Page 24 of Bad Boy Husband

JAMESON

My back patio had always been a retreat of sorts for me. I really enjoyed going out there when I got home from work, pouring myself a drink, and just sitting outside, watching the wind move through the trees.

Especially now that the weather was finally cooling, it was something I really looked forward to. Today, as I was going about my usual ritual, however, I had known I was forgetting something.

Which was how I’d come to find myself flat on my back, covered in scotch, with Hooch on top of me. The giant chestnut beast seemed to be laughing, his mouth wide open and his tongue hanging out, strings of slobber about to join the alcohol on my chest.

“No, boy!” Sadie yelled, sprinting out of the house to rescue me just a few seconds too late. “No, Hooch. Oh, God. I’m sorry, Jameson. He’s normally indifferent when it comes to new people. For some reason, he just really, really seems to like you.”

“For some reason, huh?” I groaned. She grabbed his collar and hauled him off me.

As his massive weight disappeared, I slowly pushed myself into a sitting position.

The sun was setting over the treetops in the distance.

The warm light made Sadie’s hair glow like a fiery halo around her head.

Her cheeks were flushed, amusement and frustration on her features as she spoke to Hooch.

“You can’t do that, boy. I know you don’t mean to, but you can really hurt him if you jump on him that way.

Although.” She turned to me with a smile lifting the corners of those gorgeous blue eyes.

“If you’d just start remembering that he’s here, it might help.

He won’t be able to catch you off guard so easily. ”

I blinked up at her. “How is this my fault?”

She shrugged, but there was a playfulness about her that made it really difficult to be mad. Even if I wasn’t thrilled about my apparent new friend . “It’s less likely that he’ll be able to knock you on your ass if you know he’s running toward you.”

“I think he just likes tackling me,” I murmured. “It might be his idea of a bonding activity.”

“Or the only way he gets to cuddle you,” she joked, but then walked closer and extended her hand toward me. In a pair of denim shorts, her long legs drew my gaze to them and I swallowed hard, trying not to remember what those smooth, pale thighs had felt like wrapped around my hips.

“Oh, my God. Is that blood ?”

Her shocked words yanked me out of my rapidly spiraling thoughts. I glanced at the spot on the floor she was pointing at and frowned. “It sure looks like it. Is Hooch okay?”

Sadie’s eyebrows shot up. “There’s blood on the floor and your first question is about the dog?”

“Maybe he’s growing on me.” Sitting up on my knees, I leaned toward him and gently ran my hand over his neck, chest, and belly. She checked out his back, ears, and tail. Hooch stood on the non-slip, gritty charcoal tiles like they were a podium, tail wagging like a whip.

“He’s fine,” she finally announced, moving around him to come to me. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

Her gaze flew up and down the length of my body, and finally, she sucked in a sharp breath. “Your hand, Jameson. You’re hurt.”

I lifted the hand I’d been using to brace myself against the tiles and sighed. A tiny gash just below my pinkie knuckle, on the side of my hand, hardly qualified as being hurt . “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Rising to my feet, I swept my gaze over the mess on the floor, muddy footprints, scotch, and a few droplets of blood all mingling together. That was much worse than the injury, but before I could turn to go grab my favorite toy, Sadie reached for me.

“Let me clean that up for you.”

Warm, careful fingers cradled mine as she dabbed at the cut with a tissue she’d fished out of her pocket. It really was little more than a paper cut, but she fussed over it like I was missing a limb.

Her brow knitted in concentration, lower lip caught between her teeth. “I really am so sorry. This is the last thing we needed right now.”

“Why? I’m fine, Sades. I don’t even feel it. If you hadn’t seen the blood, I’m honestly not sure I would’ve realized it was there.”

“It is there, though.” She leaned closer, putting some pressure on her tissue. “You’re bleeding . Because of me.”

“Nah. It’s like you said, I need to start remembering he’s here,” I practically breathed the words, but I was confident she’d heard me.

She was so close now, there was no way she had missed it.

“He’s our dog, right? It’s not his fault I didn’t realize how enthusiastically he was going to welcome me home. ”

On my next inhale, I got two lungfuls of Sadie.

She smelled the same as she used to all those years ago, like fresh air and something sweet I still couldn’t name.

Standing this close, the air felt charged, like every breath might spark into something very different than her nursing me back to health.

My pulse kicked so hard, I wondered if she could feel it vibrating underneath my skin. Something about the worried furrow of her brow suddenly made me desperate to reassure her, preferably physically, but I swallowed the urge.

This definitely wasn’t the time to make a move on my fiancée. “What’s up, Sades? I know you’re not this worried about the world’s smallest scratch.”

She looked up and held my gaze. Dozens of different emotions swam behind her eyes, but she surprised the crap out of me with the one she chose to voice first. “Why haven’t you told me to get rid of him yet?”

I shrugged, playing it off because telling the truth felt too raw. “Never thought of it.”

Her eyes softened, and for a moment, it was just us, breathing the same humid air, the past pressing between us. Being in her presence had always had a peculiar effect on me, and that was no less true now.

