“So sweet.” He skims his nose along my hand until he brushes my ear. “Bet once I’m in there, I won’t want to leave,” he murmurs, and I swallow hard, fighting the instinct to remove my hand, turn my head, and kiss him like my body is begging me to. “Bet you’d go wild for me the minute my hands were on you.” The fingers of his hand at my side press in. “Bet you want it as badly as I do.”

He inhales at my neck and his tongue touches the skin behind my ear, making my knees actually shake. I have been in love; I’ve been in lust too, but this is something new, something that makes me feel like every cell in my body is fighting to pull me closer to him, and that scares the shit out of me. I duck down and slide under his arm then walk backwards until there’s at least twelve feet between us. Only then do I remove my hand from my mouth.

“So what do you say? Do you want to adopt Capone?” I ask, ignoring whatever the hell it was that just happened.

His brow that was furrowed after I stepped out of his embrace smooths out and he smiles. “I’ll take him,” he says, looking at Capone then me.

“Really?” I whisper as my heart flutters in my chest.

“I still need a guard dog, but I’ll take him too.”

“Why do you need a guard dog?”

“I have a shop, and around back, there’s a lot with cars. The last couple weeks, someone’s jumped the fence and broken into cars, stealing stereos or other parts out of them.”

“You can’t leave a dog outside.” I frown at him.

“Didn’t say I was going to. You can even come check it out for yourself.”

“That won’t be necessary,” I mutter as he smirks.

“So do you have another dog? One that is actually dangerous?” he asks, and I frown.

“Dogs are not dangerous. Stupid dog owners are dangerous.”

“Okay…do you have a dog that’s protective?” He shakes his head, and I let out a breath then lead him to the back of the shelter, where Max is kept. Max was the only dog from the fighting ring that I was able to save. He is blind out of one eye and mean, but I love him and just couldn’t bring myself to put him to sleep.

“This is Max.” I crouch down in front of Max’s cage and press my hand through the bars, rubbing his dark head.

“What happened to him?” Wes asks, crouching down next to me. I expect Max to growl, but he just looks at Wes then me. Wes slowly presses a finger through the cage, and Max starts licking him, making my heart feel lighter. I hate that Max is here and stuck in a kennel all the time.

“He was here one morning when I got into work. He was almost dead, his eye was missing, and he couldn’t walk. I realized then that he had been fought and obviously lost.”

“Normally when dogs are fought, they kill them for losing,” he tells me, something that causes tears to pool in my eyes.

“I know,” I whisper, petting Max’s head. “He was the first to be brought to me, but every few days, I get to work and there’s another. Max is the only one I have been able to save.

“What the fuck?”

“I don’t know.” I stand up, walk over to one of the visiting rooms, and open the door. “Wait in here. I’ll bring Max in so we can make sure you guys get along,” I tell him. I wait until he’s in the room then shut the door and get Max, taking him into the room with me.

“Hey, bud,” Wes mutters, petting Max’s head when he comes to sit in front of him.

I watch them for a few minutes, and then ask, “Do you want to see how he and Capone get along, or were you just saying you wanted them both in order to earn brownie points?”

His head tilts back to look at me. “Go get Capone, babe. I need to make sure my boys are cool,” he mutters.

“Be right back,” I mumble and head out of the room.

In front of Capone’s kennel, I jump up and down, shaking out my hands. He watches silently, while the rest of the dogs go crazy. I make sure Capone is on his leash as I lead him into the room, where he meets Wes and Max. Max sits nicely, while Capone sniffs around before jumping up to sit on Wes’ lap.

“You guys look good together.” I smile at the image, reach into my back pocket, and grab my phone. I slide up the camera, taking a picture before I can think better of it. My head bends and I look at the photo, not quiet sure what the feeling in my stomach means.

“You wanna have dinner with me?”

My head flies up and my gaze collides with his. I have read a lot, and I do mean a lot of biker books, and not once has a biker taken a girl out to dinner. “Um…” I whisper.

“I know a great Mexican spot.”

“Mexican?” I repeat.

“Or if you want something else…” He shrugs.

“I like Mexican.” I clear my throat and look at Max and Capone.

“Tonight?”

I look at him again, and he has one hand on Capone and the other on Max, two guys I believed would be forced to live out the rest of their lives in cages. He’s saving them, so that tells me a lot more than knowing him for weeks could.

“Okay,” I agree, then move away from the bench when he stands. “Let’s get you guys out of here.”

It doesn’t take long to fill out the necessary paperwork, and when it’s done, I help him get both boys into his Escalade.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

“See you tonight,” I confirm, watching him.