Page 35 of Puppy Love

Which, okay, wasn’t exactly the outcome she’d been looking for, but no one had said this was going to be easy. That was how walls worked, right? Every time they came down, he had to rebuild them. Except he used stronger materials, better techniques.

He was learning. Like artificial intelligence gone rogue, he was becoming more powerful with each passing day.

With a sigh, Sophie took off after him. Although she’d hoped he might be alittlemore approachable after that kiss in the kitchen, it seemed she was out of luck. A hard, painful run it would have to be.

To be fair, it wasn’t the worst possible way to approach this task. For Bubbles to learn what Harrison’s low blood sugar smelled like, he had tohavelow blood sugar. And since his was so often caused by physical exertion, a long and carefully supervised jog was the best way to do it. They’d gotten his doctor’s approval and calibrated his continuous glucose monitor, which meant all that was left was the actual task of running.

But if he thought he was going to outpace her, he had no idea what was coming. For years, Sophie’s primary job had been puppy care. She fed the animals, cleaned up after them, taught them the basics. She also took them for runs—long, tiresome, rambling runs to build up their stamina and reveal their personalities under stress.

There was no better way to get to know someone—human or canine—than to gently push them to the brink of exhaustion and see how they reacted. Sophie already knew that Bubbles would keep going, even though her short legs and less-than-impressive physique weren’t built for long distances.

She was mightily curious how Harrison, with those formidable thighs and a body like a tree trunk, would handle it.

“I don’t want us to go too far from the house, since your safety is the most important thing,” she said as she pulled up alongside him. “So I mapped out a loop that goes through that patch of forest over there and down the field behind the house. It’s about a mile, so we’ll just put it on repeat as many times as necessary to get your levels down. We’ll keep an eye on your monitor, of course, but you’ll let me know if you start to feel faint?”

“I won’t feel faint.”

“That’ll certainly make things easier,” she replied without any loss of cheer. “You’re lucky to have such a nice place to do this. Normally, we’d have to take you to a track or a treadmill to get enough distance. But it’s so much prettier out here in the open air.”

“It’s all right.”

“That’s just because you’re used to it. Bubbles will like living out here. There’s so much space for her to roam.” She paused only long enough for them to turn out of view of the house. “I didn’t know you have an aunt. Is she your dad’s sister?”

“Yes.”

The monosyllabic responses might, on any other day, have shut her own flow of chatter off. But she hadn’t been kidding when she’d said it was beautiful out here. The mountain views were pretty in the city, but out here, they were a breathtaking spectacle of hazy, blue rockiness everywhere she turned. It was impossible to be surrounded by all this and feel anything but grateful, anything butalive.

“You can go faster, by the way,” she said. “It makes the most sense for you to set whatever pace you’re comfortable with. Don’t worry. I can keep up.”

He hesitated at first, an innate sense of chivalry holding him in check. But the challenge, once issued, was impossible for him to ignore. After about thirty seconds of loping along, he began to jog faster.

“I have six aunts, but I’m not really close to any of them,” Sophie said as they whizzed down a steep turn and entered the outskirts of the forest. “We’re a pretty scattered family, so we didn’t see a lot of them growing up. One of them is pretty cool though. She’s a bassist in a rock band.”

She’d thought for sure the rock band would pique Harrison’s interest, but he continued to hold out.

“My sisters, now, that’s a different story,” she said. “We’re about as close as three people can be without being physically attached to one another. I couldn’t shake them even if I wanted to.”

That finally got him. “Do you want to?”

The question surprised her—not just because Harrison was finally talking to her, but because it was the one thing no one else would think to ask. Her sisters were vibrant and fun and intelligent, and they would drop everything to help her if she needed it. They’d done that exact thing more times than Sophie could count. No one with any common sense would willingly give up such a great support system.

But… “Yeah, actually,” Sophie said. “I do.”

“Because you’re dependent on them for everything?”

She slowed, alarmed that he could have seen so much of her in such a short period of time. He noticed, of course, letting out a breath that could have been a laugh. “That first day, when we were sharing flaws—remember?” he said. “You told me you were the baby of the family and that they took care of you.”

Heat rushed to the surface of her skin. That Harrison had not only listened to what she’d said, but actually remembered spoke volumes. What he was saying, she didn’t know. But at least they were communicating for a change.

“I didn’t mean I’mliterallydependent on them,” she protested. “I’m a grown woman. I can feed and dress myself. I have a stable source of income.”

“As part of their business?”

“As part ofourbusiness, yes, but it’s not like I’m contractually obligated to live at the kennel. There’s no reason why I couldn’t move out and be on my own.”

“So why don’t you?”

For some reason, his questions—and the way he kept asking them—stirred something hot inside her. Lila and Dawn had spent the bulk of their adolescence in hospital waiting rooms, enjoying only a fraction of the parental attention they were entitled to. And they’d done it without a single complaint because Sophie was their sister and they loved her. It was impossible to just cast that kind of devotion aside.