The Pet Stylist and the Playboy Read online

  I shrugged. “Mostly talk.” Wow, I was really piling up the lies, wasn’t I?

  “Okay. It’ll be difficult in Aspen, but we’ll manage. We can cuddle.”

  I nodded, so goddamned relieved not to have to fend her off on our trip, it wasn’t funny, but also kind of sick to my stomach because I was a big, fucking liar.

  “Uh, I’d better go.” I made a show of adjusting myself, so she’d think I needed to leave before I lost it and ravished her.

  She took a step back. “Okay, no problem.” She walked with me to the door.

  Once outside, I took in a deep breath of cold air before heading for the Mas. My dad had been driving it recently. There was a receipt from an expensive jewelry store stuffed in the cup-holder. I sucked in a breath when I saw the amount of money spent, but my father had always been lavish in his gifts to my mother, especially on Christmas. I shook my head, tossing the receipt back in the cup-holder. That kind of thing would probably be expected of me when I got married. I thought about Felicity’s reaction to what I’d said, a little puzzled. Why had my wanting to wait made her happy? I’d expected her to be mad.

  Women.

  Pulling out of the parking space, I headed for Isaac’s. I needed to clear up a few things.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Swish

  I awakened to Banjo licking my face. Realizing it was after eleven o’clock, I pulled on my clothes and hurried downstairs, muscles protesting.

  “Sorry, guys,” I said as I let the dogs out of their crates. A couple of them had peed in their kennels, and I quickly cleaned it up and filled their dishes before putting a load of dirty rags in the washer and feeding the cats. I made a piece of toast and phoned Gus, who said he’d had a sandwich and there was no reason for me to come up there anytime soon. I ate my toast while posting new pictures on the website, Fred moving out onto his bar to nod his head over me and squawk.

  At two, I announced to the dogs we were going outside.

  The day was cold but sunny, and the five canines we currently had plus Banjo romped about the yard, playing with the rope toys I’d brought out. We’d been outside an hour when I heard a car coming up the drive and turned to see the Maserati curving around in front of Gus’s house and heading toward my place. A smile spread over my face, and I hurried to meet him.

  I was in Dante’s arms as soon as he was out of the car, and God did it feel good.

  “You look tired,” I said.

  “I’m okay.”

  Dante wrapped his arm around my neck and walked me toward the two chairs in the yard in front of the house.

  “We didn’t get any time to talk last night,” he said, picking up a rubber ball from the grass and tossing it to the dogs.

  I grinned. “I wonder why.”

  Dante smiled, the dimple appearing beside his mouth and his eyes crinkling. “Yeah, well. I was curious why you’re working at Lux.”

  I should have known that was coming, but with everything we’d done the night before, I’d forgotten all about seeing Dante while at my second job.

  “I needed a little extra pay. It’s just a few nights a week.”

  Dante looked down at his hands hanging between his knees. “Why didn’t you ask me? I could’ve loaned you what you need.”

  My mouth firmed.

  “I don’t need a loan. I just need a few nights of work a week to get me through.”

  “Are you in financial trouble?” Dante raised his head to meet my gaze.

  “No. I just want to save up some extra money, is that all right with you?” I hadn’t intended to snap, but he was pissing me off. I could earn my own money, and I wasn’t sure what was going through Dante’s mind about the two of us, and that made me feel off kilter. “I know I was basically your pet project for two years, but—”

  “Hey.” Dante squeezed my arm. “You were never my pet project. You’re my friend.”

  I bit on my lip to keep it from wobbling. I knew better, but I’d been unable to help hoping we were more than friends now.

  Dante’s eyes sought mine. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. That man who followed you into the bathroom—he seemed like a real creep.”

  “He’s all right,” I said.

  “Do you know him?”

  I sighed. “Yeah. I know him. Can we drop this?”

  Dante leaned back in the chair. “He’s the ex-boyfriend you mentioned, isn’t he?”

