Page 44 of Puppy Love

Oh, you know. Fire. Flames. The catastrophic infernos Harrison had dedicated his life to subduing.

“Um. She didn’t react very well to a fire Harrison started in his fireplace one morning. She seems to be doing okay with your candles though.”

“My candles? When has she been anywhere near my candles?”

“Didn’t I tell you?” Sophie looked up at her sister with her most innocent expression. From the way Dawn was watching her, her eyes narrowed and her nose wrinkled at the tip, Sophie knew she was nearing trouble. “I took a few over as a…gift. To win over Harrison’s dad. He likes the bergamot one. He says it helps him sleep.”

“That’s not a surprise, Soph. But they’re awfully strong, and you know it’s not a good idea to confuse the puppy’s sense of smell this early on. Not while—”

“Of course I know that!” she protested. The moralizing note in Dawn’s voice was veering far too close to Lila’s for Sophie’s peace of mind. “The ones in the rest of the house and Harrison’s room are unscented. I’m not an idiot.”

“Why do there need to be candles in Harrison’s room at all?” The question was asked with heavy suspicion, but Dawn’s imagination soon took over. “Ooh, don’t tell me—I can make several guesses, and all of them are rated Not for Church Basements. You made it to the crop top already, didn’t you?”

Sophie winced. Unfortunately, there was nothing sexy or fun about Harrison’s bedroom candles. She had him lighting three of them at a time in there now. Bubbles seemed to tolerate them without too much fuss, but there was no denying she wasn’t a fan. She had a tendency to turn her head away and burrow into Harrison’s chest, pretending the flickering lights weren’t there. She was like a child closing her eyes and willing the monster under the bed away.

In other words, the puppy was still scared, still a liability, still a failure on paper.

But paper only told part of the story. A person was more than the sum total of their awards and accolades, had more to offer than the sad, sorry tale told by their medical records. And so was a puppy.

All she needed was a few more weeks with Harrison and Bubbles, a few more weeks without a pair of well-meaning sisters peering over her shoulder. The trouble was convincingthemof it.

“Dawn, I—”

A loud, impatient siren interrupted her before she could come up with a story that wouldn’t perjure her soul.

Because the basement was isolated from the rest of the church, the red blaring lights and screaming whir hit as if from out of nowhere. However, not one of the ladies in attendance showed signs of distress. An introductory cooking class was held in the upstairs kitchen the same night as the knitting circle. Half the time, they got to sample an array of cookies and pancakes as they left for the evening. The other half of the time, someone burned the cookies and pancakes, and everyone had to immediately evacuate the building.

As the acrid scent of charred carbohydrates wasn’t too far behind the whirring alarm, it seemed tonight was going to be one of the latter instances.

Ladies stabbed knitting needles into balls of yarn as they got to their feet, stretching and yawning and grumbling about which of the unfortunate pupils had done the damage this time. Sophie rose to join them only to glance over at Harrison and realize her mistake.

Or, to put it more accurately, she glanced over atBubblesand realized her mistake. The puppy, already showing signs of distress at the loud noises and sudden commotion, had also noticed the shifting scent in the air. All the fur on her little body stood on end, and even Sophie had to admit that her eyes looked an awful lot like sad raisins.

“Sad,wetraisins,” she said with a groan.

“What are you talking about?” Dawn asked, but there was no time to answer her. The moment everyone started shuffling for the stairs, the puppy decided she wasn’t about to be abandoned to the fire and left for dead. Harrison reached for her, his arms swooping down to rescue her from the terrors all around, but it was no use.

With one last scared yip of protest, Bubbles tore away.

Sophie was closest to the stairs, so she jumped up to try and head Bubbles off. All she managed to do was run into the nice woman who’d been teaching Harrison how to knit, almost knocking her over in the process. The skitter of puppy nails on wood stairs indicated that Sophie was going to have to move faster if she planned on catching Bubbles before the animal escaped somewhere withrealhazards.

She was halfway up the stairs before she realized she wasn’t alone in her pursuit. Harrison’s tread was surprisingly light for a man his size, and he reached the door at the top of the stairs the same time she did.

“You’d better let me.” His hands came down on either side of her waist and lifted her neatly out of the way. The ease with which he was able to physically set her aside, his palms almost spanning her waist, was impressive. “I’ll be able to catch her faster on my own. She won’t want a search party after her.”

“Now isn’t the time to play hero, Harrison.” She clutched at his forearm. “Thestreet.”

He caught her meaning in an instant. The church was located on a fairly busy street off the freeway, which meant cars zipped by much faster than they would have on an ordinary city road. With everyone filing in and out of the building, it would be all too easy for Bubbles to head outside and straight into traffic.

“She won’t—” he began, his face pale.

“She might.”

Without another word, they both pushed through the doorway, heedless of the way their bodies pressed together, fitting so perfectly they might have been built to squeeze and slide as one.

“I’ll take the north exit,” Harrison said, his voice clipped. “You go through the back hallway and take the south. She won’t go in the direction of the kitchen—not while there’s smoke. Two long whistles if you find her. Three if she makes it outdoors. I’ll do the same.”

He turned on his heel and moved off in the direction he’d indicated, not checking over his shoulder to make sure Sophie was following his instructions. There was no need. Harrison’s abrupt manner might not have made him the easiest man to get to know, but there was no denying its power. Sophie had been attending knitting circle in this church for two years and couldn’t have mapped all the exits if she wanted to. He had appraised the building at a glance.