Always a Bridesmaid

by Cindi Madsen

  He flopped down at her side so he could get in on the cuddling action, too.

  “Trust me,” Ford said. “You’re gonna want to take this deal.”

  “I find that any time someone starts a sentence with ‘trust me,’ it’s a good indicator I should run. There’s this thing called male-pattern falseness and—”

  “My God, woman, do you ever stop prattling on and on?” he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. If he hadn’t cracked open an eye and added a smile to the sentence that came out more on the teasing side, she’d be out of here. But now she wanted to hear the proposal.

  Securing the wiggliest puppy to her chest, she sat up and blew her bangs out of her face. “Why don’t you give me this offer I can’t refuse, and we’ll see?” She added an over-the-top zipping motion across her mouth.

  “Assist me with an hour of training, and I’ll let you help name them.”

  Violet should pass. Head back to the bakery. But Larry and Cheryl might still be there, if not in near proximity with a high chance of an uncomfortable run-in. She retrieved her phone and sent a text to Maisy explaining why she’d split and informing her that she was with Ford.

  She pivoted the screen to him. “There. Now my sister knows I’m with you, so you’d best behave yourself.”

  Of course she added a quick selfie of her with the puppies to the text, because puppies. Bonus, she could send it to the Bridesmaid Crew chat, too. “All right, Mr. Firefighter. You have a deal.”

  Ford extended his hand, and when she placed her palm in his, her skin hummed. “Deal. But full disclosure? I have no intention of behaving.”

  …

  In order to train the puppies to find an object or person by scent, there were these things called scent pads. According to Ford, as the dogs improved and got the hang of tracking, they’d place the pads farther and farther away.

  After Ford gave her a rundown of how it worked, they left a pouty Pyro at the house, since he had to stay behind for this mission. They put harnesses and long lead ropes on the puppies and headed behind Ford’s house, which backed to a forested area with a path that led to the lake.

  “I don’t want to confuse the puppies with too many scents, so we should split up.” Ford studied the three fur babies. “Although, now I’m wondering which one would be the easiest for you to handle.”

  Violet scooped up the male puppy that’d undone her shoelaces, and her heart nearly imploded as he cocked his head and studied her. “I want this one.”

  “Oh, I don’t think you can handle him. He has ADD.”

  “Omigosh, same.” Plenty of people joked about ADD, and she’d never minded. Well, up until Benjamin rolled his eyes and asked if she’d taken her meds. At the same time, giving people a heads-up helped her feel less rude when she perpetually lost track of conversations. “It’ll be a match made in—oh look a squirrel!”

  Ford’s sputtered laughter startled the two puppies at his feet. They glanced from him to her, tan eyebrows twitching. “I’m not sure two distracteds make a whole.”

  “Hey, just because someone is easily distracted doesn’t mean they can’t get shit done.” She gathered the puppy closer, and her insides turned squishy on her. The next sentence came out heavy on the baby-animal talk. “We’ll show him, won’t we?”

  Four doggy legs pedaled through the air, as if he were ready to prove Ford wrong, too.

  “That settles it. Distracto’s with me.” Violet lowered him to the ground, rubbed a hand over his soft doggie fur, and grabbed a scent pad. They headed the opposite direction as Ford and the rest of the crew.

  Once they’d gotten far enough away that she couldn’t see the others, she let the little guy sniff the pad.

  She’d only placed it a couple of yards away, exactly like Ford had told her to, but Distracto kept getting…well, distracted. He circled a scrawny tree and peed on it.

  A yellow-and-black bird landed on the ground and began hopping around, and Distracto towed Violet away from the pad.

  His tug jolted her shoulder, and she quickened her pace to keep up with him. “Dude, we’re going the wrong way. We’ve got to head back.”

  Clearly the puppy understood, because he immediately changed directions.

  For two whole seconds.

  Then a shrub dared to quiver in the wind. The puppy barked at it, the noise so tiny and high-pitched that Violet released a squeaky sound of her own—he was too freaking adorable for words.

