to hire you to walk him today.”
Hire him?
Levi sat up in his chair, his mouth twitching against his barely restrained laughter. Damn, she was good. He was no stranger to women looking for excuses to get back within jumping distance of his bed, but, to date, he’d never had one offer cash as an incentive—not that he’d actually take it, but this was too good. “You want to hire me to walk Bruno? How much are we talking?”
Her sigh filtered through the line, heavy with relief. Gratitude. A nice touch. He liked a woman who didn’t skimp on the details.
“I was thinking fifteen bucks for thirty minutes at the park.”
“No.” As a rule, games weren’t his thing. But this one was too much fun not to play—And the truth was, he could have really used this call about twelve hours ago. So maybe he wanted to make her squirm a little. “I’ve already proven I can handle Bruno. Call it an even twenty and I’ll run him, too.”
That ought to throw a wrench in her plans. No chance of a long intimate talk if he was running down that beast of a dog. Let’s see how she wiggled out of this one.
“Deal. That’s perfect.”
Sure it was. He couldn’t wait to see what she came up with next. See if Bruno was there at all. Not that he cared. She’d scored major points for style and originality—despite the sporadic awkward factor he was coming to recognize as pure Elise. So she’d fabricated an excuse to reconnect with him, big deal. Whatever it took for her to make the call, he was on board with one hundred percent, because the fact remained … He just hadn’t had enough of her yet.
CHAPTER FOUR
“YOU’RE serious?” Levi stared down at the leash, empty newspaper bag and crumpled twenty she’d stuffed in his hand and let out a laugh that was equal parts irritation and incredulous amusement. He should have seen it the second she’d swung open the apartment door, greeting him with that wide, grateful smile. No makeup, her hair stuffed in another one of those elastic things. Ratty jeans and a not too tight T-shirt. “This is actually about the dog?”
Elise blanched, her chin pulling back. “You thought it wasn’t about the dog?”
What a chump. This was not how it went with him.
He liked to be in control. Hell, he was man enough to know he needed it. And, this thing with Elise. He was most definitely not in control.
But, based on the Olympic-level hand-wringing happening in front of him, neither was she.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he shook his head. “Not to sound like an ass here, but it usually isn’t. The dog, the lost earring, the house keys—” misplaced thong “—whatever it is, it’s usually an excuse.”
Shaking her head, she gave him one of those earnest looks that made him wonder how he’d ever gotten past it. Then she swallowed, licking her lips—oh, right, that was how—as she geared up to something big.
“I swear, that wasn’t my intention. I mean, yes, I like you.”
Ah, hell, he knew where this was going … held up a staying hand, thinking his ego really wasn’t up for the speech he’d given too many times to count.
“You’re an attractive man and the other night was incredi—”
Her words cut short as Bruno barreled into the room, his huge body skidding into Elise’s knees from behind—taking her down over his back.
“Elise—” He was at her side in a second. “Are you hurt?”
“No, no,” she grumbled, trying to wave him off even as he caught her.
Fingers moving swiftly, he checked her wrists and elbows, worked his way over her arms … to her shoulders … the slender column of her neck … and the loose, silky spirals falling around it.
Gray eyes fringed with dark ash locked with his.
“I’m fine,” she answered quietly, looking away as she pushed to stand. “Getting used to it even.”
Right. Following her to his feet, Levi brushed his hands over his thighs in a weak attempt to replace the velvet-soft feel of her beneath them.
Bruno’s nails were already clicking frantically over the hardwood as he scrambled to get his lanky legs back under him following a tight turn.
“Sit, Bruno.” The dog dropped at his side, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.
Elise ducked to rub a hand over his knobby head. “Good boy. He just doesn’t know his own strength yet.”
Then after a pause, she shook her head. “Look, this is my fault. I shouldn’t have called, but no one else was available. You’d handled him so well at the park, and I really needed—”
Yeah, he got it now. “You really needed help.”
Crouching down, he snapped the leash onto Bruno’s collar. Leveled the beast with a no-nonsense stare. “You’re on my list, dog. No more knocking women over.”
Bruno met him with woeful eyes even as his puppy feet kept moving. Definitely time to get this dog out.
As he stood, Elise checked her watch, a furrow pulling between her eyes. She walked over to the little catch-all table by the door and pulled out a ring with two keys. “These are the spares for downstairs and the front here. I’ve got to change and leave for my class in about fifteen minutes. Any chance you could let Bruno back in after your walk and then just make sure the door locks behind you after?”
Levi looked at her outstretched hand and back to her face, irritation taking fast hold of him. “Your house keys?”
“You could just leave them on the side table by the door.”
Shaking his head, he tamped down the impulse to take her by the shoulders and shake a sense of self-preservation into her. Instead he shoved his fists into his pockets, making it obvious he wasn’t taking her keys. “You make a habit of giving these out to strange men?”
Hip cocked, she narrowed her eyes. “Only the ones I’ve already invited into my body and who rescue me two days in a row.”
Invited into her body … Yeah, he’d been there. Was fast on the way to a mental return even as she stared him down. Forcing his jaw to unlock, he blew out a strained breath. “Look, when are you going to be back?”
“About three hours.”
That ought to be enough time to get his head screwed on straight. Especially if he ran for half of it. Looking Elise over in all her casual disarray, he amended, Ran hard … for most of it. “I’ll keep Bruno and we’ll meet you back here then.”
Her mind was officially in the gutter. And it was wholly Levi Davis’s fault.
Never, in all her years of yoga and Pilates, had Elise had the difficulty she’d experienced in maintaining her focus through her classes today. She’d been an utter charlatan, preaching that yogic breathing, or pranayama,
