Puppy Love

by Lucy Gilmore

  Dawn would have loved it.

  Unfortunately, Sophie was less prepared. She could appreciate Harrison hoisting firewood with the best of them, but as for the rest… Well. She was both unequipped in terms of outdoor gear and severely underdressed for adventure. Jessica had been introduced to her as one of the summer volunteer firefighters, a fact that was not only evident in the ease with which she pitched tents and carried a backpack the size of a large child, but also in her clothes. The curly-haired redhead could have been a walking advertisement for an outdoor catalog. Cargo pants that were mostly pockets, a vest that she’d been informed doubled as a floatation device, and a pair of rugged hiking boots were just the start of what she had to offer.

  Sophie, by comparison, wore a pair of worn jeans and one of her dad’s old dress shirts tied in a knot at the waist. Her Converse shoes, which had seemed like a good idea at the time, were already muddy up to the ankles and making her feet ache.

  “Sorry,” she said, looking down at those shoes with an apology. “What you see is pretty much what you get. This isn’t my usual scene.”

  “Oh, don’t worry,” Jessica said. “It’s not mine either.”

  Sophie swept a doubtful look over her new friend, what with her dangling compass and water pouch strapped to her waist. “What is your usual scene?” she asked. “Foraging on Mars?”

  Jessica shook her head, her curls bouncing playfully. “I’m a kindergarten teacher. You can usually find me knee deep in finger paint and parent-teacher conferences.”

  “Really?” In Sophie’s experience, kindergarten teachers were much more likely to wear chunky sweaters and velvet jumpers. “Then what are you doing out here?”

  “There are quite a few teachers on the volunteer crew, actually.” Jessica started rummaging around her pockets until she extracted a spool of clear fishing line. She handed it to Sophie, who could only hold it awkwardly and wonder what else Jessica was hiding in those pants. “We have summers off, which makes it easy for us to drop everything and come running when there’s a forest fire.”

  “Oh,” Sophie said. Her response felt inadequate, but then, so did she. It wasn’t a new sensation for her, since the majority of her life had been spent trying to catch up to the rest of the world, but she still resented it.

  She’d done her time, paid her dues. What would it take for her to finally feel like a competent member of the human race?

  “Don’t worry so much.” Jessica bumped Sophie with her hip. “I was just as out of place as you once upon a time. You get used to it. I never would have discovered this stuff on my own, but my ex-boyfriend roped me into volunteering one year, and I’ve never looked back.”

  “Your ex-boyfriend?” Sophie thought of the friendly greeting between Jessica and Harrison and had to ask. “Was it…?”

  “Harrison?” Jessica fell into a hearty burst of laughter. “No way. He’s scary.”

  A flush that was equal parts relief and indignation rose to the surface of Sophie’s skin. “He’s not bad—not really. All those grizzled, gruff bits are mostly for show.”

  Jessica just blinked at her.

  “It’s true,” Sophie insisted. “He’s really very sweet.”

  “Sweet? Are we sure we’re talking about the same man?”

  Sophie’s hand clenched so firmly around the spool of fishing line, it started cutting into her palm. Okay, so he took a little while to warm up, but he was a sight better than most of the people she knew. At least he was up-front about who he was, honest about what he had to offer. Even his response to her health history was on par with what she expected of him. Grunting silence and a steady emotional retreat were his favorite states of being.

  She didn’t get a chance to voice her indignation, however, because Jessica stopped her with a strange look.

  “Didn’t you notice how no one said anything about the fact that there’s a puppy strapped to Harrison’s chest like a baby?”

  “Well, yes.” Sophie shifted from one foot to the other, unsure if she cared for the intensity of Jessica’s gaze. “But it’s not as if he has any other choice. He has to get her used to it—the puppy, that is. Bubbles will be heading out with him during the fire season for hours at a time, so they both have to be comfortable with the pouch. It’s good practice.”

  “So…it was your idea?”

  “Yeah. I read a few case studies. It’s the best way for someone as active as Harrison.” And a puppy as skittish as Bubbles, but she didn’t say that part out loud.

