on his back on Erin’s lap while she rubbed his belly. His white-tipped paws were up in the air and moving furiously while she patted him.
She looked over at Jason. “He’s freaking adorable, Jason.”
“Thanks. He thinks so, too.”
She laughed. Puddy rolled off her lap and came over to Jason. He set the food on the kitchen counter and bent down to rub his hands along Puddy’s back. The dog’s tail whipped back and forth, then he went over to his water bowl in the kitchen to take several sloppy drinks before running off to his dog bed to pick up his stuffed toy and settle down to go to sleep.
Jason walked over to Erin and held out his hand. She took it and he hauled her to her feet.
“Now we eat,” he said.
“Okay. The chicken does smell good.”
He was relieved to hear she had an appetite.
He spread the food out on the kitchen island and got plates and utensils out. He piled chicken and mashed potatoes and coleslaw and a biscuit on his plate. He was surprised to see that Erin had a similar setup on hers.
“What?” she asked. “I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten all day.”
“Hey, I’ve got no complaints. Let’s eat.”
They took the food over to the eating area in the kitchen, a small round table that seated about four people, plenty of room for the two of them.
He dug in, and so did Erin. She had put away quite a few glasses of champagne, so he was happy to see her eating her fair share of the food. And if she hadn’t eaten much of anything today, it was no wonder she’d been so affected by the alcohol. He’d nibbled a bit on the appetizers, but since he’d hung out with her, he missed the main course dinner, which was too bad because it had looked amazing.
Still, sharing fried chicken in the privacy of his home with Erin wasn’t a bad thing, either, and if it got her away from memories of what would have been her wedding reception, that was even better.
After finishing the biscuit that she’d loaded with honey, she licked her fingers. He couldn’t help but respond with a tightening in his stomach, watching her tongue swirl around the tips of her fingers, and imagine what her sweet pink mouth and tongue could do wrapped enthusiastically around the head of his cock.
Back the fuck off from that fantasy, dude. Because it’s not happening.
He sucked in a breath and got up to clear the table.
“That was so good,” she said, clearly oblivious to his state of discomfort, as she should be. “I was starving.”
“Yeah? I’m glad you ate.”
“Me, too. I was a little tipsy.”
“More than a little, I think.”
“Uh-oh. What did I do?”
“Nothing embarrassing. I could just tell that you needed to lay off the liquor and get some food.”
“Oh, good. Because I haven’t done naked table dancing since college.”
He frowned. “Wait. What? I missed naked table dancing? We both went to the same college, Erin.”
“You graduated two years ahead of me.”
“And then I stayed for vet school, so I was around the entire time.” He’d polished off his tea, so he filled a glass with ice water and came back to the table. “So when did naked table dancing happen?”
“It wasn’t exactly naked. Or fully naked. And it wasn’t on campus. It was at the lake. I’m surprised you didn’t see the pictures.”
His eyes widened. “There are pics?”
“Well, they tried. But Honor and Brenna both threatened to kill people, so they came down pretty fast.”
He leaned back in the chair. “Okay. Now I need to hear the entire story.”
“It was a bachelorette party for Rachel Novinski, one of my sorority sisters. And let’s just say that tequila and I are not besties. And there were shots. Lots and lots of shots. And then dares and music and suddenly my top is off and everyone’s laughing and I’m dancing and someone took a picture and fortunately it was dark so you can’t really see my boobs all that well, but there you have it.”
She took her phone out of her back pocket, scrolled to an album, and handed the phone to him, which surprised the hell out of him.
Yeah, it was dark, and taken from a distance, but he had damn good eyesight, and there was Erin, on top of the bar, her arms over her head, and damn she had beautiful breasts and dark nipples and goddamn he wanted to see her naked more than