And that was how we left on our first dog walk—hand in hand, with the cutest puppy ever tucked into the most gorgeous man’s arm.

Jake

Well, the damn dog went and ruined my moment, but I had to give it to the little guy—he got me in the door.

I’d spent the night before chatting with Bess, watching her coo over Maddy while Lane worked next door in his study, and a deep pit of loneliness had lodged in my throat. So I mentioned to Bess the idea about getting Aly a puppy.

She’d stood up with the baby in her arms and spun around. “What a great idea!” she’d declared with certainty. “You know, Lane wormed his way into my heart with all those silly gifts. Not the jewelry, but don’t tell him that,” she said with a wink. The giant yellow diamond on her hand cast sparkles all over the room, but she’d said that the little gifts meant the most, so I went with it.

So this morning after Lane had headed for the airport, Bess left Maddy with James, and she and I went to pick up Maverick.

Fast forward a few hours, and I’d kissed the girl I wanted and was now strolling outside her shitty apartment with her and Maverick, who was scampering ahead of us on the burgundy leash Bess had picked for him.

Life was pretty damn good.

“Here, why don’t you take him,” I said.

Aly grabbed the leash with reckless abandon and allowed the dog as much time as he wanted sniffing every single blade of grass. Finally, he squatted and peed—on the sidewalk of all places.

“Give him some praise,” I told her. “Name what going to the bathroom is, like good potty.”

“Really?” she asked. When I nodded, she leaned forward and told the pup in a gentle voice, “Good boy! Go potty, baby. Go potty.”

I was immediately jealous. My cock hardened at the sounds floating from her mouth, combined with the sight of her hair still in a messy bun and her ass in the yoga pants she’d thrown on. Down, boy, I told my dick.

“What?” she asked me, and I smirked at the realization that I must have spoken out loud.

Tossing my arm around her, I said, “Aly-cat, I’m sure this isn’t the right place or time, but you got me worked up, if you know what I mean.”

She stopped walking and stared up at me, doubt putting a little crease between her brows.

I winked. “What can I say? You look good all messy like that, walking our dog.”

“Our dog? We’ve been on one date, and now we share a pet?”

“Yep.”

I didn’t let her say anything more before I wound my hand around her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. Like a good puppy, Maverick plopped down at our feet as I took her mouth while we stood in the middle of her grimy neighborhood. She wouldn’t be living in this shithole of a neighborhood for much longer if I had anything to do with it.

Aly pulled away first and took my hand as if it was the most natural thing to do—like we did it every Sunday morning—and continued to stroll for a while. Then she invited me back to her place for brunch. We made a stop at my Hummer and carried the dog supplies upstairs, and she pampered me with small talk and eggs and bacon before I reluctantly got the hell out.

I told her I needed to check on the gym, but what I really needed was a cold shower.

My phone buzzed at eleven o’clock on Monday with a text. I was in the middle of walking the construction site at the new gym when a picture of Maverick lit up my screen and the words “Aly-cat” ran across the bottom.

“Excuse me for one sec,” I told Jax, my new foreman. Standing off to the side, I slid open the screen.

ALY : Took the bus to Oakland to let Mav out and eat lunch at home. I’m going to work from here for a few hours, so you’re off duty. :)

I texted back one of those mad faces. Then I found my man card and texted back actual words.

ME : Okay, good! You need to bond. In the middle of meeting. Talk later?

ALY : Sure.

Almost immediately, a cluster of nerves swept through my tightened muscles. I was busy with work and slightly relieved I didn’t need to go let the dog out. But all of a sudden, I wanted to see Aly. Touch her. Smell her. And I realized that those nerves I thought were sweeping through me were actually disappointment.

Was this normal when two people liked each other? And for that matter, did she actually like me? She was home bonding with the dog I bought for her, which meant something. Right?

Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I shoved my phone back in my pocket. “Okay, Jax, let’s move on.”

We wound our way through the rest of the floor, inspecting the locker rooms that were almost finished. As we were checking out the aerobics studio, an idea came to me.

“Hey, Jax, one last thing. I bought this duplex over on the east side of the city. I want to clean it up, touch it up a little, and rent the units. You think you have a guy or two to spare on the weekend, someone who wants to make time-and-a-half? I want to get it done.”

Jax leaned against the wall that would eventually be the back of the weight room, his feet kicked out in front of him. “I got a few guys who like to earn a little extra beer money. You got the keys? I can go take a look tonight and make a list of what I think needs to be done quick and dirty.”

I fished through my pocket and tossed him the key ring before reaching to shake his hand. “Thanks, man. I’ll text you the address.”

Then I was back out the door and headed to the Oakland location, my first baby. I’d worked out early this morning in the burbs, putting a new trainer through his paces, but I felt like a quick workout. My gut had hardened with an unknown pang, some type of longing I’d never known, and I wanted to sweat that shit out.

I barreled my way through several sets of pull-ups alternated with bench presses before I worked my legs hard. Wall squats with dumbbells and weighted leg extensions left my thighs trembling. I opted for my private shower in the back of my office since the lunch rush was hitting the gym and crowding the locker rooms.

Leaning up against the tiles in my private shower, I rested my forehead on them and let my hand stroke myself. Yes, it was fucking disgusting that I was doing this in the middle of the work day, but I was locked away in the back of my office so I shrugged off any guilt. My workout had barely scratched the surface of my tension, and I needed to let some of it bleed out of my system. I was strung out, both sexually and emotionally, and didn’t know how the fuck else to ease it. I just knew I was a wreck and had to go see my therapist this afternoon.

Visions of red hair flowing around my cock took over my imagination. In my mind, Aly dipped her mouth and took me deep, running her tongue along my tip, lapping up the drops of pre-come from the seam. She hummed and moaned while I was seated inside her mouth, the sound reverberating on my shaft, ratcheting me higher.

My hand worked overtime, pulling on my dick, tugging roughly up and down while my brain pictured Aly on her knees in front of me. I imagined pulling her hair back at the nape of her neck and fucking her rosy red lips, and I pumped faster. The calluses on my hand were a weak replacement for what should be Aly’s tender mouth.

I went rougher, thought for a moment about tying her to my bed when she was done sucking me off, and dreamed of her looking up at me. Her eyes sought mine, telling a magic story, begging me to do exactly what I wanted—to tie her up and bury myself in her ginger pussy.

I came on a long exhale, shooting jizz all over the tile as I silently mouthed, Fuck, Aly-cat, that was incredible.