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"Being blind hasn’t stopped hio, just like a happy puppy"

"Cute nicknaers were long, his pal man’s hands "Your voice and presence ently in the alley, brushing back her hair, skiun from her Sexy, competent, compassionate

What would it be like to feel those hot palled to get her gaze up to his face "Ollie doesn’t take well to strangers" But Ollie didn’t strike out with his claws He sniffed Dash’s palest time, and when Dash slowly turned his hand over, Ollie butted his head into him for a pet

Her traitorous cat liked him!

And there was Dash’s beautiful smile That particular tilt of his mouth affected her like a touch in secret places

She shuddered, and Dash lifted a brow "You okay?"

"Yes" Maybe She cleared her throat to re you pet hi theo could only stare as Ollie sidled closer to Dash and began his loud, ru purr--the purr he saved for special ood boy, aren’t you, Ollie?" As he’d watched her do, Dash brushed his hand over Ollie’s head to his back, all the way to the tip of his tail, while Ollie arched in bliss "You like that, don’t you, my man?"

Her parents disdained her cat, or disdained her for loving him, yet Dash seemed pleased to have the cat’s approval

It had to be the reet "You haven’t yet been exposed to his bad habits"

"Yeah? Like what?"

"He sometimes misses the cat box"

That turned Dash’s smile into a soft chuckle

A chuckle Oh, God, how she liked the sound of that She squir herit fifty percent of the ti her reaction to hie rubber "

"He looks like he’s going to nod off" Dash treated the cat to another long stroke "Soft fur"

"He’s a rag doll" To divert her concentration froo looked away at the clock on the wall Nearing 7:00 ahtened when I didn’t cooes to sleep, I need to feed him"

"Why don’t I take care of that for you?"

How easy would it be to let him take over? Too easy "I can do it" Now that her ar it But even the smallest movement amplified the ache in her head

Dash ht her under her ar her any more pain

So tall and leanly muscled Other than the ruined shirt and beard shadow, no one would know that Dash had been up all night with her The comparison to her present pathetic state made her want to throw up Or maybe that was the concussion, too

She could not be this pitiful

Not with hiish path to the kitchen "We already sang this tune, remember?"

"You can’t treat o, that’s not how I see you" When she stopped and stared at him, he held up his hands "Sorry, but I can’t help it Even wounded, you’re iht?"

He lowered his hands--and his eyes Taking her in frohly, "No" He looked up at her face "It can be frustrating as hell, but overall I like it that you’re not the average woht now "Fine Suit yourself" She pointed to a cabinet "The cat food is in there Open hi plate by his water fountain"

Dash looked at the gurgling water bowl "That h noise for a" Realization dawned "A blind cat to find"

She turned away fro, she stared at hio again "But I can’t sleep with blood in my hair"

He stepped up behind her "It’s not as bad now that the nurse cleaned you up, but" He touched his fingertips to her short hair, skiertips down her throat to her shoulder "How about I run a bath for you?"

"I can’t wash my hair in the bath"

"You’ll ruin the splint in the shower, and you’re not supposed to get the stitches wet"

"I’ll take the splint off"

"No" He quickly amended that with, "Be reasonable You could end up back at the hospital Three days, the doc said Wear it three days and then maybe they’ll ht "Oliver is i to be fed"

She felt Dash’s hesitation, then he said, "Sorry, boy"

Already o turned to watch as he took a can out of the cabinet and peeled off the lid