  The puppy then attacked the bobbing branch—and lost.

  He followed that up by peeing on another stump.

  Violet tapped her foot as she waited for him to finish his business, her sense of urgency growing by the second. “What is Ford giving you to drink? I’m not even sure how your tiny bladder could possibly hold that much liquid.”

  Distracto gave an arf!

  Violet moved the scent pad in the direction Distracto favored, so naturally he headed in the opposite direction. “No, wait. It’s this way.”

  A bug with a disgusting amount of legs required persecution, and she shuddered as the puppy nudged it with his paw. But who was she to prevent one less bug from crawling into town to find her?

  After that, she spotted a carpet of green plants with miniature purple flowers, and then she was the one going in for a closer look.

  “No, don’t eat them,” she said, holding the puppy back when he tried to chomp on the petals. He nibbled on Violet’s finger instead, and she accepted the slobber so the plants didn’t have to.

  Those would be so cute in a wedding bouquet. Like the purple version of baby’s breath.

  Not that she needed any more ideas. Much like reaching for her camera, it was second nature. Planning a wedding for a decade did that to you, causing you to catalog each item that might add another touch of perfection.

  Over the years, her tastes had changed, but—lucky her—she had more than enough time to update her binder of uselessness.

  Enough dwelling on that.

  Violet stood and glanced around as Distracto tugged the leash this way and that. “Shoot, where did the pad go?”

  It took some zigzagging before they found their target. Since she was afraid Distracto might’ve forgotten the smell, Violet let him sniff, then gave him one of the doggy treats from her pocket.

  “Finding this pad means more treats. Got it?”

  She relocated him a few yards away, and they started over.

  And by started over, she meant another round with a grasshopper and a blade of grass and a fly.

  Finally, Violet knelt on the spongy ground, the knees of her jeans sopping up the moisture. “Listen. If Ford finds out we didn’t even make it to the scent pad once, we’ll never hear the end of it.” She patted the puppy’s head, fighting to not let herself be swayed by his big brown eyes. “You like hanging out with me, right?”

  Distracto sat on his rump and scratched his chin with his back paw. Once she took over the scratching, he climbed into her lap and nuzzled his nose into the crook of her elbow.

  “See, this isn’t helping.”

  Much like her baby talk probably wasn’t helping. Must remain strong.

  Gently, she placed the puppy on the ground. She withdrew one of the bone-shaped doggy treats and waved it in front of him. He pounced for it, and she slowly moved it another foot away. Her thighs burned from being hunched over, but Distracto was heading toward the pad again.

  Excitement zoomed through her, overtaking her thoughts about her strained muscles. “Good job, buddy. Now that we’ve made up the ground we lost, we only have to make it a couple of yards.”

  Another foot down.

  Then a stinking butterfly had to show off, flitting its yellow wings as it flew low.

  Distracto charged after it, and Violet gathered the rope and stopped him short.

  “You’re killin’ me, Smalls.”


  The sad-puppy eyes made her feel like a big jerk.

  Violet looked around, and when she didn’t see Ford, she picked up Distracto and put him a foot or so past where they’d started. She broke the doggy bone in half and lifted it in front of his face. “If I let you eat this, you’ve got to promise to make it to the pad. You’ll get the rest of the treat when you do. Deal?”

  The puppy pawed at her leg, desperately trying to snatch the treat, and she bobbed it up and down. His muzzle mimicked the motion, a coerced head nod that totally counted.

  “Good enough.” Violet carried him a foot closer to the pad and fed him the first half of the doggy bone.

  But before she could get him to keep going—because he certainly wasn’t doing it on his own—a loud throat clearing, followed by a deep “What do you think you’re doing?” made her jump.

  She whirred around to see Ford standing with the other two leashed puppies, his arms crossed. “Hey.” Her voice came out way too high, with the guilty edge that accompanied being caught.

  Ford cocked his head. “Hey? Seriously?”