  “Bingo. Now will you drop it?” I stood, hackles up. I didn’t want to talk about Clint.

  “Sorry. I can’t help but worry about you.”

  I glared at him. “Why? Do you worry about Blaze? Ax? Hung? Why is it you’re always so fucking worried about me? Unless you think I’m weak and helpless.”

  Dante shook his head and got to his feet. “I don’t. I swear I don’t. I’ve always just felt kind of protective of you, that’s all.”

  I shook my head. “Kind of?”

  Dante let out a breath. “Okay, if you say you’re fine, I believe you. I’ll drop it.”

  I continued gnawing on my lip until Dante tilted my chin and kissed me. It took a minute, but I warmed up and let him in, and, again, I felt something had changed. His mouth moved sensuously over mine, melting me into the chair. Why was it so good with him? You’ve been in love with him forever, that’s why.

  When we parted, Dante ran his thumb over my lower lip. “You were right before: I’m fucking exhausted.”

  The admission let some of the hot air out of me. “Go up to my room and take a nap. After I make dinner for Gus, I’ll bring you something and wake you up. You have anywhere you need to be later?”

  Dante shook his head. He looked down at me for several long moments during which I imagined he could see how much I loved him. Maybe I wanted him to see that, to know how deep my feelings ran for him, but then I remembered all Dante was doing was having sex with a friend, no matter how much I wanted to believe otherwise, and I shuttered my expression.

  Dante smiled at me before turning and walking into the house. I mentally shook myself and gathered the dogs before walking up to the main house.

  Gus had been having trouble sleeping lately, and there were bags under his eyes.

  “Maybe you should see your doctor,” I suggested to him while I started dinner. “Just to make sure everything’s all right.”

  I left the stove and put my hands on his shoulders. He seemed tense. “I just worry about you. I want you to be around for a long, long time.”

  Gus patted my hand and sighed. “All right. For you. I’ll make an appointment with Culbertson in the morning.”

  Satisfied, I went back to cooking.

  “That Dante’s fancy car down at your place?” Gus asked, looking out the kitchen window.

  “Yeah. He stopped by to see me and was so tired, I insisted he take a nap.”

  “What’s going on with him?”

  “He’s just working hard. He really wants his parents to be proud of him, I guess.” Gus looked worried, so I changed the subject.

  “I forgot to tell you. Jesse and Cupcake came by and adopted the yellow cat, Sunny. I told them he needs meds for his allergies, but they didn’t care.”

  “I’m glad Sunny finally got a good home,” Gus said, but seemed preoccupied.

  After we ate, I cleaned up and put the leftover soup away, while Gus went into the living room to try to nap. I took a plastic container of soup and a big slice of cornbread with me to my place, left them in the kitchen, and climbed the stairs to my bedroom.

  Dante had stripped down to his underwear, and my cock hardened looking at him sprawled on my bed, all muscles and tanned skin. I knew what we were doing would end, but I wanted to prolong it as long as I could. I crawled up the bottom of the bed and settled by his hip. Leaning in, I mouthed his cock through his black briefs.

  Dante moaned and spread his legs wider, still half-asleep. I ran my lips over the growing bulge, and he pushed it into my face.

  I pulled his briefs down below
Dante’s balls and slathered the soft orbs with my tongue before taking his cock into my mouth, loving the way it felt hardening in my mouth. Fighting my gag reflex, I let it hit the back of my throat again and again as Dante became more aware and began rocking his hips.

  “Fuck, Isaac...” He moaned, long and loud, and I increased suction, wanting to swallow his load, but at the same time, wanting to feel his cock inside me.

  When I could tell he was getting close, I made up my mind and pulled off, saliva trailing from my lips to his dick.

  “I want you to fuck me,” I said, pulling my shirt over my head and tossing it to the floor.

  Dante’s raised up on his elbows, chest heaving with arousal and wet cock standing straight up. “God.”

  I straightened and removed my jeans, so he could get a good look at the pair of white panties I wore before I shimmied out of them.

