Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
I really have to stop letting her watch police procedurals. Her vocabulary is out of control.
Olive is waiting at the door for us, fully dressed, brought by Paulina's dramatics. Naturally, as soon as Paulina sees her, she falls silent, staring at her.
"Hi, Paulina," Olive whispers nervously once I set her cage down in the living room. "I'm Olive."
"Benson," Paulina squawks. "Stabler likes Benson."
"No, Paulina. She's Olive, not Olivia Benson."
"Asshole," Paulina chirps at me before turning back to Olive.
"You're very beautiful," Olive coos at her.
Paulina preens her feathers, settling onto the bottom perch.
"Would you like to meet Oscar?" Olive asks.
Paulina just stares at her silently.
"What do you think?" Olive cranes her head to look up at me.
"Might as well try it," I say with a sigh. "She seems to like you. Maybe she'll like him too." I'm not entirely convinced, but what the fuck do I know?
Olive scurries to the kitchen and out in the backyard to retrieve Oscar while I get Paulina settled. I keep her cage closed…just in case. If she and Oscar get along, we'll open it later, but for now, closed is best.
I'm not entirely sure who is less impressed, Paulina or Oscar. As soon as Olive carries him in, they get into this staring match. Neither of them blinks. Neither of them moves. They just stare.
"Dog," Paulina finally chirps after a tense standoff. "Woof, woof."
Oscar barks back, wiggling in Olive's arms.
She reluctantly sets him on the floor, watching carefully as he approaches Paulina's cage. Paulina hops closer, both of them staring each other down again. Oscar's nose twitches as he sniffs her out. Paulina's beak taps against the metal of the cage.
"Woof, woof," she chirps again.
Oscar sits beside her, looking up at Olive with a goofy smile.
"Holy shit," she whispers, shocked.
"I guess spite recognizes spite," I mutter.
Olive giggles.
Chapter Eight
Olive
By the time Mason gets the locks changed and the security cameras installed, it's almost noon. Paulina and Oscar are getting along well. She chirps at him, and he barks back, which she seems to find hilarious. She hasn't called Mason an asshole all morning.
We leave her cage closed, though. Just in case. Maybe next time we can open it and see how they do. But for now, Oscar isn't trying to eat her through the bars of her cage, and she isn't trying to peck his eyes out, so it's a win.
He doesn't even give me a hard time about getting him out of the bath. He's too excited to get back to his new friend to put up a fuss.
Mason is cleaning up his tools when I step back into the living room to find Paulina watching Oscar do zoomies around her crate. She looks…content.
"Come here," Mason says, holding out a hand to me.
I stride toward him, placing my hand in his. He tugs me into his arms, his lips coming down on mine in a soft kiss.
"I can now rest easy at night," he murmurs against my lips. "No one is getting in here."
"Does that include you?"
I love the way he looks at me like he wants to tear my clothes off with his teeth. That look is so damn sexy. It makes me feel sexy, and I'm not sure I've ever felt that way before. I don't have issues with my body or anything. I just…no one has ever looked at me like they might die if they don't have me. It's amazing how much confidence a look like that can give a girl.
"Nothing will keep me out if I want in, Rebel," he growls.
"And you say you aren't a serial killer," I tease.
"Would you settle for a man obsessed?"
"Obsessed enough to stalk me to the bookstore?"
For the first time in days, he looks shaken, like he doesn't know what to say.
"Admit it," I whisper, throwing my arms around his neck. "You followed me there."
"Not the first time," he says, completely serious. "I saw you through the windows and wanted to talk to you again, so I went inside. But every time after that? Yeah, Olive, I was there for you."
My heart does that thing again that I'm seriously starting to love.
"That's a shame."
"You're pissed?" He seems genuinely worried.
"It's a shame that you don't actually read filthy smut," I clarify.
His lips quirk into a relieved grin. "Who says I don't?"
"Seriously?"
"What? You think I didn't read the books I bought?" His brow quirks. "Give me a little credit."
"Which one did you read?"
"All of them."
"You didn't."
"Oh, I did." He smirks at me. "Even bought the sequel to one on my Kindle."
"Mason!" I bury my face in his chest, laughing hysterically. I love him so much for admitting that. Wait. What? No, I… Oh, crap.
Crap.
Crap, crap, crap.
I'm falling in love with him.
Jesus Christ. I'm falling in love.
"Um." I slip out of his arms, my heart pounding like a war drum. "I…"