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

Pushing my chest, she murmured, “As much as I want you again and as quickly as you’re dissolving my willpower, I’m afraid if you don’t have a shower, I’m going to have to go home and change. I can’t spend the day gross. It will drive me nuts.”

Hope unfurled. “So you’re saying you don’t have to work today?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why? What do you have in mind?”

“Just answer the question. Yes or no?”

She beamed. “Nope. It’s my day off today. Polly’s tomorrow.” Her arms twined around my waist. “I’m all yours, big boy.”

My eyebrows rose. “Big boy?”

“Well, what else do you want me to call you? Small sausage?”

“Say what?” I blurted dramatically, pushing away and placing a hand over my junk to protect its delicate feelings. “Did you just call it a sausage? A small sausage?”

She laughed as three fluff buckets charged around her leg, chasing a Cadoodle with a headless chicken toy in its mouth. “Well, it’s better than sad salami or wrinkled wiener.”

Two hands clasped over my boys. “You are one cruel woman.”

“Oh, relax. You’re not wrinkly or sad.” She winked. “It’s perfect. So perfect I want a closer look.”

My heart rate picked up as blood flowed from my brain—where I really did need it—to the useless head between my legs. “Now that I can arrange. Free of charge.”

She smirked. “Why? Was last night at an hourly rate?”

I laughed. “Yep. I don’t come cheap, you know.”

“And you summoned a vet on a call out after hours. I bet you my bill will be larger than yours, gigolo.”

Shit, that reminds me. Scar.

My hands dropped. “I’ll pay you for that. And for the drugs you gave him. Can you give him some more? I put him on the front porch.”

The mirth in her gaze dropped. “Seriously, Ryder, one thing you should know about me—it’s a sure way to piss me off by assuming I only care for animals for money.” Her finger came up. “If I had unlimited wealth and never had to work again, I would still dedicate my life to all creatures big and small because it’s what I need to do. Got it?”

The spit and fire in her gaze turned me the fuck on. Made even worse because I understood completely and agreed one hundred percent. I was in the enviable position of not having to work for money, yet I spent every penny I had on toys and food and making the dogs in my temporary care as happy as humanly possible.

“Sorry, you’re right.”

“And I already found Scar. He’s breathing okay and I’ve given him another dose of Metacam. He’ll be fine until tonight.” Her tone slipped into the one I recognised from her work at the surgery. “I’ll leave the bottle and syringe on the kitchen counter. It tastes like honey, so he won’t be a problem administering it. Just give him the dose I marked on the bottle and he’ll be good.”

My happiness level dropped. “You mean, you won’t be here to give it to him?”

She paused. “Well, no. I’ll have to go home tonight so I’m ready for work tomorrow.” Her eyes searched mine. “You’ll have had me for a solid twenty-four hours by the time I go home. I have a feeling you’ll be sick of me by then and glad for some solitude.”

I highly fucking doubt that.

I ignored my panic at her leaving and laughed. “God, you’re right. I didn’t think about that. Jeez, twenty-four hours…that’s gonna be tough.” Moving toward her again, I cupped her cheek, running my thumb over her cheekbone. “I’m going to be so bored entertaining you all day. Having to clean you, feed you, bend you over my couch and fuck you.” I pressed my lips to hers. “Man, what a chore.”

She trembled. “When you put it that way…maybe twenty-four hours isn’t long enough.”

I grinned. “Now you’re seeing it from my point of view.”

A Chiwoxy barked, running between our legs. The dogs’ energy levels were infectious and it’d been a couple of days since I’d taken them all to the river. Good ‘ole Thorn River that this quaint little township was named after ran along the boundary of my property.

It was the sole reason why I’d bought this place—that and the land and no neighbours.

A plan formed in my head. “So, you know how you said you needed a shower?”