She set me on fire in ways not all good or pleasant, but she also made me feel like my skin had been electrified. Like breathing her in rewired my brain.

“What was going on with you earlier?” I asked, my voice so much gentler than it had ever been with anyone else. “When you got home from Laney’s, you seemed worried.”

“I was, but you don’t have to be. I’m working through it.”

“Is it about dinner?”

She shrugged. “It’s not not about dinner, but it’s also not only about that.”

A slow smile tugged at my lips. “That has got to be the most cryptic answer I’ve ever heard.”

“I have to keep you on your toes or you might get bored of me.”

“Never,” I said, the word coming out with a little more punch than I’d been expecting. My fingertips were tingling to slide along her cheeks. My body felt like it was buzzing with all this pent-up shit. “I could never get bored of you, Sades.”

As she lifted her gaze to mine, she shifted even closer. The moment stretched between us in the golden light of the sunset. Hooch’s nails clicked against the tile as he trotted back to the lawn, but neither of us even glanced in his direction.

My heart jumped, my blood heating as I bent my head. Just a fraction but enough that it would allow me to gauge her reaction. Instead of stepping away, her lips parted, her head tilting back just a little.

Slowly and deliberately lowering my gaze to her lips, I fought to find that self-control I was so proud of. I battled through the haze in my mind to remember why this was a bad idea. Neither restraint nor reason seemed to be within my reach, though.

Just as I was about to go in for the kiss, a sharp ring pierced the air and Sadie blinked before instantly taking a huge step back. The moment shattered like the finest crystal dropped from the top of the Eiffel Tower and she spun around, sliding her phone out of her back pocket at the same time.

“Diana. Hi. Uh, what’s wrong?” Her voice was breathy and a little softer than usual, her words uncertain until she heard why the night vet tech at the shelter had called.

Her entire demeanor changed while she listened, the uncertainty and vulnerability of a moment ago disappearing. Sadie had this incredible ability to put anything else aside when an animal needed help. I’d been noticing it a lot over the last couple weeks.

Nothing else mattered to her when a more vulnerable being was in trouble. It was admirable, honest proof of how incredibly deep her love and passion ran. Her voice was pitched with worry when she spoke again.

“Okay, Di. I’ll be right there. Thanks for letting me know.”

As she hung up, she turned to face me, features half shadowed as the sun disappeared, but even now, I could see the nerves dancing in her eyes.

“Winkle is having a hard time. I have to go back to the shelter. He gets so anxious that we’re worried his heart will give out, but we can’t give him the medication he needs because of the side effects. I’ll just call an Uber.”

“No,” I said immediately, digging my car keys out of my pocket and handing them over. “Don’t worry about waiting for a ride. It’ll take too long for them to get out here and it’s not like we’re stranded. I have cars. Take the Mercedes. It’s right outside.”

For just a second, I thought she was going to refuse, but then she sighed and took the keys from me. “Thanks, Jameson. I really appreciate this.”

She tried to call Hooch to come with her, but he sat down heavily beside me, his big blocky head leaning into my thigh. I smiled and inclined my chin toward the door. “I guess he’s staying, but you should really get going.”

I reached down, scratching behind his ear, and watched her try to come to a decision. Sadie hesitated but moved a few long moments later, calling to me over her shoulder. “I won’t be long. I promise.”

She was gone before I could answer, and I glanced down at Hooch. “She thinks I’m going to ask her to get rid of you eventually, doesn’t she?”

I sighed and looked out at my yard. The place was a disaster from his enthusiastic sprints, paw prints in the dirt, one of my deck chairs knocked over, and specks of mud where there had never been mud before.

“Neither of you have to worry about that, but let’s get this cleaned up.”

Obviously, he didn’t offer a verbal opinion, but he did shadow my every move while I cleaned.

His head was tilted like he couldn’t quite figure me out, his ears pricked as if he was on high alert, ready to protect me at the merest sound.

I chuckled, genuinely amused and maybe even a little honored by the way he was acting.

An hour later, Sadie still wasn’t back and I retreated to my office. Hooch promptly followed, sprawling his body out across my pristine rug while I tried to read emails, but it was pretty difficult to focus with him lifting his head to check on me every five seconds.

Eventually, I gave up and padded to the kitchen, making a bowl of popcorn for dinner and carrying it to the living room with me. I wasn’t alone for a moment, Hooch sticking dutifully to my side as I moved through the house.

When I dropped down on the couch and turned on the TV, he heaved his mountain of a body onto the cushion beside me. I glanced at him, but somehow, I couldn’t convince myself to chase him off.

Besides, at this point, I was starting to think it was a futile effort anyway. He had made himself at home here and I supposed that was a good thing. Sadie had told me they were a package deal, after all, which meant that he was here to stay.

At some point though, I must’ve nodded off because when I blinked awake in the middle of the night, the first thing I saw was not just Hooch, but another dog curled up beside him on my couch, snoring like a broken accordion.

I groaned, but I couldn’t find it in myself to be mad. Sadie had warned me that she would’ve had more animals if she had the space, and now, I supposed, she did. I simply had to find a way to be okay with that.

Maybe I could buy the dogs their own house.