Page 30 of Ruff and Tumble

They’d been acting like this for a few months now. Cole wished they’d just come out and admit they were seeing each other. His sister had always vehemently declared she’d rather die than date a football player, but Cole assumed that was just her way of showing she cared.

Football players made thebestboyfriends. Sure, they were moody and self-involved and had a tendency to devolve into twelve-year-olds whenever they were together, but everyone had their faults.

“Don’t ask about what?” Garrett asked.

Cole’s answer was the tentative poke of Philip’s head inside the front door to his condo.

“It’s okay, buddy,” Cole urged the puppy. Philip had been fine on the way over here, his head hanging out the window as he basked in the damn-near freezing-cold wind off the freeway, but the moment Cole had lifted him out of the car, he’d started showing a marked tendency to shake in fear. “You can come in. No one here is going to hurt you.”

Regina heaved a sigh. “What did I tell you about adopting that woman’s puppies?”

“This isn’t an attempt to get her to like me,” Cole protested. He gave up trying to urge the puppy through the door and scooped him into his arms instead. Philip seemed to enjoy being held, so Cole didn’t put him down right away. “This is strategy, plain and simple. I’m taking care of this little guy for a few weeks. In exchange, she’s setting up a puppy draft.”

“A puppy draft?” Regina echoed.

“It’ll make more sense once you read the proposal. Which, ah, she’s probably faxing over to you as we speak.”

“Goddammit, Cole.”

“I know.” He gave her a rueful grin—the one he knew from long experience would get him exactly what he wanted. Even as kids, Regina had been susceptible to it. He’d gotten way more than his fair share of Halloween candy that way, not that he’d been allowed to eat it. “But you don’t have to be there. You just have to work your public relations magic a little. You love that stuff.”

Regina’s look of reproach spoke volumes, but Cole ignored it and started to fill a bowl with water instead.

“You might also have to come with me to dinner at Hailey’s house afterward, but it’s better if you don’t ask about that part, either,” he said.

“What’s the matter with you?”

Other than his exhaustion and his fears for the future and the fact that he couldn’t stop thinking about the warm rush of Hailey’s breath?

“Oh, you know. The usual.” He glanced over his shoulder at his sister. “And don’t worry. Philip won’t be here forever. I’m his caretaker until the Puppy Cup is over, that’s all. Like Mary Poppins, but for a dog.”

“Then under no circumstances will you introduce him to Mia. I don’t want her getting attached only to have you disappear up a chimney.” Regina drew closer and eyed the puppy in his arms. “Huh. He’s not much to look at, is he?”

“He has deep internal trauma,” Cole said, thinking of his conversation with Hailey. “So be gentle.”

“I’ll have to be gentle later. Apparently, my least favorite client just dumped a ton of work onto my lap.” Regina gave his shoulder—his bad one—a light squeeze. It might have been a sisterly gesture of affection, but it also could have been a test.

“Your most favorite client appreciates it,” he returned without so much as a wince. “It’s for the good of the Lumberjacks, Reg. The good ofSeattle.”

“Save the golden-boy routine. No one here has bought it in years.” Regina released his shoulder and turned to Garrett. “And you’ll think about what I said, Garrett?Reallythink about it?”

“I’ll walk you out,” Garrett said by way of answer. Cole did his best to give them privacy, but he couldn’t help from peeking around the corner once or twice. He could just make out the dark tailoring of Regina’s suit and hear the indiscriminate murmuring of Garrett’s low-rumbling voice, but that was only to be expected. They were hardly going to start making out in the hallway while he was standing within earshot.

“You and Reggie seem to have made yourselves at home,” he said as soon as Garrett returned to the kitchen. He placed both the bowl and the puppy on the floor, but Philip had no interest in liquids. He adhered himself to Cole’s leg instead. “It’s nice you could both make use of the emergency keys I gave you. For thisemergency.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Garrett replied, nothing but goodwill in his voice.

“You’re not going to tell me what you two were doing here?”

“Nope.” Garrett opened the fridge and pulled out an energy drink. He pointed both it and his finger at Cole. “Not unless you plan on telling me what you’re doing with that Hailey woman.”

Fair enough.In a different frame of mind, Cole might have sacrificed his emotional well-being to hear Garrett admit the truth, but not right now. Not when he wasn’t sure what he was doing—or why. Part of it, he knew, was a perverse determination to get the better of a woman who showed no real signs of succumbing to his charm, but that didn’t explain everything. He’d faced challenging women before without resorting to puppy adoption.

He didn’t have time for a dog; at this point in his life, he didn’t even have time for a goldfish. Hewantedone, the same way he wanted to spend Sundays eating brunch with his friends and for a woman like Hailey to look at him and think “there’s a highly interesting man,” but none of that was likely anytime soon.

Yet here he stood, a dog bone in his pocket and a woman on his mind.

As if aware of what Cole was thinking, Philip lifted his head. He caught sight of one of Mia’s stuffed footballs on the couch and began inching bravely toward it.