  “You just handed him a baby sling, and he put it on?”

  “I mean, he wasn’t excited about it, but I hardly expected him to be.” Sophie smiled, remembering his expression. “He came around in the end. I knew he would. He’ll do anything for that puppy.”

  Jessica release a long, low whistle and shook her head. “You’re a stronger woman than I, that’s for sure. I doubt I’d have made it through Harrison’s training if my ex hadn’t been so determined that we do this together. I cried three times the first day.”

  “He made you cry?” Sophie asked, incredulous. This woman looked like she drank tears for breakfast.

  “He makes everyone cry.” Jessica heaved a sigh. “Well, he didn’t make my ex cry, but I learned that was only because the jerk doesn’t have a heart. We broke up not too much later, but Harrison fought to make sure I got the wildfire crew in the split, so it wasn’t all bad. He saved me in a way. Volunteering was one of the only things that got me through that mess. You’ll like it—you pick stuff up much quicker than you realize.”

  Sophie raised her hands and took a step back. “Oh, I’m not part of the team. I’m just here to—”

  She bumped into a warm male body. Two hands dropped to her waist to steady her, lingering long enough for her heart to leap in her chest. She turned, trying to temper her reaction to one that was more appropriate to the time and place, but there was no need. It wasn’t Harrison coming to see how she was faring; it was Derek.

  Like Jessica, Harrison, and pretty much everyone besides Sophie, he looked fearfully capable of handling any and all feats of outdoor athleticism. His shorn head and fatigue-style camouflage spoke to a military past, but his wide smile made him highly approachable.

  “I came to see how you were holding up,” he said. “She’s terrifying, right?”

  “Oh, no, Jessica’s been lovely—” Sophie began, but Derek laughed and turned his attention to the other woman.

  “I haven’t asked her yet how she managed to get Harrison to wear a puppy, but I like to think it involved blackmail or witchcraft. Possibly both.”

  “Witchcraft is my guess,” Jessica said with a warm, crooked smile that robbed her words of any cruelty. “Sophie doesn’t seem like the blackmail type, but I could totally see her chanting curses over a lock of Harrison’s hair.”

  “I’m really not…” she tried again, but there was no point. These two had obviously already made their own highly inaccurate assessment of her relationship with Harrison. If Sophie could get him to bend with a few muttered hexes, she’d have done so long before now.

  “Oh, she’s done a lot more than curse him,” Derek said. “I was inside Harrison’s house this morning. He baby proofed it, Jessica. There was a gate in one doorway and those plastic doohickeys in all the electrical outlets.”

  It wasn’t that strange. “Puppies are naturally inquisitive creatures,” Sophie protested. “Even the well-trained ones. And to be fair, I thought the toilet locks might end up being the deal breaker. Even his dad was a tough sell.”

  Both Jessica and Derek turned to stare at her.

  “You’ve tackled Wallace too?” Derek asked. “Damn, honey. I underestimated you—you’re nothing short of a sorceress.”

  “I have high hopes of winning the cooking contest now,” Jessica said. Was it Sophie’s imagination, or was that woman looking at her with something akin to awe? “What’s the game plan, oh wise one? Do we attempt to fish this part of the river, or would you rather set traps i
n hopes of getting something with a little red meat on its bones?”

  “Um.”

  “Red meat,” Derek said with a nod. “It’s the only way to take home the prize. That or something with wings.”

  “Don’t you have a partner of your own?” Jessica angled her body in a possessive stance in front of Sophie. “I already called dibs on Sophie. Besides, I thought you and Harrison always teamed up.”

  “We do, but he’s in a mood to sour Mother Mary’s breast milk.” He rubbed his hands together, a wide smile lighting his face. “I’d much rather help you ladies. Shall we do one of each? By air, by land, and by sea?”

  “I want sea,” Jessica said, finding nothing strange in this plan.

  “Then I call land,” Derek decided. “I saw a family of ground squirrels over by the camp that looked mighty lazy. I can probably catch one with my bare hands.”

