Page 4 of A Soldier's Temptation
“Are you just going to stand there or start packing? Maybe you want to stay after all?” Gus asked with a smile.
“Oh hell no. I can’t wait to get home and have a decent shower,” he replied. It was true too. Besides Ari, he missed his shower the most.
Chapter 2
“Is he always this potent?”
“What?” Ariana knew exactly what her BFF Shira meant, but she wanted to hear her say it.
“You don’t smell the stank that’s coming from that fuzzy menace?”
“Are you referring to Mr. Darcy?”
“You know Jane Austin is spinning in her grave, right? Seriously, Sir Fartsalot would be a more appropriate name.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Are you shitting me? How do you live with him? I swear it’s been one silent but deadly cloud after another since I got here.”
The scrunched-up expression on Shira’s face as she tried to avoid sucking in the contaminated air was priceless. If Ari had more guts, she’d snap a picture and put it on Instagram, but she’d be dead if she tried.
“He’s not usually like this. I think it’s the flea meds the vet gave him or maybe the new food.”
As if he knew what they were talking about, Mr. Darcy stood up from where he’d been lying at Ari’s feet and spun around to release another silent bomb in Shira’s direction. It was all she could do not to bust out laughing as Shira’s eyes almost bugged out of her face.
“You need to do something about that. It’s horrible. How the hell are you going to hook a guy if you have this fart factory living with you?”
“I’m not looking for a guy.”
“You should be. And you want to tell me again why you felt the need to adopt a dog?”
Ari sighed. They had this conversation every time Shira visited her apartment. She was a cat person and no matter how adorable Mr. Darcy was, she’d never like him, stink or not. “I love him. He needed me, and I needed him.”
“Ugh. You should have adopted a cat.”
“I didn’t want a cat. They won’t cuddle or share popcorn.”
“See, this is what I’ve been telling you. You need to start dating again, find a man, and get rid of the fuzzy fart machine. The dirtbag who shall not be named has been out of your life for over a year. It’s time to move on.”
“I’m happy. I have moved on, but it doesn’t mean I need to find someone else. It hasn’t been that long.”
“That’s what you keep telling me. Yet you always find an excuse not to come out with us. At this rate, you will end up alone with stinky butt.”
“I’m thirty years old, I don’t want a one-night-stand which is all I’d find at that SEAL bar you hang out in. I want a relationship someday, but not yet, and I’m not sure it’s even possible.”
“Of course, it’s possible. But you won’t know until you try.”
Ari took a sip of her coffee as Shira’s words sank in. Subconsciously, she reached down and slid her fingers through the soft-kinky fur on Mr. Darcy’s head. He nuzzled against her hand.
“You know I’m right.”
“Maybe. But I have trust issues.”
“Considering what that fucktard did…”
“He wasn’t like that in the beginning. He was so charming. You even liked him.”
“I did, but Paul Chen is a con artist. Maybe not in the typical sense, he tricked you into dating him so he could steal information from your computer, didn’t he?”
