Did I dare?
Yes, the devil on my shoulder whispered.
I wasn’t a virgin, but I’d had very few lovers. A fumbling high school boyfriend was my first, then the selfish star quarterback in college left me with a bad taste in my mouth about men in general. He’d been a real jerk, cheating on me with the lead cheerleader. Then there had been Winston Hampton the Third. After I’d fought him off, I was done with any penis-owning human.
Until Kane.
Kane had a penis. A big one. I saw the hard outline of it through his shorts. I wanted to touch it, taste it, feel it in my mouth and… the bell over the door jingled.
I needed more water.
Drying my face and hands after splashing myself again, I stepped out to where the huge, fluffy dog waited for me. She was wearing a diamond encrusted collar that could have fed every hungry mouth in New York, but that was the owner’s fault, not sweet Princess Sophie’s.
“Hi, Sophie, how is my good girl today?” The dog’s entire body wiggled with excitement at seeing me.
“The usual, my dear.” Mrs. Tomlin’s stiff, upper crust voice always made me smile. “And please use purple polish to match her new collar.”
“Yes, ma’am. It will be my pleasure. See you in two hours.”
The time passed quickly as I washed and clipped this beauty. She was a very good girl, sitting still while I perfected her standard poodle cut. I shaped and polished her nails, and finished with a matching bow on top.
“Now, who’s the most beautiful girl in the entire world?” I baby talked her, offering her a well-deserved treat, then smiled as Sophie and Mrs. Tomlin reunited as if they’d been separated for weeks.
Accepting the extra hundred she slipped into my hand with a wink and sly smile, I thanked Mrs. T for her generosity before giving Sophie a last stroke on the head.
Bruno, the Chihuahua from hell, was next, and I nearly groaned when the bell jingled again.
“Hello, Mr. Lancaster,” I yelled over the incessant yip-yip-yip of the dog.
“The usual,” the old man yelled back and handed me the leash. Jingle, jingle, and he was gone. I didn’t blame him for bailing.
With practiced agility, I sidestepped the snapping teeth. “If only I was this graceful on the dancefloor,” I muttered to the little dog and dodged another lunge before getting the wiggling, growling canine under control.
“I promise I’m not Satan’s mistress, Bruno,” I sweet talked the still yapping dog and carried him to the grooming station. There, I tied him to the overhead loop and gave him a treat.
Like magic, the yipping stopped, and I quickly started on his bath.
“Hmm, that doesn’t look good, Bruno,” I said as I expressed his glands and the nasty smelling fluid came out a reddish brown. “You need a trip to the vet.” At the mention of the v-word, the yipping started again. I stuck another treat in his mouth and silence reigned supreme, although the sharp barks continued to ring in my head.
On it went. More dogs. More owners. Even with the Brunos of the world, I loved them all. I held Mr. Lancaster’s hand as I told him to make an appointment to see the vet and gratefully accepted the extra forty dollars he left as a tip. By the time my last appointment arrived, I’d made nearly three hundred dollars in just tips, which didn’t include a meager salary.
Better than stripping, I thought with a grin and accepted the loving licks the enormous Rottweiler, Susie, offered me. Better benefits too.
As I was bathing Susie, I glanced at the clock and realized the Beasts were playing. Flipping on the little TV, I found the channel. I’d never watched a baseball game before, but soon learned they were in the second inning and losing by one run.
Squinting at the little screen, I recognized Kane on first base. The other team hit the ball with a loud crack. Instead of going high in the air, it rolled on the ground and a Beast player dove for it. Coming to his feet, he launched the ball to first, and I held my breath. Kane stretched his arm out, his legs nearly in a split, and… caught it!
“Out!” the referee guy said, and the crowd went wild.
Jumping up and down, I cupped the excited dog by the face. “He caught it, Susie. Wasn’t that great?”
The dog seemed to agree with me, and we watched the game together until her owner came at nine.
***
“You look like you just gave a bunch of dogs a bath,” Zoe said drolly as I fell into our apartment.
Thankfully, Mom hadn’t taken all my furniture when she cut me off, and I plopped on the comfortable sofa with a long sigh. Reaching for the remote, I clicked until I found the game, but turned the audio down low so as not to interrupt Zoe’s studies. It was the sixth ending, and the Beasts were winning by two!
“Who are you and why do you look like Eliana?”
I laughed. “What’s the problem? I’m just watching baseball.”
“That is the problem,” she said with a perfectly arched brow. “The Eliana I know only watches Animal Planet. Get out, or I’m calling the police.”
I hugged a pillow. “Well, I’m officially not watching a baseball game.” I pointed to the television as Kane stepped up to the plate, swinging his bat from side to side with impressive strength. “I’m watching him.”
Zoe squinted at the screen then reached for her glasses. “Kane Steele?” She sat her book down. “Well, in that case, I’ll watch too.”
Holding my breath as the pitcher threw the ball at him, I was mystified when Kane just stood there and did nothing.
“Why didn’t he hit the ball?”
She shot me a look. “Because it’s a ball.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “I know it’s a ball. Why didn’t he hit it?”
Zoe snorted. “Because it wasn’t in the strike zone, so he let it go.”
“Let it go where?”
Zoe moved over to the couch and sat beside me. “Oh dear heavens, you’ve got a lot to learn. Good thing my older brothers both played in college. I, my dear baseball virgin, will be your wizard.”
It actually helped a great deal to have her spell everything out to me. When Kane hit the next one, she explained that it was a foul ball and why.
Crack!
She didn’t have to explain that that sound was a good thing. The screaming crowd said it all. “Why is he just jogging around the bases?”
Zoe grinned at me. “Because he hit a home run. See the other two guys running in too?” I nodded. I had wondered about that but had been too embarrassed to ask. “Because Kane hit a homer and they were already on bases, they get to score too. That gives the Beasts three runs off Kane’s hit, so now they are ahead nine to four.”
My heart pounded when the camera zoomed in on Kane’s face as he made it home. He looked so happy. So handsome. And I so remembered kissing that lush mouth. The camera stayed on him even when he entered the dugout, high-fiving his teammates as he went.
“He really is hot,” Zoe said and turned to me. “Why all the sudden interest?”