“The thing is, Greta says Daisy has to go. Today.”
“But this is a shelter. This is where homeless dogs are supposed to go.” This couldn’t be happening. She was finally making headway with Daisy. The puppy was learning to trust her. “She isn’t ready to be adopted.”
“That’s the thing. With Greta claiming she was bit—which I checked and I couldn’t even see a scratch on her—I can’t adopt out Daisy.”
“What...what will happen to her?”
“I told Greta I would make sure Daisy is gone before tomorrow. Otherwise, she says she’s taking matters into her own hands. And you know that won’t be good.”
Chills ran down Pepper’s arms. “I don’t know why that woman even works here, much less is in charge.”
“You know and I know that it’s for the money. And the fact she pulled strings to get the job.”
“It’s not fair to the people who work here and certainly not the animals. She doesn’t even like animals.”
Stephanie held up her hands helplessly. “At the moment we’re stuck with her.”
“And Daisy?”
“That’s what I’m hoping you can help me with.”
“Me? How?” She would do anything to save Daisy.
“I need you to take her home.” Before Pepper could say anything, Stephanie held up a finger to pause Pepper’s rebuttal. “Listen, you and I both know that’s what you were working toward. Maybe you weren’t willing to admit it to yourself just yet, but Daisy belongs with you.”
She was willing to do anything for Daisy...but take her home. “I don’t have a home to take her to. Remember? The fire.”
Stephanie’s gaze pleaded with her. “But you said you were staying in Simon’s great big apartment.”
“It’s a penthouse. And the man who’s letting me stay there doesn’t like dogs. Or cats. Or anything that can make a mess, makes noise or needs taking care of.” She thought she remembered all his reasons not to have a pet. How exactly was he going to deal with a baby?
Stephanie’s mouth gaped. “And he let you stay with him?”
Pepper shrugged. “I clean up after myself.”
Stephanie shook her head. “Surely there has to be a place you can keep Daisy until your apartment is ready.”
Pepper thought of everyone she knew, including her second-in-charge at the bakery, but her daughter had asthma and was allergic to most pets. And there wasn’t anyone else she would feel right about imposing on.
And then her gaze landed on Stephanie. “What about you?”
“You know I would if I could. But I’ve already taken in three dogs. One more and my landlord has threatened to kick me to the curb. Besides, I don’t think Daisy will go with anyone but you.”
“But Simon is going to throw a fit.”
“Better him than Greta.”
“True. But still... He might toss me to the curb.”
Stephanie sent her a knowing smile. “You forget I saw him when he came to the shelter. I saw how he hung on your every word. I don’t think you have a thing to worry about.”
Was she serious? Pepper was never quite sure where she stood with Simon. Some days she thought he liked her just fine and other days she felt like she was nothing but in the way—another problem for him to deal with.
And now with Daisy, well, she was certain he wasn’t going to take it well at all. But she couldn’t let Greta do away with the puppy. Chills rushed over her skin. That woman was just pure evil. The shelter would be so much better off without her. If only there was a way to get rid of Grinchy Greta.
“Pepper, you have to decide now.”
“Fine. I’ll take her.” She forcefully blocked out what this would mean to her relationship with Simon.
She probably should ask him before taking the puppy home, but this way she was saving him from having to say no and from her having to ignore his wishes. It still didn’t leave her in a great position, but perhaps she could move back into her own apartment, even though it wasn’t finished.
And so Stephanie set her up with everything she’d need to care for Daisy, including a crate. One of the volunteers offered to give her a lift back to the penthouse. Pepper could only hope it was early enough that Simon wouldn’t be home yet.
She took the private elevator from the underground garage to the top floor. Pepper caught herself holding her breath as she entered the penthouse and looked around. Today was the housekeeper’s day off, so that definitely helped things. To her great relief, Simon wasn’t home.
She placed Daisy on the marble floor of the foyer. Immediately, the puppy had an accident. Oh, boy, they were not getting off to a good start.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll get you in the bedroom and then I’ll come back to clean it up.”
Pepper led Daisy down the hallway to her bedroom. Along the way, Daisy took the time to investigate her surroundings. Her nose was going a mile a minute as she inspected everything in the wide hallway.
Daisy was like a new dog now that she was out of the shelter—much more relaxed. “I’m so sorry you’ve had a rough start in life. But don’t worry, you’ll be safe and hopefully happy from now on.”
Pepper wasn’t sure what the future held for the two of them. She was starting to wonder if there were any motels in the area that she could afford and that took pets.
She knelt down in front of Daisy. The puppy sat down and looked at her with those big brown eyes that instantly melted her heart.
Pepper moved slowly so as not to scare Daisy with any sudden movements. In the great big bag that Stephanie had packed, she found Daisy’s stuffed blue bear. At the sight of it, Daisy’s tail started to wag.
Pepper held it out to her, but Daisy didn’t move. “It’s okay. You can have it.”
