Not waiting for an answer, I dropped out of the SUV and moved to open the door behind mine so I could get Toby.
Wrecker came barreling around the back of the vehicle and danced around my legs while trying to jump up and get Toby’s feet which were dangling near my thigh. He must have managed it on one jump because the baby squealed and then burst out laughing, making my heart almost burst. I loved the sound, and feeling his chuckles against my chest as they burst out of him? There was nothing quite like it in the world, I’m sure.
Shifting so that I had him propped on my hip, I made my way around to the trunk and reached in for my backpack.
“I can carry it all in,” Remy said gruffly as he leaned over my back to get to the suitcases, meaning his crotch was pressed tightly against my ass.
I didn’t know what to say or if I could say anything at that moment. What was the etiquette when you were in this position? I’d never been in it before, so I had no clue. Did you act like nothing was different? Was I meant to push back? Maybe I should thank him because it was a pretty awesome position to be in?
Like he knew what I was thinking, he ground down slightly and then pulled away. The disappointment was unreal.
“I’ll—” I licked my dry lips, hoping my voice would sound normal on the next try. “I’ll just take…”
Unable to finish the sentence because my brain was too busy memorizing the feeling of what’d just happened, almost like it was getting a hammer and chisel and tapping it away on one side of my brain, I trailed off.
Not wanting to look like the dick my brain was and grateful he couldn’t read what was going on inside it, I scurried away from the car and onto the porch. My dog was apparently as much of a Remy slut as my brain because he was on his hind legs, frantically scratching at Remy’s thigh with his front paws like he was trying to dig through the denim material of his jeans.
“Go and see your momma, boy,” Remy ordered, gesturing at me with his chin as he got the suitcases out of the trunk. “I’ll bring your food and crap inside in a minute.”
Dropping down with a groan, my puppy turned and sped toward me, sprinting up the stairs like they didn’t even exist. Christ, I’d only carried my bag and Toby, and I was drained. What would it feel like to have that amount of energy? Maybe I should start working out?
That’s when I experienced a phenomenon I’d heard about but hadn’t seen first-hand, seeing as how I hadn’t had a dog until now—the zoomies. I don’t know why it happened, but Wrecker went nuts, dashing from one side of the porch to the other, his nails leaving faint white marks on the wood as he screeched to a halt each time.
It was hilarious, but it also made me amend my initial thoughts about the amount of energy he had.
“Jesus, that dog’s a nut,” Remy muttered as he came to a stop next to me, waiting for me to open the door.
He wasn’t as trusting as I was, but he’d given me a copy of his key months ago, so I reached into my pocket, pulled them out, and opened the door for him. Wrecker wasn’t done with his mad five minutes, though, and he barreled past us and into the foyer, his feet skidding on the treated wood now and making it harder for him to stop in time.
Sure enough, on one skid, he hit a small table with a weird circular stone on a stand sitting on it. I’d never been able to figure out what it was, but I knew it meant something to Remy, so I just admired it from a distance. Now, I watched in horror and disbelief as it teetered back and forth, then toppled over the edge of the table.
There was no way my reflexes ever would have done what Remy did as he stuck his foot out and caught it on his ankle.
“Oh, shoot. I’m so sorry!” I gasped, my body finally coming unstuck and moving forward to help him out.
“You’re fine. If you could just pick it up and put it on the counter in the kitchen, that’d be great. I’ll go around and move shit that means something to me after I put all of this in your room so he can run around freely.”
Carefully placing my bag on the ground, I kept Toby in one arm as I walked quickly over to where he was standing on one leg, the other still in the air with the weird stone on it.