Page 101 of The Love Shack

Before she could finish, it started blaring. Lawson fumbled, reaching for her phone on the nightstand, and silenced it. “Why do you put yourself through that when you always wake up before it?”

Using her hand to smother a jaw-breaking yawn, she stretched again, then sat up. The sheet fell to her lap.

“What if I didn’t wake up?”

Hero gave awoofin agreement, then lumbered off the bed and looked at her expectantly.

With the back of one finger, Lawson stroked her bare breast. “You are beautiful in the morning.”

“Like sleep-puffy eyes and tangled hair, do you?”

“I like you.” Words burned in his throat.

Iloveyou.

But he figured one big step at a time was all she should have to handle. He wasn’t going anywhere. She wasn’t going anywhere. He’d have more than enough time to show her before he told her.

Still a little shy about her nudity, she immediately pulled on a loose T-shirt when she left the bed, tugging the hem down below her bottom on her way out of the bedroom to the bathroom.

Her house was smaller than his, only two bedrooms and a single bath, but it was next door to the shelter. That meant she would never move.

Not a huge obstacle.

Sitting up, Lawson considered some of the options he could offer her. He’d thought of that, of being with her forever and how to make it all work, a lot over the last few days. Used to her daily routine, he quickly pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, tucked his own phone into his pocket and stepped into his sneakers.

The second she returned for the rest of her clothes, he drew her up and kissed her. “Take your time. I’ll walk Hero out.”

Very used to her independence, to doing it all on her own, she fretted. “Are you sure? It’ll only take me a second to—”

He kissed her again. “Make some coffee if you want.” She drank it each morning anyway. “I’ll be right back.”

Sticking his head in the door with a reminderwoof, Hero waited.

Lawson grinned. “I do love your dog.”

She gave him a big smile for that.

Taking only thirty seconds to dart into the bathroom, Lawson quickly had the dog headed through the house to the side door. He noticed that Berkley had laundry piling up. Probably because he’d taken up all her evenings.

Maybe tonight he could handle some of that for her.

At the very least, he could help her in the morning, and then later with getting dinner together.

Loosely holding Hero’s leash, he enjoyed the gray haze of dawn. All around, birds sang to greet the morning. He was lost in thought when his phone buzzed.

It was still so early, he couldn’t imagine anyone calling him, but the second he got his phone from his pocket, he saw that it was Oliver.

“What’s up?”

“Am I waking you?”

He answered with “Everything okay?”

“No one is hurt,” Oliver said, making that clear up front. “There’s an issue in front of your shop, though. Nothing critical, no damage to the building or anything like that.”

Well, hell. “What issue?”

“I was out jogging or I wouldn’t have seen it. Luckily, no one else is around this early, but... Someone vandalized Kathleen.”

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