Page 10 of Puppy Love

When he didn’t say anything, she held up her hand and started ticking off her own fingers.

“I’m the baby of the family, and it shows. I’m dependent on my sisters for almost everything. I’ve never gone anywhere or done anything on my own.” She paused. This next one was going to be the toughest to get out.

As if sensing that, Harrison cleared his throat. “Anything else?”

She shifted in her seat. “I’m a little intimidated by you, to be honest.” She met his gaze and was surprised to find that he was regarding her with alarm. “But it won’t get in the way of the job, I promise. Bubbles is an amazing puppy, and I’ve got a whole training plan worked out for the next six weeks. I realize that neither one of us is what you were expecting when you signed on for a service dog, but I want to do this.”

Icando this.

“Please, Mr. Parks?” she asked, her voice wavering. Whatever bravery his confession had conjured in her was quickly waning under his continued scrutiny. “You might not think much of me yet, but I have a tendency to grow on people, I swear. I’m like a friendly goiter.”

“Harrison,” he said.

“What?”

He sat up, no longer hunched as if ready to pounce. “If we’re going to be working together, I insist you call me Harrison.”

Her first feeling was one of relief—she’d actually done it. She’d gotten through to him. He was going through with the plan and without Oscar being the one pulling the strings.

Her second feeling was more difficult to pin down. This small victory was just the start of the process. If even one-tenth of the things Oscar had said about Harrison were true, there were countless skirmishes ahead.

Strangely enough, she wasn’t scared by the prospect. She’d already engaged him in one battle and come out victorious. The idea of waging another campaign—alengthyone this time—made her chest swell.

She’d waited twenty-six years for an opportunity like this.

She stuck her hand out, determined to make their partnership official. It was a good ten seconds before Harrison put her out of her misery, but the end result was worth it. His palm was callused and hard, his skin surprisingly cool for a man of his size. His grip was also much gentler than she expected. She assumed he’d have one of those hypermasculine handshakes, the kind that wrenched her arm out of its socket and nearly crushed the bones of her fingers, but as his palm lingered against hers, it felt more like he was holding her hand than striking a deal.

But his next words were all business, gruff and pointed.

“I guess you’d better bring me this damn dog already,” he said.

She was unable to keep the surprise from showing on her face.

He saw it, of course, and directed a wry, twisted grimace inward. “I warned you. Believe me when I say it’s for the best that we get this thing started. The sooner she learns how to tolerate me and save my life, the sooner I can get back to work.” He paused a beat and added, “And the sooner you can get back to a life without me in it.”

* * *

They both hated him.

Harrison sat on the front lawn of the Vasquez sisters’ home, staring at a puppy that weighed about as much as a pineapple. Sophie had left the two of them alone with instructions for him to spend some quality time getting to know his new best friend.

Howhe was supposed to do that, she hadn’t said. She’d just unleashed the animal and promised to return to check on them in ten minutes.

She couldn’t get away from me fast enough, he thought grimly. And he had no one to blame for it but himself. As usual, he’d let his frustrations get the better of him, shown his true colors before he could realize the effect it might have on the innocent woman standing no more than a few feet away from him.

Frustration was, unfortunately, his nemesis. No matter how many times he tried to act like a normal person, he always got buried under his own tongue. Hetriedto control himself, he really did, but the second that mounting feeling of helplessness took over, all bets were off.

And so, it seemed, was Sophie.

“Okay, Bubbles,” he said, trying out the dog’s name. Those perky syllables felt strange on his tongue, but they were no stranger than the golden-haired puffball eyeing him with a mixture of interest and caution. “I understand you’ve got a nose like no other. Show me what you can do with it.”

Bubbles just blinked at him.

“Okay, I hear you. New experiences can be scary—so can new people.” He thumbed a finger back toward the house. “Don’t tell anyone, but I’m just as terrified of Sophie as she is of me. Probably more.”

He took it as a good sign that Bubbles tilted her head at him in a look of inquiry. Maybe this puppy wasn’t such a bad choice after all. There was wisdom behind those raisin eyes.

“Oh, I know it’s ridiculous, believe me,” he said. “She doesn’t seem capable of squishing a gnat. That’s the problem. She…”