  Their expectant gazes turned Sophie’s way once more. Their misplaced confidence in her was touching, but she had never purposefully killed anything that didn’t belong to the arachnid family—and even then, she always felt a twinge of conscience. “Um, I’ll take air?”

  Jessica started clapping, while Derek slapped a meaty palm on her back. “That’s our girl. Between the three of us, I’m sure we’ll end up with something. Right, sorceress?”

  Sophie looked down at the spool of fishing line in her hand and sighed. She could no more trap a bird than she could trap a man, but short of turning tail and asking Harrison to take her home to her mother, she didn’t see what choice she had.

  “Why not? I’m sure I’ll bring down a hawk in no time.”

  Derek laughed at the doubt in her voice. “Don’t worry so much, Sophie. From the way Harrison was glowering at everyone who so much as looked at either you or his puppy the wrong way, you’ve already brought down much worse than that.”

  * * *

  “It’s called a bolas.” Derek lifted his arm overhead and started whipping the long rope in an arc. As the rope was weighted on both ends with a rock the size of Bubbles, Sophie felt it was prudent to duck out of the way.

  Way out of the way. Behind the nearest tree, in fact.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Derek called. “I’m just getting to the good part.”

  “I can see everything better from over here,” Sophie called back. Then, because he’d spent quite a bit of time handcrafting his weapon and it seemed rude to go into hiding, she added, “So, what happens now? You throw it and hope it murders something midair?”

  “First of all, it’s not murder.” Derek’s chest puffed up as he continued his maniacal rotations. Honestly, it was a good thing most of these people were first-aid experts of some sort. It would be a wonder if any of them got out of here alive. “It’s a time-honored gaucho practice that you’re lucky to witness firsthand. And secondly—well, yes, but I’ve never actually brought something down this way.”

  Sophie laughed. Apparently, the by land, by sea, and by air idea was more of an excuse to play with ropes than to catch anything. It was a good thing Jessica had the foresight to hand Sophie a pouch and point out which roots were edible, so she could gather a backup plan while she watched Derek at work.

  “Am I supposed to scare up some birds or something?” Sophie asked after a few minutes of Derek whirling his bolas in a fruitless effort. “By like…running through the bushes and making lots of noise?”

  “If you’re smart, you’ll tell him you saw something over by the trailhead.” A crunch of leaves underfoot and the sound of Harrison’s deep voice caused her to turn.

  She tried not to swoon at the sight of him carrying a fishing rod and wearing a puppy strapped to his chest, but it was difficult. A ruggedly handsome man in outdoor gear and a baby sling was a more powerful sight than most people could stand, she was sure—especially as he looked completely at ease while he did it. His wide shoulders and casual stance spoke of a level of confidence Sophie could only dream of.

  And dream of it—of him—she did.

  “Is there something by the trailhead?” she asked. She was pleased to find that her speaking abilities remained intact, even if her reason wasn’t.

  “No. That’s why it’s your best bet. The only person he’ll maim over there is himself.” Without waiting for Sophie to decide whether she wanted to be alone with Harrison, he called out to his friend. “Yo, Derek. Make yourself useful and clear out, would you?”

  Derek looked over with a grin. “Why? So you can have Sophie all to yourself? No way. I was just about to impress her with my mad throwing skills. Ladies love mad throwing skills.”

  Harrison didn’t say a word, but before Sophie could do more than blink, Derek had dropped his throwing arm and was grumbling good-naturedly about his defeat. “Fine. I’ll go, and I’ll take your stupid puppy for a walk too. You win this round, Parks, but I don’t give up that easily.”

  Sophie looked back and forth between the men, wondering what had passed between them in that brief moment. From what she could tell, Harrison looked much the same as he always did—a little more relaxed than usual, in fact—but he had still managed to convey to the other man that his stake had been claimed.

  She, for one, didn’t mind being that stake. No one had ever tried to claim her before. She kind of liked it.

