Page 21 of Lawton

She looked distracted. "I don’t watch a lot of movies."

I shrugged. "Probably not missing much."

"And besides," she said, "it's Chucky like –" She hesitated. "Like my uncle." She glanced past me. "Um, so is he here?"

She looked so adorable that I had to smile. "Your uncle?"

"No," she said, speaking very slowly now. "Chucky, my dog."

Oh yeah. The dog. It suddenly hit me that I was being a total dick. Playing stupid games while she froze on my porch. "Yeah. He's here." I stepped aside and flicked my head toward the inside of the house. "Come on in."

"Thank you," she muttered, following me inside. As she moved forward, her shoes made a squishing sound on the marble floor. It was cute as hell, just like everything else about her.

Stopping in the entryway, she pushed the hood all the way off her head. Her hair was dripping wet and longer than I remembered. She shoved a soggy strand from her forehead, and stopped, frozen in mid-motion, as something over my shoulder caught her eye.

Behind me, I heard Amber say, "Your mutt ate our dinner."

Damn it.

"And," Brittney said, "chewed up my purse."

I turned to see both girls leaning against the open staircase. In their skin-tight black dresses and matching hair and makeup, they could pass for high-end escorts. I could practically see it, some messed up sister-act. Except they looked too pissed off to be professionals.

I felt my jaw tighten. They weren't the only ones getting pissed off. If they didn't play nice, they'd be playing somewhere else.

I gave them a warning look before turning back to Chloe.

Her eyes were still on the girls. Her hand dropped, and she shifted in her squishy shoes. She looked suddenly embarrassed.

Watching, it was easy to see the problem. They were dry. She wasn't. They were dressed up. She wasn't. They were in full makeup. She wasn't.

But so what? Standing there, soaked, in my entryway, Chloe was still the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I wanted to tell her. Hell, I wanted to show her. But against every urge, I kept my mouth shut and hands to myself.

No matter how this played out, I wasnotgoing to scare her. I glanced down at my chest, still wet, and covered in tattoos. Probably too late for that. But hey, I had time.

I'd make time.

Of course, things would be a lot easier if the girls hadn't just insulted Chloe's dog.

In front of me, Chloe lifted her chin toward Brittney and Amber. "He's no mutt," Chloe told them. "He's a purebred Yorkie. He has papers if you'd like to see them." She smiled. "Assuming you can read?"

I laughed and didn't bother to hide it.

Already, I swear, I loved that girl.

"Hey!" Brittney sputtered. "I can read just fine."

"Me too," Amber said. "I read all the time." She straightened. "And not just Facebook either."

I glanced at Chloe. The way it looked, she'd already tuned them out. Catching my eye, she pointed in the general direction of her own house. "We share a fence."

It wasn't the only thing I wanted to share. "I know," I said.

She glanced around the entryway. "You have my dog?"

I smiled down at her. "I'm pretty sure your dog had me first."

Behind me, Amber spoke again. "Yeah. He chewed up Lawton's shirt."