Page 48 of Taming Grumpy Dr. Beast
Chapter Thirteen
Lily
Iswiped at the pieceof hair that had fallen from the low ponytail. I’d been working on the book on and off for the past three hours, in between playing with Patches and taking him out for short walks.
Excitement had my body practically vibrating. I found a personal letter in the spine of the book and wanted to surprise Jaxon with it. I’d heard stories about older books once opened having sheets of music by Ludwig von Beethoven and partially written manuscripts by Edgar Allen Poe. It was thrilling to find something so amazing within the spine.
Maybe I’d frame it and present it to him as a surprise when I finished the book.
A soft whine came from behind the closed set of doors leading into Jaxon’s rare book library. Patches had settled in nicely. He must have belonged to a family prior to us finding him in the garden. He was so well behaved. The veterinarian said he’d let us know if anyone came to claim him. It had been five days, and I prayed that meant he was mine to keep.
My heart squeezed. In such a short time, he’d burrowed his way into my life. I didn’t want to lose him. He was the perfect distraction. A cute little love bug to help me deal with Dad’s declining health, and Jaxon avoiding me again.
Or maybe it was me avoiding him.
When we got back from picking up Patches, I hurried to my room with the little dog, saying that it might be better for him to get acclimated in a smaller space first. When Jaxon asked about dinner, I told him to have mine sent up to me.
While I wasn’t wrong about letting Patches slowly get comfortable in this massive house, the real reason was that I didn’t know how to act around Jaxon. Let’s be honest. My attraction to him began the moment I heard his voice in the library, not that I’d ever admit it to him.
It had never crossed my mind he’d even be interested in me, too. We were nothing alike. Our backgrounds were far too different, and I was ashamed to admit I didn’t think he’d go for me because of my size. Yet, if his hardened cock against my stomach and the way he looked like he was ready to devour me were any indication, he wanted me.
I loved my body and every one of my curves, but in reality, I hadn’t thought I was his type. Against my better judgment, I searched for him online. He didn’t have any social media profiles, so it took a while to find him. I’d only connected him to the social influencer, Jessamine Sulton. Any picture he was in also had her or any number of thin women.
Another whine and a light scratch at the door had me quickly covering my supplies and securing the book. I didn’t want Patches to ruin the doors going from the office to the rare book collection. Jaxon had seemed serious that he would get rid of him if he did. The little pup had a dog bed outside of the room so I could monitor him while I worked. And with Jaxon not using his office anymore, it’s not as though the dog would be a bother.
I gave one last lingering look at the restoration section I already completed, proud of the work I’d done so far. Throughout the past few days, I’d been working on the extensive red rot on the front and back cover and spine of the book with Klucel G and isopropanol mixture. I’d been correct in my initial evaluation that instead of restoring the cover, I would need to create a new one. My plan, to inlay as much of the old cover as I could into a new board, would be a close second aesthetically to the original.
With a book as rare as this, I needed to be careful. Which is why it had taken me days to contain the red rot. Using various small to medium paintbrushes I spread a very thin layer of the Klucel G mixture, waited for it to dry, and then repeated the process over and over until the red rot was contained.
I opened the door, careful to shut it tight behind me. The room intrigued Patches, and I didn’t want to take any chances he’d get in. I snagged his leash after a doggy snuggle and clipped it on. Patches danced around my feet, excited for a walk.
Setting the timer on my watch ensured I’d be back in the next thirty minutes. Jaxon had reached out to me through a text message earlier today, asking if he could stop by and see my progress.A text message!Like we weren’t living in the same house. It shouldn’t bother me as much as it did when I was in fact avoiding him too, not even eating dinners with him anymore, but it did. I hated to admit I missed the sound of his voice and how his large body filled a room.
I shivered at the thought of how his arms felt wrapped around me the other day. His touch had fire racing through me, straight to my core. It took me a second to realize it was his cock pressed into my stomach. My instincts were to rub my body against his. Thank God he moved away before I could embarrass myself and do just that.
I grabbed Patches’ leash. Until I could be sure he wouldn’t run away, we walked around the property with it. I knelt down to scratch the dog behind his ears. He gave me a little happy bark and leaned into me.
“You ready for a walk, boy?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
An excited yip and a spin confirmed that he was. I kept his walks short, knowing he was still gaining strength. We had to be careful in feeding him over the next few weeks. Tiny meals with lots of protein to let him gain weight and not risk overfeeding.
“What do you think? Want to go down to the pond and back?” Patches’ little tail wiggled enthusiastically.
“A walk? I thought I was here to check out your progress.” Jaxon asked, entering the room.
