Page 21

Ethan nods, finally extracting his hand from Wesley’s. “That’s me.”
Wesley comes over and gives me a hug. “Why aren’t you wearing any shoes?” he whispers in my ear.
I look down at my red feet. “I was trying to climb the fence. I think I got a splinter.”
I feel embarrassingly close to tears, and I don’t want to cry in front of these men. I think that would be more embarrassing than almost anything I can think of.
“I’ve got the keys. Let’s get the gate unlocked and the dog grabbed,” Ethan suggests.
Wesley nods, and we follow Ethan to the gate. I hold my breath as Ethan unlocks the gate and pushes it open. We step inside, and immediately I spot Bella happily digging away at a patch of frozen grass near the back of the yard.
“Bella!” I call, stepping forward and holding out the treat. “Come here, girl!”
But Bella ignores me and keeps her attention focused entirely on whatever treasure she thinks she’s going to unearth.
Ethan watches this unfold with a look of mild exasperation. “You weren’t kidding about them being escape artists,” he mutters.
“Nope.” I march toward Bella, but as soon as she hears me coming, she darts to the other side of the yard, suddenly realizing some friends who want to play with her have arrived.
Wesley steps forward, crouching down and calling Bella’s name in a low, calm voice. He’s always had a way with animals. Bella pauses and begins trotting toward him, but before she can reach Wesley, Ethan lunges for her.
She spooks and darts off toward the gap that leads to my yard. “Block the gap!” I yell like a madwoman.
But I’m not fast enough. Bella squeezes through and out from under the fence. Anger at Ethan flares up.
Wesley swears under his breath, and a wave of panic rises in my chest. This is turning into a nightmare. “I’ll go around and try to catch him.” Wesley bounds out from thegate. I’m left following at a slower pace as each step pushes the splinter in deeper.
“You shouldn’t have—” I start to say to Ethan.
“I know. I don’t have a lot of practice with dogs. Sorry.”
We hurry through the fence to where Bella is happily playing in my backyard with Samson as if nothing happened. They bark and yip at each other as Bigfoot howls through the back window.
Ethan startles. “There’s another one!”
I laugh. “Yeah, someone is dumb enough to have two of these guys. Okay, I need to get a hand around her. She’s not wearing a collar.”
I sit on the ground near where the dogs are playing and try to look as unintimidating as possible.
“Here you go, girl,” I say, pulling a treat out of my pocket and setting it on my leg. “Wes, make a loop from that leash. Something I can put around her neck.”
He’s on it. Ethan grabs the treat from my leg and whistles. “Bella! Come on!”
Bella looks up from where she’s playing with Samson and trots over like she was just waiting for a treat.
She bends down and gobbles it up, and Wesley slips the loop of rope over her neck, tightening it. She doesn’t even fight it.
“She’s probably exhausted now,” Ethan points out as Wesley hands me the rope. Having Bella back in my hands is good, but I want her back in the confines of my house. I won’t breathe easily until she is.
11
ETHAN
There’snothing sexier than pulling into my driveway and seeing Madison’s ass in the air. Unfortunately, there are jeans covering it, but just seeing it moving around as she is on her hands and knees gives my brain ideas that it should never entertain.
Madison looks exhausted from the effort of catching Bella, but every time she glances in my direction, all I can see is the way her ass was moving around.
Madison’s brother stands easily between us. He looks like a real adult now, not the tiny human I remember playing sports for hours on end in the driveway next door.