Hounded (Going to the Dogs) (6 page)
Read Hounded (Going to the Dogs) Online
Authors: Zoe Dawson
“What? There’s three categories of guys now?” Brooke exclaimed.
“G.Z.K.”
“What does that stand for? Gorgeous Zombie Killer?” Callie said. With a quick intake of air, she reached out and petted Tilly, who had slammed into her to give her some love.
“No. Genius Zombie Killer. He can strategize and maim.”
All three of her friends burst out laughing.
When it died down, Brooke said, “He sounds yummy. I want to meet him.”
Callie squinted at Poe. “Okay, the big question is…wait for it…is he bacon-worthy?”
Poe took a deep breath. “I’d give him ten slabs.”
“Oh, look out! She’s got a new scoring method, too,” Callie said, holding up her hands.
Poe looked at Harper. “No pithy comment?”
Harper leaned back and crossed her legs. “A hunky Texas cowboy? Sounds like you’re roped, tied and branded, cowgirl.”
Everyone chuckled and Harper winked at her.
“There’s only one small problem.”
“What’s that?” Harper said.
“He can’t dance.”
“What?” Callie said. “Isn’t that the point?”
“Yes, pretty much. I’m not sure how I can win. On top of it, he has a tiny little basset hound who does nothing but sleep and lay about.”
“What’s her name?”
“Daisy.”
“Oh, this is too easy,” Harper said. “Lazy Daisy.”
More laughter, but Poe wasn’t feeling it. She smiled. The worry must have broken through because Brooke touched her arm. “This is just a fun competition, right, Poe?”
Relaxing her shoulders and smiling, she nodded, but deep inside her stomach was tied up in knots. She
had
to win the competition, or she would let down her mother, who had sacrificed so much for her.
She simply refused to mention it to her friends, because then they’d do everything they could to help her. That wasn’t a bad thing, but Poe wanted to do this for her mother all by herself. She was the one her mother had supported all the way through her DVM, and she wanted to give back. Knowing that her mother was going to lose her house if she didn’t come up with the money made the competition even more intense. That’s why with Jared and his two left boots, as he called them, wasn’t at all funny to her.
“Of course it is. I’ll have him dancing like Fred Astaire before you know it.”
“Well, even if you don’t, sounds like he’s some kind of eye candy. So you can at least look at him.”
“Yeah, and since he’s worth ten slabs, let’s hope he’s as big as Texas.” Callie nudged Poe.
She flushed to the roots of her hair. “Stop it.”
Brooke clutched her stomach and hooted, “Callie you are so bad.”
“What? I heard they made everything big in Texas. Ten gallon hats, egos, why not a man’s—”
“Six shooter?” Brooke said.
“Hell, I don’t know any man who can shoot six times in a row,” Harper said.
This time the laughter was so loud other park guests looked their way.
“We better behave,” Poe said, her stomach aching, “or we’ll get thrown out of here.”
“Let ‘em try,” Harper said with a snap of her elegantly manicured fingers. “I have a Doberman.”
“Some people are really uptight talking about sex,” Brooke said. “My mother’s idea of The Sex Talk,” Brooke did air quotes, “was to leave an anatomy picture book between my
Baby-Sitters Club
and
Sweet Valley High
series and saying ‘Don’t have sex until you’re married’ and ‘The cow shouldn’t give away the milk free.’ I gotta tell you. At eleven, I was really stumped by that one. How the hell did a cow figure into sex?”
“Oh, my God. I’m so glad my mother is so hip. She explained to me that it was much better to be in love before you have sex. She was right. Now that I’m marrying Owen, I know exactly what she meant. She also told me to always use protection,” Callie said.
“I started thinking about sex once I realized Barbie and Ken were different,” Harper said. “I always wondered what they were doing in that dream house.”
“But they’re not anatomically correct,” Poe said.
“No, but I figured, since I was a girl and one day I would get boobs, and thank God I did, that a man had to have something down there. It certainly couldn’t be a vagina.”
“I love this,” Poe said. “Sexual algebra—if A = a vagina, what is x?”
More deep peals of laughter and more stares.
“So, Poe, how did you learn about sex?” Callie asked.
“I Googled ‘funny feeling down there,’ ‘penis’ and ‘hard-on.’”
“You didn’t.”