  “Oh, do you prefer to be more formal? Hello, Ford Whatever-your-last-name-is. It’s a pleasure to come across you in the swampy Alabama woods. Tis been such a long time since I had the pleasure of company on my midday stroll.”

  He pressed his lips into a flat line, refusing to smile, but his eyes crinkled at the corners. “Violet.”

  Her throat went dry as he strode toward her. “Mm-hmm?”

  “I saw you cheating. You can’t give him a treat until he reaches the pad.”

  “We had a deal,” she said.

  “I know, and you broke it.”

  “I meant Distracto and me.” She turned to the puppy, as if he’d back her up. He, in turn, barked at a bush, lifted his leg, and peed on it. “See, I told him I would give him half the treat now, and he’d get the rest when he reached the pad.”

  The tips of Ford’s shoes hit the toes of hers, and her pulse beat so fast it left her dizzy. “That’s not when he gets one. Looks like I’m gonna have to take the treats and give ’em out as I see fit.”

  Violet swung her arm behind her, the remaining two and a half doggy bones clenched in her fist. “He’s trying his best.”

  “No, you’re a sucker.” Ford extended his open palm and gestured for her to hand over the reward treats.

  “No, I’m…okay, maybe a little bit of a sucker, but give me another chance.”

  His chest bumped hers as he reached around her to pry the treats from her hand, and she stretched the limits of her arm. Fabric rustled, a swirl upended her stomach, and she suppressed a shiver as his callused fingertips grazed her arm.

  A shriek escaped as he began prying open her fingers one by one. The puppy at her feet barked and wedged himself between them.

  Then Distracto shocked them both with a growl.

  She assumed, anyway, since Ford’s jaw dropped, too.

  He peered down at the fur baby, and Violet winced, afraid Distracto was about to get in trouble.

  Instead, pride and a hint of delight shone through Ford’s features. “I’ll be damned. You must be more motivating than I thought if he’s ready to take me on to defend you.”

  Only with the puppy still growling, his brother and sister came to join the fray. They circled and jumped, barking and carrying on, and, at some point, they began chasing one another instead of defending her honor.

  Guess that was the problem with relying on an easily distracted guard dog.

  Ford and Violet spun, attempting to get the puppies to calm down, but the lead ropes began winding around their legs, and Violet gripped onto Ford’s arms as she was the one suddenly fighting—gravity. “Whoa.”

  “You guys,” Ford started, but the biggest of the puppies took off one way as the female shot in the opposite direction. “Stay! Sit!”

  Violet swayed backward, bracing for a fall.

  Lightning quick, Ford wrapped his arms around her and pivoted, taking the brunt of the fall. They hit the ground hard, Ford landing on his butt with Violet sprawled on top of him.

  A giggle started low in her throat, until she was laughing full-out. “You’re right. Your training methods are clearly better than mine.”

  Ford chuckled, too. “It’s a work in progress. One that needs more work.”

  “Maybe you should try the half-a-treat-up-front, half-once-the-job’s-done method. All the gangsters use it, and it works very well for them.”

  “Oh, and you know a lot of gangsters?”

  “What? I don’t strike you as the mob-boss type?” she asked as if offended.

  “I’m not sayin’ that, but I did watch your method fail to yield the desired results.”

  “That’s because you”—she poked a finger to his chest, accidentally noticing how very firm it was—“didn’t let me finish.”

  Distracto chose that moment to charge over and eat the other half of the treat, which had fallen on the ground, along with the two others she’d dropped.

  His personal mission accomplished, the puppy bounded away to join his brother and sister. The dogs’ movements jerked her and Ford’s entwined feet back and forth. She got the giggles again, especially since she kept going to push herself up, only for her legs to be twisted in the other direction.

  Ford sat up, bringing their noses mere inches apart.

  The shift also had her straddling his hips, and heat she hadn’t meant to stoke flared to life. It’d been a long time since she’d been this close to a man, and she’d never been this close to one this…manly.

  And big.

