Read Online Had to Be You: Bad Boys of Red Hook by Robin Kaye - Free Book Online

dip. What the hell? There was a kid in his room. And a dog. “Nicki, what are you doing in here?” Hadn’t she ever heard of knocking? He pulled the sheet up and thanked God he wasn’t flashing her. Still, he was uncomfortable. He’d never before been naked under nothing but a sheet in the presence of a ten-year-old girl and her dog.
    “D.O.G. needs to go out.”
    “So, take him out.”
    Her hair looked like a rat’s nest—curls stuck straight out from what looked like matted knots.
    “I’m not allowed to take D.O.G. out by myself and Pop’s still not up for it. D.O.G.pulls too hard and it hurts Pop’s chest, and sometimes D.O.G. pulls me right over. I scraped my knee. Wanna see?”
    “No.” He was afraid if he’d said yes, the kid would take her pants off or something and the last thing he wanted was for them both to be without pants.
    “It’s right under the hole in my jeans here.” The kid lifted her knee to show off her ripped jeans. “Skye put some stuff on it that made the stinging stop. She’s nice.”
    “Yeah, okay.”
    “Mr. Francis came up before he and Ms. Patrice left last night and took D.O.G. for a walk since you weren’t around, but that was hours and hours ago and D.O.G. has to pee.”
    Shit, he’d forgotten all about the mutt last night. He’d never had a dog. He knew no more about what to do with a dog than he knew about what to do with a little girl. He did have a very strong suspicion he would no longer be sleeping in the raw.
    “I’d have brung you coffee—”
    “Brought.”
    “Whatever.” Nicki pushed her hair out of her eyes and he looked away. How a ten-year-old, fifty-pound girl could give him the willies he’d never know.
    “I would have brought you coffee but I don’t know how you take it.” She shrugged and she and the dog leaned against the bed watching him. “Storm and Logan were always nicer when I waked them up with coffee but Skye’s nice all the time. I guess it depends on the grown-up, huh?” She tilted her head to the left and crossed her bony arms over her chest. “Or is it only boys who are always cranky in the morning?”
    “I’m not cranky. Why don’t you and your buddy there get ready to go and let me get dressed.”
    “You want me to pour your coffee?”
    “Sure. I take it black.”
    “Sugar?”
    “No, I’m sweet enough as it is.”
    The kid actually cracked a smile and let out a little giggle. “Hurry up and get dressed. Maybe we’ll run into Skye and Pepperoni. Then we can take both dogs to the dog park and let them play and you can buy us bagels. Logan always buys us bagels before school. He promised he’d come home, you know.”
    “He did?” Slater hoped the kid wouldn’t be disappointed if Logan had a sudden change of plans. After all, it sounded as if he and Skye had some kind of blowup.
    “Sure. He loves Skye and Skye loves him so of course he’s coming home. People don’t leave people they love.”
    From what Slater had seen, love was temporary at best. Nicki obviously had read one too many fairy tales. What was it with little girls—hell, big girls too—and love? Until last night, he didn’t think he’d ever seen a couple who were really in love.
    Nicki worried her lip between her teeth and backed out of his room. D.O.G. eyed him warily and followed her out.
    “Nicki, close the door.”
    When the door snicked shut, he picked up his jeans off the floor and tugged them on.
    If Francis and Patrice weren’t in love, then they had been doing a hell of a job of faking it last night. He’d watched them dance and almost felt like a voyeur. The way they danced and looked at each other made him uncomfortable enough to look away. It was so intimate, so personal, that even though they weren’t doing anything at all sexual, the two of them should have gotten a room. He’d never seen anything like it.
    Slater headed to the bathroom with Nicki’s words repeating in his head.
People don’t leave people they love.
He loved his