“I did. I’m such a nerd. It was after I read
Then Again Maybe I Won’t
. Boys getting erections in math class. Yeah, I paid attention to my multiplication tables after reading that book.”
“Judy Blume is amazing.”
“Well, I’ve got to get going,” Callie said, “Owen and I are going out to dinner tonight.”
“Oooh, where?”
“To the new place, Chez Fred.”
“I heard it was really hard to get reservations there,” Poe said wistfully. “I would love to try their Gothlic noodle dish, black noodles in a creamy garlic sauce. Don’t you love they’re play on words with Goth and garlic?”
“It is very clever and I’m sure we’ll get a chuckle out of their other dishes. Owen got a direct invitation. There are perks to being a nightclub owner. I can ask him to get us all in. Would everyone like that?”
There were affirmatives all around.
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”
Poe looked for her boys and froze. Allan was eyeing a boy with a red balloon. He was studying the floating object like he would a rat.
“Oh, shit!” Poe said, but it was too late. Even as she launched herself from the bench, Allan was on the move. He ran at lightning speed, never breaking his stride as he catapulted himself onto the bench, then right up the woman’s arm to her head, which he then used as a springboard. Soaring through the air, he chomped the balloon, which popped with a loud
bang
. Allan landed deftly on his four feet in the grassy area, and the little boy started to cry.
Brooke was already out of the park, heading for the balloon vendor. As Poe approached the woman, putting on her best apologetic face, the woman turned to her, trying with all her might to keep a straight face as she consoled the little boy.
Poe breathed a sigh of relief. As Allan zeroed in on the balloon Brooke pulled tantalizingly behind her, Poe grabbed at Allan’s collar and clipped on the leash. “You big meanie. You made that little boy cry.”
After that Callie and Brooke left, but Harper lingered. “How is it going?”
“Fine,” Poe said, but it came out a little too quickly and Harper’s gaze sharpened.
“What happened?”
Poe flinched. “Nothing.”
“Look, tell me, or I’m going to spin it into something awful and get myself into such a state that I’ll hire you a bodyguard.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake. I got a threatening phone call.”
Harper’s eyes widened. “Oh, my God.”
“I called the police. They’re working on it.”
“He’s got your number? I hate this, Poe.”
“I know.” She clasped Harper’s arm. “I do, too, but it’ll be okay.”
“Let me give you a ride home.”
“All right.”
As Poe settled in the limo, she wanted to be mad at Harper, but she couldn’t. She was the one who had left her bathroom light on all night like a scared little girl.
#
His cell chimed loudly on his nightstand and Jared was jerked out of a sound sleep.
“Jared, you have to find some way to get into Poe’s apartment.”
He sat up, immediately awake. “What happened?!” He was already moving, getting dressed with lightning speed. “Is she all right? I’ve had people on her all day.”
“No, it’s okay. She’s fine now. I gave her a ride home. It happened last night. She got a threatening phone call.”
“That explains why she had a light on all night.” His lips compressed and his hand tightened on the phone. Throttling something would feel damn good right now.
“Figure something out, because I’m so worried.”
He could tell she was pacing. “Poe barely knows me, Harper. If she’s getting threatening calls, she should be wary. This isn’t going to be easy.” Live with Poe? The very thought made him shift and sit heavily on the bed. Seeing her first thing in the morning all sleep-mussed. He wasn’t sure he could survive that.
“She thinks you’re charming and gorgeous. So, maybe you could have something happen to your apartment.”
“Wait, she thinks I’m charming and gorgeous? She said that?”
“What is this? High school? Do you want me to pass you a note in English class?”
“No.” He rubbed the back of his neck. Damn, that woman distracted the hell out of him. “Sorry. You want me to lie to her some more?”
“Yes, whatever it takes.”
“All right, but be prepared it might not work.”
“It better.”
He sat back into the pillow after Harper hung up, mulling it over. Then his cell rang again. It was Poe.
“Hi, Jared. I was calling to set up the schedule.”
He closed his eyes and infused his voice with apology. “Oh, there might be a problem there.”
“Oh, God, you’re not dropping out, are you?”
At her alarmed voice and evident dismay, he wanted to promise her the moon, but that wasn’t going to get him inside her apartment. “I need to find another place to live.” He smacked his forehead with his hand. “So…that’s going to take up a lot of time.”
