Meeting His Match (A Match Me Novel) (Entangled Lovestruck) by Katee Robert Read Free Book Online Page B

moved before she could, knocking her to the ground and standing over her and the puppies. Masculine laughter rocked the room—or maybe that was just Addison’s heart. She shoved her hair out of her face and then had to part Gollum’s dreads to see Caine. “What are you doing here?”
    “I live here.”
    Why did he always have to be so difficult? “It’s not even dark yet. Why are you home?”
    “I reckon I can come and go as I please, seeing as how I own the place.” He eyed the dog nearly pinning her to the ground. “How exactly are you going to convince some poor, unsuspecting woman that I actually own this dog when it— she —looks ready to take a chunk out of me every time I get too close?”
    “You—” Having this conversation with the dog in question on her wasn’t really a good way to make her point. She wiggled out from beneath Gollum, praying the dog didn’t decide to just lie on top of her and hold her in place. It took a little longer than she’d have liked because she didn’t want to crush whichever puppy was halfway beneath her hip. Talk about undignified.
    Addison got to her knees and had to shove her hair out of her face again. Wonderful. “If you weren’t skulking about, she wouldn’t feel the need to defend her territory.”
    “One, I don’t skulk anywhere. Two, how many times do I have to explain that this is my territory? She’s the newcomer.”
    “Feel free to tell her that.” Her gaze landed on one of the puppies starting to squat. “Raphael, don’t you dare!” She lurched to her feet, scooped him up, and ran for the door. Thank God she’d picked a room with easy access to the backyard. Once she’d deposited the puppy outside, she left him to do his business.
    “Rafael.” Caine’s mouth twitched like he was trying to hold back a laugh. “What are the other fluffballs’ names?”
    She really, really didn’t want to tell him. But from the look on his face, she wasn’t getting out of this even if she tried to change the subject. “Michelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo.”
    The muscle in his cheek starting jumping faster. “Did you name them after Renaissance painters or the Ninja Turtles?”
    Would she save face if she claimed the former? She started to do just that, but she couldn’t lie under the weight of those gray eyes. “The Ninja Turtles.”
    “Whose mother is Gollum.”
    It sounded particularly ridiculous coming out of his mouth. She raised her chin, determined not to feel stupid—and failing. “It fits.”
    “Oh, I have no doubt.” He took the love seat. She tensed when he glanced at her computer, and then felt even more foolish. What was she going to do? Run over there and grab it out of his hands if he decided to snoop? The women he’d see were ones she was considering flying down here to meet him, so trying to keep them from him didn’t make any sense.
    Flustered and hating that he made her feel that way without actually doing anything, she set about trying to smooth the wrinkles out of her dress. It didn’t work. No matter how hard she ran her hands over the fabric, the wrinkles jumped back into evidence. Addison had no idea how long she’d been rubbing at herself when he cleared his throat. “Tell me about this first woman.”
    He kept flip-flopping between being a control freak and not having enough time to actually deal with the tasks she set for him. It was enough to give her whiplash. “I already went into this on the phone. You didn’t give me a lot to work with.”
    “And I’m not judging. I’m asking what it was about her that made you pick her for me.”
    She hesitated, but there was nothing on his face but genuine curiosity. Since he was apparently ready to let the dog names go without poking at her further, she decided to answer the question. “I’m trying to develop a baseline, though I certainly hope you connect with someone as quickly as possible.” The words tasted flat, but she charged on, determined to ignore the