Page 87 of Hiss and Make Up
Marc watched Sierra zip her jeans and clasp her bra. He’d tried three times to convince her to stay in bed. If it was up to him, they’d stay naked in bed together until tomorrow morning, but she insisted she needed food.
She threw his pants at him. “You can tell me what the arson guy said while I make dinner.”
“You’re making dinner?” He raised an eyebrow at her while fumbling to get one leg in his pants.
“I still stand by my no-cake-baking clause of this relationship.” She slipped her T-shirt over her head, momentarily hiding her smile, and left the room.
Marc sighed. He wasn’t hungry, but he wanted to be in whatever room she was in.
He carried his shirt with him and found Sierra chasing the dog around the sofa. The mutt would dash around, then stop to bow and wag his butt in the air and take off again. It was downright adorable. He never thought he’d say that about a stray dog who’d somehow weaseled its way into his life. But coupled with Sierra? Irresistibly adorable.
He was definitely keeping them both. Somehow.
“What’s with him?”
“He’s a dog,” Sierra said, lunging for the dog and missing again. “He’s being dog-ish.”
“Well, the dude needs to chill out.”
“His name is Puck.”
“We’ve named him?”
“No,” she said. “I named him. And I gave him a bath earlier, so he’s getting some proper couch snuggles later.”
“Do we need to talk about not getting attached to…Puck?” He walked to the small bag of dog food on the counter near the door and shook it. The dog abandoned his game with Sierra and ran to put his paws on Marc’s legs.
“Nice trick,” Sierra said.
After he scooped food into a bowl and gave the dog a good scratching, Marc slid the door closed and locked it. The dog ignored the food and hopped and barked in front of the glass.
“That’s gonna get old fast,” he mumbled.
Sierra dug through his pantry and cabinets, frowning. She pulled out a strainer and a saucepan, then waved a box of mac and cheese at him.
“Sounds good.”
“So what did the inspector guy say?” she asked.
“Arson. Definitely. Started in the back of the house. Looks like someone broke one of the back windows to get in and started it in one of the kids’ rooms.”
Sierra mumbled a heated string of swear words drowned by the dog’s escalated barking.
“Sheesh, can we get a muzzle for old Puck out there?”
Sierra waved a large spoon at him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the cheek. A second later, he pulled his head back and sniffed the air.
“Do you smell that?”
“Smell what? I told you, I washed the dog.”
“No, it’s not the dog,” he said. “Did you turn on the stove?”
“No.”
She placed the pot on the stove and reached down to turn on the burner. That’s when he noticed the knob was already turned. He slapped her hand away.
“Stop it.” She swatted him back. “I told you, I’m starving!”
