as he cowers beside me.
“Is that you?” I ask, and he peeks up at me, looking sheepish.
“Bear!”
“Over here,” I yell out, hoping that whoever it is can hear me as I peek down at him again, petting his head softly. “Did you run away from your owner, big guy?”
At my sweet tone, his tail wags again, and I laugh.
“Jesus Christ,” the same voice exclaims, and I shake my head at Bear before glancing up. My jaw pops open as I’m immediately captivated by the epitome of every bad boy fantasy I’ve ever had, running across my lawn, his long strides eating away the distance between us. The white t-shirt and dark jeans he’s wearing mold to his body perfectly, giving me the most delicious tease of the muscles underneath.
“Shit. I’m so sorry. I need to fix that damn fence. Are you okay?” he asks, stopping in front of me and running his hand through his dark hair. His gaze is focused on my knee but I’m devouring every little inch of him that I can see like a starving woman. I’m suddenly aware of exactly how long it’s been since the last time I had sex, down to the very second. My body is aching with need as I shamelessly eye fuck this stranger in front of me. He crouches down in front of me, and my gaze is drawn to the short beard lining his strong jaw. My fingers twitch with the desire to reach up and run my fingers across the coarse hair. And I can’t stop myself from imagining what it would feel like scraping against my skin.
“Are you okay?” he asks again but all I can do is nod as he flicks his gray gaze up to my face and swallows me up whole. His eyes are gorgeous but it’s the haunting sadness that holds me captive and draws me to him. It piques my curiosity, and I want to delve deeper, losing myself in this beautiful stranger.
My heart pounds in my chest, and I briefly wonder if he can hear it. Does he know what he’s doing to me with just a simple look? Tattoos snake down his arms, all the way to the fingers that are delicately tracing around the torn skin on my knee. His touch ignites something in me, warmth flushing through my body, and I fight to keep my eyes open, savoring it. It’s been a really long time since I felt like that when someone touched me, and I’m not ready to give it up quite yet.
“I need you to say something,” he adds.
“Why?”
His eyes roam over my face for a moment before a reluctant smirk stretches across his. “Because I need to be sure you don’t have a concussion.”
“I didn’t hit my head,” I tell him, shaking my head, and he nods, losing his fight as he smiles at me. From my bleeding knee to the intense sexual attraction coursing through my body, there is absolutely nothing amusing about this moment but his smile lights up his face, and suddenly I don’t care about anything else.
“This looks really bad,” he says, the smile falling away as he looks back down to my knee, and I follow his gaze, wincing. It’s already swelling, and I’m not even all that sure I can get into the house myself.
“It doesn’t hurt that bad.”
He arches a brow in challenge because we both know I’m lying my ass off, and when I try to move my leg in a stubborn attempt to support my claim, I hiss in pain. Goddamn, that hurts. He glares over at Bear, who happily wags his tail as he lies next to me in the grass.
“Shit, I’m really sorry. He’s still a puppy, and I don’t have him fully trained yet.”
Peeking over at the eager dog who is now rolling around in my grass on his back, I smile and look back to him, reaching out and placing my hand on his arm, compelled to touch him for a reason that I really can’t explain. “It’s really okay. It was just an accident.”
His gaze snaps to my hand on his arm before he meets my eyes again, the light gray darkening slightly, almost like a brewing storm as he looks over my face. Anger flashes in his eyes before it’s quickly replaced by surprise and curiosity, and I wonder if he feels this, too. We’re silent, just both looking at each other on my front lawn as the world continues around us. He leans in, and my heart jumps in my chest, my mind short-circuiting with the possibility of his lips pressing against mine. Just before he’s about to close the gap between us, a car horn sounds followed by a bark from Bear, and he jerks back.
He blinks and blows out a breath as he drops his gaze to the ground, shaking his head and effectively pulling me out of my daze. When he looks back up at me again, I feel so incredibly stupid because there is nothing in his eyes. Did I just imagine all of that? No, there’s no way. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt a spark like that when I looked at someone, so I couldn’t be imagining it, could I?
He looks up at my house before turning back to me. “You got a first aid kit in there?”
I nod, and he looks around at my stuff scattered all over the lawn. He stands, his hand falling away from my knee, and my entire body aches to reach out for him. I want him to touch me again. I can still feel his fingers on my skin, almost like he branded me. That couldn’t have been fake, could it?
“Give me a second to get this stuff picked up, and then I’ll help you inside.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” I say, wishing I could just go sit in my house and think for a couple of minutes without whatever the hell this is clogging my brain. He smirks at me, and my heart skips a beat.
“Yeah? You able to get up on your own?”
Scowling, I hold my hands out for him to help me up, and he grabs them, pulling me off the ground effortlessly. I try to stand but as soon as I try to put any weight on my leg, I’m falling again. He reaches out, catching me in his arms, and easily lifting me up before I can hurt myself further. He doesn’t look away from me as he carries me over to the stairs and gently sets me at the top.
“Wait here and stop trying to be difficult.”
Scoffing, I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him as he moves around my yard, picking up all the things from my desk. He’s got a lot of nerve to call me freaking difficult after his dog just attacked me. Bear comes and lays down on the porch next to me, nudging me for more attention. I smirk and scratch behind his ears again, shaking my head.
“You moving or something?” he asks, stepping in front of me as he looks through my box.
“Or something.”
His brow furrows as he meets my eyes again, and it’s there this time. That undeniable spark that I felt the first time he looked at me. His brow arches in question, and I study him for a moment, feeling compelled to tell him the truth when normally I would just gloss over the details. With a heavy sigh, I give in. As I explain my shitty day to him, his eyes get wider and wider, and by the time I finish, he’s shaking his head in disbelief.