Page 43 of Redemption

I bit the inside of my cheek.Jesus Christ, she’sactuallyvulnerable right now, stop.

I managed to get us both to the cabin and into the bedroom. The dog looked up at me from his place on the bed and I clicked my fingers. “Down, boy.”

She snorted, her eyes rolling slightly in her head from the effort. “Where did the dog come from?”

“I don’t know, I woke up one morning and it wasn’t only me in the bed,” I replied, softly placing her down on the lumpy mattress.

“I bet it’s not the only morning you’ve woken up with someone else in bedwith you,” she muttered, rolling onto her side.

“Actually it is,” I replied and disappeared into the kitchen to get her some water. My hands were still shaking from rage about what that asshole had done to her.

I’d caught him slipping something in her drink and the second I got in his face and questioned him, he started practically crying and saying how he just wanted her to loosen up so they’d have sex. My stomach churned at the thought of what could have happened if I hadn’t caught him, annoyed at myself for not spotting him doing it to her first drink.

The restraint I’d exercised by not smashing the fuck out of his face should go down in some kind of Hall of Fame. The guy took off the second Max put a hand on my shoulder. With the dude long gone, I’d asked Max if I could take off to make sure Kat got home okay.

I filled the glass and brought it back to her. She’d managed to pull herself into a sitting position on the bed. My eyes dropped to her thighs where the dress had ridden up. The dress I’d immediately imagined unbuttoning the second I saw it. I could just picture her staring down at me as I started from the bottom and—

“Here you go, drink this,” I said, shoving the glass towards her. Her eyes were still dazed and her movements slow. Hopefully over the next couple of hours, the drug would wear off and she’d just feel like she had one hell of a hangover.

I grabbed one of her ankles and her gaze flicked to me, heating. I swallowed, pulse pounding with desire. The next few hours were going to be hell. I pulled off her boots and put them by the side of the bed and then tossed the comforter over her, shielding her legs from my stare, not wanting to make her feel any moreuncomfortable.

Silence enveloped us, growing heavier by the moment.

She sipped her water. “What’s the dog’s name?” she asked quietly.

I glanced at said dog who was lying in the corner on a pile of my clothes, watching us.

I shrugged. “Right now? Dog.”

“You haven’t named him?” she gasped.

A smile slipped onto my face at her outrage. “Nah not yet. I didn’t know if I was cut out for looking after a dog but he’s kinda forced himself on me.”

“Dogs choose you, you don’t choose them.” She nodded at me sagely, cute as a damn button.

“Wise words,” I smirked down at her. A curl dropped over her face, tangling in her long lashes and I brushed it back, the lock winding round my finger like it didn’t want to let me go.

“Name it,” she demanded.

“You name it,” I shot back.

Her face twisted in thought, her nose wrinkling adorably. “Sebastian.”

I pulled a face. “No.”

“Carlisle?”

I raised a brow. “Like from Twilight?”

She reared back. “Excuse me? You know about Twilight?”

I shrugged. “Watched it in prison. And read it.”

She gasped at me, and I laughed at her horror.

She tapped her chin, thinking. “Hmm, okay how about Teddy?”

I pretended to think it over, looking at the dog. His head tilted to one side as he stared at me. He did kinda look like a bear. “Okay fine, Teddy it is.”

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