“I really need you in this competition. I’ll never find another partner at this late date. What happened to your apartment?”
“Burst pipe. It’s totally flooded. Unlivable,” he added.
“Oh. I’m so sorry.”
“So, I guess I’ll call you later.” This bluff better work.
“Don’t you have friends you can stay with?”
“I just got out of the service and I really haven’t had a lot of time to make friends. But it’s okay. I might be able to just fly back to Texas and telecommute. It’s do-able.”
He closed his eyes, feeling like a first-class heel for lying to her. But it was for her own good. If he didn’t believe that, he would tell her the truth right now.
“No! You can stay with me.”
“What? Are you sure? That’s quite an imposition.”
“How long will it take for your apartment to be repaired?”
“At least three weeks.”
“That would be perfect. The competition is in three weeks.”
“If you’re sure, darlin’, I’ll take you up on that offer.” He winced, rolling his eyes at how grateful he sounded.
“I’m sure. Can you meet tomorrow afternoon at four-thirty? Same for Friday, but I was hoping, on Saturday, we could get in a few extra hours. Can you meet at two that day?”
“Yes…wait, no. I can tomorrow and Friday, but I’ve got a pick-up game with a couple of regulars at the Y. Can we make it four?”
“Where’s the Y in relation to the studio?” The disappointment in her voice made him feel like such a jerk.
“Cross town. Is there someplace closer we can meet?”
“Callie’s training center, Sit Happens, is closer to that Y. She has a room we could use. In fact, you could drop off Daisy on your way to the game and wouldn’t have to go all the way back home to get her. I can pick you up.”
“That sounds great,” he said.
“I’m not going out, so if you want to come over tonight, that would be fine. Then we can head over to the studio.” He got up from the bed and started packing. He was going to get a chance to see Poe all mussed up and sexy in the morning. Could he survive that?
He gave her the address to that particular Y and she hung up.
It was good she was feeling better, but he still felt like a total jerkwad.
On Saturday Poe got to the Y a little early. She had tried to get used to having someone else in her apartment, but it was odd. She had to be up early, so she was usually out of the house before him.
The basketball courts were packed with athletic, sweaty men. But there was only one man who drew her attention.
He was fast and dexterous with the basketball, his layups almost always scored, as well as quite a few of his other throws. Poe didn’t know a whole lot about basketball, but she knew when guys were getting along. It was clear this was a team in the best sense of the word, and it was also clear they were kicking the other team’s butts.
As she passed, one of the players, a tall, lanky guy in red shorts, stopped dead, several of his pals slamming into him and sending him flying to land flat on his face. Poe covered her mouth, and he gave her a sheepish grin. “Wowza,” he mouthed at her.
It really didn’t surprise her Jared was easily interacting with the three men playing alongside him. They were all talking smack like athletes and men typically did when in a comfortable group, and making supporting moves like a well-oiled machine. He looked good now. And, he’d looked good in the morning. She had caught glimpses of him a couple of times.
Jared’s intense focus, it seemed, didn’t only apply to her. A chill went up her spine at discovering something else about this man who had literally barreled into her life.
And, she gulped, now all that muscle and testosterone was going to be front and center every day for three weeks. She must have been out of her freaking mind to blurt out that he could stay with her. Maybe it had something to do with her mother, and maybe it had more to do with the fact she wouldn’t have to leave the bathroom light on every night. She had her own personal, lethal guard dog.
Woof
.
She settled on the bleachers and watched Jared move. The man had the kind of body that would make teenagers to grandmas swoon. Approximately six five, perfectly proportioned from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. Watching him, it was hard to believe he was so bad at dancing. His movements were fluid and powerful. She would just have to figure out how to translate what he was doing here to the John Travolta dance moves that had catapulted the actor into full stardom.
Jared didn’t have the New York out-there machismo that Travolta’s character, Tony Manero, had. Jared was from a state known for its pride, but there was a subtle, comfortable confidence about him that intrigued Poe and made her want to get closer. Her breath caught just thinking about all that male gorgeousness beneath her hands.
Double
woof
.
She didn’t have to Google “funny feeling down there” anymore. She was well aware what those tingles meant now. Except that he was her dance partner, and she didn’t want to complicate the competition any more than it already was. Best to keep her hands off him.