Still Daisy didn’t move. Pepper placed the bear on the floor in front of Daisy. Immediately, Daisy gripped the bear with her mouth. The bear was almost the same size as Daisy. But that didn’t keep Daisy from dragging the stuffed animal over to the fuzzy white rug next to Pepper’s bed. There the dog lay down and put her head on the stuffed animal.
Pepper watched Daisy for a moment to make sure everything would be all right. Daisy’s eyes started to grow heavy. She’d had a really big day. Pepper cringed at the thought of Grinchy Greta yelling at the puppy. That woman. Pepper’s back teeth ground together as she held back a string of heated words. Daisy didn’t need to hear Pepper vent. The pup needed some peace and quiet to get used to her temporary lodgings.
When Simon found out about Daisy, Pepper wasn’t so sure they’d have a roof over their—
“Pepper!”
Oh, no. Simon is home.
And by the tone of his voice, he was not happy.
Daisy’s head immediately lifted. And in a second or two both she and the teddy bear scooted under the bed. Poor baby.
“Pepper!”
“Daisy, it’s okay. His bark is worse than his bite. I’ll be back.” She wasn’t so sure about letting the puppy lose in a room with expensive decorations, but Simon obviously wasn’t in the mood to wait.
She rushed out of her bedroom and down the hallway. She skidded to a halt when she noticed the angry look on his face.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She nodded.
“No accidents or anything that I should be aware of?”
Heat rushed to her face. Did he know about Daisy already? Had someone spotted them coming into the building and told him?
She shook her head. All the while she tried to figure out how to break the news gently to him. Was there any way to tell a man who didn’t have pets, who didn’t want pets, that there was now one living in his house?
“Mind explaining this?”
She followed the gaze to the floor—and his stocking feet. “You took your shoes off?”
He
shook his head and pointed. His new-looking black dress shoe was sitting in the dog pee. Ugh! She’d hoped to clean that up before he got home. Daisy’s homecoming was getting off to an even worse start than Pepper had imagined possible.
“I can explain.”
Simon pressed his hands to his trim waist. “I’m listening.”
“I was going to clean up the mess.”
“Why is there a mess in my otherwise immaculate foyer?”
By the stormy look on his face, nothing she said was going to make this better. She might as well just go pack her stuff—not that she had much to pack.
* * *
This couldn’t be happening.
His neat, formerly clean, quiet life was being upended.
Simon moved to the living room in his stocking feet. All the while, Pepper followed him, telling him about the drama of her day. And this person named Daisy.
He held up his hands. “Who is Daisy?”
“Didn’t you hear me?”
The truth was, he’d been wondering how one five-foot-five woman could take his otherwise routine life and spin it on its head. Not only was she living with him, she was having his baby and now Daisy was staying with them.
He cleared his throat. “I have a lot on my mind.”
Pepper looked uncertain of what to say.
Arff! Arff! Ooh-whoo!
“What in the world?” His gaze narrowed in on Pepper, whose face filled with color. “Do you have a dog in here?”
Arff! Arff! Ooh-whoo!
“I’ll explain in a second.”
“You’ll explain now.” He frowned at her. “You know I don’t want pets.”
“But if you just give me a chance to explain, you’ll see that there really wasn’t any other alternative.”
Arff!
“I’ll be back.” Pepper turned and rushed out of the room.
She couldn’t just walk away. They weren’t finished with this discussion. He followed her down the hallway to her room.
Pepper opened her bedroom door and out rushed a puppy.
“Daisy,” Pepper called.
But the dog didn’t listen. Simon should have known it wouldn’t even be trained. The puppy rushed right up to him and then stopped to sniff his pants and then his feet. He recognized the puppy from the shelter.
He wanted to be angry. He’d told her point-blank when she’d tried to talk him into adopting a dog that it wasn’t for him. He was better off alone. But this dog was still a puppy. He knelt down to pet it. And it was sort of cute.
“Be careful,” Pepper said.
He glanced up at her. “You brought home a vicious puppy?”
“Well, no. But...but she doesn’t really know you. And she’s not sure where she is.”
He turned his attention back to the puppy. He let her sniff his hand and then he ran his hand over her smooth coat. She certainly didn’t seem vicious.
Simon scooped up the puppy and straightened. He arched a brow at his flustered houseguest. “I think you should come with me and explain why this puppy is running around the house.”
“Just a second.” Pepper ducked into her room and returned with a blue teddy bear.
He wasn’t quite sure about the necessity of the stuffed animal, but maybe it was a new baby toy that she’d picked up.
Simon turned with Daisy in his arms. He continued to pet the dog and she remained contentedly in his arms. In the living room, once he sat down, Daisy wiggled to get off his lap. He set her down.
Pepper joined the puppy on the floor and waved the teddy bear in front of Daisy. The puppy took hold of the teddy bear and moved beneath the coffee table.
“The stuffed animal is for the dog?” he asked.
Pepper finally smiled. “Yes. Daisy loves her stuffed animal. She always sleeps with it.”
“Interesting.” He continued to watch the dog as it left the teddy bear on the rug as it began to explore the room.
