It still amazed me that the man never cooked, yet he had a chef’s kitchen with so many cooking accessories and high-tech gadgets available.
I closed my laptop and gathered the cord, moving away from Xena slowly so I didn’t disturb her sleep.
It was time for me to leave.
I still needed to stop downtown at The Friendly Kitchen to prep some meals for tomorrow.
The soup kitchen was small, probably smaller than the area needed to serve people who weren’t getting good meals on a daily basis. I wished I could do more there, but it felt good to be cooking for people who really appreciated the meals.
I put my computer on the kitchen counter and went to gather my purse and my keys from a table near the door.
I let out a squeak of surprise as Wyatt Durand suddenly came barreling through the front door.
“Oh, my God!” I exclaimed as I put a hand against my pounding heart. “You scared me. I wasn’t expecting you to come home this early.”
“Everything okay?” he asked as our eyes met. “I wanted to see how your first day went with the psycho dog.”
Xena yipped in the living room, obviously awake and excited by the sound of Wyatt’s deep voice.
The dog came bouncing out of the living room and danced excitedly at Wyatt’s feet, whining like she hadn’t seen him in years.
I was shocked when Wyatt actually picked Xena up carefully and gave the dog the affection she wanted.
This man is such a fraud. There’s no way he doesn’t like this dog.
He didn’t even flinch when the Frenchie licked his face.
I gaped at him when he casually returned her to the floor.
“She really does adore you,” I said, bemused.
“She adores anyone who feeds her,” he scoffed as he walked into the kitchen. “How did it go today?”
I yanked myself out of my confused state and followed him, putting my purse and keys next to my laptop. “Everything was fine. Xena is an adorable and well-trained dog. I think she just gets a little anxious sometimes. She probably hasn’t had the easiest life.”
I tried to hold back a smile as I watched the Frenchie prance into the kitchen with her tug toy in her mouth. She stopped next to Wyatt expectantly.
He frowned down at her. “Not now,” he told Xena. “I just walked in the door.”
Judging by Xena’s behavior, Wyatt had played tug with her many times before, and she usually got her way when she wanted to play.
The dog dropped the toy at his feet and whined.
A small laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it.
Wyatt shot me an annoyed look and then glanced back at the dog like he had no idea what to do with her now.
I took pity on him, scooped up the tug toy, and carried it back to the toy basket near the front door. I lifted the basket onto the table where she couldn’t reach it, pulled out a squeaky toy, and tossed it toward the living room.
Xena trotted toward the toy, snatched it, and carried it happily into the living room so she could play with it by herself.
“Sorry,” I muttered as I walked back into the kitchen. “I meant to move that toy basket earlier. You probably shouldn’t leave it where she can get to it. For now, you should probably initiate play when you want it and cut her off when she’s tired out. She has toys, like that squeaky, that she’ll happily play with by herself if it’s a bad time for you to play tug. Xena knows all of her commands. Just be firm when you want her to stay or go to her bed. She’ll do it. Give her love and affection when she does the right thing. You can give her a treat as a reward after she does what you want her to do if you want, but don’t lure her into behavior with a treat in your hand all the time. She’ll learn not to pay attention to you unless you have food in your hand.”
“Easy for you to say,” he rumbled. “She looks at me like she’s going to die if I don’t give her a treat.”
I smiled at him. “Because she knows you’re easy and you’ll give in to those big, dark eyes of hers. She’s adorable, but you’ll have to put your foot down with her. At least until she learns who the leader is in this house. Don’t fall for that starving dog look. You know she’s very well fed. She responds well to affection and praise. Praise her when she’s doing things right. She’s smart, Wyatt. She’ll only be naughty if you let her. If you keep correcting her consistently, she won’t run you in circles. She’ll pick up the rules of the house pretty fast if they’re consistent.”
“I don’t think she likes rules,” he said wryly as he shrugged out of his suit jacket. “She’s a holy terror. If I piss her off, she turns her back on me and blows me off.”
A ridiculous giggle escaped my lips, and I immediately slapped my hand over my mouth. “Sorry,” I said contritely. “But you have no idea how amusing it is to watch a powerful billionaire get played by a harmless Frenchie.”
He shot me a look that should have terrified me, but it didn’t.
Wyatt might be grumpy, but he wasn’t the least bit dangerous.
Any guy who could be played by a sad doggie expression had to have some redeeming qualities.
He raised an arrogant brow. “Do you think this is funny?” he asked in a growly tone.
“A little,” I confessed.
The big, powerful CEO who commanded thousands of people at a gigantic, powerhouse corporation was obviously helpless when it came to disciplining a stubborn little dog.
How could that not be amusing?
The problem was, it also melted my heart just a little. Wyatt wasn’t exactly the hard man one saw on the surface, but he wasn’t what I’d describe as friendly, either.
My smile disappeared as our eyes met and clashed.
God, why did Wyatt have to be so heart stopping gorgeous?
We were maybe a few feet from each other, but I could still smell his masculine scent, an aroma that made my heart skip a beat.
Wyatt Durand was a little overwhelming, and it wasn’t just his height and his massive, muscular body that made my head swim.
When those gorgeous gray eyes weren’t cold and frosty, they radiated with an intensity that took my breath away.
I felt like he could see what I was thinking, which was more than a little bit ridiculous, but it still scared the hell out of me.
“F-food?” I stammered as I broke eye contact with him.
I couldn’t look into those mesmerizing eyes of his for long without thinking about hot sex, tangled sheets, and multiple orgasms.
Not that I’d ever really experienced any of those things personally, but Wyatt was a guy who could make a woman fantasize about all of those things.