Page 25 of Sweet Temptation (Men of Honor 2)
“Do you think someone did that to him, Sawyer?” Her sad voice pulls me from my perverted thoughts, and makes me want to go beat the shit out of the person who did this. Not just for the dog, but for making my Cupcake cry.
My Cupcake? Jesus, I’m fucking losing it.
“Yeah, Grace, I think so,” I tell her truthfully.
Suddenly her sad brown eyes turn fierce and she clenches her jaw. “When I find out who did this, Sawyer, oh boy are they gonna be sorry,” she says, shaking her head and punching a tiny fist into her open hand.
I bite back a chuckle, not wanting to piss her off more. Fuck she’s cute. “Easy there, Rocky Balboa; let’s wait to see what the vet says first.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth the vet comes out. “Grace Morgan?”
Grace and I stand. “I’m Dr. Richards,” the older man shakes our hands, “you can come in now and see Chuckie.”
I put my hand on the small of Grace’s back, because I can’t seem to stop touching her, and we follow the vet into the examining room. Grace rushes over to Chuckie, who’s lying on the exam table with a cast on his leg and a bandaged nose. She buries her face in his neck, and her shoulders shake gently as she cries again.
The vet clears his throat, “Chuckie is not your dog; is that correct, Miss Grace?”
She stands now, but keeps her hand on the side of the dog’s stomach. “He wasn’t before, but he is now,” she states firmly.
He gives her a small smile, “Well, that would be real great if you took him home with you. Otherwise I’m going to have to call ASPCA to come pick him up. It seems he’s been abused for quite some time now. The x-rays showed us previous broken bones that were not treated properly. To be honest, I’m surprised he was able to walk at all.”
Grace begins to cry harder. Walking over, I put my arm around her shoulders. “What about his nose?” she asks.
“They’re cigarette burns.”
She sucks in a sharp breath then shakes her head sadly. “Can I take him home now?”
“Yes, but he needs to come back in three weeks time to get his cast off. I’ll also provide you with medication to help manage his pain. Lauren will give it to you when you take care of the bill.”
Grace tenses slightly at the mention of the bill, it probably never even crossed her mind until now.
She nods, “All right I will do that right now, thank you for helpin’ him.”
“It was my pleasure, Miss Grace. Thank you for bringing him.”
She turns to me, “I guess I should pick up a bowl and some food too. I don’t know what’s good. I’ve never had a dog before.”
I give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “It’s not hard, Cupcake; I’ll help you.”
Walking out, we head to the supply section and I grab everything the dog will need. I notice Grace checking all the prices and pick up on her anxiety. Without saying anything I carry it all up to the front counter.
“All righty, that will be $850,” the lady says after ringing everything through.
“What? $850?” Grace shrieks in shock.
I hand the lady my credit card that I had already taken out of my wallet.
“No!” Grace pushes my hand away before she can accept it, then leans closer to the lady, “Do y’all have a payment plan or anythin’?”
“Grace, I got this,” I say firmly.
“No, Sawyer. I mean it, this isn’t your responsibility.”
“Excuse us a minute,” I say to the lady, before grabbing Grace by the arm and dragging her off to the side. She glares up at me with determination.
Sorry, Cupcake, you’re not winning this one.
“Listen, Grace, this is not a fucking problem for me to pay, it is, however, a problem for you.”
She shakes her head, “No, I will figure it out. I can ask Mac for an advance and pick up some extra shifts.”
“Goddamnit!” I growl, “can you not be so fucking stubborn for once? I’m paying for it, and that’s fucking final!”
We glare off at one another. Eventually she lets out a defeated breath, “All right, thank you. I will pay you back.”
Shaking my head in frustration I stalk off. I don’t bother telling her I’m not accepting it. I’m not in the mood to fight with her right now.
Twenty minutes later we’re pulling up to Grace’s. I follow her up the front steps and into her house with the chocolate lab in my arms. I have to say for a medium- size dog he sure is a heavy fucker.
“This way, I want him to sleep in my room,” she says softly, carrying the giant dog pillow we just bought for him.
“You lucky little bastard,” I mumble to the dog.
As I follow behind her, I can’t help but stare at her perfectly shaped ass through that fucking waitress uniform of hers. I tell you, the fantasies I have of hiking up that goddamn dress and…
“I’ll put him here,” she says, laying the pillow beside her bed, interrupting my fantasy.
I take in her room, mainly the queen size bed with the fancy wrought-iron headboard. My dick roars to life, oh Christ, the shit we could do with that fucking headboard…
“Sawyer?”
Huh? Oh right, got to put the dog down. I lay Chuckie down on the dog bed and Grace covers him with a blanket before settling beside him.
I chuckle, “Cupcake, his fur is a fucking blanket. He doesn’t need that.”
“It’s to make him more comfortable, and it’s also for me.”My grin vanishes, “You’re sleeping on the floor?”
“Yeah, just until he’s more comfortable with bein’ here.”
“Grace, you need to sleep in your own bed. The dog will be fine on the fucking floor by himself.” I didn’t mean it to come out so harsh, but she looks fucking exhausted.
She glares up at me, “Don’t tell me what to do, Sawyer. I can sleep on the floor if I want to.”
I let out a frustrated breath, “Fine, whatever. I’ll go bring in everything else from the truck.”
