best ice queen tone. “What are you doing here, Rufus?” She tried to keep her eyes—eyes she hoped were radiating judginess and disdain—on Rufus, but she couldn’t help dropping them for a second. As soon as she made eye contact with the little basset hound in Rufus’s arms, he yapped happily at her in greeting. She suppressed a smile.
Which wasn’t all that hard to do, because Rufus had started toward her. She held up a hand. She was the one regulating how much distance there was between them. “I asked you what you were doing here.”
That galvanized Jake, who covered the short distance between them until he was once again at her side. He didn’t do or say anything, though. He just stood there, his eyes moving between her and Rufus, assessing. It occurred to her that some men, in the name of honor or chivalry or whatever, would rush in and be all, “The lady asked you a question, asshole,” but Jake merely stood there, his solid, wordless presence having the same steadying effect it’d had during the emergency birth.
But she wasn’t going to lie. The fact that her silent support system was a gorgeous man-god was not going unappreciated here.
She turned and raised her eyebrows pointedly at Rufus.
“I need you to take the dog,” he said quickly.
It was all she could do not to lunge for the little creature she had come to love so much. She forced herself to be cool. “Why?”
Rufus was clearly uncomfortable, alternately kicking the ground in front of him and eyeing Jake like a bratty little boy who’d been caught doing something stupid by a cool, older kid. “It turns out that basset hounds are one of the worst breeds for people with allergies.”
Oh hell no.
She knew exactly what he was getting at, but she decided to play dumb. “But you’re not allergic to dogs.”
“It’s not their fur so much as their dander, which I guess is extra potent or something.”
“And you have that vacuum cleaner that cost as much as a used car. You do love that vacuum cleaner.” It was one of the objects he’d insisted on. A top-of-the-line Miele even though all they’d had to vacuum were area rugs—the actual floor of the apartment had been hardwood.
“And basset hound drool is a factor in allergies, too. You remember how much he drools.”
A wave of revulsion washed over her. He couldn’t seem to find the strength or the balls or the whatever in himself to take responsibility for what he was actually saying. To say what he was actually saying.
Her sister had told her that there was a formula for how long it took to get over someone—a month for every year you’d been together. By that metric, it was supposed to take five months for Rufus to be in her wake. As much as she hated the fact that he had just shown up uninvited at her house, she also kind of appreciated that his doing so was putting her on the accelerated plan.
Okay, she was done here. “Rufus, I think what you’re trying to say is that the resident you cheated on me with is shacking up with you a month after I walked in on said cheating, and that she’s allergic to dogs?”
He turned bright red, which she enjoyed, but he didn’t answer.
“Is that right?” she goaded. She felt a hand on her lower back. Jake’s, resting lightly. A visceral reminder of his presence, should she need it.
“Chloe is allergic to dogs,” Rufus mumbled.
She laughed.
Then she laughed some more, because she was happy that she could laugh about this so soon. She was totally on the advanced track here. She might be lonely, but she wasn’t lonely for Rufus, which she was going to take as a win. “Hand him over.”
Jake leaned over and whispered in her ear, “You want this dog?”
She nodded. She did want the dog. The dog was the only damn thing in the whole split she’d wanted, but she hadn’t presumed to ask because he was Rufus’s—from way before she came on the scene.
Although…even though she had just been thinking how she appreciated Jake’s low-key approach, his silent but steadfast support, part of her wanted to see what he would do or say if she said no, she didn’t want the dog. How fast would Jake have Rufus running away with his tail between his legs—pun intended?
But no. She was happy to play power games with asshole ex-boyfriends, but she couldn’t do that to