Page 52 of Puppy Love

A small whimper, almost humanlike, emitted from the tiny open crack.

Derek’s eyes lit up. “Harrison, you wily bastard—that’s not nothing. That’s a woman. You’re hiding a woman on the other side of that door.”

Aware that he could do nothing but give in, Harrison heaved a sigh. “You’re only half-correct. She’s female, but she’s no woman.”

“What the—?” Derek began, but he didn’t have a chance to finish. The moment Harrison nudged the door open an extra inch, Bubbles shoved her way through, her tongue lolling with pleasure at having vanquished all the obstacles in her path and made it to her master.

“What the hell is that?” Derek asked, blinking down at the Bubbles.

Harrison scooped the puppy up and held her out for inspection. “This is my service dog.”

“Why is it dressed in a Barbie sweater?”

Harrison pulled Bubbles closer to his body.Hemight think the puppy looked ridiculous, but he wasn’t about to stand here and listen to Derek denigrate her appearance—not when the yellow sweater made her happy.

“She gets cold,” he said, scratching Bubbles under her chin. “And we’ve had some problems with alternate heating options, so we’re making do with what we’ve got.”

“Is this some kind of joke?” Derek made a big show of looking around the front porch. “Is your dad going to pop out with a camera and make me a YouTube star?”

Harrison couldn’t help but smile.Thiswas exactly what he’d been afraid of happening, what he’d tried to warn Sophie about to no avail. If his best and oldest friend found the idea of this little dog impossible to swallow, then Harrison had no idea how the rest of the guys were going to take it.

Wrong.He did know. That was the problem.

“My dad feels the same way about this puppy as you,” he said. “But I’m stuck with her, I’m afraid. Oscar’s orders.”

Derek opened his mouth to say more, but the crunch of tires on gravel drew their attention. Harrison almost groaned aloud to see Sophie’s tiny green Fiat pull up the drive. A few hours ago, nothing would have made him happier than to see her ignoring her own orders to take the weekend off, especially since the small fire he’d made in the grate hadn’t caused a complete and utter reversal of Bubbles’s training.

A few hours ago, however, he hadn’t been staring at Derek’s sorry mug. Introducing him to Bubbles was one thing. Introducing him to Sophie was an entirely different beast.

“Well, well. You’re quite the social butterfly these days, aren’t you?” Derek asked, his lips lifted in a mocking smile. Then Sophie swung her bare legs out of the car, and that smile turned downright evil. “And don’t try telling me this one isn’t a woman. I can see that for myself.”

Harrison could see it too. Sophie made it impossible to do otherwise, what with the short, tennis-style dress she’d opted to wear today. It rivaled the one she’d worn the day he met her and seemed all the more ominous because of it. He didn’t know what he’d done in a past life to deserve a dog trainer who looked as tempting as this one, but it must have been something terrible.

Or, he thought, taking in the sight of her unloading a box of supplies from her car, her legs leading up to the gently swishing skirt that skimmed over the rounded curve of her ass, something wonderful.

“Be nice,” he growled to Derek. Then, seeing that his friend’s eyes were riveted on the increasingly exposed expanse of skin near the tops of Sophie’s thighs, he added, “But not too nice.”

“Good morning!” Sophie called cheerfully as she made her way up the stairs. She didn’t even blink when she saw Derek standing there, nor did she explain what she was doing at Harrison’s house a mere twelve hours after giving him the weekend off. She shifted her box to one hip and extended a hand in Derek’s direction. “I’m Sophie, the dog trainer.”

“I’m Derek, the best friend,” he replied easily. He also made a motion to grab the box. “Let me take that for you. It looks heavy.”

“It’s not,” she said, but she handed it over anyway, sealing Harrison’s fate in the process. Now Derek had an excuse to linger—and linger he would. He too was more like a friendly goiter than anything else.

Before she could get far, however, Sophie noticed the cooler and fishing gear. Her eyes widened, and she sent an alarmed look Harrison’s way. “Uh-oh. I didn’t realize. Are you going somewhere for the weekend?”

“Of course not,” he said, just as Derek perked up.

“Hell yeah he is. He’s supposed to be going on a fishing trip. We head over to Farragut State Park around this time every year.”

“You do?” Sophie’s alarmed look didn’t lessen. “Why didn’t you say something?”

Harrison hunched a shoulder. “To be honest, I forgot about it until Derek showed up. But it’s fine. They can go without me. Bubbles is more important right now.”

“Bubbles?” Derek guffawed. He looked like he wanted to say more, but Harrison turned on him with a fierce glare.

“Bubbles,” he echoed, daring his friend to argue.

Derek didn’t argue—at least, not about the name. Turning to Sophie, he put on his most wheedling smile and said, “There’s no reason why the dog can’t go too, is there?”