Cupid to the Rescue: A Tail-Wagging Valentine's Day Anthology

by Lisa Mondello

  “Yeah?”

  Jett nodded. “He was quite depressed when I found him. His owner was in the military and was deployed overseas. He didn’t have anyone to care for him so he took Duke to the shelter and promised he’d be back for him if no one adopted him.”

  “Then why did you get him? His buddy is coming back for him.”

  He shook his head and said quietly, “He didn’t make it back alive. When I saw Duke at the shelter, he was quite different. Very depressed. He kept to himself in the corner of his kennel. I think he’d given up.”

  Her heart was breaking. She felt the weight of tears behind her eyelids.

  “He had been at the shelter for over a year. But look at him now. He’s quite different. He’s happy and healthy again.”

  She cleared her throat and looked around to keep from bawling. “What’s the camper for?” she asked, nodding toward the trees.

  Jett smiled and then nodded to Duke. “That’s Duke’s dog house. For nights anyway. During the day Duke comes with me to the clinic. He spends most of the day on my sofa in my office or running outside with the other dogs that are kenneled. So it is only at night that he spends time here in the camper. If you think the condo board had a problem with three pounds on Cupid, just imagine what a cow they’d have about having Duke on the property.”

  She laughed. “Why don’t you just keep him at the clinic at night if he’s comfortable there?”

  “I did at first. Sometimes I actually stay out here with him. It’s rough and there is water and solar electricity so I can keep the A/C on at night for him. It didn’t seem right for me to keep him in a kennel with the other dogs. He’d already stayed too long in the shelter before he’d found me.”

  She chuckled. “He found you? I thought it was the other way around.”

  “Nah. Animals have a way of choosing their people. There is only so much we can control. Why don’t you get Cupid out of the car? You don’t need to leash her here.”

  “Oh, no, but I do. When Cupid is off the leash, she takes off. She gets the scent of something and she’s off like a shot.”

  “She can’t get too far. The clinic is on the other side of those trees. There is a big fence that lines the back of the property. Besides, Duke will keep her entertained while I shower.”

  She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Shower?”

  “Yeah. I know we’ll be out in the sun but…I’m starting to smell after the workout Duke and I just had. Pretty soon I’m going to smell worse than this dirt. I don’t want to offend you. I have an outdoor shower behind the camper.”

  Jett pulled off his shirt and then smiled at her. Then he wiped his face with the sweaty shirt.

  “I won’t be long. I usually take a shower at my sister’s place because there’s only cold water here but it will do the trick.”

  “Oh, sure.” She opened her car door and grabbed Cupid’s leash before she bolted out of the car. “What do I do with…Duke while you’re gone?”

  He looked at his dog and in a firm and commanding voice, that was also reassuring, said, “Duke, stay.”

  He turned around and walked to his car. She felt a little awkward staring at him with nothing to do. But then he opened the door in the backseat, pulled out a ball, and tossed it to her. She unhooked Cupid from the leash so she could catch the ball. To her surprise, she actually did. But soon after, Cupid jumped up and popped it out of her hands with her nose.

  “Cupid!”

  Jett laughed. “I told you. Bad manners. Look at Duke.”

  She turned and found Duke with his eyes trained on the ball, but obediently in place.

  “Duke loves to play fetch. But he’ll wait his turn if you give the command just like I did. You shouldn’t have to chase after him as long as you play ball. He’ll stay with you all day.”

  She nodded and then heaved a sigh as he turned away. Was it wrong for her to be ogling over a man who was disappointed in her for giving away a dog? She’d had the overwhelming desire to run her hand down his bare chest and feel if it was as smooth as a baby’s bottom or if there were tiny hairs on his chest that she just hadn’t noticed.

  And then as he walked away toward the camper, she noticed the scratches on his back. She knew they weren’t scratches from a lover after a long night of lovemaking. Cupid had given them to Jett.

  Her stomach sank to the ground. She heard a scuffle and found Duke and Cupid in an attempted tug of war over the ball. Duke had an unfair advantage over Cupid given his body size and the size of his mouth. But Cupid was determined.

