Doggie Style Read online

  “Leo!” Teegan yells and I snap back to the present.

  “What?” I shift in my seat, trying to make some extra room in my pants for my dick, which presently wants some one-on-one time with the woman sitting across from me.

  “She said it’s going to be a while. Like hours.”

  “And how am I supposed to change that?”

  Her eyes move down my body and my dick twitches in my pants. “You’re not, but you don’t have to stay. I have a friend coming.”

  Her phone rings and I cock my eyebrow.

  “When your friend gets here, I’ll leave,” I assure her.

  She nods, picking up her phone to answer it. “Hey, Soph. I think I’m in room nine or something… what?” The dip in her octave tells me her friend is giving her bad news. “It’s fine. The nurse said it’d be a while. Okay. Bye.”

  “Your BFF not coming?”

  Her teeth clench. “She’s coming, but she’s stuck on a deadline. She said she’ll be here soon though.”

  I walk over to the bed, sliding the chair closer to her. “Looks like it’s just you and me then.” I click the remote on the television and extend my legs so my feet rest on the edge of her bed.

  “I have to change into the gown.” She tries to walk to the bathroom.

  I stand up, sliding my shoulder under one of her arms. “Here.”

  She walks into the bathroom and instead of a thank you, the door slams in my face.

  Someone needs to tell Teegan that you’re supposed to woo potential clients, not maim them.

  Three hours later, her friend isn’t here and we’ve been told we’re the next to see the doctor. She’s sitting right next to me wearing nothing on her bottom half but a thin sheet. I deserve the fucking Nobel Prize for being able to sit next to her and not fantasize about what’s underneath her gown. Mostly, anyway.

  “Seriously, what if I was having a heart attack?” she asks, dropping the magazine I bought for her an hour ago from the gift shop.

  “Then I’m pretty sure you’d been handled already.”

  An annoyed sound escapes her. I actually think I’m becoming turned on by her irritation. For some reason, I want to swallow down her huffs as my tongue explores her mouth.

  “Well, I don’t have time for this.”

  I look down at my watch. “It’s eight at night. You have a hot date or something?” Okay, I’m man enough to admit that I’m trying to pry personal information from her.

  “No.”

  “Boyfriend?”

  Her eyes narrow into small slits. “No.”

  “Then watching The Bachelor on your DVR isn’t that important.”

  Her entire body tenses and I swear I can almost feel the sexual energy roll off her. I might become the second person in this room who needs to be treated for a bite wound tonight.

  “Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop talking,” she says and rips the TV controller from my hands.

  “Sure thing, princess.”

  I remain silent until the doctor comes in, at which point Teegan mutes the television.

  I’m not a fan of Grey’s Anatomy, but any moron knows McDreamy. The way Teegan’s jaw drops when he walks in, I’m sure she thinks he resembles the television doctor, too.

  “Hello, Miss Lowery. I’m Dr. Phillips.”

  Teegan still sits there with wide eyes staring at the man and so he glances to me and then holds his hand out.

  “I’m Leo,” I say.

  He smiles and nods. “Okay, well, I just need you to roll over. The nurse says the bite is on the back of your leg.”

  “It is.” Teegan rolls on to her stomach and the gown she’s wearing opens up a little so I can see a sliver of her lace panties. It’s enough to know that they’re black and if I had to guess I’d say they’re made with a Chantilly lace pattern.

  The doctor washes his hands and puts on some gloves. “I tried to warm my hands, Miss Lowery, but excuse me if they’re cold.”

  “That’s fine.” Her syrupy-sweet voice grates on my nerves since I know it’s put on especially for him.

  I watch on as the doctor inspects the bite. Luckily, Zeus isn’t a huge dog, but he did draw blood.

  “Oh, your hands feel warm.” Teegan’s body relaxes into the hospital bed.

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Dr. Phillips says, continuing to run his hands along her silky skin. “Do you know if the dog who bit you has its shots up to date?”

  “I believe so,” she says.

