“What time is it?”

He paused. “I’m playing with your nipple and you’re asking the time? Do you have somewhere you need to go?”

She laughed. “No. I’m worried about you getting enough sleep.”

He rolled over on top of her. “Trust me. I get plenty of sleep.”

Chelsea heard a bark and rather urgent whine at the foot of the bed.

Bash sighed, then rested his forehead against hers. “Lou needs to go outside.” He gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll be right back.”

He hopped out of bed, grabbed a pair of jeans, and climbed into them, but not before giving her a stellar view of his naked ass.

“Come on, princess. Let’s go pee.”

The dog wasn’t the only one with urgent bladder needs, so Chelsea got out of bed and used the bathroom, then came out and grabbed one of Bash’s T-shirts and put it on. It was miles too long for her. She didn’t care. She had a sudden need for coffee, which trumped sex.

They had all day anyway.

She went into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee, then scrounged around for sugar and found cream—thank God—in his refrigerator.

“You are not in my bed.”

She looked up to see him leaning against the doorway.

“I am not, because I need coffee.”

He pushed off the wall and headed into the kitchen. “That does sound good. And I’m glad you’re not bashful about rummaging.”

“Not much will get in the way of my need for caffeine. And if you have an issue about me going through your drawers and cabinets, I guess that’s too bad, because it’s already a done deal.”

He laughed. “I don’t have anything to hide. No dead bodies, no love letters from former girlfriends. The only thing I have lying around is a dog that some crazy ex foisted on me.”

Chelsea bent and petted Lou. “She’s such a sweetheart, too.” She looked up at Bash. “The dog, not the crazy ex-girlfriend.”

He smiled down at her. “I knew which one you meant.”

When the coffee was finally ready, Bash poured both of them a cup. Chelsea fixed hers up with cream and sugar, then took a long couple of swallows, letting the caffeine do its job.

“Ahh. Now this is exactly what I needed.”

Bash put his cup aside to pour food in Lou’s bowl. She attacked her food like she hadn’t eaten in three days, tossing nuggets around on the floor.

“Is she always like that?”

“Yeah. She’s kind of sloppy. But she’ll get the remnants after she finishes up what’s in the bowl.”

“The two of you have bonded well.”

Bash looked down at Lou. “I guess so. Never thought I’d end up with a Chihuahua, but now that she’s here, I can’t imagine not having her around all the time.”

This was a new side to Bash. She’d always seen him so … solitary, so alone. And he’d always seemed to prefer it that way. Now, though, while he didn’t have a person in his life, at least he had a dog. And he was so good with her, taking her to work with him and being so caring with her. She’d put Bash in this “big and tough” box in her head. He’d always been kind of a badass, in her opinion. It turned out that while he was big and tough, and definitely a badass, he was also caring and tender.

Like last night, when he’d gone all badass on that guy who’d harassed her, then immediately tender when he thought she’d been hurt.

She’d also always thought of him as incredibly sexy and hot as hell. She’d pictured their coupling would be fast and furious and over in a hurry. Yet here she was, the proverbial morning after, having coffee in his kitchen, she’d had two orgasms, and, technically, they hadn’t actually had sex yet.

He constantly surprised her.

She stood and reached for her cup, leaning over the counter to take a sip.

“You wearing anything under that shirt?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Good.” He took the cup from her hand and laid it on the other side of the counter, then grasped her waist and hoisted her up, setting her down on the kitchen island, lifting the shirt over her hips.

“You do realize I’m naked, and this counter is cold.”

He gripped her thighs and spread her legs. “You’ll warm up fast.”

He was right, because heat spread through her when he stepped between her legs, cupped her neck, then kissed her, a soft, sweet, exploratory kiss that quickly turned passionate. She wrapped her legs around his hips to draw him in closer, the naked part of her making contact with denim—and the quickly hardening part of him making her forget all about the cold counter.

Her sex brushed his jeans, and all she could think was that if he was naked, too, he could already be inside of her.

“Bash,” she said, her lips making contact with his neck. “I want …”

“Yeah, I know what you want, Chelsea. And we have all day to get to it. But right now this is what I want.”

He pushed back and bent down, then put his mouth on her. She gripped the edge of the counter and held on while he took her to heaven and back again with his lips and tongue.

This was so much better than any caffeine, an awakening jolt to her senses in the best possible way. His dark head nestled between her thighs, his soft hair tickling her skin as his tongue performed magic and brought her right to the edge of reason in record time.

Her orgasm hit her like a shock wave, rocking her nearly right off the counter. Only Bash’s hold on her hips held her there while she rode that wave of pleasure to its conclusion.