“When did you want to start our bet?” he asked, eyes gleaming.
“What bet?” Madison mumbled, her mouth full.
“Teddy. Who can take better care of him?” Collin raised his fork and pointed it at the puppy, who now sat, ears at attention, as he watched the two of them eat, no doubt hoping for scraps to fall on the floor.
“Should we even do that? I mean...” With the more serious Jimmy threat, did they have time to play games?
“We absolutely should,” Collin said. “You need to take your mind off Jimmy Reese. Stress isn’t good for you or the baby.” Collin laid his hand on her knee. “And you know Reese as well as I do. Part of what gets him off is freaking you out. He likes to get into people’s heads.”
That was true. Jimmy Reese wanted nothing more than to play puppet master.
“He’s not in my head.” Just a little bit, maybe. Or a lot. “And I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can. But it’ll be easier if you let me help.” Collin squeezed her knee. She glanced at his eyes, sparkling in the low lamplight of the eat-in kitchen. “But the bet isn’t that you can’t take care of yourself. It’s that you can’t take care of Teddy.”
Madison laughed. “Taking care of me is a cakewalk compared to taking care of the dog. But I can do it.”
“Prove it,” Collin challenged her. He withdrew his hand and she felt the coolness of air against her skin once more, missing his touch.
“I will.”
“Good.” Collin grinned, and somehow Madison couldn’t help feeling that he’d won the first round.
* * *
THEY DECIDED TO begin the bet immediately, with Madison taking the first shift. She began the evening in full confidence, with the puppy falling asleep on her lap on the sofa, but soon found out that the tide could turn at a moment’s notice. Just as Madison lifted him up and prepared to carry him upstairs to his towel bed in the bathroom, he leaped out of her arms and knocked over a vase, shattering it into a dozen pieces on the tiled floor. The dog, eager to investigate, seemed hell-bent on eating a glass shard, which made it nearly impossible to clean up the mess and keep him out of it.
“Are you going to help?” Madison asked Collin as she scooped Teddy into her arms. The puppy wriggled and tried to get free, apparently on some kind of suicide mission to romp through the broken glass.
Collin sat, legs up on the coffee table, reading his phone intently, not bothering to look up from the screen. “You’re in charge. That means no help from me.”
“Since when?”
“Since I made up the rule just now.” He flashed her a teasing grin. “Besides, I thought we had a bet about which one of us could take better care of him—alone. Looks like I’m winning by default.”
Madison made a growling sound and carried Teddy over to the laundry room, where she popped him behind the slatted white doors. He pawed at them and whined loudly.
“Stay,” she ordered him, even though the door was latched shut. He wasn’t tall enough to reach doorknobs—yet. Thank goodness.
Madison got to work sweeping up the shards of glass with a broom and a dustpan, all the while watching Collin relax, feet up, nose buried in his phone. His ignoring her and the problem at hand annoyed her. Even the sight of his long tanned, muscular legs stretched, feet resting on the coffee table didn’t do anything to make her feel less frustrated.
“You’re really just going to sit there.”
“Yep,” he said, his finger scrolling across the screen, his eyes focused on the information there. “You said you were better at taking care of the dog, so here we are.”
“What’s so interesting on your phone that you can’t help?” she asked, wondering for a split second if it was another woman. He said it had been a year since he’d had sex, but what if there were other women he’d been flirting with? Maybe another defense attorney he’d left back in Fort Myers. Rumors about the prosecutor’s exploits spread like wildfire through the court. He’d even once been linked to a married judge, though no one had proof of that. Madison never understood why the rumors didn’t affect his reputation. He was still respected and feared as a prosecutor, although he took loving and leaving women to a new level.
Still, he wouldn’t be talking to another woman now, would he?
He wouldn’t really be out here, on this island, proposing to her and texting other women? And he’d told her he hadn’t been with anyone since her—or before her—for a long while. Maybe all those rumors were just that? Rumors.
