Page 31 of Finlay

I wanted to tell Chester that he was the one who’d been good. To praise him until my words erased whatever lies his ex had filled his head with. To learn the other things that made Chester smile. Groan. Whimper.

Fuck, I wanted to learn it all.

“I don’t know how or why you found me, but I’m so glad. Your owner will probably come looking for you soon. I hate that, which makes me selfish as fuck because you’ll have to leave. Until then, I’ll keep giving you all the bacon and cuddles you want.”

I smiled internally. Chester was wrong on both counts. Wanting company didn’t make him selfish.

And I wasn’t going anywhere.

Chapter 9

Chester

Without even trying, I’d made a new friend.

Okay, so the friend wasn’t human and couldn’t talk to me, but so what? Dogs were called man’s best friend for a reason.

And Buddy was quickly becoming mine.

That was what I’d settled on calling him. Without a collar, I didn’t know his actual name, but Buddy worked. It fit him perfectly because that was what he was to me.

My buddy.

It was a shame he couldn’t be mine permanently. Every morning when he came to visit, I half expected to hear a knock on the door. To be confronted by an angry owner who was upset that I’d been feeding their pet endless amounts of bacon. And sausage.Black pudding. We’d even had some fried bread yesterday.

My new morning routine was making me happier than I’d been in, well, years. Reid was right, if I was this excited to spend time feeding and talking to an animal, I probably should get out more.

That was even before we got into Finn’s workoutroutine, which, yes, I still avidly watched from the window. He was there every day like clockwork, the rising sun highlighting every groove of him.

Every. Naked. Groove.

I shouldn’t have been watching him. I knew that. I was fairly certain this was behaviour that could get me arrested. I could hear my defence now.

Well, I was just looking out of the window and Finn was there. And I happened to look out the same window the following day at the exact same time.

And the next.

And several more after that.

Somehow, I didn’t think that reasoning would hold up in court. And it shouldn’t.

Besides, if Finn didn’t want people seeing him naked then he should have been wearing swim shorts. Yeah, it was flimsy. But it was my reasoning and I was sticking to it.

Part of me wondered if Buddy was Finn’s dog. He was the only person I saw around that time of day. But Buddy only ever appeared when Finn was done with his swim. Whenever I left for work, Buddy trotting off in the direction of the woods, Finn was long gone.

I should ask him really, but then I’d have to admit that I lived here. He might put two and two together and realise what a creep I’d been.

Worse, he might take Buddy away from me.

It had been two weeks since Buddy had first let himself into my home. He turned up each day like clockwork, but I was terrified of the day his owner would come looking. What if he wouldn’t let me see him anymore?

Reid’s right. You do need to get more of a life.

No, I didn’t. What I had right now was perfect. I had my business. I had company in Buddy.

And I had enough spank bank material from Finn to last me a lifetime.

“Hopefully your owner won’t take you away,” I whispered, ruffling Buddy’s fur. “You’ll keep coming to see me, right?”

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