Page 24 of Puppy Love

“Well, yes, obviously.” Sophie squirmed, not quite able to meet her sister’s eyes. If she had any idea just how far from the tried-and-true practices Sophie planned on going, she’d yank this entire project out from under her. A puppy-mill puppy was bad enough. A puppy-mill puppy who was afraid of fire and a firefighter who was afraid of his puppy-mill puppy was another thing altogether. Her head whirled to think of it.

“Of course I’ll follow all the regular training techniques,” Sophie said primly. “But it’s going to take a little more than that. You have to admit this case is special, Lila. Not only is Bubbles unlike our usual puppies, but Harrison is unlike our usual clients. Most of the time, they’re the ones coming to us, eager to adopt a dog and willing to do whatever it takes to train it. Harrison is only doing this because he has to.”

The waitress came by to whisk Sophie’s now-empty dessert plate away and replace it with the leafy salad—her usual. The Vasquez sisters had talent to spare when it came to academics and training dogs, but none of them were any good at cooking. If it weren’t for the Maple Street Grill across the street from their house, they’d probably all starve.

“So, your grand plan is to annoy him?” Lila asked.

“Yes.”

“Every day?”

“If I have to.”

“For six weeks?”

“I told you I needed help.” Sophie cast her most-pleading look up at Lila’s face. The one good thing about having overprotective sisters was that they were highly susceptible to begging. “Please? I know you didn’t like Harrison, but he’s really quite sweet once you get to know him. And he’s already agreed to this alternative approach. In fact, I think he’s enjoying it.”

Lila’s brow came up. “What about the puppy?”

“You should have been there today, Lil.” Sophie was unable to keep the enthusiasm out of her voice as she leaned over the table, waving her fork all the while. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It takes her one time to learn something, two to make it routine. I mean, she could barely keep her eyes open by the end of the day, but she wouldn’t even lie down until she’d been given permission.”

“If the dog’s so obedient, why do you need us?” Lila asked.

“I told you already. Because the man isn’t.”

Dawn cracked a laugh, her eyes crinkling around the edges. “The ones worth having rarely are. What did he do?”

Sophie paused, stabbing at her lettuce in an attempt to stall. It wasn’t that she wasafraidto tell her sisters about her conversation with Harrison, but it felt…disloyal somehow. He was clearly a man who protected his private life—who protected himself—at all costs. Opening up to her, even that tiny bit, must have been painful for him.

She wouldn’t betray that. Not now that she knew herespectedher.

“Let’s just say that he doesn’t play well with others,” Sophie said. At the shared look of alarm that passed between her sisters, she rushed to add, “Not in a bad way. Just in a closed-off way. It’s like he’s got this wall up and he refuses to let anyone past it. But if I push him just enough…”

She paused, struggling to find the right words.

“You can sneak past the wall?” Dawn ventured.

“Not sneak past it,” Sophie said. “Demolish it entirely. He was super awkward with you guys at the house yesterday, right?”

“He said all of three words to me,” Lila said.

“I managed six, but that was only because I was trying really hard,” Dawn said. “Hedefinitelyperked up when you walked in though.”

Sophie nodded and did her best not to blush, but Dawn wasn’t done putting her on the spot.

“He’s not a handsome man,” she said, tapping a french fry in ketchup. “Not in the classical sense, anyway. But the second he saw you, I couldn’t help but think that he’s a hell of an attractive one, if you know what I mean.”

Sophie did. She definitely did. Harrison’s features might not be regular, and he might grumble and stomp like a giant atop a beanstalk, but he still managed to radiate virility. Even now, miles away, she could feel his magnetism.

“I can’t imagine why you’d want to annoy someone who looks at you like that,” Dawn added with a swooning sigh.

“That’s because you don’t know him,” Sophie said. “He only likes mebecauseI annoy him. I mean, when he saw Bubbles for the first time, it was as if I’d just shown him the moment of his own death. But then I told him to crawl inside the pen and cuddle with her, and he was so outraged at the prospect that everything flipped over. He started laughing and joking, finally willing to give her—to giveme—a try. The same thing happened today. It’s like he can’t move forward unless he reaches some kind of breaking point first.”

Sophie paused, aware how strange all this must seem to her sisters, but she didn’t know how else to explain it. “I know it’s weird, but I can’t get started on any real work with him until the wall comes down.”

“So you’re smashing through his walls?” Lila asked. “With what?”

She couldn’t help but grin at the disbelief in her sister’s voice. Sophie was hardly known for her ability to ride a wrecking ball through other people’s lives. “Well,Ican’t smash them, obviously. I doubt I could even pick up a sledgehammer that big. But if I push him far enough, he does it for me.”