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She knelt down in front of Daisy. The puppy sat down and looked at her with those big brown eyes that instantly melted her heart.
Pepper moved slowly so as not to scare Daisy with any sudden movements. In the great big bag that Stephanie had packed, she found Daisy’s stuffed blue bear. At the sight of it, Daisy’s tail started to wag.
Pepper held it out to her, but Daisy didn’t move. “It’s okay. You can have it.”
Still Daisy didn’t move. Pepper placed the bear on the floor in front of Daisy. Immediately, Daisy gripped the bear with her mouth. The bear was almost the same size as Daisy. But that didn’t keep Daisy from dragging the stuffed animal over to the fuzzy white rug next to Pepper’s bed. There the dog lay down and put her head on the stuffed animal.
Pepper watched Daisy for a moment to make sure everything would be all right. Daisy’s eyes started to grow heavy. She’d had a really big day. Pepper cringed at the thought of Grinchy Greta yelling at the puppy. That woman. Pepper’s back teeth ground together as she held back a string of heated words. Daisy didn’t need to hear Pepper vent. The pup needed some peace and quiet to get used to her temporary lodgings.
When Simon found out about Daisy, Pepper wasn’t so sure they’d have a roof over their—
“Pepper!”
Oh, no. Simon is home.
And by the tone of his voice, he was not happy.
Daisy’s head immediately lifted. And in a second or two both she and the teddy bear scooted under the bed. Poor baby.
“Pepper!”
“Daisy, it’s okay. His bark is worse than his bite. I’ll be back.” She wasn’t so sure about letting the puppy lose in a room with expensive decorations, but Simon obviously wasn’t in the mood to wait.
She rushed out of her bedroom and down the hallway. She skidded to a halt when she noticed the angry look on his face.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She nodded.
“No accidents or anything that I should be aware of?”
Heat rushed to her face. Did he know about Daisy already? Had someone spotted them coming into the building and told him?
She shook her head. All the while she tried to figure out how to break the news gently to him. Was there any way to tell a man who didn’t have pets, who didn’t want pets, that there was now one living in his house?
“Mind explaining this?”
She followed the gaze to the floor—and his stocking feet. “You took your shoes off?”
He
shook his head and pointed. His new-looking black dress shoe was sitting in the dog pee. Ugh! She’d hoped to clean that up before he got home. Daisy’s homecoming was getting off to an even worse start than Pepper had imagined possible.
“I can explain.”
Simon pressed his hands to his trim waist. “I’m listening.”
“I was going to clean up the mess.”
“Why is there a mess in my otherwise immaculate foyer?”
By the stormy look on his face, nothing she said was going to make this better. She might as well just go pack her stuff—not that she had much to pack.
* * *
This couldn’t be happening.
His neat, formerly clean, quiet life was being upended.
