More, Please by Kate Aster Read Free Book Online Page A

I saw your application and some other job listed as your occupation.
And then when you said your name wasn’t really Logan…”
    “It is,” I interrupt, trying hard to hold
back a smile. “I only fill out forms with my legal name though. A habit from ten
years in the military.”
    “Yeah, I get that now.” She sighs,
looking humiliated. “But you did tell me you were from San Diego.”
     “If I recall correctly, you asked
me where home was. I only moved back here temporarily for some family reasons. If
you had asked me where I lived, I would have said right here.” I shake my head.
“Look, I’m sorry if I wasn’t specific enough for you. Maybe I should have made
things clearer. But I don’t lie to women.”
    That is the God’s truth. Lies are like
unexploded ordnance. You don’t know when they’ll blow up in your face, but they
will.
    “I’m really sorry,” she says.
    I touch her shoulder impulsively. I can’t
resist because she really looks defeated and I hate it when people look that
way. “Not a problem.”
    “I’ll get Kosmo.” She walks out my door
without even looking me in the eyes.
    It’s really not the big deal she thinks
it is. It’s not like she poured gasoline on my truck and lit a match. She just
acted a little bitchy one morning.
    Hell, my last girlfriend treated me like
that once a month when she’d get PMS, and I wasn’t mad at her about it.
    I step to the open doorway and see Kosmo
bound out of the car. He’s big and burly and full of personality, I can tell
already. I love how dogs just barrel through life. I’ve seen it before. They
don’t let things get to them much.
    Got a heart valve problem? Oh well. Where’s
my toy?
    Missing leg? No prob! Let’s play anyway.
    Blind in both eyes? So what. Got a bone
for me?
    I try to keep that attitude. It was hard
when I was told that my time with the SEALs had come to an end. No one wants to
hear that. But I just try to barrel through, same as Kosmo.
    When they step in the house, I sit on the
ground as Alexandra unhooks his leash, and let him sniff and lick me anywhere
he wants. He immediately shows interest in the thick streak of wet paint on my
shirt. Instinctively, I strip my shirt off quickly. “Hey, no, buddy. I don’t
need you licking paint off me the first time we meet.” I ball up my shirt and
toss it to the side. His fur is thicker than most Labs and I wonder if there’s
some husky or collie in him.
    “Want to see your house?” I ask him. I
know it’s presumptuous to assume she’ll let me have him. But at this point,
I’ll do anything for this mutt.

~ ALLIE ~
     
     
    Please put your shirt back on. The sight
of your body will ruin other men for me.
    I want to say it. I want to beg it. But I
also want to just give one poke to that tantalizing V at the edge of his abs
just to see what it feels like. His jeans are low on his hips, just low enough
that I can see every precious ripple of muscle on his torso. What does a guy
have to do to get a body like that?
    “Be right back,” he says and he bounds up
the stairs, presumably to his bedroom to get a new shirt. Kosmo follows him.
    I want to follow him, too.
    Not a minute passes and he’s in front of
me again, covered up in a t-shirt that only turns my temperature down a degree
or two. Truth is, he looks almost as sexy in that shirt as he did half-naked.
Almost.
    I follow him through the house as he gives
me a tour. He opens the fridge when we’re in the kitchen and asks me if I want
a soda. I nod, wishing I could pour the cold liquid over my body right now.
    There’s a box of dog treats on the
counter that he says he picked up this morning, and he asks if it’s all right
for Kosmo to have one. I tell him yes, feeling a warmth settle into me as he
sits on the ground and hands Kosmo the treat. Kosmo nuzzles him, looking for
another and Logan wraps his thick arms around him in a hug.
    I could cry right now. I could honest-to-God
cry as I see these two together. It’s