“Well, that could’ve gone better,” I mumbled as I flopped back onto the bed. What the hell had just happened?

My mind ran through it all again as if it were a movie. A movie I’d been waiting to see for years and knew I wanted to see again before it was even over. But then, in the last few minutes, the whole fucking thing had turned to complete shit, and all I could do was lie here—alone—and wonder how everything had gone from perfect to nothing in the blink of eye.

I knew how messed up I was, but it usually took until at least lunchtime for a woman to figure it out. I’d never had a one-night stand that only lasted one night. Leave it to me to want someone who couldn’t even wait for one night to be over before she ran for it.

Yeah, that hurt.

I needed unconditional love. Stat.

“Kitty.”

Unfortunately, the guy I was subletting the place from didn’t even allow pocket dogs, let alone eighty-pound fuzzy monsters like mine. But thankfully, the couple who lived next door owned their own place, and he was constantly going out of town for work. So, since Rebecca was a dog lover who wasn’t comfortable being alone at night, I ended up with a perfect babysitter.

I kept Kitty at my place during the day, but not having to fight her for the covers all night was nice, too. And it had definitely come in handy last night because, as much as I loved my dog, seeing her spread out on my bed didn’t even compare to seeing Sara spread out there.

I threw on some pants and a hoodie and went to the apartment next to mine.

As soon as Rebecca opened the door, Kitty pushed past her, jumped up, and gave me a sloppy, open-mouthed kiss as if she hadn’t seen me in months.

“Thanks for watching her,” I said, using my sleeve to wipe drool off my face.

Rebecca smiled sleepily. “You don’t have to thank me all the time. I’m getting more out of it than you are.”

“Actually, I think Kitty’s getting the best deal. Aren’t you, you big golden pile of fluff?” I shoved her paws off my chest. “You should get one of your own, Rebecca, so you don’t get lonely after we move to LA.” That was the plan, anyway. One I couldn’t see a way out of. Go on tour for another couple of months and then end up back in Los Angeles, hopefully to sign a recording contract with one of the big labels.

Unfortunately, I’d grown up in Southern California and had no desire to live there again. I think Kitty hated it, too. She didn’t want to hang out with all those prissy little purse dogs in their fancy sweaters. She needed a place where she could have lots of friends—dogs that she didn’t have to lie down to be low enough to smell the asses of.

Plus, while the band was doing well, it wasn’t as if Self Defense was a household name or anything. And any money we made had to be split four ways, so the chance of me being able to rent an apartment in Los Angeles with a Kitty-sized yard was slim. We’d only been living in San Francisco for a couple of weeks, and she was already running out of interesting corners to sniff.

“I wish,” Rebecca said. “I think I’d get a poodle mix like Kitty. I love that she doesn’t shed all over, and whenever Blake is home, he doesn’t complain about his allergies.” She went into her living room to grab Kitty’s newest favorite toy off the ground. “Sadly, he’s a…cat person”—she whispered, smiling—“so I can’t get a dog until after we break up.”

I grimaced. “Things are that bad?”

“Things are great…when he’s here.” She tossed the squeaky toy down the hall for Kitty to attack. “I just feel like he’s holding something back, you know?”

I’d been living here for a couple of weeks and had met Blake once, so I only knew what Rebecca had told me about him. But Rebecca was really great and Blake seemed like an ass, so I nodded.

“Dang, I think she’s gotta go.” I whistled for Kitty as I walked back to my apartment. “Thanks again, Rebecca. See you later.”

I should’ve taken her out for a walk, but I was still barefoot, so I let her out on my balcony. A four-foot square of fake grass was nowhere for a self-respecting dog to do their business, but Kitty forgave me. That’s unconditional love for you.

I went into my bedroom to give her some privacy and sighed when I saw the mess of sheets on my bed. It had been a really great night. I hadn’t had that good of a night in a long, long time. Or ever.

Fuck, I wished I’d gotten her number.

I lay back down and took a deep breath, hoping to capture Sara’s scent again. Kind of flowery but not too much. Very womanly, the kind of smell that made a cock go from zero to sixty in three seconds. I breathed it in until Kitty jumped onto the bed and blew dog breath right in my face.

“Now that is morning breath.”

She shoved her nose into my cheek and then nudged me until I got up again.

“Alright, alright. What will it be today, girl? Kibble or kibble?” I followed her wagging tail into the kitchenette of my temporary home. “Think Sara would have stayed if I’d fed her, too?”

Typically, Sunday was the band’s day of rest and recovery. So, I had no plans with the guys or to spend any time at the basketball court with my best friend pretending the NBA was still a possibility.

Great, I had all day long to obsess about last night and wonder where I’d gone wrong. It had been a long time since I’d brought a woman home. Who knew what had changed in that time. How many orgasms did they expect nowadays?

As soon as Kitty dug into her breakfast, I went back into the bedroom, stripped down, and grabbed a towel. With so many memories of last night still fresh on my mind, I did a lot of disappointed sighing. The longest and most regretful sounding one slipped out as soon as I stepped into the shower.

Four hours ago, I’d been in this exact spot, standing behind her and watching the water rain down over her shoulder onto her breasts…