Cambria Hebert: Text

I heard his Jeep crunching over the gravel in the driveway and my pulse immediately picked up. It’d been only hours since I saw Nathan last, but I missed him. He was never far from my mind the entire day.

My mother seemed to know it too. She kept giving me these knowing looks and asking coy questions about Nathan whenever she could work them into the conversation.

My father, of course, seemed oblivious to it all so I spent most of my time with him. I stayed through dinner and then drove home. I wanted to get here before dark… It gave me a chance to check all the closets and showers for anyone who might be lurking.

And yeah, I was totally anxious to see Nathan again.

Before he left, he said he’d be back tonight and he would take me to his place. Good Lord, his place. My body was still humming from what he did to me on that coffee table. But I was also hungry… hungry for more.

Part of me hoped we did very little sleeping in the king-sized bed he claimed to have.

I raced down the steps like an excited teenager barely able to contain my excitement when he knocked on the front door. Brisk air rushed inside and swirled around me when I pulled open the door, but I barely noticed the cold.

Nathan was standing there in a pair of loose-fitting jeans, boots, and a rust-colored T-shirt. Over top, he wore a grey fleece jacket that was zipped a little bit more than halfway. He’d shaved since I’d seen him last and his jaw was completely smooth.

“Hey,” he said, grinning.

“Hi.” I stepped back so he could come in and shut the door behind us.

“So, I did something,” he said a little sheepishly.

After I locked the door, I gave him a funny glance. “What?” I couldn’t help but notice the way he was standing with one arm sort of wrapped over his middle.

“I got you a present.”

“You already gave me a gun.”

He gave me a lopsided smile. “This is something you’ll actually like.”

I laughed. Something inside his jacket moved. “Ummm, please tell me there isn’t an alien baby inside your stomach, trying to claw its way out.”

He laughed. “Only a writer would think up something like that.”

“Hey. It could happen.” I said, still watching the lumpy movement beneath his coat.

Very gently, he reached into the inside of his jacket and withdrew my gift.

I gasped and stared at the little wiggly bundle in his palm. It was a puppy.

“You got me a puppy?” I said, staring at the fluffy little guy. The puppy couldn’t have been more than two pounds.

“Life’s short. No time like the present to get what you want,” he said. I could hear a tiny bit of wariness in his tone. Giving someone a puppy was like the gift that kept on giving. Giving poop and pee on your rug.

“Can I hold him?” I cooed, reaching out for the tiny little body.

“It’s a girl,” he said, handing her over.

“She’s precious,” I whispered, cradling her against my chest. She was white with a few light tan spots on her back end and on her nose. One of the puppy’s ears was tan and they both stood up and were bigger than her head, making her look like Dumbo, and they were fuzzy with long strands of ultra soft hair sticking out wildly around them.

I laughed and stroked her softness. “Hi,” I told the puppy. It made a little puppy sound and my heart completely melted.

I wandered up the stairs, still holding her against me, and then sat down on the living room floor in the center of the carpet.

“It’s a Chihuahua,” Nathan said, coming into the room. “She’s only eight weeks old. She was the runt of the litter and probably won’t even grow to be five pounds.”

“You’re just a tiny little thing,” I told her. She licked my chin.

I fell in love with her.

“She’s really mine?” I said, looking over at him.

“I sure as hell hope you want her. Can you imagine me walking that tiny-ass dog on a leash?”

I laughed. “You mean you’d keep her if I said no?”

“Well, I sorta already spent the whole afternoon with her. She likes me.”

The very fact that he was completely in love with this dog made her all the more appealing. “I’m gonna call her Lucy.”

“Lucy, huh?”

“Got a better idea?”

“I’ve been calling her Killer.”

I rolled my eyes. “This is not the face of a killer,” I crooned to Lucy, holding her up so I could look into her tiny face. She licked me again.

“Lucy it is,” Nathan said. “You’re going to be one of those women that dresses that dog up in pink sweaters, aren’t you?”

“She’s going to need a coat,” I said. “And a collar, a leash, food, toys…”

“There’s food in the Jeep. I’ll go get it.”

While he was gone, I put Lucy down in between my spread legs, and she began to sniff me and the carpet. I couldn’t stop petting her. She was so precious.

A few minutes later, Nathan came back and set a small bag of puppy food near the stairs. There was a pink, fuzzy baby blanket draped over his arm, and I lifted an eyebrow.

“She likes it,” he said, shrugging.

Oh my God, he bought her a baby blanket.

I knew then that I was going to fall in love with Nathan Reed and nothing was going to stop it.

He stepped a little closer and Lucy’s tail wagged as she made her way over to his feet. His feet looked like boats next to her miniature white body. He got down on the floor with her and she licked his nose.

“Are you sure you’re going to let me have her?” I asked, watching him with the dog.

He nodded. “I plan to be around a lot, too.”

“I could get used to that.”

He leaned over and kissed me. Nothing else touched but our lips. We sat there in the center of the floor with Lucy between us, both leaning toward the other while our lips melted seamlessly together.

I would never get enough of kissing him. If he were the last person my lips ever touched, I would be amazingly happy.

Between us, little Lucy barked.

I laughed and pulled away to scoop her up. “Do you feel left out?” I asked, nuzzling her oversized ears.

“She probably needs to go out.”

“I’ll take her out in the backyard.”

The lower level of my house was comprised of a laundry room and a family room that I used as my office. Inside the room, all my book covers hung on the wall in poster size; a bookshelf lined the far wall and was filled with my books and the books that I loved to read. Also there was a desk and cabinet where I kept all my swag (promotional items) and a small couch where sometimes I liked to curl up and read.

“Is this where you write?” Nathan asked, looking around with curiosity on his face.

“It’s my office. I tend to sit at the kitchen table upstairs when I write. It’s closer to the coffee.” I slid open the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the very large piece of slate that was lying on the grass. I sat Lucy down and she sat there and looked up at me.

“Go pee,” I told her. She just sat there. “Lucy!” I said excitedly. “Go do your business!”

She waddled out into the grass, sniffing everything she could. I watched her as she explored.

Nathan stepped outside and wrapped his arms around me from behind. “How’s your ribs?”

“They hurt.” They hurt almost constantly. It was actually really annoying. “I’m going to take another pain pill before bed.”

“You should go inside. It’s cold out here. I don’t want you to catch pneumonia.”

“You can keep me warm.” I sighed and leaned into him a little bit more. Nathan pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “Thank you for Lucy. She’s perfect.”

“I wasn’t sure what kind of dog you wanted, but when I saw her, I thought of you.”