Page 14 of Adrian (Love Under the Lights 3)

I figured Casey saved her grocery shopping for the weekends until I opened the pantry door and found two large jars of peanut butter, the biggest container of marshmallow fluff I’d ever seen, a large jar of grape jelly, two unopened loaves of wheat bread, and a small bag of potatoes. Suddenly, how she’d dug into her dinner without worrying about what I’d think took on a whole new meaning. One that had me wanting to kick my own ass because I should’ve ordered a second helping of everything Casey had enjoyed last night and had it boxed up for her to bring home. She’d loved the food too much to have turned it down, but I had a feeling after the way she’d reacted to the idea of me buying her a dress that she’d be pissed if I went to the store and stocked her fridge with enough food to last her a month.

I needed to come up with another plan since there was no fucking way I was going to leave her alone in this shithole of an apartment with barely any food. Luckily, she’d mentioned last night that the only thing on her schedule for the weekend was finishing a paper and catching up on some reading for one of her classes. She could study a hell of a lot easier at my place. My Wi-Fi was lightning fast, my fridge was full, and my furniture was comfortable as fuck.

With that decided, I stalked over to her bed and crouched low. When I reached out to gently shake her shoulder, Duke let out a low growl. “Relax, boy. It’s just me.”

Casey’s arms tightened around him. “I think your dog likes me more than you.”

I scratched the top of his head, my fingers grazing the top of Casey’s breasts. My fingers itched to stroke her pebbled nipples, the hardened peaks pressing against the shirt she’d worn to bed last night. But if I got my hands on her, I’d never stop there. Not with her bed so close. “Yeah, well, I always knew he was a smart little fucker.”

Her lips parted on a gasp as her eyes popped open, and she pressed her hands over Duke’s ears. “Then maybe you should stop swearing at him so often.”

If she wanted to pretend that her gasp was because of my choice of words and not her reaction to my inadvertent touch, I wasn’t going to call her on it. “Nah, he wouldn’t know what to do with me if I cleaned up my language. I’ve been talking like this around him ever since he was a puppy.”

Her beautiful blue eyes narrowed before she burst into startled laughter. “Then I guess you’d better keep it up. I’d hate to be responsible for confusing my favorite dog.”

Duke cuddled closer to her chest, looking up at me as though he knew what she’d just said and was rubbing it in. “Oh, sure. You’re worried about him but not me?”

She grinned. “Well, I have known Duke longer than you.”

“That’s fair.” Bantering with her like this was turning me on more. It was a good thing the mattress blocked her view of my dick while I was crouched down because my boxers did nothing to hide my hard on. I needed to get her out of here and back to my place before I gave in to the temptation she presented. And I wasn’t afraid to use Duke to make it happen. “How about you come back to my place so I can whip you up an omelet after I give your favorite dog his breakfast? As content as he seems to sleep the morning away with you, he has to be hungry since he skipped his usual dinner in favor of the treats you made him.”

My dog proved that pets took after their owners as he stared up at her with wide, brown eyes and whined as though he belonged in front of a camera. Her pretty blue eyes softened as she looked down at him. “I guess he can’t live on them forever.”

“Definitely not,” I agreed. “He’s a growing boy.”

“Nice try,” she giggled, shaking her head. “But breeds his size tend to stop growing around the eight-month mark.”

“You’re not going to let me get away with anything, are you?”

“I’m not so sure about that. I did let you spend the night with me after our first date.” She shifted to a sitting position. Duke made a low grunting sound at the loss of his cuddling partner before he jumped off the mattress. Plopping down next to my feet, he wagged his tail and barked.

“True.” I leaned forward to brush my lips lightly over hers. “Let me repay the favor. While I take Duke outside to do his thing, grab whatever you’ll need to spend the day at my house.”

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