“I’m reading a book on babies,” he said, holding up his phone to show the e-book on his screen. “And it looks like they have quite a lot in common with puppies. For instance, the advice that you should move all breakables high above the baby’s reach. The vase was your fault. So, that means a point for me.”
“You have to be kidding me.” Madison dropped the dustpan’s contents into the open bin of the trashcan, and they hit the bottom of the bag with an orchestra of clinks.
“It says right here in this book that once babies are mobile and crawling, everything needs to be baby-proofed. Or in this case, puppy-proofed.” He motioned around the small condo. “There’s the electrical outlets...and all the breakables.”
“I don’t think a puppy will stick a knife in a socket,” Madison muttered, although she had to admit Collin did have a point about the breakables. There were low shelves behind the couch, littered with glass figures and shells, as well as a big ceramic bowl in the center of the coffee table. There was another end table holding a blue crystal vase that once matched the one now in pieces in the garbage.
Madison finished sweeping up the finer bits of glass, then went to work removing all the breakables from Teddy-level. After that, she secured the lower cabinet doors by slipping an oversized wooden spoon through both handles—just in case the dog got smart enough to figure out how to open them. Madison put one hand on her hip and surveyed the now mostly bare living room and then went to the other rooms and did a breakables sweep there as well. She managed to collect a big armful of stuff that she locked inside a hall closet. There. Danger averted.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of Teddy jumping up and a big thumping boom.
Collin looked up from his phone this time, long enough to make a disapproving sound and shake his head. Madison felt like punching the smug prosecutor in the face.
She hurried over to the laundry and found Teddy sitting in a pile of dryer sheets, busy ripping one to shreds.
“Teddy! Bad boy! Bad, bad boy!” Madison scooped him up and pulled the sheet out of his mouth. “Would you hold him so I can clean this up?” Collin glanced up from his phone.
“Oh? Are you asking for help? Does this mean you forfeit the challenge?” He raised his eyebrows, eyes gleaming with confidence.
“No, absolutely not.” She wasn’t about to lose this bet. She looked around the living room and saw Teddy’s leash on the kitchen table. She grabbed it, attached it to the dog, then tied it to a kitchen cabinet.
“Stay,” she said, even though he didn’t have a choice in the matter. Teddy whined again and put up one begging paw. “Just stay. I’ll be back.”
She returned to the utility room and picked up all the dryer sheets. She managed to get some of them back in the box, and then tucked the box higher up in a closed cabinet. She was puzzled about how the little dog had reached the top of the dryer where the box had been sitting, until she realized he’d stood on top of a full basket of folded towels to manage it. Little sneak.
“Uh-oh, uh... Madison?” Collin said from the living room. “You might want to come see this.”
Madison rounded the corner in time to witness Teddy, still tied to the cabinet, sniffing the floor. He hunched his back and pooped, right there on the kitchen floor.
“Teddy! No! Bad boy!” she scolded, rushing over, but it was too late; the damage was already done. S
he got a whiff of the earthy pile, which almost made her retch. Guess the pregnancy made her sensitive to smells, too. Either that or Teddy’s accident smelled worse than should be possible. What had the dog eaten? And then she remembered—all her table scraps. Oh, sweet irony.
“You sure you don’t want help cleaning that up?” Collin asked.
“No,” Madison muttered through clenched teeth. “I don’t need your help.” Whatever happened next, she wasn’t about to lose this bet. No matter how disgusting Teddy’s mess was. She reached for the paper towel roll on the kitchen counter, held her breath and knelt down.
“Oh, Teddy,” she groaned. “Outside. We go outside.” After dumping the mess into the kitchen trash, she took Teddy by the leash and led him down the steps and to the grassy patch of yard. She stood beneath the stars and glared at the dog, who sat in the evening air, wagging his tail, looking completely oblivious to the fact that he’d caused any trouble.
