Page 68 of Puppy Love

“That doesn’t count. Everyone has problems. Will it help if I go first?”

He glanced up from the prick of blood pooling on his forefinger. “What?”

“You’re right. I should go first.” She tapped one smooth finger in the center of her chin. “Let’s see…you’re a softhearted baby.”

“Excuse me?”

His protest did nothing to deter her. “A marshmallow, really. Soft and squishy and so in love with this little puppy I doubt you’ll ever be able to look at a Great Dane again.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m uncommunicative and stubborn, remember? A difficult bastard. Lots of bark and plenty of bite.”

She ignored him, the smile on her lips so serene he might as well have been speaking in a foreign language. “You even like wearing Bubbles in that pouch, though you won’t admit it. You like having her close, knowing she’s safe.” The smile spread. “You’re a protector—that’s what you are. You’d give your life for this little dog. You’d give your life for anyone who needed it.”

The beep that sounded indicated that his blood sugar was, in fact, low. It was a moment of triumph—for Bubbles and for Sophie and for him—but he needed to focus his attention on regulating his equipment. He also reached for his glucose tablets and popped three of them under his tongue, pausing to commend Bubbles for a job well done and settle her on her favorite blanket in the corner of the tent.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he countered. “You’ve known me for all of four weeks. That doesn’t make you an expert on all things Harrison.”

“The problem, of course, is that you can’t turn it off.” Sophie was still rattling off his apparent flaws in that same cheerful matter, but the smile had dropped from her face.

The moment of seriousness didn’t make her any less attractive. If anything, it only made hermoreattractive. Fun, cheerful, friendly Sophie was easy to fall for and hopefully just as easy to leave behind. Serious, earnest Sophie was a different matter entirely. Once she got under your skin, she was likely to remain there permanently.

“That’s why you’re so closed up, why you hide behind such thick walls.” Her voice softened. “Why you have such a difficult time letting people past them.”

Something in his chest gave a painful, lurching clench.

“It’s hard, isn’t it?” she asked. “To care so much, to protect everyone from everything that’s terrible in the world? It’s easier to keep them as far away from your heart as possible.”

“No,” he whispered.

“Yes,” she replied, her gaze so full of sadness and understanding that he wasn’t sure he could take another second of it. “It doesn’t hurt so much then, does it?”

Something inside him roared and broke free. Flying across the tent, he chucked that stupid pillow aside and took Sophie into his arms. She was soft and warm, but his words were anything but.

“You want to know what I think about you?” he demanded. Without waiting for an answer, he said, “You’re a pushing, interfering nuisance I wish I’d never met.”

“Oh dear,” she murmured, undaunted. “Was it something I said?”

“Goddammit, Sophie. It’s not fair. It was never fair.” He spoke into her hairline, down along the side of her nape, into her neckline. She smelled like campfire and the clean, simple soap that would forever haunt his dreams. “How many times can I say it before you finally realize I’m not worth the effort?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “But you might be a lot more effective if you weren’t kissing my neck at the time.”

Incongruous laughter shook him. Nothing about this situation warranted joy, but being with Sophie demanded nothing less. Joy, happiness, pleasure—she was offering them for the taking. A smarter man would have pulled away while he still had the chance, but no one had ever accused Harrison of possessing an excess of intelligence.

“Your neck isn’t the part of you I’d like to be kissing, but I’m not going any further unless you ask me to. The least I can do is give you one more chance to make the right decision.”

“Screw the right decisions.” Sophie tilted her head, giving him better access to the soft slope of her clavicle. “Kiss me wherever you want, Harrison. Bite me, if that’s what it takes. I promise I won’t break.”

“No,” he muttered. “But I might.”

He had no way of knowing whether or not Sophie heard him. Before he could gain hold of his sanity and leave the warm safety of the tent, she twined her arms around his neck and pulled him close, not stopping until his mouth was inches from her own. Every move was calculated to cause him anguish, the sweet curve of her mouth too tempting to ignore.

“I’m not such a bad person once you get to know me, I swear,” she said. “I smell like dogs and I’m not much good at this wilderness stuff, but I can make up for it with other things. Want to know how? Most of them involve my legs.”

Harrison groaned. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“No,” she said and lifted her mouth to his. “I’mtryingto kiss you. And I’m going to do it too.”

He would have liked to have resisted the pull of her kiss, especially while so much between them remained up in the air, but he wasn’t that strong.