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ONE
Late summer morningswere meant for lazy, leisurely dog walks. At least until my dog dropped the biggest specimen I’d seen since I’d changed her dog food.
She was tiny. What she’d left behind decidedly was not.
“Okay, kid, we’re going back to the old food once we use up the last of the new. Got it?” I bent to pick up what she’d left behind, though she’d dropped it on the edge of my own lawn. But it was odiferous enough that there was no way I was leaving it behind.
Francie ignored me and kept sniffing her way down the street, as far as her retractable leash would take her. Which wasn’t far. She was too small to be given any sort of free rein since most normal-sized dogs could trample her.
With a sigh, I tied off the poop sack and tossed it in the handy receptacle provided nearby by the town then narrowed my eyes at the adjoining property. It had been for sale for six months.
Long enough that I’d gone back and forth about buying it about a dozen times.
Could I afford another prime property? No, I could not. Buying the first one had stretched me almost to the breaking point. I was a humble public servant, the newest cop on the Crescent Cove Police Department.
Homes here were, by and large, out of reach for people at my pay scale. Luckily, I’d always been a saver—okay, just for the last four years when I’d decided I couldn’t toss away money on an apartment forever. There was no way in Hades I’d ever move home again, even if my little sister begged me to get the “heat” off her.
I didn’t mind having a simple lifestyle so I could live in the location I loved. Plus, I was duty bound to reside in town, so I made do. But making do was a far cry from snapping up a second property so that I had enough lawn to warrant that fancy ass riding lawn mower that twenty-year-old Mav would’ve scoffed at.
Hey, a man’s tastes changed as he got a little older. Some, anyway.
When it came to one particular taste…
I licked my lips, taking in the view. A curvy redhead sauntered down the narrow dock attached to my modest boat launch, conveniently located just across the street from my property. The grassy knoll in front of it was perfect for a summer picnic by the water, if I was a picnicking sort of guy.
I was not.
But that sexy redhead in a thin white eyelet blouse—having a sister obsessed with clothes had filled my head with nonsense—and obscenely short jean shorts made me reconsider.
She was wandering barefoot on my property, but I wasn’t about to arrest her for trespassing. Not with those curls drifting on the wind and that cute heart-shaped backside swaying provocatively. She plopped down on the edge to dip her feet, which was basically a joke because she was short as hell and probably couldn’treachthe water.
Compact. Built for—
Ohhellno.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, pulling on Francie’s leash a bit too hard. She yelped and I cursed under my breath. “Sorry, baby, Daddy didn’t mean to—”
I shut my eyes and prayed the trespasser would be gone when I opened them, heart-shaped ass be damned.
“Daddy?” She let out a loud laugh that proved my eyes had not deceived me. I should’ve recognized the sex hair. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t noticed it before.
How a woman could have sex hair and the spirit of a demon seemed to be one of life’s cruelest mysteries.
I pulled myself up to my full height—a full foot over hers, I might add—and exhaled slowly as I tugged on Francie’s leash. She trotted closer without complaint, the tiny pink bow in her brown fur tilting precariously.
Oh, shit, the bow. I had to ditch it. It wasn’t as if I was a bow man. She’d been wearing one when I found her, so I’d wanted her to have something familiar even if her old owners were assholes who’d left her behind when they moved away.
I’d have to slip Francie’s bow in my pocket before Vanessa saw it and crowed about my dog’s stylistic choices at every family dinner until the end of time.
“May I help you?” Discreetly, I nudged my Yorkie behind my leg. I’d have to swing her up and pluck off the bow in one smooth, synchronized movement.
My palms sweating from the unnaturally hot September day should help.Not.And no, I was not sweating because my sister-in-law’s nipples were outlined in frigging white eyelet.
Fuck me.
She cocked her head. “Did I call for you without realizing it? GQ, can you help me dip my toes?”
I ignored her, as I’d done for most of the last seven months my older brother had been dating—and now engaged to—her twin sister. Sometimes I poked fun at her. Sometimes I rolled my eyes at her.
