Page 43 of The Guy Who Fake Dated Me

But I knew better.

Logan spoke to Jenni. “We need two more cats. What about that black one?”

“Coming right up.” Jenni beamed.

A dog barked from inside. Between that and the smell of grass, my mind hit rewind, and I suddenly felt the air around me constricting. I moved toward another bench. Logan started to follow me, but I waved him away. “I just need a minute.”

He gave me a concerned look but let me be.

Dogs had always scared me. I’d never had a pet growing up, which hadn’t helped. When I’d been eight, we’d been visiting Kyle’s family. They’d just adopted a dog from the pound, and it was still getting used to the new people in its life.

Then we’d come into its domain. We were playing tag, and Kyle started yelling because I was chasing him. The dog had freaked out. It thought I was going after one of its owners, and it attacked me.

I could still feel the moment the animal’s teeth had sunk into my arm and the hot breath as it tried to drag me away from Kyle. Not to mention the cold look in its dark eyes.

Within seconds, the adults had rescued me, but the damage had been done. From then on, I’d been terrified of all animals, but especially dogs.

My mom had sent me to therapy, which had helped me enough so that I didn’t scream whenever I saw a dog, but that’s as far as I’d ever gotten.

Frankly, I was still proud of myself for not running away from Logan’s malamute, Sky, when I’d been up in Big Bear. Sky had never looked threatening, but it didn’t matter. My heart sped up and my mouth went dry each time I had to be near a canine.

Cats were better, but not by much. Their claws were sharper, and that scared me.

“Here.”

I jerked out of my memories and suddenly found the orange cat—complete with harness and leash—on my lap, courtesy of Jenni. “Hold on to him for a minute, will you?”

My whole body froze. The voice inside my head started screaming. Every inch of my skin went cold.

The cat, all long orange fur and icy golden eyes, stared at me as if daring me to yell for help.

I kept my lips sealed.

I remembered a piece of advice the therapist had given me.

Humans are the top of the food chain. Animals are afraid of you. You’re the apex predator.

I was pretty sure that woman had never met this cat. Instead of a passive animal, I saw every bully I’d ever had to deal with rolled into a fuzzy orange ball staring up at me with disdain.

“Get off,” I said through gritted teeth.

The cat blinked.

“Shoo.” I waved a hand.

The cat yawned.

I channeled my inner third grader and whined. “Come on.” It’s not like I had much of a lap anyway. Being a curvy girl meant that little kids couldn’t really hang out on my knees.

The cat didn’t seem to care. He managed to circle once and sat.

“Are you surrendering to him?” Logan asked.

“What?”

“Your hands.”

I took stock of my body and found that I’d raised my arms as if someone were pointing a gun at me. If I put them down, my fingers would be in easy range for the psychopath on my lap to bite, claw, or perhaps urinate on.

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