Misadventures of a Rookie (Misadventures #11)(40)

“Give me his name. I’ll rip off his limbs and present them to you.”

She giggled. “How romantic.”

“Right?” I asked, and then I put my food down. I reached for her, pulling her by her arm. She laid her food down before scooting into my arms and leaning her head against mine. She smelled clean, like deodorant. Nothing fancy, but still, I liked it.

I liked her.

A lot.

Kissing her temple, I looked at Sweetie, jumping in the waves like a crazy dog, and exhaled hard. “I request your permission to allow me to promise you something.”

She groaned beside me. “No promises, Gus.”

“I’m doing it anyway,” I demanded, even with her resistance. “Because I’m not going to fuck you over, Bo. If I start feeling like this isn’t good, then I’ll tell you.”

She looked up at me, and I could see how much that meant to her. “Thank you.”

“I would never intentionally hurt you. And besides, my mom would kill me if I did.”

She giggled as she leaned back into me, her head on my shoulder. “I mean, let’s be honest, this isn’t serious or anything.”

Oh. I thought it could be. “Yeah,” I agreed. “Just two crazy kids having fun.”

She kissed my jaw. “Exactly.”

“Cool.”

With a giggle, she asked, “What will all your little fans say?”

I shrugged, my face scrunching up. “Who the fuck cares?”

Her eyes widened a bit, and I realized that might have sounded a little as if this was serious, so I covered it by laughing. But then, out of nowhere, Sweetie was crashing into us, shaking water everywhere and barking happily.

But all I heard was Bo’s laughter as she kissed Sweetie on the head. This woman was not the least bit worried about the water or even the sand.

And at that moment, I knew this could be serious.

I just needed Bo to realize that.





Chapter Twenty-Two





Gus





“Oh, I need a shower. I smell like dog and ocean.” Bo laughed over Sweetie’s barking.

I put my truck in park in front of my place. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m gonna take her in, and then we’ll go back to your place.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s fine, but what about you?” she asked as I got out of the truck’s cab. “Don’t you need to shower? Want me to Uber home?”

“No way,” I said, shutting the door, but she got out too, which confused me. “You can stay here. I’m gonna go get her upstairs. I’ll be right out.”

She pointed to my pitiful dog, still wet and full of sand. “Doesn’t she need a bath? You can’t leave her in your apartment like that.”

“Crap, yeah,” I said, and I felt frantic. I knew she had her internship tonight and then the game. We’d spent too much time at the beach, but then, I wouldn’t trade that for the world.

“How are you going to wash her? Is Max home?”

Fuck. “No. Crap.”

I really didn’t want her to Uber home. I didn’t want to waste that time. I wanted to spend it with her since we would be leaving on a road trip in a few days, and apparently, she had a lot of schoolwork to do the next couple days.

“I’ll help you shower her, and then I’ll shower here, put on some old clothes of yours, and get dressed at home, if that’s okay,” she decided and then smacked her hands together. “Cool, let’s go.”

Before I could agree or disagree, she took the leash and started toward my condo. I rushed to catch up with her, and once we were inside, we got Sweetie in the bath. Thankfully, Max had gone shopping for Sweetie, and there was dog shampoo, because I wasn’t sure how I felt about my baby girl smelling like Max’s nasty body spray. I sure as hell wasn’t using mine on her. Wasn’t sure that was even safe.

Rubbing soap into her ears, Bo kissed her nose. “Aren’t you a spoiled girl? Yes, you are,” she cooed, kissing her again.

“Can I say I find it hot that you love dogs?”

She looked over at me and threw a handful of suds at me, hitting me right between my brows. “Stop, horndog. We don’t have time for your shenanigans,” she teased.

Wiping my face, I stuck my hand in the bath and glared. “Rude.”

“Not rude!” she teased as she went back to washing Sweetie, but just as she went from her back, I gathered a whole fist of suds and threw them in her hair.

“Gus!”

“What?” I asked innocently. When she went to throw more at me, I held up my hand. “Bad hand! Truce!”

She paused, rolling her eyes. “Fine, truce.”

Bo went back to washing, and I grinned at her as I leaned back on my haunches as she washed my dog. “You’re lucky I have a bad hand.”

She smiled over at me. “Oh really?”

“Oh yeah,” I said, moving closer to her and nibbling on her neck. “I would throw you in this bath, get you all wet, and then fuck you against the tile.”

She gasped, but I could see the grin on her face as she lifted her shoulder to push me away. “I am washing your dog. Please. You’re so distracting.”

I fought back my laughter as she rinsed Sweetie down. She looked like a damn hot mess, hair everywhere, her shirt and shorts soaked. Sand was scattered through her hair and had dried against her neck. Still, she was beautiful, so fucking beautiful. I wanted her.