Love Me for Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

have any place that I could take an animal home to .
    I could see Alex through the door when I arrived. It was locked, as he’d told me it would be—it was past office hours. But the fluorescent lights were all on, and he didn’t see me at first, so I took a moment to just look at him before I rang the buzzer.
    He stood beside a length of counter, feet planted hip width apart but relaxed. In his hand was a clipboard that he seemed to be studying.
    Thinking himself alone, he seemed less... intense... than he had any other time I’d seen him. I didn’t think he tried to turn on that high voltage charm, but it was there nonetheless, whenever he was around people—it was something that seemed to seep out of his very skin. Even alone and still, however, he was the hottest guy I’d ever seen.
    He was dressed casually, in worn jeans and a hooded sweatshirt that bore the logo of the Vikings, our football team. His tattoos were covered by the long sleeves of his shirt, but just knowing they were there made my mouth water.
    Why me , I wanted to ask? What do you see in me that's so special, because I'm not sure that I see it myself . If I had still been back in high school, I would have known what he wanted, and I would have given it to him, both to temporarily ease the emptiness inside of me, and to scream so that someone, anyone would see me, see my pain.
    But if sex was all that he wanted from me, he would have made a move already. He would have propositioned me when we were at Daily Grind, or he would have made his intentions known last night, at the party. Hell, last night I might have said yes, even if deep down I knew that I wasn't ready.
    He wouldn't have given me his number, and he wouldn't have asked to spend time with me. I knew this with certainty.
    So why were we here? The words were on the tip of my tongue to ask, but pure pride stopped me.
    Frustrated with myself, I stopped ogling him and pressed my hand to the buzzer. His head snapped up immediately, looking at the door, like he’d been waiting.
    That made me ridiculously happy, but I managed—I think—to tone the sappy grin down to a shy smile by time he’d loped across the floor and opened the locked door for me.
    “Hey.” He smiled and held the glass door open for me. I left the chilly outside air for a room that was warm, humid, and smelled distinctly of wet dog.
    “Yeah, it’s kind of smelly.” Alex laughed as he let the door swing shut behind me. He didn’t try to hide the fact that he looked me up and down, and I was extra glad that I’d borrowed another cardigan from Kaylee, though I was going to have to make sure that I washed the dogginess out before returning it.
    “No. It’s fine.” He gestured towards a door that I assumed led out of the office area. It was hard to focus on the animal smell at all when Alex was walking ahead of me. His hoodie rode up a bit when he bent to unlock the door, and I was treated to a glimpse of smooth skin stretched tightly over taut back muscle.
    Holy mother .
    I licked my lips and tried to get my traitorous hormones under control as I followed him through the door and down a hallway, from which other short hallways branched off. Each short passage had several rooms, all varying shapes and sizes, with glass front doors.
    Even though the doors were all shut, the chorus of barks and yips was deafening.
    Alex turned and shouted something at me over his shoulder. I grimaced, even as I tried not to be distracted by his mouth as he spoke.
    “Sorry, what?” I yelled and pressed my hands to my ears, hoping it would muffle the din. He shook his head and grinned, then led me into the small room he’d stopped in front of.
    I heaved a sigh of relief as the door shut behind us. The sounds from outside the room were still discernible, but the door blocked a lot.
    “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that—” My words broke off into a startled yelp when two giant, furry creatures launched themselves at me. I staggered under