Trey grinned. “Ben is rich, not me. I still want to earn my keep, and the pet store is important to me.”
“I can’t argue there. I’ll drop by some time tomorrow when there is a lull in patients.”
Trey spread his arms. “Dude, this is a small town. I doubt there are that many animals that need tending to.”
“You’d be surprised,” Evan replied.
Trey snickered. “I’ve heard the guys talk. Most of your clients are women, and some men just come in to flirt with you. Don’t tell Ben, but I can’t blame them. You are hot, in a boy-next-door kind of way.”
“And that’s my cue to leave before Ben strings me up by my balls, you troublemaker.” Evan went to his room, undressed, and stepped into the shower, thoughts of Nando stuck in his head. Short, slim, with a gorgeous head of black hair and the prettiest green eyes Evan had ever seen. Evan even loved the caramel color of his mate’s skin. The guy was absolutely flawless.
And those lips. They were made for kissing and other naughty things. Groaning, Evan poured liquid soap into his palm and curled his fingers around his thick cock, imagining Nando in front of him, on his knees, those plump lips parted.
A jolt of raw pleasure shot through him. Evan leaned against the shower wall and stroked the heated flesh, closing his eyes as he leveled the head of his swollen cock toward Nando’s lips.
Evan would prefer the real deal over fantasy, but at the moment, he had to satisfy the hunger inside of him.
A hunger for a sexy little human who belonged to him, his mate, his forever.
Evan bit his lower lip and tilted his head back, imagining Nando’s lips parting and taking his dick all the way down his throat. His breathing quickened as he groaned, fisting his cock even harder as he massaged his aching balls.
Just thinking about Nando on his knees sent a burning desire through Evan, making his cock throb harder. If his mate had been a shifter, Evan would have taken him already, claimed him, and bonded their souls.
Evan’s parents had had a storybook romance, one for the ages, and that was exactly what he wanted. For Nando to stare at him with nothing but pure love in his eyes, to know his mate was content just being with him.
Right now it was primal urge that had Evan ready to track Nando down, but there was more to these swirling feelings. He wanted to build a life with the human, to share their own private secrets, to look at each other from across the room with a knowing smile.
Air huffed out of his nostrils. The buildup was getting closer. His hand was a substitute for Nando’s mouth. The water beat against his body, the heat helping with the moisture as he swept his hand up and down his shaft.
Those feelings also included Nando’s fiery personality. Evan loved it, loved how Nando was a challenge.
In his mind, Evan pictured Nando whimpering for more, more of Evan’s cock, more of those heated looks Evan was thinking about throwing his mate’s way. God, he wanted to fuck his mate so badly, to pin Nando against the wall, to hear his mate beg for it.
As his back arched, Evan’s fist moved faster. His toes curled and his blood pumped pure fire as ribbons of cum shot from his cock, leaving him tired and listless.
Evan sagged against the shower wall, slowly blinking his eyes open to the cold reality that Nando wasn’t there, that his mate wasn’t clinging to him, that there weren’t soft murmurs shared between them.
He would visit the pet store tomorrow to see his mate, and the challenge would be on to win over the human.
Chapter Three
“You should come over for dinner tonight,” Trey said as he petted Shoeshine. “Rosa is an amazing cook, and tonight she’s making lasagna.”
Nando’s stomach rumbled at the thought of homemade food. He’d gotten up this morning and used the tiny employee bathroom to wash his face and try to do something with his hair. He’d yet to eat breakfast, though, and now he was starving.
Trey chuckled. “I heard that. I’m going over to Bent Spoon to get us something to eat. While I’m gone, consider my invitation. Also, I’m thinking we should expand. We need an animal washing and grooming station.”
“Mr. Chesnee used to take the animals out back and hose them down.” Nando hadn’t liked the idea, and had even told Mr. Chesnee as much, but his former boss had groaned about added expenses if he installed a washing station.
The prick had always bragged about how this had been a family-owned business and that he cared and took pride in the store and animals. That had been a load of shit. Samuel Chesnee had been the cheapest, and most perverted, man Nando had known.
He’d purchased bargain-basement food, just to save a buck. Once Nando had opened a bag of dog food to find it filled with maggots. The straw he used for the hamsters always carried an odd odor, and he’d marked up prices on everything in the store.
“What about winter?” Trey asked.
Nando shrugged. “They didn’t get a bath.”
He also told Trey about Mr. Chesnee’s shady business practices.
Trey looked around. “I think we need to lower prices, get premium products in here, and install a washing station.”
“You’re not going to make much of a profit,” Nando pointed out.
“We may take a loss at first, but I think with lower prices and better products, the townsfolk will be happier, and so will the animals.” Trey squeezed his arm. “I’ll be right back with our food.”
Nando wasn’t used to such generosity. His parents had barely made ends meet when his mother was alive, and Nando didn’t have any friends. Trey was turning out to be a gem, and not just because he’d made Nando a partner and was buying him breakfast. He could tell that Trey truly cared about the shop, maybe as much as Nando did.
When the door opened, Nando looked up from behind the register. Two teenage boys wandered in and started looking around.
“Let me know if there’s anything you need,” Nando called out. He wanted to help, but he also wanted the boys to know he was there.
“Look at the snakes!” One boy shoved at the other one. “We could scare the crap out of Charles with that.”
That wasn’t what Nando wanted to hear. The pets in the store weren’t revenge tools. Nando tried his best to size people up, to find out what kind of person they were before they invested in a new family member. He wanted all the animals to go to good homes, and these two weren’t the type Nando wanted to sell snakes to.
He walked over to them and tucked his hands behind his back. Both boys were taller than him and broader in the shoulders. “Snakes are a huge responsibility.”
They ignored him.
“We can get a small one and shove it into Charles’s truck,” the blond said. “That’ll scare him half to death and teach him not to talk shit about you.”
“Then what’ll we do with it afterward?” the redhead asked.
The blond shrugged. “Who cares? It’s a snake. I guess it’ll go back to the wild. Right after Charles craps himself.”
Nando cleared his throat as he tamped down his anger, reminding himself that he was dealing with kids. “I think you two should leave.”
That caught their attention. The blond turned and glared at Nando. “We ain’t going anywhere. I want this snake.” He tapped on the glass. “Bag him for me.”