Free Monster by Laura Belle Peters Page B

"I mean, I'm all for supporting local businesses... but if you buy your toy from Amazon, you don't have to look anyone in the eye. It comes right to your door in a nice, discreet box."
     
    “Every time I see people with boxes from Amazon from now on, I plan to assume they're something dirty,” she said. “That'll make life a lot more fun.”
     
    Her plan had a fatal flaw.
     
    “That works until your family orders something,” I pointed out.
     
    She shrugged.
     
    “Into each life, some rain must fall,” she quoted philosophically.
     
    “Your dog isn't doing his job, dammit,” I said, changing the subject pretty deliberately. “If he doesn't pick up his pace, Urso won't get worn out, and I'll have to actually exercise myself.”
     
    “It's not Ollie's fault you have more dog than anyone needs. You should have gotten a nice manageable dog in a smaller package,” she said. “Like my little gentleman.”
     
    Our laughter scared birds from the nearby trees.
     
    Ollie was a border collie mix. Fearsomely intelligent, always bored, and never stopped moving. Urso may have been twice as big and a little younger, but Ollie could literally run circles around him.
     
    Even though Carol's pup was a nice dog, I was relieved that Urso was calmer. He was actually content to lie on a rug in the evening and doze.
     
    Made my life a hell of a lot easier, for sure.
     
    After a few minutes, I joined the dogs in the pen, bringing some tennis balls with me.
     
    Time to really wear them out.
     

-Quinn-
     
    The August sun beat down on me as I bent over, showing a new guy how I wanted the work done.
     
    I'd been working for Hal for just over a month, and I had been surprised by just how much I liked the job. I always knew what I should be doing, the work was straightforward but satisfying.
     
    Owen might be great at building a wall, but he couldn't manage people for shit.
     
    I knew I was useful.
     
    Best of all, I didn't have any fucking paperwork.
     
    Show up, work for ten or twelve hours, go home and take a shower. No goddamn reports to write. I missed Dragon, but the rest seemed like a dream come true.
     
    At night, more than half the time, I'd knock on Annie's door, or she'd knock on mine, and we'd fall all over each other.
     
    I'd had her in her apartment and in mine. On the couch. Over her kitchen table. In the shower and against the wall.
     
    She was always wet and ready for me, and I could just slide inside her depths and take her over the edge with me. If there was one thing I was good at, it was fucking.
     
    Sometimes we had dinner or watched a movie or something, but we always ended up naked.
     
    Annie was more willing to suck my cock than any other woman I'd ever been with.
     
    I repaid the favor by spending blissful time with my head between her legs.
     
    Her moans and shrieks would get me harder than any porn I'd ever seen. Just the thought of them could get me stiff as a rock.
     
    One night, I headed off the library site and looked forward to getting home.
     
    I realized that home meant wherever Annie was.
     
    Fuck.
     
    I was falling for the woman, no matter what we'd told ourselves.
     
    If she knew, she'd stop.
     
    I'd been with her enough to realize she was stubborn as shit. She said no strings attached, so if I tried to tell her that she was fucking amazing and I wanted more from her, she'd be gone like a shot. Probably set Urso on me if I tried to walk into her apartment again.
     
    That damn dog was another reason to stick around.
     
    It took him weeks to warm up to me, but he finally let me rub his belly, and he was sunk.
     
    He still barked at me, but I flattered myself that it was excitement, rather than a warning for Annie's safety.
     
    I didn't blame the bearlike dog for not liking anyone who spent that much time with Annie.
     
    It was his job to protect her.
     
    Even though I wanted it to be my job, too, it wasn't.
     
    It was my job to bend her over tables and make her