Dear Roomie (Rookie Rebels #5) - Kate Meader Page 0,24
about your other dogs?”
“I’ll bring him on my rounds tomorrow and see how he does with others. Dog gossiping is important. Lots of butts to sniff.” She chuckled, a husky sound that hit him in the balls. “Could you imagine if that’s how we let people know we were interested? Wouldn’t that be wild?”
Sure. Wild.
She laughed again, clearly finding herself supremely entertaining. “You probably should get going. You’re running late.” She added a wink so they all knew this was her fault. Ha ha, hilarious.
He headed into the living room, sat on the sofa, and gestured for Bucky to approach. Bending close to keep it between the boys, he murmured his goodbyes.
“Be good, Bucky. Don’t make any trouble for Kennedy, okay?”
The dog licked his face.
It shocked some. Delighted more. He looked up to find Kennedy watching him, a soft look in those silver-gray eyes.
Moving toward his luggage, something occurred to him. “You’ll have to take him out late. So he can pee.”
“Not my first dog-sitting rodeo.”
“Don’t go too far at night. Stay close to the apartment.” The last thing he needed was to be worried about the dog and the sitter. “Also, his collar has a GPS tracker. I left instructions about the app you can download and the login information. Not that you should let him off the leash.”
Or lose him. Please don’t fucking lose him.
She smiled. “We’ll be careful, I promise. This guy will take care of me.”
Reid doubted that—Bucky was a little pathetic—but it was late and he couldn’t give it any more of his mind’s capacity. “Call me if anything comes up.”
“Will do. Oh, and bring me back a cheese steak from Philly.” She held up a hand. “Never mind. Just a slice of cheesecake. Or a whole pie. Whatever you can carry.”
Was she serious? He thought she might be.
More laughter. It echoed in his ears and settled in his chest long after the door closed behind him.
9
With the door closed and the mean man gone, Kennedy turned back to her canine charge.
“Party time!”
She did a little jig while the dog watched with head cocked. When she didn’t stop, he moved away to observe from a safe distance. Wise decision.
“Okay, I’m going to unpack, take a shower, make lunch, and then we can go for a walk.”
Bucky barked, perhaps recognizing the word walk—clever boy—then milled about doing a little jig of his own. Very cool.
When she said unpack, she meant dump her suitcase in the guest room and unzip it, so it looked like a drawer. On second thought, maybe not the best plan given the uncertainty with the housetrained situation. No way did she want to emerge from the shower to find her stuff marked with puppy pee.
The queen-sized bed looked like the best thing to happen to her in four days. The bed linens were a pearl-gray bordering on blue and felt soft to the touch. She got her nose in there.
Just laundered. Hmm. She tried to imagine Reid getting this organized since they spoke yesterday evening. Perhaps he had a housekeeper-laundress on call. She lay on the bed, just for a moment, thankful that she’d managed to live to fight another day.
The rest of the room was filled with quality pieces—a dresser, a couple of nightstands. No Ikea here. A potted pink Calla lily sat on one of the bedside tables. Of all the flowers for him to choose … Was that his idea or whoever cleaned his place? Whatever the source, it made her throat tighten and her heart skip back to another time.
The next room over was a bathroom with a toilet and a shower stall. On the utilitarian end of the spectrum and lacking in personal grooming products, this was obviously the guest bath. She wandered back toward the master bedroom.
Reid’s bed was king-size (of course) and the room had an en suite bathroom. As soon as she entered it, her world flashed bright. A gorgeous glass-encased shower with pretty Moroccan blue tiles took up one corner, a hot tub the other. Kennedy was a whore for a beautiful bathroom and despite having access to the Y’s facilities, she still didn’t feel 100% clean. She’d start with the shower and work up to the tub. Make a real meal of it.
She left the bathroom door open while she took a twenty-minute hot-as-she-could-stand-it shower because when she closed it, Bucky whimpered outside. If Reid returned suddenly, she assumed he’d figure out the situation and not try to get a sneak peek.