Page 66 of Puppy Love

She’s overcome more pain and suffering than most of us see in a lifetime, Oscar had said.

I’ve never gone anywhere or done anything on my ownhad been the confession from Sophie’s own lips.

The familiar burn of frustration started to mount in Harrison’s gut, but for the first time in his life, it wasn’t directed inward. Diabetes was challenging, yes, and it was something he’d always have to account for, but it was nothing like what Sophie must have gone through—still went through, if her family situation was all that she said it was.

“Um, I spent a lot of time lying in bed when I was a kid,” Sophie admitted, continuing to look at him. He nodded once, hoping to convey even a fraction of the admiration he felt for her. It must have worked, because she quirked her lips in a smile and added, “I’m also weirdly good at crossword puzzles and soap opera trivia.”

Marcus opened his mouth to ask why, but he was stopped when he caught Harrison’s eye.

The silent warning worked in keeping the younger man from badgering Sophie, but Bubbles decided she didn’t much care for it. She snuffled against his chest, whimpering despite the protective wrap holding her close.

As something from one of the pots sizzled and jumped into the campfire, sending crackling flames in all directions, Harrison assumed it was the sudden flare that scared her, so he murmured something low and soothing.

In a louder voice, he asked, “How much longer until we have to eat this monstrosity?”

Jessica dipped a ladle in the pot and tasted its contents, barely managing to hide her grimace in time. “Twenty minutes should do it. I’ll just, ah, add some more salt.”

“Don’t worry. I have beef jerky and granola bars in my pack.” The woman seated next to Jessica, the wife of firefighter named Burke, patted the backpack at her side.

“And we caught enough fish for a feast,” promised another man, Burke’s younger brother and an aspiring firefighter. “We’ve got this competition in the bag. Or, er, the net, I guess I should say.”

“You caught one—one fish, and he looked diseased. His fin was practically falling off.”

“That just means the filet will be tender.”

Under normal circumstances, Harrison would have been more than happy to join in the smack talk, comparing culinary disasters and planning a pizza run for later. It had been a long, wearying day with an even longer night beckoning. Jessica had offered to share her tent with Sophie—and had been accepted—but moving a sleeping bag was no difficult task. If Sophie kept peeking at him through those long lashes, there was a good chance neither one of them would be doing any sleeping of any kind.

So much for preparing myself for the inevitable.Sophie might have one foot out the door, but her other foot was well within his reach.

The fire crackled again, causing Bubbles to whimper louder. Her legs wriggled against his chest, her head moving frantically as she struggled to free herself from her binding.

“It’s just a fire,” he said, keeping his voice low and calm. When he’d had the small fire in the grate that morning, the sound of him talking—however inane the words—had seemed to soothe her. “A chemical reaction between the oxygen in the air and the wood in the pit. Chemistry can explain a lot of things that seem scary at first.”

Attraction, for example. Lust.Desire.

It didn’t work. Instead of having a pacifying effect on the dog this time, his voice only served to increase her anxiety. He rose to his feet in a swift movement, determined to put distance between the dog and the fire.

And between him and Sophie, but that was an effort in futility. No matter where he went, she followed.

Literally. He’d made it no farther than a few hundred feet away from the campfire before he realized Sophie was standing at his back.

“It’s not getting better,” he said, his voice more frantic than he cared to admit. Since his version of frantic sounded more like anger, the words came out as an accusation. “I thought the extra training I was doing with her would help, and that the pouch was making a difference too, but look at her. She’s bound tight and still hates the flames.”

He paused, waiting for Sophie to wince or back away, but she didn’t. She stepped closer, drawing so near he could smell her, feel the residual heat from the fire rising up off her tight-fitting jacket. That small action, that step forward—toward him,tohim—almost broke him. Nothing he seemed to say or do caused this woman to back away.

“Extra training?” she asked.

“It was nothing. Just some things she and I were trying together. I wanted to, uh… It sounds dumb now that I’m saying it, but…” He shrugged helplessly. “I wanted to make this work for you.”

There wasn’t much light this far from the campfire, but Sophie’s eyes opened so widely that they captured the full luminosity of the moon and flung it right at him.

He wasn’t sure what to make of that look—thatshock—so he cleared his throat and kept going.

“Maybe you were wrong after all,” he said. “Maybe shecan’tdo this. I want her to succeed, I really do, but that was just one little crackle, one little flare. Do you have any idea how much worse it can get out there?”

“Harrison, stop.”

“You can’t make things happen just because you want them to,” he said. Now that the verbal floodgates had been opened, he didn’t seem to know how to close them again. All the anxiety of the past month, all the worries and agonies and inadequacies, seemed to be tumbling out of him at once. “I know it makes me an asshole to say it, but one of us has to. She’s not fit for the job, and no number of candles and camping trips are going to change that. Working around fires will end up hurting her.Iwill end up hurting her.”