“I guess it’s not like you really need to go or anything,” she told the puppy. “Not anymore.” She couldn’t wait until Collin had his turn managing the dog.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING, as Collin lay sleeping, Madison stood by the bedside with Teddy in her arms. Collin hadn’t heard the dog whine, but Madison had awakened immediately, having always been a light sleeper. She’d taken him outside, but rain from the night before had left a layer of mud across the yard. She’d picked him up on his way in and was heading to the master bathroom to clean his paws.
Collin peacefully slept, and lay sprawled, shirtless in bed, one bare leg outside the covers. She admired his impressive chest, the well-defined pecs, the tanned skin she’d explored just two days ago. But the night before, Madison had slept on the couch, determined not to be near Collin and his expert hands. She’d gone to sleep furious at him for leaving her to her own devices with Teddy, angry that he hadn’t even helped her take out the stinky garbage bag full of his accident and the shards of glass.
Collin, for his part, had just chuckled to himself and happily taken the bed. He hadn’t even slept on the couch like a true gentleman would have! No. He’d shrugged and said, “Suit yourself,” when she’d declared her intent to sleep in the living room. Teddy had curled up at her feet and they’d both gone to sleep.
The fact that Collin looked so very comfortable, and so very sexy in the bed, made her all the angrier. She glanced at Teddy, who looked up at her with his big puppy-dog eyes. His paws, sandy and a bit muddy, had already left smudges on Madison’s pink tank top. She scowled at her shirt and at the sleeping Collin. Why shouldn’t he share in this fun? And then it occurred to her that it was technically his day now, his turn to look after the dog and prove he could do it—alone.
She dropped Teddy on the covers, muddy paws and all, and let him jump right on Collin. The dog began licking Collin’s face, and rubbing mud all over his chest. Madison felt a little bad about it, but then she remembered how he’d refused to help her the night before and all guilt vanished.
“Hey... What the...?” Collin cried, waking up to find himself being attacked by a dirty dog.
Madison snickered. “Your turn to take care of him,” she sang, then whirled around and left. Now it was her day to sit in a chair, put her feet up and read a book.
She waited in the hallway for a second, almost expecting to hear a string of curses from Collin, but instead, a calm quiet descended. Hesitantly, she opened the door and saw him calmly stripping the sheets. Bath water ran in the adjoining bathroom and she heard a happy bark and splash from behind the closed door.
“Don’t worry,” Collin said with an annoying grin on his face. “I’ve got this.”
He shut the door, leaving Madison staring at it. Well, she thought, the day was long. Give him three more hours with that dog and then see how he felt about it.
* * *
COLLIN BADLY WANTED a nap. He’d taken Teddy out every hour on the hour to make sure the dog didn’t have any accidents inside the house, and he’d played with him long enough to tire him out. So, the dog, at least, had a little siesta. Honestly, Collin was close to losing it, but pretended that caring for the puppy was the simplest thing in the world, in part because it drove Madison mad. Also, he wanted to keep her mind off Jimmy Reese and the plainclothes cops who’d be arriving today to act as babysitters.
Nothing about taking care of the dog was easy. Teddy tried to eat a pencil, nearly swallowed a bottle cap he’d found in the garbage and managed to completely destroy a fishing fly lure and a kitchen tea towel. He barely had any interest in the dog food they set out for him, but dug happily in the garbage for scraps that he dragged all over the kitchen floor.
And that was just the first hour.
Collin needed a break already, but he couldn’t show it. Not with Madison watching his every move, waiting for him to mess up so she could claim victory. Collin didn’t think he’d ever done anything as hard as taking care of this puppy—and he’d stayed up two nights straight studying for the bar exam. He’d put murderers behind bars. But this... Well, this was a whole new problem. None of his life’s three rules applied here: 1) Never lose (except that a puppy didn’t seem to know how to keep score); 2) Bad guys deserve the book thrown at them (except the puppy wasn’t a bad guy, just an animal who hadn’t been trained); and 3) Never sleep with the enemy (except that right now, all he wanted to do was get Madison naked and in his bed).
He sighed. Life was so much simpler when the three rules worked. Here, with this puppy, he was adrift, not quite sure what he was supposed to do, and his three rules were no help whatsoever.