  “That’s good. I’m going to need to get the owner’s info from you so we can report it to the police and they can submit it to court to determine the dog’s status.”

  “I didn’t realize that.” Teegan glances over at me and I think she’s looking to me to tell her what to do. I can’t say I want her reporting one of my customers’ dogs, but she’s within her rights to do so and I’m not going to try to stop her.

  “Do you know the owner’s home address?” Dr. Phillips asks.

  “Um…no. Sorry. I don’t know who the owner is. I think the dog was a stray or something.”

  The doctor’s forehead wrinkles. “I thought you said the dog had its shots?”

  “Well, it just looked like it did. I mean, you could kind of tell that it came from a good home and probably just got out of its yard that day.”

  The good doctor purses his lips at that. “In that case you’ll need to be administered a series of shots to protect you from rabies over the course of the next several months. Sarah can administer the first one for you tonight and then she’ll apply some antibiotic ointment and bandage it up.” The nurse nods beside him while she watches on.

  Teegan’s eyes go wide. “No! I’m not getting a bunch of shots.”

  “You really have no choice, Miss Lowery. Rabies can be a serious—”

  “I’ll be fine. I don’t want the shots,” Teegan says in a firm voice.

  Dr. Phillips shakes his head. “If you’re going to go against medical advice I’m going to have to have you sign a form to that effect.”

  Relief floods Teegan’s face. “I’ll sign whatever you want.”

  “Okay then.” Dr. Phillips looks back down to her leg and his eyes bulge out and then his gaze shifts to me.

  I purse my lips, seeing her gown has gaped open and one of her ass cheeks is visible. What a nice apple cheek it is. The black thong isn’t close to covering it up.

  “Oh, sweetie, you know how overprotective I can be.” I grab the edge of the gown and cover her up.

  She whips around, her hand fisting the material behind her.

  “Don’t be embarrassed, I’m sure it’s nothing a good doctor hasn’t seen before, right?” I direct the question to the doctor, who is now stripping his gloves from his hands and throwing them away.

  “Yes, no worries on that front.” Two dimples emerge when he smiles.

  “Still.” Teegan shoots me her best death glare.

  “Sarah will handle the rest,” Dr. Phillips says. “We’ll give you a copy of the medical diagnosis in case you find the dog’s owner and decide to sue or alert the authorities.” Dr. Phillips walks over with his hand out.

  “Thank you.” Teegan’s voice has lost the flirting tone now.

  “My pleasure.” He shifts his hand my way. “Leo.”

  “Doc.” We each nod and I kind of like the fact he thinks I’m with Teegan.

  The doctor leaves the room with one more glance toward Teegan. I grab her hand and kiss the top of it.

  “I’ll be right back.” Thankfully, Sarah leaves before Teegan rips her hand from mine.

  “What are you doing?” she asks.

  “Just going along with the act. You didn’t want him to think you purposely showed him your ass, do you?”

  “What?”

  “Listen, I want to thank you. You didn’t have to pretend you didn’t know who the owner was, but—”

  A purple-haired girl bursts into the room, heading right toward the hospital bed. “Tee, I’m so sorry.”
She grabs both Teegan’s hands.

  “It’s okay, Soph. I’m almost done here and then we can go.”

  The girl glances down at Teegan’s leg and then realizes I’m in the room. A slow smirk emerges on her face. “Hi. And you are?”

  “This is Leo Vaughn. The dog guy.” Teegan uses her thumb to point in my direction.

  I extend a hand. “Pleasure. Soph?”

  The girl looks to Teegan and then to me. “Sophie, actually. The Canine Couture guy?”

  “That would be me.”

  Her eyes slowly move from my head down my body and then back up. “Huh,” she says and then plops down on the bed next to her friend.

  “I’m going to need you to roll over, Teegan,” Sarah says.

  Teegan starts to move, but then directs her attention to me. “You can leave now.”

  I hold up my hands. “I already got a peek at the goods. I’ve no reason to stick around.” The smile on my face should tell her I’m not serious.

