When she was satisfied she’d struck a balance between temptress and storm buddy, she made her way down to the kitchen. Lucas wasn’t back yet, but the Wi-Fi was. The router on top of the refrigerator was glowing bright green. Excellent, she thought. Because while she was proud of herself for surviving over twenty-four hours without internet access, there were a few pressing items she needed to investigate.
Paige grabbed her laptop from her suitcase—even though technically the device was considered vacation contraband—and set up at the kitchen island. She was deep into her research when Lucas walked through the door. Every inch of him was wet.
“You really didn’t need to go to all this trouble,” she said as he set a rain-soaked bag of groceries on the counter along with a rather hefty bag of dog food.
“Yes, I did.” He looked at her and winked. “It’s Singles Day.” She would have thought he was mocking her if it weren’t for the wink and the fact that he seemed genuinely excited about their celebration. “Although don’t get your hopes too high. The market was a bit picked over so…” He winced. “I had to get creative.”
Paige lifted a brow. “Can’t be worse than pizza with the sausage picked off.”
Lucas laughed. “Might want to reserve judgment until after you taste it.”
Paige watched as he shrugged out of his wet coat and began unloading the bags. She didn’t think something as mundane as unpacking produce could be sexy, but damn if watching him wasn’t the hottest thing she’d seen in months. She particularly enjoyed the way his sweater rode up ever so slightly when he reached into one of the taller cabinets, revealing a smattering of dark hair that disappeared just below the waist of his jeans. Sure beat the hell out of watching Mr. Rochester lick his paws.
“Thirsty?” he asked when he was done.
She nodded, not sure if she could trust her voice not to sound as hot and bothered as she felt.
Lucas snapped ice cubes out of a plastic tray before plopping them into a pair of mismatched glasses, which was perfectly in keeping with the eclectic style of the inn. To put it bluntly, nothing in the entire place matched, sort of the way that nothing in Monica’s apartment matched on Friends, something Paige had always thought was a significant error on the part of the producers. Honestly, if Monica was half as neurotic as Paige, there was no way in hell she would have been able to deal with all those mismatched kitchen chairs!
He filled both glasses with iced sweet tea and handed one to her. It was such a Southern thing to do. She certainly couldn’t picture any of her friends in Chicago having a pitcher of iced tea on hand. In fact, Paige was fairly certain the last time she’d had iced tea, it was of the Long Island variety.
“The internet is working,” she said after taking a sip.
“So I see.” Lucas nodded to the paper towel that was now covered with her scribbled notes. “Getting some work done?”
“Actually, I was doing some research on caring for puppies.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.” She would have given him a hard time for being so surprised, but truth be told, no one was more shocked than she was that she used her first opportunity to get online for puppy research rather than checking emails. Then again, she would have had to go back and mark them all as unread anyway for fear of incurring the wrath of Samuel.
“I wish we knew how old they are.” She began to read from the site she’d discovered just before Lucas had arrived. “It says here that larger breeds can start eating soggy kibble between three and four weeks, but if they get it too soon they can just play in it and get really dirty or…” She gasped. “One lady said she had two puppies suffocate when they inhaled mush they weren’t ready to eat.” Holy shit, how did parents survive the first year, let alone a lifetime? Paige’s heart was racing, and she was only trying to figure out how to feed a few puppies. “And should we be introducing water?”
“I think they had enough water yesterday,” he teased.
“I’m being serious, Lucas. Should they be starting to wean? Should we bathe them?” Her thoughts were racing as fast as her heart. “It says that if you give them a bath too early, they can shake from cold or fear and it can actually kill them.”
“Those little guys already conquered cold and fear, not to mention water, and they came out swinging.”
Paige took a deep breath. “I’m being ridiculous, aren’t I?” Lucas had a point. Up until last night, they’d lived outside. Too bad that logic did nothing to stop her from worrying about them, a sentiment that must have been written all over her face.
His tone softened. “I think it’s very sweet that you’re so concerned.” He reached across the counter and placed his hand on hers, sending a tingling shiver down her spine. It was a simple enough gesture, and yet at the same time unbelievably intimate. They stayed like that for a moment, their eyes locked in what felt like anticipation, until the clock in the hallway chimed.
Lucas straightened. “Tell you what,” he said, back to the business at hand. “As soon as the storm clears, I’ll have the vet come out from the mainland to give them a good once-over. In the meantime, they seem very content on their mom’s milk.”
Paige tried her best to focus on her laptop, her notes, the countertop. Anything but the fact that all she could think about at the moment was Lucas and how badly she wanted his hands back on her skin. And not just holding her hand, but everywhere…exploring, enticing, satisfying. Whoa, baby. Maybe she needed to just pour the iced tea straight into her lap. Instead she began to read from the computer screen, which, while less effective, was a lot less messy. “According to the websites,” she said, “Puppies in this age range need to eat every four to six hours.” She looked up to discover Lucas watching her with an intensity that did nothing to calm her overheated libido.
“Those little guys are certainly bellying up to the table that often,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “In the case of Raphael, even more than that.”
“I’d say they are thriving just fine,” he said.
Were they really just going to carrying on chatting about the dogs while undressing each other with their eyes? Yes, yes, they were.
“Well, they’re more active, that’s for sure. I had to roll the edge of one of the towels to keep Leo from wiggling under the couch,” she said. “Do you maybe have some cardboard or something that we could use to keep them in one place?”
“I can do you one better than that,” he said. “Be right back.”
Paige watched as he ducked through the laundry room and into the garage. She had no idea what he was looking for, but he sure was making a lot of noise. A few minutes later, he returned, carrying what looked like an armload of plastic gates.