Free One of These Nights by Kendra Leigh Castle

together. Was that his doing? she wondered. Even if he hadn’t chosen all the materials, he’d picked the house. Then he’d made it a home, somewhere she’d be inclined to settle into and be comfortable. Well, if Jason weren’t in it.
    How a guy like him had managed to create such an inviting space was something she knew she’d be mulling over later. It would require at least one cup of tea. Probably more like a whole kettle, though.
    An odd noise pulled her out of the impromptu home inspection. Zoe looked down, frowning, then burst into laughter.
    â€œWhat’s funny?” Jason asked, making his way over. Zoe didn’t look at him, but the
creak-thump
of his movement on the crutches was unmistakable. She wouldn’t have thought there would be a way to make his clomping footsteps even louder, but he’d found one.
    â€œThis dog,” she said, pointing downward. “You sure she isn’t actually a groundhog?”
    â€œOh, that,” he replied with a low, rumbling chuckle. “That’s one of her signature moves.”
    The Pekingese sat very steadily on her butt, perfectly balanced, paws drawn up in front of her. Every time she caught Zoe’s eye, Rosie waved her paws insistently and made some sort of strange, cartoonish sound.
    â€œShe sounds like an alien. Or a Muppet.”
    â€œWell, she also looks like she’s been chasing parked cars, so I don’t know what you expect,” Jason said.
    â€œOh, now, that’s mean. She’s beautiful.” Zoe reached down to ruffle Rosie’s ears, surprised when the little dog ducked her head sideways and gave her what was an unmistakably dirty look.
    Jason laughed again, low and warm. “One of the many things I’ve learned about Pekingese in the past two weeks. If they’re begging, you don’t interrupt them. Even if you’re the one they’re begging from. It’s a personal space thing.”
    â€œPekingese have a personal space thing?”
    He snorted. “You have no idea. She’s educating me on that. Seems to think I’m kind of a slow learner, though.” The way he looked at Rosie, who’d gone back to waving her paws and looking between them expectantly, was so unguardedly affectionate that warmth bloomed deep in Zoe’s chest, flooding her with a lot of completely unwanted affection of her own.
Knock it off, girl. You don’t even really know him. And what you do know isn’t all sparkly rainbows.
    Of course, all of that begged the question:
So then why are you here?
    She knew very well why. Embarrassingly, it had nothing to do with either kindness or charity, and it barely qualified as mercenary. It did, however, have a lot to do with how his butt looked in his old, faded jeans every time he stomped out of her gallery.
    â€œI’m sure you pick up just fine when it’s a subject that interests you,” Zoe said, trying to shake off the nerves that seemed to go hand in hand with her attraction. Jason looked down at her, and Zoe realized she’d never been quite this close to him before. Heat seemed to radiate off of him . . . or maybe that was just the effect he had on her. She had to fight the urge to fan herself.
Stupid.
He probably had enough women tripping over themselves around him, even with that attitude of his.
    The thought left a bad taste in her mouth.
    â€œNow, there’s a backhanded compliment,” he said. “I bet you’ve got a long list of things you think don’t interest me.” He seemed more entertained than offended, and she couldn’t resist taking the bait.
    â€œI do. At the top of that list are manners and dirt removal. As evidence, I have a special doormat at the gallery that looks almost as new as the day I bought it despite
someone’s
assurances that they’d make an effort.”
    â€œMaybe that
someone
just has cleaner shoes now and doesn’t need fancy