Page 43 of Zero Pucks Given (Las Vegas Angels 1)

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Gigi

“Oh. My. Gosh. Why are you the cutest things in the world?” I said again to the puppies in my lap as they sniffed and snuffled in my arms. Their pure, deep, black fur shined in the sunlight coming through the window of Beau’s Jeep.

He’d insisted they should stay in the backseat. But when I went to sit in back with them—he groaned and allowed them to be up front.

“If they piss on that seat, I’m not going to be happy,” he said, staring at me through his hot as hell aviators.

“But, Daddy, it’s just a little bit of puppy pee,” I said in my baby talk voice as I held the boy puppy up in front of my face. He wasn’t amused. Beau—not the puppy. Then the puppy growled at me and that made Beau laugh.

Hearing him laugh was seriously one of the best sounds I think I’ve heard in my life. Not once in all of the interviews I’d seen with him had he ever laughed. I knew this because when he laughed, it took my breath away and sent a weird shivery feeling through my body that I’d never felt before.

“Why are you growling at me, little boy?” I asked him as I turned the chubby puppy around so we could chat face to face. “I only want to love you. Why are you being so darn stubborn?” He answered back with a growl and Beau burst out laughing. Again.

This time it made me clench my thighs together as I watched his long, corded neck vibrate—Beau’s, not the puppy’s. Beau wore a plain, white, T-shirt that cinched far too nicely on his biceps. That sight, combined with his laugh had distracted me so much, I didn’t notice my girl puppy escaping to the floor by my feet.

“Girly, you little rascal,” I said, then tried to bend down to pick her up.

“Stop, no!” Beau suddenly shouted, his arm shooting out to hold me back. Incidentally, this meant the back of his hand and arm had pressed hard into my chest as he came to a jarring stop.

Chest—including breasts.

I looked up and saw we were stopped mere inches away from the van in front of us. Beau laid on the horn and said, “Motherfucking asshole.”

“Beau?” I asked gently, trying to get his attention for a second.

His head swung to me, his mouth still curled up in anger. Deep frown lines in his forehead showed how angry he was at the jerk who—I’d guessed from the odd angle the van was in—had just cut him off. I smiled and looked down at where his arm still was.

Squishing my breasts.

“Oh, fuck me, sorry, G. Christ,” he groaned, ripping his arm away. “I saw that asshole veering into our lane and then you moving to grab the pup and—damn, I’m sorry. But if the airbag went off when your head was—

I cut him off. He was clearly agitated, and it wasn’t like he was trying to be a perv. Stopping my head from getting blown off was a nice thing to do. “It’s fine. Thanks for saving us.”

He took a breath and spoke in a much more controlled tone, “I didn’t mean to—you know.”

I smiled at him and said, “I know, Beau. It’s all good.” My hand instinctively reached for his and I squeezed to show him I was okay with his heroic measures. “Here, pet a puppy. It’ll calm you down.”

The grumpy boy puppy growled at me as I placed him next to Beau’s thigh. Then I put Beau’s hand on the very grouchy puppy. “Thanks,” he said, gently petting the puppy’s fur with his thumb.

The turn for the pet store was at the next light. After the jerk in front of us started driving again, Beau pressed on the gas and took us puppy accessory shopping.

“It’s your dog,Beau. You should pick his collar out,” I said for the tenth time. Beau apparently was not a shopper. He’d wanted to pick up a bag of puppy food and leave. The man had no idea about all the things puppies needed to be happy.

Beau ripped off his aviators—which was possibly the sexiest thing I’d seen him do yet—and said, “Geneviève, pick out a collar. I don’t give one fuck what the dog wears.” His eyes were stern and his voice even more so.

Okay. Beau gave zero fucks about a collar. But I did. Just to tease him, I picked out a leopard print one. It was really hard not to laugh, however I pulled it off.

“Christ, are you serious? You can’t be serious?” he said behind me, obviously ticked off.

I snorted and doubled over—carefully holding the puppies to my chest—laughing my guts out. “Oh my gosh, that was too funny,” I wheezed out, unable to breathe because I was giggling too hard.

“Nice, G,” I heard him say as he picked out a dark blue collar in the appropriate size. “You’re hilarious today,” he said sarcastically as he tossed the collar into the very full shopping cart. We’d already picked up crates, doggy dividers that acted like a play pen of sorts, food, leashes, and bowls. “Are we finally done yet?”

Yep, Beau was more than done with doggy shopping. “I have to get one more thing. You pick up the vitamins in the next isle and I’ll meet you at the register?” Not waiting for his response, I turned around, puppies still in my arms, and headed the opposite way away from Beau.

I backtracked a few isles down and saw what I wanted. When I was finished, I hurried back, looking out for where Beau was.

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