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

When I arrived at Hippo’s house to visit her owner (a rebelling fourteen-year-old), he admitted he’d been given Ms. Pigglesworth for his birthday two years ago but didn’t want her anymore. The parents were due to take her to the shelter later that week as they didn’t want her digging up the rose garden anymore.

Even though my charity was for dogs, I couldn’t leave her there.

So, she became mine.

The dogs were transient and stayed with me until finding their forever families. Hippo was my baby.

Shit, wonder what Vesper will say when she meets her.

Satisfied with her cuddles, the little pig snorted and waddled off with her personal favourite pooch—a teacup Bichon Frise who often curled up together and had a nap.

I let them go and focused on getting my chores out of the way.

* * *

I was so absorbed cleaning the pens and giving each dog fresh food and water before letting them free in the fenced off acre attached to the kennel, that I didn’t hear Vesper arrive.

The only sign I had company was the swarm of mongrels as they gravitated toward the newcomer.

I laughed as she went from standing to kneeling, thanks to a few well-placed nips on her ankles. She burst out laughing as Gremlin—a terribly grumpy Pomeranian—growled and attacked her shoelace.

“Hey, Grem, stop that!” I pushed my way through the crowd and scooped the terror under my arm like a rugby ball. “You know not to use your teeth, you damn thing.”

Vesper held out her arms to take her. “Aww, she’s so cute.”

I passed the brown teddy bear looking monster to her. “No, not cute. It’s all a ploy. She’s a she-devil and lives to make my life miserable.” I scowled at the cutest face, seeing the conniving witch hiding behind those beady black eyes. “First day I got her, she was the sweetest angel. Then the next, she peed in my sneakers. A week later, she vomited on my kitchen floor and tried to bite my hand when I went to clean it up. She lives for ways to torment me.”

Vesper laughed as the little traitor licked her knuckles and yapped happily. “I think she’s doing it to get a rise out of you.”

I lowered my jaw, drinking her in. She wore the same clothes from last night but her hair was wild and there was a glow on her face that hadn’t been there before. “You got a rise out of me last night.”

She grinned, placing the Pomeranian back on the ground as the dogs took off as another scent distracted them and their investigatory skills kicked in. “Oh, yeah?”

I grabbed her wrist, tugging her upward and into an embrace. “You’ve got another standing ovation.” Pressing her hips into mine with the flat of my palm on her lower back, I smiled. “Fancy another round?”

She kissed me. “I’d love to and I plan on many more, but I’d adore a shower and for some reason, yours just spat brown goo at me and gave me the finger.”

I slapped my forehead. “Shit, sorry. I forgot the plumbers came last week to replace the pipes. It’s all lead shit that probably slowly poisoned the old inhabitants. He’s not finished hooking up the drainage yet.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re telling me I had a sleep over in a building site and I can’t even wash off the grime?”

“Hey, that grime you’re talking about is me and don’t speak badly about my house.” Turning her around, I waved at my empire.

The sun shone on the crumbling white paint and wonky veranda. And wouldn’t you know it, the house gave me a big fuck you as a rusty piece of metal slid from the roof in a loud clatter and splattered into the mud below.

I groaned. “It looks worse than it is.”

She giggled. “Oh, really? I might have a stick of dynamite in my bag if you want to try another approach?”

I squeezed her. “Don’t you dare touch my project.”

“Not even to lend a hand with a paintbrush?” She poked my work jeans. “Every time I see you, you’re spotty like a Dalmatian. I don’t think you got the memo that paint goes on the wall, not the handyman.”

“I think you need bringing back in line for such talk.” Backing her up, I kept my eyes on the barn doors to the kennel and slammed her against them.

She gasped as her spine collided and I kissed her deep and ravenous.

This cat and mouse banter between us kept all my troubles at bay. How had I survived without her lightness in my life?