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Over the past few days, Tasha had gathered from the details Daniel revealed that his Maverick friends were also billionaires. Daniel might be a really nice anomaly who didn’t mind puppies weeing on his floor and tearing at his shoelaces, but surely other billionaires wouldn’t be so easygoing.
She was just about to pick up Spanky when Matt surprised her by laughing as he helped the puppy bite another piece of his shoelace.
“Tasha found them in the woods,” Daniel explained. “They’d been abandoned.”
She grabbed at the chance to justify her presence in Daniel’s house. “They were hiding in an old rabbit warren, and I heard them crying when I was hiking. Daniel helped me get them out. The poor little things were starving.” She retrieved Darla, who’d been watching cautiously from her position close to the box, and held the little girl close. Both of them, it see
med, needed reassurance. “We’ve been feeding them every couple of hours, and they’ve got a date with the vet this afternoon to make sure everything’s okay. Daniel’s already been up and down the houses on the road to see if anyone knows anything about them. But no one does.”
Too late, she realized she was rambling like a wild woman. Thankfully, Froggy was causing a bit of a commotion as he decided Spanky had the right idea and went for Evan’s shoelaces, tugging and growling playfully.
“That’s Froggy,” Daniel told them. “The big one is Spanky.” He pointed at the bundle of fluff in Tasha’s hands. “And this is Darla.”
Sebastian laughed. “The Little Rascals. Interesting choice in names.”
“Daniel wanted to call them Larry, Curly, and Moe,” Tasha said, raising an eyebrow in Daniel’s direction. “Or Groucho, Harpo, and Chico.”
“I’m pretty sure,” Daniel reminded her with a grin, “that you suggested the Marx Brothers, not me.”
Tasha belatedly realized his friends had fallen silent, watching them banter. Especially Evan, whose eyes narrowed as he gazed at her.
Why couldn’t she remember to hold her cards close to her chest?
Froggy began to piddle on the floor and commanded their attention as Daniel scooped the puppy up and got him to the newspapers. “Obviously,” Daniel said, “they’re still in training.”
“Noah will go crazy when he sees them.” Matt, still crouching, twirled Spanky around in circles until the puppy started to chase his own tail. “A puppy is every six-year-old’s dream.”
When Froggy ran back into the melee, Tasha set Darla on the floor. She’d never seen big, powerful, successful men go all gooey like this. Especially when Daniel showed off the trick he’d taught the puppies, even if it was only to sit when their rump was patted.
Her ex, by contrast, had always acted like he was too cool, too important, to moon over babies or puppies or kittens. It was, she realized now, a crucial test of whether a man was worthy or not.
Sebastian got Darla to sit for a piece of kibble. Soon, the puppies were running amok again, snatching at shoelaces, tumbling all over the floor, and skidding into the sawhorses. The men were just as bad—big, jovial kids.
Tasha was utterly charmed.
She wanted to stay, wanted to get down on her knees and play too, wanted to learn all about them—ask them what they did, whether they were married, how many kids they had. But at the same time, seeing them together made her miss her friends so much that her heart ached.
Weakness hit her all over again. Along with the sure knowledge that she didn’t belong here, no matter how much she wished she did.
Chapter Ten
“It’s been great to meet all of you,” Tasha said, “but I need to get back to my place and see if it’s still standing after the storm.”
Daniel had been aware of her the whole time that she’d stood back, simply watching. Her avid gaze betrayed how badly she wanted to dive in and play, but when it appeared she might lose herself in the fun, she seemed determined to force herself to back off.
He’d had her to himself all last night, and that had to be enough for now. The more he pushed, the more she’d shy away. Then he’d never get the answers he was looking for, the ones he hoped would put his mind at ease when it came to considering a full-fledged relationship with her.
Unfortunately, patience had never been his strong suit. He’d always gotten in there with his hands and tools to fix whatever was broken or to build whatever he needed. But he couldn’t simply mold Tasha into what he wanted her to be. She was fiercely independent and more than capable of fixing things for herself.
“Okay, guys,” he made himself say. “Let’s get the puppies into the box so Tasha can carry them home.”
“Harper sent a picnic basket for the drive up,” Will said. “I’ll clean it out, and we can use that.”
But once they’d emptied the basket, the puppies had other ideas for the perfect game. Just when one puppy was settled in, another would jump out. Even Darla found the energy to join in the fun.
They were all hysterical with laughter by the time the puppies were firmly tucked into the basket with a towel and Tasha had it hooked over her elbow, the bag of Puppy Chow under her other arm as she backed toward the door.
“Don’t forget the vet appointment,” Daniel reminded her at the door. “Three o’clock. I’ll bring the crate up when I come to get you.”