Right. Now it was going to be doubly difficult with him now filling the corners of her apartment.
One of the men called out the close score, and then, when Jared did the most amazing whirly, almost zen-like movement, turned and hit the basket for the win, Poe’s heart did a doubled skipping beat.
Even the opposing team slapped him on the back.
More than one of the men on the opposing team gave her a lingering look before they dispersed. The three with Jared were facing her way and it was clear they were talking about her. There was that schoolboy pushing and shoving. Did they ever grow out of it?
She rose, smoothing out the full skirt of the apple motif dress she wore. The rows of different apples made her feel like a demented Snow White. She was sure Snow never wore razor blade earrings and a red leather, spiked dog collar, though. One of the guys punched him in the shoulder and he gave him a smug look before heading her way.
“Hey,” he said as he approached, sweat running down over the tantalizing planes of his cheekbones to his hard jaw. Normally she wouldn’t find that intriguing, but it slipped down his strong neck and rode along his clavicle, soaking into his t-shirt.
“Did you know the clavicle is the only bone in the human body that lies horizontally?”
“Huh?”
Oh, God. Had she said that out loud? “The…clavicle…um…collarbone.” She reached up and slid her fingertips along the ridge of bone, discovering his skin was moist, warm, and soft. Then she wanted to smack herself in the head. She jerked her hand away. What possessed her to touch him? Compulsion. Sheer stupidity. Her awkward social skills?
“I like your clavicle, too,” he said softly, and there went her lungs again, compressing from his g-force-impact voice.
“In that dress and those kick-ass heels, you look like a lethal Betty Boop. Makes a man want to know if one bad apple spoils the whole bunch.”
Pi
woof
. One big, infinite
woof
!
She focused on his lips, and he stepped closer, smelling earthy and musky. She really liked cerebral guys, she told herself to stave off more tingles, but it was like trying to stop a raging flood with a bucket. No barrier at all. And all that testosterone was going to be releasing in her apartment every day for three weeks. She hoped she could keep her hands off him.
“I should get my shower,” he said absently, now looking at her lips.
She nodded and waited a heartbeat too long for him to move first. He didn’t.
So they were officially staring at each other now. The sudden silence of the Y, devoid of the raucous sounds of men grunting and sweating, made the cavernous gym seem intimate. There was nothing but silence until the next pick-up game.
A silence that swelled in a way that boosted the potency in the very air between them. Heat radiated off his moist skin.
“Later, Taylor!”
Jared jerked and turned around and waved as Poe took a step back.
“Shower,” he grunted, pointing towards the locker room as if words were beyond his ability right now.
She nodded.
And she plopped down onto the bench because her wobbly knees just couldn’t hold her upright any longer.
Would it be immature and totally geeky if she bolted right now? Wait, no, she couldn’t. The whole reason she was here was to help her mom. That was her mission and should be the only thing she was focusing on. So no more touching clavicles—or anything else for that matter—even if they were a fine specimen of a horizontal bone.
Oh shit! She was doing it again. Shaking herself, she spent five minutes trying to eradicate the effect Jared had on her. Then
bam,
Jared came though the locker room door and all her composure went flying out the proverbial window.
Seeing him with his hair wet, his gym bag slung over his shoulder and the biceps on that arm pronounced, it took her a full minute to move. But she shook it off like a fighter with a near-miss KO and did her best to look nonchalant and cool as she walked toward him.
Outside, she directed him to her car and they settled inside.
“I hate to do this to you, but I’m so hungry I could eat the north end of a cow goin’ south.”
She laughed. “You’re in luck, then. There’s a burger place across from Callie’s doggie playground.”
“I thought she trained dogs.”
“Don’t let that fool you. Gives her the excuse to play with them. I wish you could meet her.”
“She won’t be there?”
“No, she and Owen are going out with Brooke and Drew for dinner.”
“That is too bad. All your friends sound like pistols.”
“If you mean they’re pains in the asses, you’d be right.” She drove with the very distinct awareness of Jared beside her. “I take it that hungry saying is a Royism?”
“It is.”
“Did you, like, ride the range and rope cattle and stuff like that?” She parked in Callie’s parking lot and turned off the ignition.
“Yup.”
“Can you do that rope thing?” she asked pantomiming a circle with her hand.
