Can't Touch This (Can't Touch This #1)

That’s what’s wrong with him. I knew there had to be something.

His face darkened. “Am not.”

“Let me guess. You believed girls played with Barbies and boys with diggers and hammers?”

He leaned in with a leer. “I still play with my diggers and hammers. If you agree to a date with me, I’ll show you if you like. I have a tool belt and everything.”

I stiffened, partly due to the shock of his proximity, but mostly because of the image of him shirtless on a digger with a hammer hanging from a tool belt, framing the impressive package between his legs.

Oh my God, get a grip.

“If I had a pair of knitting needles, I’d stab you with them.”

He held his chest, faking wounded. “Ouch, and that’s after I spent the night nursing you back to health and keeping you entertained with my witty text messages.”

I huffed. “Fine, you get a free pass because of that.” My finger came up. “But that’s it. No more sexist comments.”

The Chinese Crested took that moment to stretch and lick my ear lobe.

My knees literally trembled. I’d been licked many times by thousands of different breeds but this lick…it wasn’t just a lick. It was a plea for help, a thank you for the hug, and just because she could.

I didn’t know if I was over tired or still suffering from flu dregs but my eyes pricked with tears. I couldn’t help myself; I snuggled my nose into her bald little neck and inhaled.

She smelled of must and garbage and her ribs stuck out. Her claws were too long and a red cut lashed her muzzle as if she’d been gagged with wire for so long her skin had sliced beneath it.

Rage shoved aside my instant love for this little thing. “Where did you find her?”

Ryder visibly trembled with anger. “The council called me. She was given as a gift to a girl who went off to boarding school and left it with her step-mum. Apparently, the yapping was too much, and the bitch wired her jaw closed. She hasn’t eaten properly in weeks because she couldn’t get her mouth open enough.”

The dog whined, licking my cheek again as if she knew exactly what we were talking about. It was a hazard of the job—getting close or feeling too compassionate toward a dying or in pain creature. I went into this profession because I had compassion and far too much empathy and needed to use that in aiding those who couldn’t speak.

But it was also a curse.

Visa had been a single cat for too long. It looked like she might have a new sofa buddy.

Unless, what does Ryder do with all these rescues?

For the first time, I dropped my guard, stopped joking around, and looked at him with proper eyes. He was stupidly handsome with a rugged square jaw and unruly dark hair. A poster child for bad decisions and dirty sex. But beneath the dusty grey t-shirt and paint-splattered jeans, was a heart the size of Jupiter and I wanted to know him.

I wanted to do more than just touch the weapon he wielded in his trousers. I wanted to talk to him. Laugh with him. Create happiness with him.

“You’re very generous, Ryder.”

The sincerity in my voice rang sweet and true.

He jolted on the spot, narrowing his eyes as if looking for a motive. “Okay…who are you and what did you do with my snippy veterinarian?”

I smiled, jiggling the dog in my arms into a better hugging position. “Our services aren’t cheap, yet you spend a small fortune on animals you’ve only just met. What do you do with them once they’re better? Do you have a farm and just let them run free?”

He grinned. “Ever heard of the expression ‘doggy heaven?’”

I gaped. “Please don’t tell me you get them better and then kill them.”

He held up his hands, laughing. “What? Hell, no. I meant I hope living with me is like doggy heaven. They have their own house and fellow flatmates and when they’re happy and healthy, I find them the perfect human match and they go on their merry way to their new family.”

“How many have you rescued?”

He frowned, tapping his lips as he did a quick estimate. “I dunno. I lost track at thirty-five. But I don’t do it to feel good about myself. I do it to replace some of the badness they’ve been through.”