Page 9 of Unravel Me

My snickering takes a turn for the worst when Piglet climbs aboard Adam, straddling his lap and going to town on his face, and I accidentally snort. I clap my hands over the noise, but Adam’s too busy laughing, trying to fend off the German Shepherd in his lap who seems to have claimed him as her own, and Bear decides we’re missing out.

He scurries around me, nudging my shoulder, my head, before finally giving up and bulldozing me straight into Adam’s lap. Piglet leaps off him as I claim the space, flopping onto her back, paws in the air as she and Bear start rolling around.

“Bear!” Adam scolds playfully, grasping my wrists as I try to right myself between his legs. “You knocked Rosie over again!”

“I’m sorry,” I sputter, climbing to my knees. I grab his muscular thigh, way too close to the lump between his legs, and my eyes widen when I realize. My hand slips, and I fall forward, my chest mashing against his, sending him tumbling backward with me on top of him. “So sorry, Adam, I swear.” I claw at his chest, trying to push away while he keeps laughing. When I finally sit up, flushed and sweaty, I realize I’m straddling a total stranger.

I look down. Down at his broad body, his T-shirt pushed up, exposing that exquisitely carved slab of marble, and are those—? Holy forkballs, they are. Thick, popping veins, one on each side of his torso, running below the waistband of his shorts, which I actually can’t see, because I am actively sitting my crotch right on top of this man’s cock.

Oops.

“Ah!” I shriek, throwing myself off his lap. My foot catches on his leg, and I stumble backward, still shrieking, waiting for my impending death via falling off a mountain.

Adam simply reaches up, catching a handful of my T-shirt, tugging me back to safety. I land back in his lap, hands on his chest, my breathing staggered and heavy. My heartbeat drops between my legs as those blue eyes hold mine and he whispers, “Don’t go dying on me, Rosie. I’m not ready to let you go yet. We’ve only just met.”

All the blood in my body rushes to my face, and my mouth opens and closes five hundred times before Adam takes pity on me. He gently shifts me off his lap and helps me to my feet before handing me Piglet’s leash and taking Bear’s for himself.

“Mind if Bear and I walk with you two?”

“Uh…” I swipe my wispy bangs off my forehead as Adam slings my backpack over his shoulder.

His brows quirk with a hint of amusement, and he cocks his head before he steps forward, making the decision for me.

“C’mon, pretty girls.”

CHAPTER3

BUBBLE BUTT

ROSIE

I haven’t actually moved yet,in case you were wondering. I know it’s simple, one foot in front of the other and all that. But, you see, it’s the first time Adam has graced me with his backside, and, um…

The man has a bubble butt.

Sweet mother of dragons, it’s glorious. It’s divine. It’s—

“You comin’, Rosie?”

I startle, shaking away the bubble butt fog, and let Piglet drag me over to Adam and Bear.

It’s a quiet, peaceful walk, the dogs exploring ahead of us, pausing for the occasional fallen branch sniff or for a nose kiss. Adam’s hand brushes against mine more than once as we weave through the uneven terrain, and when I stumble over my own two feet, he steadies me by wrapping his long fingers around mine.

There’s a steady beat in my chest that thrums all the way in my ears, has me swallowing back nerves that have appeared out of nowhere. I don’t know him. Not in the slightest. He’s kind and friendly and here I am ready to fall all over his feet. I need to reel myself in, so the quiet is probably for the best.

We come to a fork in the path, an old wooden bridge up ahead. Piglet jogs back to us, nips playfully at my backpack hanging off Adam’s shoulder, and then does her infamous jump and butt spin.

“We always stop at the bridge and have lunch,” I tell Adam as Piglet leads us to her favorite spot. “It’s the highlight of her day, because, food.”

“Food is the highlight of our day, too, Bear, isn’t it?” Adam chuckles as he hands over my bag, watching me sink to the edge of the small bridge, both dogs crawling all over me as I pull out containers of food.

I lift a sweet potato chip as Adam sits beside me. “Can Bear have a snack? They’re healthy and homemade. I have dehydrated sweet potato with a bit of cinnamon, and peanut butter banana cookies. I made everything this morning, so it’s extra fresh.”

He nods, watching as I feed the dogs. “That sounds healthy. What are you, a vet?”

“Trying to be,” I murmur, cleaning my hands after the dogs lick them clean.

“You’re seriously a vet? That’s so cool.”