with me. I want to make sure he’s adjusting to his new surroundings.”
I hesitated. Go to his house and check on his dog? Was this some kind of lame pretense to hook up? And would I mind if it was? After all, he was suddenly a free man. And he’d definitely admitted he had strong feelings for me. Maybe it was time to see where this potential relationship could go—for the first time without feeling guilty about it all.
Then again, what if he suddenly pulled another reversal on me? Loved me and left me? I had no desire, after all, to play rebound girl. It could only lead to more hurt and I’d already had more than enough of that to last a lifetime.
I glanced up at him and he smiled shyly at me, his gaze hesitant but hopeful, and it made my heart melt as I saw the love in his eyes. Whether he would admit it or not, he had broken up with the girl he was supposed to marry and a lot of it had to do with me. He’d taken the first step toward a new life path and he clearly wanted me along for the ride.
Really, how could I say no?
“Oh, a dog?” I forced myself to coo. “I’d love to see him.”
*
We arrived at Jamie’s apartment a few minutes later. It was a cute courtyard building with a pool in the center, à la Melrose Place. He unlocked the door and we stepped inside. He hadn’t been lying about the dog. A bundle of brown fur attacked me with excited yelps the second we walked through the door.
“This is Bowser,” he said, kneeling down to play wrestle with the pooch. “Bowser, this is Maddy.”
“Hi, Bowser,” I greeted, crouching down to pet the dog. He responded by licking my face with his sloppy pink tongue. He was some kind of terrier mix and extremely cute.
Jamie rose. “So do you, uh, want a tour?”
I took a deep breath, reminding myself this was no mere dog visit. The sexual tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I sucked in a breath. “Sure,” I said, squaring my shoulders. Too late to back out now. Wait—did I put on good underwear this morning? I so had not planned this. I tried to nonchalantly lower the hem of my skirt to catch a glimpse.
“This is the—are you okay?” Jamie asked, catching my skirt-lowering maneuver. My face flamed in embarrassment.
“Oh, yes. Fine, thank you.” I stammered. I quickly pulled my skirt back up. “Just, uh …” Checking to make sure my panties were appropriate for sex? Probably not something I needed to admit at that moment. “… had an itch.”
Blue cotton. Not terribly sexy, but not ripped at least. Not huge like Bridget Jones’s had been, either. Still, if only I’d had some clue today would be Sex Day, I would have grabbed one of those barely worn thongs I’d been saving for just such an occasion.
“Well, as I was saying, this is the kitchen …” I followed him into a rather large farmhouse-style kitchen with a center chef island, lots of counter space and a small table with a cheery red checked tablecloth in one corner. “I love to cook,” he said, running a hand over the island. “Sometime I’ll make you something, if you’d like.”
“That’d be nice. I’d like that,” I said, feeling awkward and shy all of a sudden. Wanton sex goddess I was not. And besides, what if I’d completely misread the situation? What if all that had been on his mind was dog walking and today had not been Sex Day after all?
“Did you want to give Bowser a treat?” Jamie asked.
“Uh, sure,” I said, trying to come out of my haze. To be completely truthful, I’d have preferred to give Jamie a treat, but I was getting less and less sure he’d be interested in such a thing. Or maybe he was too nervous to follow through, now that we were here. I leaned against the counter, kind of wishing we’d never left work.
“They’re up here.” He pointed at the cabinet above my head. “Duck for a minute, will you?” I ducked out of the way only to have my head smack into his solid chest, which did nothing for soothing my raging libido. He closed the cabinet and I raised my head.
He was standing very, very close. And there could be no mistaking the look in his