Bonus Kisses - Freya Barker Page 0,53
off so I can do it in the morning. I’m not in the mood for a public appearance right now.
Rafe is already busy in the kitchen and looks up when I walk in.
The last few days we’ve fallen into a natural groove with easy touches and sweet affection. The last two nights we’ve become intimately acquainted with every inch of each other’s body, and have fallen asleep sated in each other’s arms in my room. I still have to pinch myself in the mornings to make sure I’m not dreaming. It’s been a little surreal to say the least.
“What the hell?” Rafe is stalking toward, me taking in my appearance, complete with cleaned and bandaged arm, courtesy of the clinic. “What happened to you?”
“Mrs. Myers,” I inform him, but at his confused expression I quickly add, “I guess technically Mrs. Myers’ dog.”
“Charlton?” I don’t blame him for the disbelief in his voice. If I hadn’t experienced it, I wouldn’t have believed the docile mutt capable.
“Apparently he’s not a fan of baths.”
His eyes squint. “Care to tell me why you’d be giving her dog a bath? I’m sure that’s not part of your normal work routine.”
“Well no, but she kinda guilted me into it.”
“How is that?” He reaches for my arm and starts unwinding the bandage. I let him.
“Oh, I don’t know. Something about not being charitable like my family.” I purposely stick to more general terms, not wanting to bring up my sister. It doesn’t matter, I can tell from the way he looks at me, he’s reading enough between the lines.
“I’m thinking it’s high time Mrs. Myers and I have a heart-to-heart. The woman is relentless in her pursuit of free services. She’s been living off this family’s ‘charity’ much too long already.” I hiss when he probes the two tears in my skin from the dog’s canines and the colorful bruising forming around it. “That old boy got you good. Your tetanus up-to-date?”
“Already got my shot. Look…” I quickly pull my arm back, “…I don’t want to make a fuss. I already called Nathan to report it.”
“Good. So he’ll take her off your roster?”
“Well…” Rafe lifts an eyebrow. “He offered, but I said no,” I admit.
“Why would you want to go back there?”
I can’t blame him for his incredulity; I doubted my own sanity a few times. “It’s not that I want to, it’s I feel I have to.” His other eyebrow shoots up, so I try to explain. “People already have a hard time putting their trust in me. How would it look if at the first hint of trouble, I give up? If I’m going to make a life here, I need to start changing their perception of me. I need to prove I’m better than what they see.”
“They don’t have a clue who you are.” Rafe’s voice is gruff as his arms close tightly around me and I snuggle into his chest.
“Then it’s about time they find out.” I lift up my face and kiss the underside of his jaw. “Besides, I don’t like the idea of letting that woman win.”
Chapter Nineteen
Rafe
“Which one of you was it this time?”
I take the last few stairs to find Taz standing in the front hallway, a mangled flip-flop in her hands and snippets of rubber littering the floor into the living room. Stitch and Lilo are nowhere to be found.
“I see the kids have been busy.”
“I swear, I turn my back for a second and they get into trouble.” She marches right past me into the kitchen and dumps the mangled footwear in the garbage. “My favorite ones too.”
I walk up behind her, slip my arms around her waist, and kiss her neck. “I’ll buy you new ones.”
Turning around she grabs my shirt and drops her forehead to my chest. “How long does this phase last?”
The dogs have newly discovered all the creative ways they can use their teeth. Throw pillows, remote, table leg, but by far their favorite chew toy is footwear.
“You don’t wanna know,” I assure her. “I’ll pick them up some appropriate chew toys, maybe a couple of bones. We can teach them not to attack the furniture, but we’ll also have to make sure we don’t leave anything tempting in their path.”
“Good thing they’re quick studies,” she mumbles.
They are. We’ve only had one ‘accident’ in the past few days, and they willingly go in their shared crate at night.
“I can take them with me for the day,” I offer, looking down in her upturned