  “Keep Bubbles away from fire, and don’t give her any table scraps,” Harrison ordered. “I’m not kidding, Derek.”

  Derek nodded once. “Aye, aye, captain.”

  “I mean it. Put her on a leash and hold it like your life depends on it.”

  “Does my life depend on it?” he asked with a playful air.

  Harrison’s only response was a gruff “Yes.”

  As was the case when Harrison had told her to sweep the back hallway at the church, Sophie knew that Derek would follow those orders to the letter. Some things in this world were too powerful to deny, and Harrison Parks issuing commands in his rumbling, authoritative voice was one of them.

  Of course, her awe at Harrison’s authority didn’t last long. She did her best to hold on to it as he began the task of unbuckling Bubbles from her pouch. She tried even harder when he told Bubbles that her look of utter despair wouldn’t move him from his intentions.

  She gave up altogether when he handed the puppy to Derek as one handing over the Holy Grail.

  “It’s like taking a kid to daycare,” he said, careful not to meet Sophie’s eye. “She’ll cry for the first few minutes, but it’s all for show. I know it looks and sounds like it, but her heart won’t actually break in two.”

  “How’s she doing so far?” she asked as soon as her giggles subsided and Derek disappeared from view, Bubbles tucked firmly under one arm. Although she knew there had to be a dozen or so men and women wandering around, they appeared to be alone. “I heard you give the order not to light any fires until dusk.”

  “I’m not taking any chances,” he said in a voice of grim determination.

  “That was smart. We can make sure you two are good and snuggled before it gets going.”

  Harrison showed a marked tendency to twitch at the prospect of being good and snuggled, so she quickly changed the subject.

  “You brought your own rod and tackle, I see,” she said.

  “What?”

  She nodded down at his hand. “Your rod and tackle—for fishing. Not, according to Jessica, a euphemism for something fun.”

  Suddenly, she could understand how Derek could have interpreted a brief Harrison expression as an order to turn tail and run as fast as his legs would take him. That cloudy look signaled an incoming storm of the cataclysmic variety.

  Fortunately for her, she didn’t mind getting a little wet. Or, you know, a lot wet.

  “You don’t have to look at me like that,” she said. “I said it wasn’t a euphemism for something fun, if you know what I mean.”

  “I know damn well what you mean,” he said. “Just promise me you will never refer to a man’s junk as his rod and tackle again.”

&
nbsp; She laughed, more pleased than she could say that he was still willing to fight her. Telling him about her history with Oscar had carried a risk; there was a good chance that he, like everyone else in her life, would start treating her like she was breakable, delicate.

  But he hadn’t. Even with all of Harrison’s flaws, the one thing he’d never done was handle her delicately. He’d never treated her as anything other than a hot-blooded woman capable of standing up for herself.

  Which, for the first time in her life, was exactly what she felt like.

  “His frank and beans then,” she suggested.

  His lips began their telltale twitch. “No.”

  “Pillar and stones?”

  “You stole that from George R. R. Martin.”

  “Prince Harry and the twins?”

  “Stop it.”

  “I’m running out of options. How about the lieutenant and his rearguard?”

  The smile on his face was now unmistakable. “That’s not even a real one.”

  “Fine.” She heaved a fake sigh. “Lay it on me. What do you call them?”

  Despite the devastating grin that lightened her soul, his stare remained molten fire. She felt it burn all the way down to her toes, sparking awareness in every part of her body. Strangely enough, it was a slow burn. She’d have thought, with a man like Harrison Parks, that once he started kindling, he’d set fire to everything he touched with passionate, unchecked fury.

  She was wrong. Instead, heat flooded to the surface of her skin, warming her from the outside in, making her feel as though his entire body was pressed on top of hers. She shivered despite the heat. Having his body pressed on top of hers was suddenly the only thing she wanted.

  Well, besides the lieutenant and his rearguard. But that went without saying.

  “Do you mean me specifically, or options I’d find acceptable in the general sense?”

  “Oh dear.” She clucked her tongue. “I never realized you’d made such an in-depth study of the scepter and family jewels.”