Page 12 of Ruff and Tumble

His frown deepened. It shamed Hailey to be so inhospitable to anyone, let alone a football legend like Cole Bennett, but she didn’t know what else to do. On a good day, she was one social misstep away from burying her head in the sand. In about ten seconds, she was going to have no choice but to bury her whole body. No matter who he was or how heroically he’d rescued her yesterday, she was determined to stand her ground, to be firm, to…

A small hand slipped into hers.

“Please, can I see the puppies?” The girl blinked up at her. “I don’t have a puppy.”

“It’s not… I can’t…” Hailey didn’t know where to look. Cole wasn’t a choice for a variety of obvious reasons, and this little girl with his eyes didn’t seem like a safe idea, either. She drew a deep breath. “They’re sleeping right now, and their mom is resting. They don’t feel up to visitors.”

“I’m very quiet,” the girl promised solemnly.

“I’m sure you are. But they’re so little and are recovering from yesterday, and—”

Hailey could have gone on like that for hours. There were dozens of reasons why it wasn’t a good idea to expose the six squirming puppies and their exhausted mother to new faces, most of which were grounded in science and a hearty dose of common sense. Unfortunately, none of those excuses seemed to matter the moment a lone tear began to trickle down the girl’s face. She made no move to wipe it away—just kept holding Hailey’s hand and looking as through her tiny heart were breaking.

“Oh dear,” Hailey murmured. “It’s really that important to you?”

The girl nodded. The action caused the tear to loosen and drip to the top of her shiny black Mary Jane. “My mommy says dogs are messy. And I don’t have a daddy.”

“Er, I should probably mention that Mia here is my niece. And if you really would like us to go—”

Hailey squatted down to the girl’s level and took her other hand, clasping both of them in front of her. “I don’t have a daddy either,” she said. “He passed away a long time ago.”

Mia blinked at her. “That’s sad.”

“Itissad.”

“Do you have a mommy?”

Hailey shook her head.

“But you have puppies?”

Hailey couldn’t help but smile at the child’s naivete. The pain of her father’s death was no longer the sharp agony it had been at nineteen, but she still felt the effects of it every day of her life. All the puppies in the world couldn’t fill that aching hole.

She knew. She’d tried.

“I do have those,” she agreed. “For the time being, anyway. There’s no more room at the animal shelter, so I’m taking care of them until they find a real home.”

From the way Mia’s face lit up, Hailey could guess the trend of her thoughts.

“Do you want one?” she asked. “Is that why you came by? You can’t take one home today, obviously, but you can pick out your favorite and I’ll save it for you.”

Mia screamed so loud that it was a wonder the entire neighborhood didn’t come running. The area where she lived in West Seattle was more like a beach town than a big metropolis, which meant people actually cared when someone was being murdered next door. In fact, it looked an awful lot like the pink calico curtains belonging to Mrs. Magda across the street were starting to twitch. Mrs. Magda’s sight wasn’t what it used to be, but if word got out that Cole Bennett was hanging out on Hailey’s doorstep…

“They’re in the kitchen right now, since that’s the warmest room in the house,” she said to Mia. She turned the knob to let the girl inside. “But I should warn you—”

Mia darted in before Hailey could issue a warning, which was just as well, since she wasn’t sure what she would have said. That her house was a one-woman shrine to the Seattle Lumberjacks? That the afterbirth-covered jersey Cole had laughed at was just one small part of her massive, mortifying collection?

“That was a low blow,” Cole said as he held open the door and waited for her to walk through. His words were more of a sensation than an actual sound, his mouth closer to her ear than she realized. His breath was warm and his lips dry, though how she could tell, she had no idea. She just knew. “Her mother is going to kill me.”

“You’re not here for a puppy, are you?” she asked. Since she was struggling to breathe, the words came out strangled.

“No, Hailey. I’m not here for a puppy.” Although he had every right to be upset with her, his tone was light. “And don’t worry if your house is a mess. I promise not to judge. If I didn’t have a fleet of housekeepers who came by every week, my place would be…”

Hailey would never learn the extent of Cole’s slovenliness. The moment he followed her into the living room, the words died on his lips. And who could blame him? To call her house a museum would have been pushing things too far, but it could very easily be mistaken for a museum gift shop. Hailey’s only consolation was that the football jerseys, framed posters, and team photographs weren’t only of him; the entire Seattle Lumberjack franchise was included. Some of the items were old and quite valuable. In fact, the hand-stitched football on the mantel was from the very first season the Lumberjacks played. It was older than she was, but you wouldn’t know it to look at it. Her father had gotten it signed by every player and then immediately put it under glass. He’d always said it was his most valuable possession—with the exception of her.

“You mentioned the kitchen?” Cole asked, a strange thickness to his voice.

“Yes.” Her cheeks burned, and she could only be grateful that her face was turned away so he couldn’t tell. “It’s through there. I gated it off so Bess and her babies could have some privacy.”