Page 22 of Puppy Love

“What?”

“Wet raisins—those are grapes. You literally just described the fruit that raisins are made from.”

He chuffed his annoyance with a swell of his powerful chest. “You’re missing the point. Look at her. Take agoodlook at her, and tell me what you see.”

Sophie wasn’t sure how he expected her to reply, but she took a moment to inspect the animal. To be fair, the puppy’s eyes were rather woebegone, but that was because Bubbles was exceptional at luring people in with her innocence and adorable fluff. Harrison was living proof of it—he’d had the dog for one day and was already becoming putty in her paws.

If only it were that easy for me.Innocence and fluff might work well in a puppy’s favor, but they weren’t the qualities a girl liked to advertise when attracting a partner, especially not one as intense and virile as this one.

Not that she wanted to attract Harrison, of course.

“They look more like obsidian, if you ask me. Like she was forged in a volcano.” She smiled down at the puppy and then up at Harrison. “You did the right thing, by the way. It’s better that she sleeps close to you. She needs to be able to smell your breath to distinguish your blood sugar levels while you sleep, and your chest is an ideal place to do that.”

He blinked. “It is?”

“Absolutely. And you knew it, didn’t you, Bubbles? That’s why you were upset when he tried to make you sleep so far away. You weren’t being given a chance to prove yourself.”

“Then why the hell didn’t you tell me all this yesterday?” Harrison ran a hand through his dark-brown locks, casting them into even further disarray. “A warning would have been nice. You could have saved me a lot of time and trouble. Not to mention sleep.”

He words were harsh again, but Sophie was no longer fooled.My bark is a lot worse than my bite, he’d said yesterday, and she was beginning to realize he hadn’t been exaggerating. His bark was loud and fierce, but if there was one thing in this world she knew, it was dogs.

Dogs barked because they were nervous, because they were issuing a warning, because their instinctive urge to protect themselves—and others—was strong. They barked because they felt threatened.

From there, the conclusion was a natural one: Harrison was threatened by her. This big, fierce, firefighting hero of a man had taken one look at little old Sophie and decidedhewas the one at a disadvantage.

This must be what power feels like.

“I could have, but it was more important for you and Bubbles to forge a natural relationship.” She smiled gently. “I’m not going to be here all the time to help you. This is your life we’re talking about—yours and hers. You two have to find a way to make it work between you.”

Once again, his strong emotion seemed to wash away, rendering him almost boyish. “That sounds fair.”

“And it’s not going to be easy, getting her over a fear like this one,” she added. “If it’s even possible in the first place. I’m not going to lie—if Lila were to hear about this, she’d probably pull the plug on the whole project.”

He swallowed.

“Hey,” she said and laid a light hand on his arm. “It’s not as bad as you think. I’ll be here to help you every step of the way. Yelling, if I have to.Pushing.”

A rueful grin touched his lips. “You do seem to do an awful lot of that. Oscar should have warned me how combative you are.”

Sophie almost laughed out loud. Before yesterday,pushyandcombativewere two words that no one would think to associate with her. Yet here she was, standing tall, asserting herself, getting results.

“You like it,” she said.

He grunted a soft assent.

“You like Bubbles too, don’t you?”

They both looked down at the puppy, who was staring adoringly up at her new owner. Sophie decided right then and there that nothing—not even the flames of hell—would stop her from making these two happy together. It would be a hard road, convincing a man who loved danger as much as Harrison that a creature as small and vulnerable as this one was worth the effort.

But she was. Shewas.

“Okay,” Harrison said. His assent came so suddenly that Sophie had to ask him to repeat himself. He did with another of those hesitant, almost apologetic smiles.

“It’s not going to be easy, you know,” he added. “I’m not used to being pushed. I’ll fight you every step of the way.”

She nodded. “I look forward to the challenge.”

“It could get ugly.Icould get ugly. I usually do.” He hesitated, his eyes anxiously watching her own. “Most people give up on me long before we get to this point.”