Page 94 of No Interest in Love

“Shay? Is that you?” Jace calls from the back. I bend down and stuff the pots back in place.

“Yeah!”

“You alone?”

He sounds playful. My lips turn up and I shut the cupboard door. “Sort of.”

There’s a pause. Enough time for me to dump my bag on the couch and strap the leash around the closet door handle. The puppy jumps onto a chair and digs his nose into the fabric.

“Will you come back here for a minute?” Jace calls out. “Alone!”

I roll my eyes. I’d bet my entire royalty check on him being buck naked when I open that back door to our bedroom.

Cracking the door, I take one peek and see his hard-earned leading-actor muscles from toe to crown, perched in a pose that would make Captain Morgan jealous.

I should’ve written that bet down.

“Yes?” I ask, sneaking inside, trying to be oblivious to his intentions for the evening’s activities. It’s hard though. I honestly want to tackle that Captain Morgan and ride him out. Tangle my fingers in his brown hair, nibble at his stubble, which he has to keep up for his role, grab at his glorious ass…

But another wave of sick pushes through my stomach and all those thoughts fly from my head.

“We must mark our territory,” he says with a lopsided grin. His fisted hands on his waist loosen, and he rests one on the bed bunk. “We can mark it here.” He points to the bottom bunk. “And here.” Then he nods behind me. “And everywhere out there.”

“You want to pee all over our new place?” I joke, bending down to fix my pillowcase, which he must’ve rushed to put my pillow into. He takes the two steps to close the distance between us, waking up the butterflies that are making my stomach queasy.

“Can you get rid of whoever is out there?” he asks. His smile is infectious. It always has been. Even though I’m pretty sure I’m about to hurl, I want to smile with him.

Instead I take a deep breath, hoping it doesn’t smell like pregnancy. “Well, that’s going to be a problem.”

“Why?”

“Because our guest will be staying with us for a while.”

“Oh, you want them to join in?” he jokes, obviously thinkingI’mjoking. “They can have a little taste of this.”

He takes a step back, gyrating his hips into a windmill.

“That’s hot.” I lean against the wall, unfazed. “But you might want to put it away.”

“I know where I want to put it.”

“Yeah, but Wolverine might get a little playful with you, and his teeth are pretty sharp.”

His brow furrows slightly, grin still on his face as he tries to understand my comment. Keeping my face as impassive as possible, which is so hard since I feel like the sun is trying to rise up my neck, I pull on the leash, bringing the rescue puppy into the bed cabin.

Jace’s sexy brown eyes brighten, and he fumbles for his jeans he carelessly tossed on the floor. He stuffs one leg in, and in his haste to get the other he loses his balance and falls straight to the bottom bunk bed.

My laughter releases, and I jump on top of him.

“You got a dog?” he says, and I kiss his smiling lips.

“Hope that’s okay. I’ve heard the road can get lonely.”

“Hell yes, it’s okay.” He pats the bed, and Wolverine hops up and immediately nibbles at Jace’s fingers.

“I think it’ll be good pr—” I stop, stomach churning, and before I can spit anything out Jace grabs my face and smooths his thumb over my forehead.

“You okay?”

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