Page 41 of Puppy Kisses

“His manners have always left a little something to be desired.”

“The lemon bars are good, though. I shoved a few in my bag, if you want one. Bea will never notice they’re missing.”

He chuckled and opened the passenger door to Dawn’s car, waiting patiently while the dogs tumbled into the back seat. “You’re stealing an old woman’s food now?”

“Um, have you ever been in her basement? It’s wall-to-wall junk down there. It’ll take me weeks to clear it. She’s lucky I didn’t pinch the cider, too.” She paused while Adam settled himself in and allowed the golden retriever to wriggle her way over the middle console and into his lap.

“Don’t say it,” he warned.

“I wasn’t going to!”

“I can hear you thinking.”

“In addition to being able to smell my nonscent, you can hear my not-sounds now, too?”

Yes, he could. He could also feel her not-touch and taste her not-kiss. It was starting to seriously unbalance him.

Dawn reached over and gave the puppy a gentle pat. “She’s destined to become a great lapdog someday, that’s for sure.”

“You meanranchdog.”

“Not if I get you what you want, I’ll wager.” She started the Jetta and pulled out of the drive, but so slowly he could not-see her looking at him. “That’s how your family works, isn’t it? Place a bet and watch to see how everything unfolds? Stake half of your lands and hope the dice fall in your favor?”

“First of all, it was poker, not dice,” he retorted. “And how was it my grandfather’s fault that Peter Smithwood was a degenerate gambler who put half his family’s fortune up for grabs?”

Dawn gave a crow of laughter. “Iknewyou couldn’t be nearly as upright as you want us all to believe. What other scandalous deeds litter your family’s past? Are there bodies buried in the woods? Illegitimate Dearborns in every cradle across the county?”

“I’m not dignifying either of those with a response.”

“Well, what about my wager, then? Does that warrant a response?”

“Not really, no,” he said, but of course Dawn couldn’t let it rest there.

“You heard Bea for yourself. The property is all yours.” She paused a beat. “Provided I act as mediator, that is.”

There were so many things he wanted to say to her—to thank her for—but the words lodged in his throat. He and Dawn didn’t have that kind of relationship. They could tease and taunt and take steamy showers together, but heartfelt honesty was off the table.

“You’re only offering to act as mediator because you think I’ll give you Gigi if you do,” he said.

“I’m sorry—who?”

He realized his error at once. In his distracted state, Dawn’s name for the puppy had just slipped out.

“Am I wrong?” he asked, ignoring the implication of having given in.Methuselahwas a ridiculous thing to call the puppy—and had been from day one—but saying so out loud would only be the start. Once he opened those floodgates, he’d also have to admit that there was no way he could keep Gigi forever. A few weeks of Uncle’s company had more than proven to him that what hewantedand what heneededwere two very different things.

A few weeks of Dawn’s company had done the same. Already, he was falling way behind schedule, letting his ranch duties slide so he could have vodka and pie on Bea’s back porch. Already, he found himself wishing Dawn would stay for more than just the day, her laughter and whirlwind existence sweeping him up and away from the realities of his life.

He sighed and rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. All he had to do was say no. All he had to do was decide to go on the way he always had, without a puppy of any kind in his life. All he had to do was shut the door against Dawn and pretend that he didn’t live for those stolen moments they shared both in and out of bed.

“You’re not wrong,” Dawn agreed. “I’m just surprised to hear the words from your own lips. So it’s a trade? If I get you the Benson lands, you’ll give me Gigi? Just like that?”

Adam shrugged uncomfortably. It sounded so sordid when put into words like that. Sofinal.

But “Why not?” was what he said. “Even if you don’t succeed, it’ll piss Charlie off something fierce to know you’re at Bea’s every day, bringing us closer to the final purchase. It’ll be worth it just for that.”

Dawn pulled the car up the crunching gravel drive to the ranch and slowed to a stop. “Well, I guess that’s as close to a deal as we’re going to get, isn’t it?” she said. “I’m on basement and Uncle training duty. You can keep shamelessly spoiling Gigi, because that is literally what you’re doing by letting her sneak onto your lap like that. Between the pair of us, we’ll wrest that land out of Bea’s hands and keep the Smithwoods from regaining their familial stronghold. If that’s not the plot for one of my Aunt Nessa’s favorite telenovelas, I don’t know what is.”

“My life was perfectly ordinary last month.” Adam felt compelled to protest. It was a feeble protest, though, since the golden retriever had rolled onto her back again in a shameless bid for tummy tickles. “Then you introduced this girl into my life and, well…”