  Holy shit. If she felt what she thought she might be feeling, there was no overcompensating necessary.

  “I…uh…” Her words came out way too breathless.

  Ford swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. His long fingers wrapped around her hips, and—was he going to kiss her?

  More, was she going to let him?

  “Sorry, I just need to…” Using his grip, he lifted her up and off him. Then he reached past her for the ropes still secured around their ankles.

  This is why I can’t be trusted around handsome men. I was sitting there with my head in the clouds, halfway leaning in for a kiss, while he was simply trying to untangle us.

  Cheeks aflame, Violet attacked the section of rope around their calves, sliding her legs free the instant she could.

  A minute or so later, the lead ropes were separated into three, and the puppies were lying down for a nap, maximum destruction accomplished for the day.

  Violet and Ford rallied the pawed troops and walked the way they’d come, the sound of leaves and sticks crunching underneath their feet the only sound. When Distracto refused to keep pace or focus, Violet picked him up and carried him.

  Ford didn’t comment, so either he was okay with it or he now believed she was a wishy-washy mess. Honestly, she was beginning to wonder herself.

  After her nasty breakup, she’d declared she was done with men. For six months, she’d never once been tempted to cross the line. Then, after a mingy hour with a guy who wasn’t even her type, she’d almost thrown herself at him.

  The guy was dangerous on too many levels, and Violet worked to remain calm while plotting her escape. She still didn’t want him to think she was a flighty disaster, so that took away fleeing the scene as a valid option.

  Once they returned to Ford’s house, Violet plopped Distracto in one of the puppy beds. He tucked his nose into the soft fabric, and his brother and sister joined him. She air kissed them and gave Pyro a last pat, mentally preparing a quick, efficient goodbye.

  “So anyway,” she started as Ford said, “Well, what do you—” He paused and made a go ahead gesture. “Sorry, you go first.”

  “I was about to say that I should get going.” She started for the door. “But thanks for
the puppy time and the save in the bakery. I appreciate it.”

  “What about the other part of our deal?” Ford took a step in her direction, and she took a step backward. The spot between his eyebrows crinkled. He closed the distance she’d created, prompting her to repeat her previous motion. “The part where you help me name the puppies.”

  “Oh. That. Yeah.” Her feet kept propelling her backward, but she rammed her butt into the gold handle. She automatically frowned at it. “Whoa. I just went to first base with your doorknob.”

  “Lucky doorknob,” Ford said, and a flurried pitter-patter tapped its way through her.

  “Anyway, so, yeah. Goodbye.” She spun and twisted the door handle. Added a wiggle and a yank, but the door didn’t budge.

  Her heart thrashed as a sense of urgency short-circuited her system. She was alone with a charming guy and his adorable dogs, and if she didn’t hurry and get out of here, she might forget she’d sworn off men. She refused to go through the pain again. It hurt too bad. Left her too wrecked.

  Violet double-checked the knob wasn’t locked, turning it one way and then the other and tugging and tugging.

  “Here, let me get it.” Ford’s voice unbalanced her further, and she forced her gaze to remain on the gold knob. What the hell was wrong with her? Besides the flirty door remark, which seemed more teasing than real, it wasn’t like he was hitting on her.

  She jerked on the doorknob like she was in a horror movie and the killer was coming for her.

  “Violet,” Ford said in a calm voice. “I’m trying to help you, but you’re in the way. Why are you acting like you’re afraid of me? Did I do something that scared you? If so, that wasn’t my intention, and the thing about the doorknob was just a jo—”

  “I’m not scared of you. I just need to get to the bakery, but the door won’t let me go, and I’m worried about how long I’ve been gone. That’s all.”

  His arm snaked around her, he gripped the knob, and then he pushed instead of pulled.

  Like magic—or engineering, as it were—the door opened, letting her out and a fresh breeze of air in.

  “Thanks,” she called, bolting down the porch stairs. She hit the sidewalk and saw his truck. Her lungs tightened, as did her skin.