“I’ll get her,” Pepper said.
“Leave her. She isn’t hurting anything.” And then under his breath he said, “At least not yet.” He cleared his throat. “Tell me more about this puppy.”
And then Pepper went back to the beginning and told him everything, about the puppy, from its tragic past to the Greta woman accusing Daisy of being a vicious dog.
“I take it you don’t like this Greta?”
“Like her? I can’t stand her. Neither can anyone else at the shelter. My friend Stephanie could run the shelter if given a chance. Instead she’s Greta’s assistant, aka the person who does all of the grunt work but gets none of the credit.”
He recalled how the pushy woman had hit him up for a donation. His gut told him the animals wouldn’t benefit from the money. His investigators still hadn’t come up with any concrete evidence against her. Perhaps it was time for him to contact Greta about a five-figure donation.
The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. All he had to do was provide the bait and he was certain Greta’s greed would do the rest.
He made a mental note of this. He may not want a pet, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care. And whatever upset Pepper upset him—
Hold it.
When had that happened?
“Simon, what’s wrong?” Pepper looked at him with concern in her eyes. “If it’s Daisy, I’ll go stay at the apartment.”
“You can’t.”
Her fine brows drew together. “How do you know?”
“Because I stopped by at lunchtime. The apartment still isn’t ready for anyone to live there. But don’t worry, I put more men on the job. They’ll be working round the clock.”
“But how? I don’t even have the insurance straightened out.”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. How am I ever going to pay you back?”
“Pepper, stop worrying. If I didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t have. Everything is fine.”
She opened her mouth and then closed it. For a moment, they both watched as Daisy nosed her way around the room. And then Pepper turned back to him. “I’ll get my stuff. Daisy and I will find a motel.”
“No.” He couldn’t believe he was saying this. “You and Daisy will stay here.”
“But you don’t want her here.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of it?”
She shook her head. “I’ll try to keep her out of sight.”
Just then Daisy meandered over to him and sat on his foot. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
Pepper rushed over, scooped up the puppy and grabbed the teddy bear. She started toward her room. She paused and turned back to him. “Thank you. I just couldn’t let anything bad happen to Daisy. She’s already gone through so much as a puppy.”
And then both Pepper and the puppy were gone. He sat there for a few minutes, thinking Pepper would return so they could finish their talk. But as the seconds turned to minutes, he realized the puppy was going to change things between him and Pepper—similar to the way the baby would change everything.
Maybe he should rethink things. Maybe Daisy could be a trial run for them—learning to share responsibilities. The more he thought of it, the more he realized he needed all the practice he could get—even if it was with a puppy.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
IT WAS GETTING LATE.
And he still wasn’t home.
Thursday evening, Pepper ate her dinner on the couch with Daisy next to her. The pup had become her shadow. If Pepper ever had any thoughts of rehoming Daisy, they’d been quickly forgotten.
Still, this was the first time Simon had said he would be home for dinner and then was a no-show. She never thought this arrangement would work out. In fact, she’d been downright certain it was a huge mistake, from the press hounding them, to the unexpected
news of the baby—her hand pressed to her slight baby bump—to the fact she couldn’t let herself fall for him.
Simon didn’t do commitments. He’d told her that.
He also normally didn’t work nine-to-five. So then why until now did he make such an effort for them to share their breakfasts and most dinners—even sometimes slipping home for lunch?
He was going out of his way to make her comfortable. Again, she came back to the question: Why? She told herself it was because he was just being a good host. Nothing more. But then why did it feel like more? Why did it feel like they’d become some sort of an insta-family? And if that was the case, where did they go from here?
Daisy lay in the corner of the kitchen, where she could keep an eye on Pepper. Talk about your loyal companion. Pepper smiled. “You’re a good girl.”
Daisy lifted her head and wagged her tail, understanding what Pepper had said.
And then because she couldn’t resist such cuteness, Pepper grabbed a dog biscuit from the plastic bag on the counter and gave it to Daisy, who readily accepted it.
With the dirty dishes rinsed and loaded in the dishwasher, the countertops wiped down and nothing left to do for the day, she glanced at the clock. It was well past six. Where was he?
Don’t worry. It’s none of your business. He’s only your host. Nothing more. Except the father of your baby.
Did that make a difference? Enough for her to butt into his life and make sure he was okay? Their situation was so complicated. She wasn’t sure what was right. And what was inappropriate.
She glanced at her purse on the bar stool at the giant island. Sticking out of the top was the mail she’d picked up on her way back from the animal shelter. A padded manila envelope snagged her attention. She was pretty certain what was inside—a new-to-her DVD.
She didn’t care if some people called her old-fashioned. She loved black-and-white movies. She collected them. Though some were available for streaming, a vast number were not. She had a huge collection of VHS tapes she’d inherited from her mother, and slowly over time she was replacing them with DVDs.
She pulled out the package. Maybe she should sit down and get lost in a movie. After all, she was caught up with everything she had to prep for tomorrow.
Her Christmas Pregnancy Surprise Page 13