  “I’m sure that grossed you out,” Sophie interjects and Sarah sits on her stool observing the entire exchange.

  My brows furrow, but I stroll out the door. “And to think I was just getting used to the idea of coffee being delivered to my door.” I hold my hand out. “Nice to meet you, Teegan Lowery. Good luck.” I’m almost out the door.

  “I still have six days left,” she calls out from behind me.

  “I thought you’d be done what with you hating dogs, always being annoyed with me, and now ending up in the hospital,” I say.

  Sophie’s head volleys between us.

  “You’ll find out I don’t give up just because things get hard.”

  “Well then, I prefer my coffee black.” I wave my hand in the air. “Nice to meet you, Sophie. Make sure she gets home safely, okay?”

  “Definitely.” Sophie’s expression almost seems awestruck.

  “Good night, ladies.”

  “Good… night. See you in my dreams,” Sarah says and the other two girls giggle while I step out of the room.

  5

  Teegan

  “Maybe I had it wrong.” Sophie sits in the chair Leo vacated, glancing briefly to the side. “Your ass is hanging out.”

  “Then please cover me.”

  “Nah, it’s just us and Sarah doesn’t scream lesbian.” Sophie places her black-heeled shoes on my bed, crossing her ankles. “I was positive he’s gay.”

  “He’s gay?” Sarah tightens the bandage. “No.”

  “That’s the word around town. I know looking at him I don’t see it, but he does design dog clothes for a living. Like, bedazzled clothes with bows and rhinestones. We’re not talking hunting coats for Labradors.” Sophie digs into her purse and pops a piece of gum into her mouth.

  “Damn it,” Sarah says. “I can’t envision a gay man while my husband and I have sex.”

  Sophie giggles and kicks me then snickers. “Sounds like reason number one thousand and forty-two not to wed,” Sophie chimes in. The reporter in her makes her so blunt. I’m not exactly sure what makes her so against marriage.

  “Getting pregnant and being Catholic are a reason to wed.” Sarah continues bandaging me and I wish we could hurry this up.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumble into the pillow. “That sounds horrible.”

  “He’s not all that bad. Just not romantic and he definitely doesn’t have the guns that Leo guy did.” She pats my leg. “All set, Teegan. I’ll grab your discharge papers and you’ll need to sign that other form before you leave.” The latex from her gloves snaps and she throws them away.

  I turn over and Sophie’s eyebrows are so high up you’d think she had a bad facelift or about a hundred too many ccs of Botox injected.

  “What?”

  “He gave you an out.”

  “I don’t want an out.” I limp over to my stack of clothes. “I need him, Soph.”

  “Next time it might not just be a flesh wound.” She stands to help me get dressed.

  “Do you think the dogs can sense I don’t like them?”

  She unties the robe from me. “I think they can sense fear. This is exactly why, out all of the clients you could work with, I don’t understand why you chose him.”

  “Not as if I had a long list of prospects.” Leo was my only really good lead, the only egg in my basket. I need to make it hatch, otherwise I’ll starve.

  “It seemed like he was flirting with you.” Sophie lowered her voice. “I mean, I’d be sniffing around you if I were a man, but he’s supposed to be batting for the other team.”

  “I think maybe he gets off on it. He’s made more than one weird comment that had me second-guessing, but he can get away with that if he’s not attracted to me. You know?”

  Sophie spins me around and holds out my skirt for me to step into. “Yeah I guess so.”

  “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m not sleeping with a client. I might as well sell all my belongings now and prepare for the red eviction sticker on my door.”

  “That’s the truth. No one has time for that.” She zips me up in the back. “I’m liking the thong.”

  “You and Leo both.”

  “Maybe he has a fondness for lingerie due to his line of work.” Sophie grabs my computer bag and swings it over her shoulder.

  Sarah comes in with some papers and instructions. “Take this ointment home and apply it twice a day.” She passes another piece of paper. “Here are the instructions if you want to press charges. And if you can sit tight for one minute the billing lady, Carol, wants to talk to you really quick.” Sarah pats my hand and walks out of the room.