Teddy ran over and tripped on his big puppy paws, skidding into the middle of the living room floor. He looked goofy and adorable.
“He’s so cute,” called Madison, watching him from her perch on the couch and laughing. She had a bowl of vanilla ice cream in her lap and an open magazine on her knees. “See? All paws!”
“He’s just getting by on his looks,” Collin grumbled. “He wouldn’t survive on his charm.”
“Oh, Teddy’s charming. Aren’t you, boy?” Teddy galloped over and gave Madison’s waiting hand a lick. She dissolved into giggles.
Collin imagined her delight with a baby. She had such a big heart, and she’d give any child a loving home. He already knew that all the discipline would fall to him. If Madison had her way, the kid would be hopelessly spoiled, like this puppy. Teddy sniffed at her bowl of ice cream, but she lifted it up and out of his reach.
“Mama’s not done yet,” she cooed at him. The dog sat near the couch, his tail thumping against the floor.
“Don’t feed him sweets,” Collin said. The last thing he needed was the dog having a runny accident in the house.
“I won’t.” Madison sounded defensive as she took a spoonful of ice cream. God, the woman was sexy, just sitting in cutoffs and eating ice cream. He felt his groin tighten. How did she have that effect on him?
While he was distracted by her absently eating ice cream and thumbing through her magazine, Teddy got up and wandered into the dining room. Collin, transfixed by Madison, hardly noticed. Then he glanced up and saw Teddy pee on a chair leg.
“No!” he cried, jumping up. “Outside! Outside!” Yet, he knew it was partially his fault. He’d waited past the recommended hour to take him out, and this was what happened. He’d done online research. He was supposed to take the damn puppy out every hour, just in case, and when he did pee, he was supposed to receive lavish praise (or treats). Or both.
Collin was almost beginning to wish he was back in court facing evildoers like Jimmy Reese. They, at least, presented a comparatively straightforward problem.
“You might want to clean that up,” Madison called from the couch, her feet elevated, still eating her ice cream. All she had to do was put a pickle in it and she’d be a living stereotype. She’d eaten nearly everything in the fridge, including a jar of olives. Now, she
was taking a page out of his mockery book, and he didn’t like it.
“No worries. I’ve got it,” he said, trying to keep his voice light and unstressed as he grabbed cleaning spray and a roll of paper towels, which were all but gone. Inwardly, he cursed the dog, who seemed to have a bladder smaller than a lima bean. Mentally, he ran through every swearword he knew as he lifted up the little dog and opened the screened patio door, dumping him unceremoniously onto the mat.
“Careful!” Madison called after him. “Be gentle!”
“I am being gentle!” he called back over his shoulder, thinking that not gentle would look like opening the back door and letting him run away—again, only this time not bothering to look for him. The puppy cocked his head, floppy ears looking adorable. He might be cute, but he was a menace.
Furiously, Collin cleaned up the pee puddle using the last of the paper towels and inwardly cursed again when he realized they didn’t have any upholstery cleaner, which meant that the white and ivory swirling pattern on the leg of the chair would most likely be forever stained puppy-pee yellow.
“Now, are you willing to admit that being a parent is hard?” Madison asked Collin, standing over him as he uselessly wiped the chair with paper towels.
“I never said it was easy,” he grumbled. Angrily, he picked up the spray cleaner and doused the chair leg with it. Better than nothing, he thought.
“You acted like it would be a breeze.”
Collin sat back on his haunches. “You’re the one who thought it would be so easy you’d just go it alone! Are you ready to admit that you need help?”
“I’m not the one who just sprayed Clorox on the chair leg.”
Collin glanced down and realized he’d sprayed bleach on the upholstery. “Is that bad?”
“Terrible,” she said, unable to hide a smile.
“Seriously?” He stood and backed away, studying the upholstered chair leg for damage. He read the back of the bottle; it didn’t say anything about not spraying on furniture.
“Don’t worry about it. It’ll probably be fine. Just wet a...”
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