  Dante groaned. “Christ, that’s hot as hell.” He reached for me, and I fell into his arms, kissing him hungrily as his hands moved over my ass. Suddenly, he smacked my butt hard, and I caught my breath.

  Dante pulled away to look into my eyes. “You’re a sexy little fucker, you know that?”

  I grinned and leaned in for another kiss, blindly tugging Dante’s briefs down his legs.

  I reached for the drawer and pulled out the lube but left the condoms there. “We’re doing it bare,” I said, ready to fight for what I wanted. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about having your spunk running out of me last night.”

  Dante looked up at me, uncertainty in his eyes.

  “You said you were clean,” I reminded him. It might be stupid, but I was determined to feel him bare inside me before whatever it was we were doing ended.

  “I am.”

  “Well, so am I. I haven’t had sex with anyone but you in years. Since Clint.”

  Dante growled.

  I leaned forward, mouth centimeters from his. “Fuck me bare, Dante. You know you want to.”

  He took the lube I’d picked up off the bedside table and slicked himself up, eyes never leaving mine. It was hot as fuck.

  The feel of him breaching me followed by the burning slide brought a long moan from deep in my chest.

  “Oh, fuck, yeah. Christ, Dante, you feel so good inside me.” My whole body lit up.

  Dante made a choked sound and began thrusting, and I held on, one hand on the headboard and the other gripping the sheets.

  Smack smack smack smack smack

  I begged him to go faster, to fuck me harder, deeper. The bed squeaked and groaned until I thought we might break it. He came before me, and his warm jizz filling me up was enough to send me flying.

  I lay gasping, lying in the wet spot, but I didn’t care. Dante kissed me down my chest, fingers spreading his spunk all over my ass.

  “I brought you soup,” I said. “It might be a little cold now, but you can heat it up in the microwave.”

  Dante bit one of my nipples, and I gasped. He sat up and grinned down at me. “Good. I’m starving.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Dante

  I’d planned to let Isaac down easy, tell him we were going to have to stop what we’d been doing, but waking up from a nap in his bed with Isaac’s mouth on me had derailed my plans. Someone had shown up to adopt an animal, and I never did get around to talking to him.

  With the upcoming holidays, the following weeks were busy at the dealership. My father ordered a giant tree set up in the showroom, and carols played over the intercom all day long. Marta, the receptionist, handed out candy canes to all the kids who came through with their parents.

  Watching her wipe the small handprints from the windows for what had to be the dozenth time that day, my dad chuckled.

  “Soon it’ll be your kids.” He clapped me on the back and walked off, leaving me feeling sick.

  I liked kids well enough, but the thought of a house in the ‘burbs with several of my own running around still scared the living daylights out of me.

  On the up side, I was beginning to excel at the job. Who knew I would have a head for business? The first time my father praised me, I stood frozen for several long seconds after he’d walked away until Marta poked me in the arm and gave me a teasing smile. When my father told me he was proud of me over dinner later that same week, I nearly choked on my food.

  His praise almost made everything I was doing worth it. The job, Felicity, all of it. For the first time in my life that I could remember, I was making my father proud. My mother was a different story, but I’d long ago given up on trying to form a relationship with her.

  Felicity and her uncle had dinner with us a couple of times a week, saving me from having to ask Felicity on an actual date. Deep down, I knew that’s what we were doing, but a stubborn part of me—the part that was still in denial—refused to think of her as my girlfriend. This was made easier by Felicity’s attitude about our relationship. Although she was undoubtedly attracted to me, she seemed to regard our relationship as a friendly business transaction, and I was grateful to that. I didn’t think I could stand it if she fell in love with me. To be fair, a woman would have to be crazy to fall for the person I’d become.

  Isaac was my oasis in the middle of all the stress. He’d text me things that made me laugh, and we had the occasional phone conversation late at night. I didn’t bring up Felicity or my situation—I couldn’t. I was in too much need of the respite from it. And when we hung up, I’d take his silk panties from beneath my pillow and rub myself with them, thinking of his soft skin and stuttering moans.