  My eyes shift to Sophie. “I have no insurance.”

  She nods and grips my hand. “That dog owner said he’d pay, right?”

  I snap my fingers and point to her. “Yes.”

  A middle-aged woman—Carol, I presume—walks in a few minutes later with another stack of papers. “Teegan Lowery, right?” She stands, placing one sheet of paper on the table.

  “Yes.”

  “Your bill has been taken care of, but I just need your signature here.”

  “My bill?”

  “Well, we have a credit card on file to use. We won’t have final numbers until tomorrow morning after your discharge has been processed.” Carol waits for me to look the sheet of paper over.

  “Who paid it?” I ask and Sophie peers over my shoulder, eager to get her eyes on some piece of information.

  “They asked not to be named, but wanted you to be assured it was taken care of.” She leans forward.

  “Maybe the dog owner?” Sophie asks, but the dog owner doesn’t know my name nor what hospital I went to for treatment.

  “Or Leo Vaughn,” I suggest, and Carol’s face lights up, but she’s quick to place her two fingers across her lips and pretend to throw the key over her shoulder. “Great. Now I have to deduct this off of my services.”

  “Pretty nice of him.” Sophie’s face contorts.

  I sign my name on the piece of paper. “Take me home. I need some Ben & Jerry’s therapy after the day I’ve had.”

  My spoon scrapes the sides of the chocolate peanut butter ice cream container.

  “Where’s your mom?” Sophie asks, and the cushion bounces from her plopping down beside me with her own quart of ice cream.

  “She’s asleep. Typical.” I opted to come to Sophie’s because my mom isn’t exactly up for visitors just yet. It usually takes about a week before she can be social. Even then it’s questionable.

  “Do you want to make it a sleepover?” she asks, situating a pillow on her lap to place her ice cream on.

  I shake my head. “I have to check on her. Sometimes she wakes up crying in the middle of the night.”

  Sophie’s mouth turns down into a frown and I hate the pity I can see in her eyes.

  “My biggest dilemma right now is how to make headway with Leo, not my mother.”

  “Well, darling, I don’t think you have the right parts for that venture.”

  I
kick her lightly in the thigh. “Stop reminding me—or actually, keep reminding me I have no shot there. It’ll make it easier to keep my goal in sight.”

  She winks. “What can you get him in a week? He wants more exposure.” She stands, grabs a pad of paper and a pen off the kitchen table, leaving her carton of ice cream behind. Now I understand why she’s so thin.

  “Your ice cream?” I remind her. Yes, misery loves company.

  “Oh, shit.” She rounds the counter and caps the ice cream, putting it back in the freezer. Her willpower is amazing. Again, she plops down on the couch. “Okay, let’s brainstorm, because I refuse to allow you to be bitten by a dog and not reap any rewards. You’re going to nail this job.”

  Sophie has a way about her that makes you think you could build a spaceship and sail into orbit all on your own.

  “It doesn’t have to be huge. I mean I can’t get him a meeting with a retailer yet. He needs more exposure at this point—needs more people to know about his company. If I can get his story out there… between that and his boyish face, blond surfer hair and his muscles, I guarantee it’ll snowball after that. Not to mention how much he loves animals. I only spent the day with him, but it’s clear that he has a soft spot for them.” I push the spoon back into the ice cream tub.

  “What about a radio station? A commercial or something? Maybe a coupon?” Sophie knows journalism. Public relations? Not so much.

  “It’s not the right fit. He designs high-end garments for the dogs. He was designing a set of custom swimsuits for some woman’s dogs the first time I was in his shop. The woman knew him well. I mean, who dresses their dogs like babies?”

  “So rich demented women are his target market.”

  “Sophie.” I sigh.

  “What are you judging me for? You hate dogs.”

  “As long as I’m trying to work with Leo—I love them.”

  She nods. “True that.” Soph bites on the edge of the pen, her eyes focused on the ceiling. “You should try to get him on a talk show, or what about those game shows where you try to get a deal? The one where all those sharks are circling them?”