Page 50 of Love, Untangled

Alpaca Man turned toward the door. When Carlo didn’t follow immediately, the alpaca shuffled again. His eyes opened wider and he seemed to beg.

Carlo tossed off his covers. “I’m coming. But you better pee when I let you outside.”

This time, Alpaca Man turned and trotted down the stairs, his hoofs making a sharp clack on each step. Carlo rubbed the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes and followed the animal downstairs. Alpaca Man stood at the back door, lifting and lowering his feet much like a preschooler.

Carlo opened the door and let him out, raising his eyebrows when the alpaca ran to the back side of the shed.

“No way,” Carlo muttered. He followed. The grass was cool, each blade damp against his bare feet. The early morning air drifted around his legs, reminding Carlo he’d stepped outside in his underwear.

He heard the stream before he saw Alpaca Man relieving himself. The alpaca opened his eyes and glared, seeming to ask, Do you mind?

Carlo held up his hands and went to the porch, wiggling his toes against the chill that had settled there.

“I’ll be damned. That beast is even better trained than most dogs.”

Carlo scratched the back of his head until Alpaca Man trotted over. Then Carlo reached out and pet the furry creature. Up until now, he’d avoided touching the animal. First because he’d been angry, then because…well, he didn’t really have a good reason. But now his fingers sank into the warm, soft coat and he sighed. Alpaca Man did too, just before his eyes closed, a blissful look on his face.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re pretty smart. And I guess you’re a house pet.” Carlo smirked as Alpaca Man preened. “Now let me get inside and put on some pants.”

Lydia made a noise. Carlo turned, seeing that she was in the outdoor pen attached to the barn.

“Want to go see your girlfriend?” Carlo asked Alpaca Man. “Maybe you can have breakfast with your girl while I have breakfast with mine.”

He smiled. Yeah, Penelope was his Sunshine. He loved starting the day knowing he’d get to see her. Carlo picked his way across the lawn in his bare feet and opened the barn door. The stall door was unlatched, allowing Alpaca Man to head into the same stall as Lydia. The two animals greeted each other enthusiastically.

Carlo headed toward the house. “I really should have thought more about getting a female,” he muttered. “The alpacas are getting way more action than I am.”

He shook his head as he opened the door.

“Oh!” He stopped, as wide-eyed as Penelope, who stood in the middle of the room, hair tousled and sleepy-eyed. She was adorable. Even in the dim light, he made out the blush that started at the neck of her T-shirt.

“Sorry. Um. Alpaca Man needed to be let out. I heard him…well, sorry.”

If Carlo hadn’t been so flustered by her sleep-rumpled appearance, he would have realized his near nudity embarrassed her. But because he was busy taking in the expanse of creamy, toned thigh below the tiny shorts, he nearly missed her darting glances at his chest…and lower.

That heat he’d been trying to ignore flared low in his belly and Carlo scrambled to think about something boring and unsexy…definitely not Pen’s smooth skin or her perky breasts that filled out the cotton top so beautifully.

“I’m going to get dressed,” he said, brushing past her before he embarrassed himself.

She inhaled as he moved past, giving Carlo the impression she liked his cologne. Did she? He wanted her to.

As he rounded the balustrade to head upstairs, he caught her checking out his butt, her eyes glowing with desire. Caught, she busied herself with making coffee.

Carlo continued up the stairs but at a leisurely pace, letting Pen check out as much of him as she wanted. Based on the heated weight of her stare as it bore into his skin, making his nerves prickle with both awareness and desire, he’d say that was all of him.

As he tugged up his pants, he remembered Pen’s age. She’d mentioned moving often. He stopped midmotion pulling on his shirt.

She’d never been in a long-term relationship. She’d told him that.

Carlo had never taken that implication a step further—Pen had never spent much time around an aroused male. And that realization led Carlo to more questions about Pen’s past. Ones he wanted answered.

Desperately.

Chapter 24

Penelope

Her knees wobbled and her heart raced. Carlo’s unclad back, with the play of muscle over bone, moved with poetical economy. But when he turned around and Pen got an eyeful of his nearly naked body, his crotch clad only in tight cotton… She placed her palm to her chest and breathed deep.

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