  I’d taken the panties home from work after my dad had discovered them in my desk drawer. He’d thought they were Felicity’s, and something in me balked at that, although I obviously didn’t correct him.

  I spent Thanksgiving eating with my parents, Jonas, and Felicity at the formal dining room table at my parents’ house. Their cook, Deborah, prepared a lavish seven course meal. After the third course, I excused myself to go to the bathroom, and called Isaac.

  I shouldn’t have. He was eating at Gus’s with some of the club, Morgan, and Morgan’s friend, Nikki. I could hear how much fun they were having in the background, and it made me want to be with them so badly, it hurt to go back to the stoic faces in the dining room, and finishing the meal was difficult.

  A week into December, I was eating lunch at my desk when Isaac sent me a photo. He must have set the timer, because he stood with his back to the camera, looking over his shoulder, long hair cascading over pale skin and a strip of black silk riding up his plump, delicious ass.

  Fuck. I leaned back in my chair and put my feet up on the desk, thinking about getting between those cheeks. I’d never enjoyed eating anyone out more than I did Isaac. I palmed my hard dick, glad almost everyone was out to lunch and the place was quiet.

  Thank God it was Friday.

  My parents’ Christmas party was set for the following night, and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all. I was tired just thinking about trying to hold conversations with all those rich, snobby people. My mother had told me to stay out of the house that night, as it was being cleaned and decorated, and that was more than fine with me. I’d intended to go to the clubhouse, I ready had, but at the last moment I made a turn that sent me in the direction of the town of Henry, a fever racing through my veins that I couldn’t squelch if I tried. When I crossed the border into the small town, I rolled down the window despite the cold and took a deep breath of the sweet country air into my lungs.

  When Isaac opened the door and gave me a sexy smile of welcome, I pressed him to the wall and kissed him, relishing the taste and scent of him.

  “You alone?” I asked between sweeps of my tongue.

  “Yeah.” Isaac’s voice was hoarse, needy, and it broke me. In seconds, I had him bent over the back of the sofa with his pants around his knees. I guess the dogs had become accustomed to us, as they didn’t freak out at the noise we made, which was a good thing, because otherwise I might start getting an ere
ction every time I heard a dog bark.

  We’d just pulled ourselves back together and that feeling was beginning to sink in that I’d just made things worse when Isaac’s phone rang. I flopped down on the sofa and closed my eyes. They flew open when Marmalade jumped onto my chest and rubbed against my face. I petted her and looked at Isaac when he set his phone on the table.

  “I usually go up and check on Gus, but he saw your car and wants to see you,” he said.

  “Sure. No problem. I’d like to see him, too.”

  Isaac had a funny look on his face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He shrugged. “I just wonder why he doesn’t want me to go up, too.”

  I grinned at him. “Maybe he wants to talk Christmas presents.”

  Isaac looked relieved. Privately, I had a suspicion Gus had something else he wanted to talk to me about.

  And I was right.

  As soon as I’d taken a seat across from Gus in his living room, he laid into me.

  “I don’t want Isaac hurt. The boy’s become a son to me, Dante. He doesn’t deserve you toying around with him while you have that rich girl on your arm for the world to see.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say, but I wouldn’t insult him by pretending not to know what he was talking about.

  Gus picked up the newspaper beside him and tossed it onto the coffee table. I leaned forward to take it. It was folded open to the society page where a picture of me and Felicity stared back at me. I wasn’t sure where it had been taken, but that didn’t matter. I knew Gus was right. Of course, I did—I’d never meant it to go this far.

  “Isaac doesn’t read the paper,” Gus said. “But it’s only a matter of time before this comes to his attention.” The old man looked as though he wanted to throttle me, and I took a second to appreciate the fact Isaac had someone like him in his life.

  “Isaac knows about Felicity,” I said.

  “Does he?” Gus’s eyes bore into mine until I squirmed.