Page 27 of Their Pup to Tame

“Fine. I was in the passenger’s seat when something caught my attention. I could have handled it better; instead, I screamedspiderand bailed out as we took a curve. I wasn’t the only one, either. Three theater geeks hit the gravel like bailout kings,screaming and batting at our clothes like we were the ones with the spider on us. Bryce hit the brakes so hard he gave himself a concussion when he smacked the steering wheel, and Mikey, who was stuck in the middle of the backseat with doors flapping on both sides of him, fainted at the wordspiderand missed the whole spectacle.

I felt Phoenix laugh, not just through his lips but through the quaking of his body, nearly dwarfing mine with the way he’d wrapped around me.

“This old guy in an ATV came along and called an ambulance, since we’d fucked ourselves up rolling on all those rocks. The spider crawled out of Bryce’s hair onto the steering wheel, and he smashed it and broke his hand in the process. The worst part was trying to explain it all to Mrs. Gibson, the theater director, when we got to school the next day and had to explain that Bryce wasn’t going to be able to play Hansel. She was way more upset about it all than my mother was when she showed up to get me from the emergency room.”

“Yeah?” Parker asked. “Was she cool about it?”

“I think it made her whole week,” I replied. “She got to flirt with my doctor, who took her out later in the week, and she was proud of the fact that my act of rebellion was in pursuit of my craft. She had me tell her all about the photoshoot on the drive home and was front and center on opening night, with flowers. I never received a prettier bouquet than the ones she picked out. Even after I left home, she’d arrange for me to receive them backstage on opening night of every show.”

“I remember you coming out ofBohemian Nightswith one in your arms,” Parker murmured.

“That was the one she sent.”

“It was stunning.”

“I always kept them as long as I could,” I said. “Something beautiful from the woman who taught me what beauty truly was. I can’t wait for her Christmas visit; she is going to love seeing you again.”

Phoenix barely sucked at all now. Just the occasional pull and sleepy murmur.

“And you, she is going to adore meeting,” I said as I pressed a kiss to the top of Phoenix’s head before settling in to finally get some sleep, wrapped up with the men I adored.

8

PHOENIX

We devised a plan so that while Aspen was at work, I would keep Parker on task, but that hadn’t worked out well for us so far. He was restless and stuck on a scene, while I was still fuming over my uncle’s insistence that I not return to my duties until I got the stitches out of my face. Personally, I’d have thought he’d welcome me wandering around the club looking like Frankenstein’s monster the way he had in the past, but for whatever reason, he’d sent a text telling me to keep my ass wherever I was, since he’d already been by my room and knew I wasn’t crashing there.

Staying home meant I struggled to keep myself entertained while not distracting Parker, who was curled over the notepad he had resting on the arm of the couch, snarling curses every few minutes as he crossed something out.

“This is bullshit,” he grumbled, hurling the notepad on the coffee table with a huff. “If these fucking characters won’t cooperate, then they can be fashion week’s next casualties, and readers will have to follow a whole different team of amateur investigators in the next book because these two are pissing me off.”

“Do all authors cuss their characters out as often as you do?”

“If their characters are as stubborn as mine, then I bet they do. There is smoke pouring under the door of the room they’re trapped in, and do you know what those idiots are arguing over?”

“Who’s gonna pick the lock on the door?” I asked. “Or is one trying to be all macho, ramming himself into it, hoping to bust free before the fire gets too close?”

“See, now those would have been rational, even reasonable actions in a situation like that, but no, they’re arguing because the garment Joey grabbed off the rack to wedge under the door to hold off the smoke is made of beautiful chiffon and Kyle wants him to grab something hideous instead.”

Snickering, I just lay there trying to figure out why he didn’t just choose a solution for them and keep rolling with the story.

“Depending on the door, if one of them has a thick enough driver’s license or credit card, they can just drag it between the lock and the door and pop the lock. Won’t work if it’s got any sort of a bolt on it, though.”

“Neither of these two nitwits would think to try that,” he explained. “They get paid to look pretty. I don’t know what made them think they could investigate a murder in the first place.”

“Didn’t you plan for that to happen?” I asked.

“The only plan I had was for them to solve another mystery, like they had in the previous books, but those have all been relatively small compared to this. I can’t decide if I’m truly stuck or just frustrated that I can’t start that bike messenger project yet. Why don’t you take me for a ride on your Harley? I can zone outwhile you drive and maybe even figure out a solution by the time Aspen gets off work.”

Most days, it was Aspen begging for a ride. This was a first coming from Parker, and I leapt at the chance to take him up on it.

“Where to?” I asked.

“Anywhere.”

“Wanna narrow it down or should I just pick a direction and drive?”

“Wherever the day takes us.”