“What rope thang, darlin’? He nudged her with his shoulder.
She nudged him back. “You know the twirling thing with the rope.” He grinned and her heart fluttered.
“It’s called a lariat and, yes, I can do that. My father was a natural at it and he taught me tricks every night after supper.”
“Would you show me sometime?”
“On one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You show me one of your dance routines.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” His eyes twinkled.
“Okay.”
They ordered and found a table. Unwrapping her burger, she bit into it with gusto. She was hungry, too.
“So why did you become a vet instead of a dancer?”
She finished chewing and swallowed. “So I could help animals. I loved dancing, but it paled in comparison to having the ability to heal. Saving helpless animals is more tangible, has more impact than me making up movements and then performing them. It didn’t seem a contest after I…saw where dogs went after my father caught and took them off the street.”
“Your father was a dogcatcher? There isn’t anything about you that’s conventional.”
“With a mother who goes by the name of Hummingbird? No, there isn’t. Anyway, he was my hero when I was young. I’m the baby of the family, so you can imagine.”
“I’m the oldest, but I’m sure my younger brother Nate could relate. How many siblings?”
“Two. Austen and Wilde.”
“I see the literary references don’t just stop with your name.”
“My parents were hippies. Love children. My mother stayed at home and my dad got a job. After all, free love and flower power are all well and good, but you can’t live off flowers, you know, unless you own a flower shop.”
Just when she thought she had everything under control, his rich laughter generated those damn zingy tingles all over again. “Austen is my older sister, and she’s named after Jane Austen, of course. My mother loved books, especially
Pride and Prejudice
. Anyway, Austen is a prep school administrator in the City. Westbrooke Academy.
He shrugged.
“Well, I can tell you it’s one of the premiere schools in New York. She’s single and kinda full of herself. And she’s drop-dead gorgeous.”
“She’s got nothing on you.”
Poe flushed and gave him one of those rare, totally spontaneous smiles. “Yes, she does, but you haven’t seen her, so you can’t judge. Anyway, she thinks most of what I do is nonsense, and if she knew about the dog dancing competition, she’d say,” Poe adopted her sister’s snooty voice. “This Fur Ball business is ludicrous.”
“She does sound a bit pompous.”
“Wilde is my witty brother, born in the middle but way, way far from middling. He loves to play the odds. Very much like Oscar Wilde, for whom he’s named.”
“And what does he think of ‘this Fur Ball business’?”
“He doesn’t know. No one does.”
He scrutinized her and she shifted and looked away.
“I thought you were doing this competition for fun.”
“I-I-I am, but my family thinks I can’t handle things just because I was born last and my mom and dad were overprotective.” She had no doubt if she mentioned her mother’s mortgage woe, Jared would want to help. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself. She didn’t want any help, except for him to get the dance routine down. This was about overcoming the odds of a man with two left feet and a cute, but very lazy, hound.
“You said your father was your hero. Did that change?”
She set down her half-eaten burger, losing her appetite. “Yes. It’s hard to admit that out loud. I don’t think I have before, actually. I’ve thought it, and my father knew our relationship wasn’t the same, but he never said anything. He died three years ago.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s all right. The realities of the dog pound made me determined to become someone who could help them. My two Jack Russells are rescues. People think little terriers are adorable as puppies, and they are, but they’re unruly, rambunctious and need a lot of stimulation. When I saw them, it was love at first sight.”
A brief smiled played across his face. And a mouth she really had to stop noticing. And looking at. And wondering about.
“That little brown and white one. I bet he’s a rascal.”
“Allan. He is quite the scamp. Yesterday, he used some woman in the dog park as a ramp to get to her son’s big red balloon and pop it in mid-air.”
“Shoot! Sounds like he belongs in the movies.”
“I have no doubt. He’s the instigator and Edgar just follows his lead.”
“Maybe your dad was just trying to shelter you from the realities of life, Poe.”
“I’m sure he was, but even though I was the baby of the family, I hated being treated like spun glass. I didn’t need to be coddled and I resented it. It’s hard to go back after a picture you thought was indestructible shatters. Kind of difficult to put the pieces back together. I still loved my dad. I just lost those rose-colored glasses.”
“My father seemed that way to me as a child. Indestructible, but when I went back to Texas, to the ranch, he looked fragile.”