Page 103 of So Wild

Then again, wasn’t she supposed to be learning to trust him? They’d seen each other every night for the past week, fucking on his couch, eating pizza in front of his TV, talking and laughing about everything and nothing. It was nice, but it wasn’t real life. Real life was addressing your problems and this puppy situation was a definite problem.

“If you don’t want to deal with the puppies, you could just go inside and pretend they’re not here,” Tabby said with the worst attempt at nonchalance Sam had ever heard.

“No chance.” Sam made up her mind then and there. She would go to Scott in the hope that his Galahadian poshness would know how to resolve this situation. She unclipped her keys from a loop on her jeans and jangled them at Toby. “Want a lift to work?”

Toby looked uncomfortable. “Um… yes? I mean, how come?”

“Because I’m going to have a chat with Scott about the state of these puppies and I might as well kill two birds with one stone.”

“Okay, cool,” Toby said with obvious relief. “He’ll take the news better coming from you.”

Here’s hoping, Sam thought. Her stomach knotted with the knowledge she’d be visiting Scott at his place of work. They were still firmly in the early stages of…whatever they were doing, and visiting him at work seemed an extreme leap in intimacy.

“Can I come with?” Tabby asked.

“Not on your life,” Sam said. “You’re going to stay here and look after those puppies,by yourself,because I swear if you rope anyone else into this, I will dead-set murder you. I’ll be back in an hour and a halftops.”

“Fine,” Tabby said glumly. “Let me know how the vibes are vibe-ing when you get to the office, Tobes. My sister and your boss have been straight banging all week, probably without condoms, so I bet the energy will be electrifying.”

Toby’s mouth parted slightly and Sam inwardly cursed her sister’s name. She grabbed Toby’s arm and dragged him toward the front door before Tabby could impart any more idiotic suggestions. She steered him toward her Yaris, shaking her head at what had just happened. “Do you have any sisters?”

“No, I’m an only child.”

“Good for you. Now, what’s the fastest way to your office?”

Thankfully, Toby proved adept at direction and despite peak-hour traffic, they were near the banking district in under half an hour.

“We have a little bit of time,” Toby said. “Should we bring Mr Sanderson—Scott—a peppermint latte? That might put him in a better mood for the, you know…”

“Dog bribery?”

“Yeah.”

Sam agreed it couldn’t hurt and they went to the coffee place Scott allegedly preferred. Toby ordered three lattes and pulled out his wallet before Sam could even blink. When she tried to give him a fiver, he waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. I brought the pups to your house.”

“Youweretrying to save them in fairness,” Sam said, taking her coffee. Taking in the man’s handsomeness and extremely agreeable nature once more, she decided to do the right thing. “Toby, are you involved with my sister? Because if you are, I’m obligated to warn you she’s a loose cannon of the highest order and she will destroy you.”

Toby gave a pained smile. “I don’t think Tabby’s interested in me. She’s just helping me with the pups.”

“Right…well, stay away from her. She’s like if Doc Brown from Back to the Future was a hot girl with no moral compass.”

“But that sounds fun.”

“As my dad used to say, ‘so does joining a commune, but four months later all your clothes have holes, your records are scratched to shit and people steal your weed and call it a ‘collective compromise.’”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, sometimes things that sound fun turn out to be a bad idea and Tabby’s the human embodiment of that concept.”

Toby frowned. “You know she raves aboutyou.”

Sam noted the defensiveness in his tone and recognised this warning was already coming too late, but she needed to persist. For his sake. “I love Tabby, I think she’d incredible, but I know what she’s like. And what she’s not like.”

“And what’s she not like?” Toby said with obvious distrust.

Oh you beautiful, naive boy… “She’s a tornado. Fun to look at and totally oblivious to the damage she causes. She’s hectic and you seem…” Sam searched for a tactful way of saying it.

“Boring?”

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