Page 72

A sigh was his only response. “Tell me.”
I knew it.
“Alice wants a dog, and I figured I’d bring her to your shelter for a personal tour.”
“Absolutely,” Sebastian agreed without skipping a beat. “Actually, there is this great dog, Pepper, and I think she’d be great for Alice.” He rattled off a list of information about the dog and I had to admit, a smaller dog who was a few years old would be better for the city than a dog like Willow who required more space to run around and get her energy out. “And Pepper is a sweetheart. When I walk her she loves getting pets from kids who are brave enough to touch her.”
That caught my attention. “Why wouldn’t they want to pet her?”
Sebastian took his time to consider this. “She isn’t a cute puppy in the traditional sense.”
I wanted to hear Sebastian utter the words “cute puppy” a few more times, maybe record it for later, but my curiosity got the better of me. “What makes you say that?”
Sebastian hesitated. “She’s a little wiry and fluffy at the same time. I’m tempted to pay for one of those dog DNA tests because I want to know what breeds she’s made of because it’s a unique combination. It’s the talk of the shelter.”
So she’s not cute. I could work with that. “But she’s safe to be around, right? She wouldn’t hurt Alice.”
Sebastian belted out a rare laugh. “She wouldn’t hurt a fly. Pepper would be the perfect family dog.”
“Excellent. I want to meet her. You free this Saturday?”
“You know I’ll be here.” The man rarely left his home upstate except for the occasional trips to the city for work or to take Faith to the library where she volunteered teaching teenagers to paint.
“Great, I’ll text you when we’re on our?—”
Then the line went dead. Either the call dropped, or he hung up on me. “Fucker.”
* * *
With the plan to get a dog in place, I could focus my attention on planning my date with Luna.
The woman deserved to be seduced, and not all seduction meant getting naked. I’d have to get her to let her guard down completely, to feel absolutely comfortable with me before intimacy was even an option.
If this happened to her all those years ago, and she’d been living like this, I couldn’t fucking imagine.
I’d slept with women occasionally over the years, nothing serious since my focus was on Alice and my business. It did help to quell the urges I felt. She hadn’t had a chance to do that. In fact, the last sexual experience had been horrific.
I’ll be damned if I let that ruin her forever. I was desperate to replace the terrible memories with good ones.
But first, I’d woo her.
Luna deserved an unforgettable night, but an unforgettable lunch would be a good start. With a few calls, I’d booked something that would surprise her and hopefully sweep her off her feet.
CHAPTER26
Luna
I shookmy foot so hard, the table shifted, sloshing coffee over the rim. Today was the big day that Beck Bennet would take me on a date. Why on Earth did the thought of us being alone together—on purpose—make my heart feel like it was going to burst right out of my chest?
“Shit,” I swore, using a linen napkin to tidy up the mess.
“Luna, are you there?” a little voice sounded from the other side of the fence.
I smiled. “Morning, Alice. Yes, I’m here. Want to come over?”
“Yes, please!”
A minute later, Alice knocked on the new wooden door that separated our backyards. I tugged on the string to open it, letting in the little girl. “Does your Daddy know you’re here?”