Page 21 of Sweet Dreams at the Forever Home on Muddypuddle Lane (The Forever Home on Muddypuddle Lane #2)

In that split second when he’d seen her being dragged into the path of an oncoming car, his heart had almost stopped.

He’d lunged forward, and time had splintered and slowed as fear swept through him.

Every instinct had screamed at him that he needed to reach her, to throw himself between her and the hunk of metal bearing down on her, but he’d not been quick enough, as Biscuit’s momentum had thankfully pulled her clear and she’d stumbled onto the pavement.

His relief on seeing her safe, had turned to anger. How could she have been so stupid to let Biscuit drag her across the road like that! The thought of what could have happened made him feel sick. A world without Nora in it, was unthinkable.

He had no idea how he’d managed to fall for someone so quickly or so hard, but he had.

He thought about her constantly. He hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind.

But it had taken a near miss for him to realise he had to do something about it.

Life was for living and for loving, and if it meant risking being rejected, that was a price he was prepared to pay.

He’d tried to run away from his loneliness, but it hadn’t worked too well for him, had it?

And now that he couldn’t run anymore and hiding away in his house with only Biscuit for company wasn’t an option, he had to face facts: if he wanted Nora in his life (which he did, more than anything) he’d have to take matters into his own hands.

As Elijah made his way to Nora’s house using the bouquet as a foliage shield to hide his face, he had an awful feeling he was about to make the biggest fool of himself ever.

Dismayed, Nora watched Biscuit pacing around the house. He was doing it again, refusing to settle. It was as though he was searching for something, and as he did circuit after circuit, his ears and tail drooped even more and he began to whine.

Oh, god, was she going to have to take him back? She couldn’t bear the thought of him being so miserable. Then again, she was hardly a bundle of joy herself, so he was probably picking up on her frame of mind. Maybe she’d see what he was like tomorrow – give him some time.

Biscuit knew there was someone at the door before the bell even rung. He stiffened and stared into the hall, on full alert. And when the ding-dong chimed, he took a couple of steps forward and woofed, a low warning sound.

‘Good boy,’ she praised him, pleased his protective side had kicked in.

‘Shall we see who it is?’ It was probably someone collecting for charity or enquiring whether she needed her gutters cleaning, but when she opened the door, she had the shock of her life as she came face to face with a large bouquet of flowers.

Startled, she stepped back, but she’d forgotten Biscuit was right behind her, and as he pushed past her to greet the newcomer, he took her legs from underneath her.

Nora went down on her bottom with an ‘Oof!’ and a thud.

Luckily, she still had a significant amount of padding on her backside to cushion her rather ungainly and decidedly inelegant fall, but it still hurt.

‘Oh, hell, are you okay?’ The beautiful bouquet was cast aside as Elijah hurried to help her up.

Rubbing her behind and hoping she hadn’t damaged her coccyx, she said, ‘I’m fine. But your flowers aren’t.’ Yelping enthusiastically, Biscuit was trampling all over them in his haste to greet Elijah as he danced around on his hind legs.

‘They’re not my flowers, they’re yours,’ he said, holding out a hand to help her to her feet.

‘Mine?’ Who from? And why was Elijah delivering them? Oh!

‘I’m sorry. I was an arse,’ he said sheepishly.

‘You were. You’d better say hello to Biscuit while I try to rescue the flowers.’ About half were salvageable and as she went inside to find a vase to put the poor stems in, she called over her shoulder, ‘You’d better come in.’

She heard the door close, and froze, wondering which side of it Elijah might be on.

It was a relief to hear his voice as he tried to calm the excited dog, and when Elijah came into the kitchen, she saw that Biscuit had the hem of his tee shirt in his mouth as though leading him.

Elijah said, ‘It’s alright, boy, you can let go, I’m not going anywhere. Not yet anyway, not unless your mum kicks me out.’

‘Don’t temp me,’ she growled.

Biscuit, the material still clamped between his teeth, whined uncertainly.

Giving the dog an incredulous look, she said, ‘I won’t kick him out, okay?’ and Biscuit immediately released his hold on the tee shirt, leaving behind a large wet patch.

‘Sorry about the flowers,’ she said, filling a glass vase with water. ‘They’re lovely.’

‘What’s left of them,’ he pointed out, despondently.

‘It’s not Biscuit’s fault. He hasn’t settled in yet. Still a bit excited. I only brought him home today.’

‘He’s settled in now.’

So he was. Biscuit was sprawled on the kitchen floor, his nose on his front paws. ‘Hallelujah! I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to.’

Elijah smiled. ‘I’ve got the magic touch.’

‘I hope I haven’t got to call on you every five minutes to get him to lie down,’ she joked weakly.

‘I wouldn’t mind if you did.’

Nora sent him a sharp look, which softened when she saw his face. He looked quite forlorn. ‘I’m sorry it worked out this way,’ she said.

‘No, you’re not.’

‘Okay, I’m not, but I didn’t want it to end like this.’

‘It doesn’t have to end at all.’

‘You do realise Biscuit is mine? I adopted him.’ She prodded herself in the chest.

‘I wasn’t referring to Biscuit. I was talking about you and me.’

Perplexed, Nora said, ‘There isn’t a you and me.’

‘There could be – if you wanted.’

She narrowed her eyes. ‘Is this a ruse to get…?’ She stopped, thought about it, then carried on, ‘No, it isn’t, is it? I mean, it can’t be because he’s been officially re-homed with me.’ She closed her mouth, her thoughts in a tailspin.

Elijah had moved closer.

Slowly, deliberately, he took the flower out of her hand and set it down on the worktop. ‘Can I kiss you?’ His voice was low and husky.

Lost for words, all Nora could do was nod.

So he did.

And very nice it was too, and when he’d finished kissing her a long, long time later, Biscuit was still lying on the kitchen floor, exactly where they’d left him. The only difference was, the dog appeared to be wearing what could only be described as a self-satisfied grin.