Page 9 of Boss Me Around

“A very good girl,” Starling echoes in a husky voice that makes my cock swell behind my fly all over again.

Mercifully, Bella decides to emerge from the desk at that moment, giving me something else to focus on.

I just have to hold it together for a few more minutes and then I’ll make sure I’m never alone in a room with Starling again. It shouldn’t be hard to do. We share an office with two other people, and I can make excuses to skip lunch with her until I leave for Minneapolis.

Hell, maybe I’ll just stop eating lunch altogether.

My buddy from the gym is always going on about intermittent fasting and how good it is for the body. The whole thing sounds sketchy to me, but in the name of avoiding Starling, I’d give it a try.

And if I drop a few pounds, maybe I’ll be too weak to think sex thoughts. I’ll start having fantasies about diving face first into piles of food instead of Starling’s pussy and all will remain right with the world.

“There you go, buddy,” I murmur as Bella takes one of the nuts from my palm and backs away again, keeping an eye on me as she chews. “Almonds are pretty tasty, huh?”

“I made buttercream frosting with almond milk the other day for my vegan friend and it was delicious,” Starling offers.

Bella inches Starling’s way, extending her nose to sniff the offerings in her palm, but when she’s ready for more nuts, she comes back to me. This time, she stays close enough that I can feel her whiskers brushing the side of my hand as she chews.

“Looks like she likes you,” Starling whispers.

“Clearly, she has good taste,” I say as Bella takes the last almond and climbs into my lap, wiggling her fluffy bottom back and forth until she finds a comfortable spot. When she’s apparently settled, she smacks her lips and shoots Starling something that looks so much like a smile that we both laugh.

“Aw, what a darling,” Starling says. “I wonder if Kyle and Bella would get along. It might be nice for him to have a friend who’s with us all the time. He loves Keanu, but Wren and Barrett are so busy, it’s hard to get them together for a playdate as often as we’d like.”

“You’re not taking this skunk home.” I stroke Bella’s coarse fur and she makes more happy smacking sounds. “One weird pet is the limit for any household.”

“Who said?” she counters. “And Bella’s not weird, she’s precious. Look how good she is. Skunk teeth are razor sharp and she didn’t try to bite me a single time earlier today, even when she was upset about being put in the kennel. And she’s already potty-trained. Her previous owner said she hasn’t had an accident since she was a baby and will always go in the litter box as long as you use unscented litter. The only reason the woman gave her up was because her job is moving her to a state that doesn’t allow skunks as pets, and she won’t be home as much.”

I frown. “Isn’t it illegal to keep skunks as pets in Minnesota, too?”

“Well, yes and no,” she says. “It’s kind of like fireworks. You can’t sell them or bring them into the state, but if you just happen to have one, it’s okay to shoot it off. And Bella’s previous owner had a zoo license here, so she was covered. She was hoping we could find a similar placement for Bella’s next living situation. Sheila’s looking into a few animal rescue places that fit the bill, but if one of them won’t take her…”

I look up from the skunk, whose snout is now resting on my thigh in a way that makes me feel lucky to be the kind of human animals instinctively seem to trust. “Then what happens?”

Starling shrugs. “Well, you know Furry Friends only uses euthanasia as a last resort or if the animal is too sick to have a decent quality of life. But if no one will take Bella and it’s illegal to allow her to be adopted, it may come down to that. After spending her entire life in captivity and having her scent glands removed, she wouldn’t survive in the wild.”

“Shit,” I mutter, digging my fingers into Bella’s fur, summoning another happy smacking, chirping sound from the sweet little beast.

“Yeah, it would be a shame,” Starling says, before continuing in a more pointed tone, “so, maybe it’s for the best that she escaped her cage on her own while the cameras were down. I mean…should she disappear tonight, heading off to a happy new home with someone who’s going to love and spoil her, no one would ever have to know.”

“No,” I say flatly.

“Why not?”

“I’m subletting an apartment in Minneapolis before I find a long-term living situation,” I say. “I can’t have a pet skunk in an apartment. Someone would see her, and it wouldn’t be fair to have her in a place where she couldn’t go outside to play.”

“Oh, come on,” Starling says. “You’re already in love with this darling baby, I can tell. I bet you could find a rental house in Minneapolis instead. They do have houses there, you know. Get a house with a fence too high for the neighbors to see over and you’re golden.”

I look up at Starling, meeting her gaze in the glow of the flashlight. “Are you trying to convince me to commit a felony?”

“It’s not a felony. It’s a misdemeanor that carries a one-thousand dollar fine.” She grins. “Or jail time, but I think you’d do fine in jail. You’re the kind of guy who makes friends easily and always lands on his feet.”

I match her crooked smile with one of my own. “I always knew you had a diabolical side.”

She laughs. “Yeah? I thought I did a good job of keeping it under wraps.”

“Says the woman who had a deviant turkey in her dorm room for weeks before the University staff found out.”

“And I would have gotten away with it, too, if hadn’t been for those meddling freshman wanting revenge on their RA,” she says. “But I don’t regret taking away their beer. Eighteen-year-olds are too young to drink, and the housekeeping staff was sick of cleaning up puke in the bathroom.”

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