  “Duke, stay!” Tana said.

  Duke darted his head up and looked around as if searching for permission from Jett. But he’d already disappeared behind the camper. She was vaguely aware of the sound of running water and realized Jett must have some kind of a water source on the property. In fact, Duke's legs looked as if they were wet. Tana glanced around to see if there was a pond or a stream nearby but didn’t see one. All she needed was to have to rescue Cupid from a swamp!

  She continued to play several rounds of fetch with the two dogs. It was amazing to see how well Duke responded to Tana’s commands. Cupid was Cupid and just kept her eye on the ball. Like Jett had said. No manners. They were going to have to work on that.

  “This is much better,” Jett said, walking up behind her.

  Once again she was taken aback by this man. While he wasn’t cleanly shaven, he was clean and smelled like soap. On the other hand, she was now sweaty and overheated from playing ball with the dogs.

  “I didn’t hear you scream so it couldn’t have been that cold.”

  He chuckled. “It was nice. The water container has been in the sun so the temperature was good. So how did you all do? I see Cupid is still here.”

  She shrugged. “Believe me, I’m as shocked as you are. I was really afraid I would have to chase her in the next county.”

  “It’s the laws of nature. She has a friend in Duke. I’m sure she enjoyed the company.”

  “I think she did, especially when she managed to get the ball away from him.”

  He chuckled. “Duke must be smitten with her. He usually doesn’t give up the ball too easily.” He stared at her for a long moment. “I’m going to grab a few water bottles for us and a bowl of water for the dogs. Then we can move to the shade to work on some techniques.”

  They spent the afternoon on basic dog training techniques. Jett continued to remind Tana that she was also being trained, not just Cupid. Cupid would take all her leads from Tana. After an hour of trying to get Cupid to walk at her side, Tana stopped, frustrated with their progress.

  “Remind me why exactly I need to be the one trained when she’s going to go live with someone else?”

  “It’s good training for her, too, and it’s good exercise for her so she can lose that three pounds the condo board mentioned.”

  After two hours of training, Tana was wilting, even though they were in the shade. They’d been at this last piece of training for over an hour.

  “I think I’m going to call it a day,” she said, throwing her hands up in defeat.

  Jett stood rooted in place. “You’re giving up already?”

  “Already? I need a nap. And I have a lot of work to do tonight.”

  His smile was slow. “At least have an ice cream cone to celebrate your first day of training. Maybe some dinner. You have to eat.”

  “You’re very tempting. But I can’t.

  He sighed. “I’m tempting, huh?”

  “Another time. Maybe.”

  “Very well. Duke and I will have an ice cream cone by ourselves.”

  “Don’t say that too loud. Cupid may get jealous.”

  He chuckled. “Do you want to give it another go tomorrow? It’s supposed to be a nice day.”

  She thought about the mountain of work she had waiting for her back at her condo. She hadn’t made a dent in the proposal she’d been working on for work. It wasn’t due until later in the week so she had time. But she never l
iked waiting until the last minute. It screamed amateur. There were other people in her office who sniffed out mistakes and then used them in order to step over everyone to get a promotion. It was the nature of the business in acquisitions. But Tana never liked the cut-throat interplay.

  “Okay, tomorrow. It’ll have to be early though, if that’s okay.”

  “Sure.”

  “Thank you for today. Come on, Cupid, it’s time to go.” She clapped her hands together and whistled but Cupid was lazily sprawled out next to Duke on the dirt. Oh, that was really going to make her car smell!

  “Cupid!”

  Duke’s head darted up, but he remained on the ground. Cupid had selective hearing.

  “Let me see your keys,” Jett said.

  “My keys? Why?”

  “Just hand them to me.”

  She did as she was told and watched with confusion.

  Jett hit the button that unlocked the doors to her car. The car made the familiar beeping sound when the doors unlocked. Cupid snapped her head up and then bolted to her feet, howling.

  “Is that an official training technique?”

  Jett shrugged. “Most dogs like to take rides in the car.”

  “Come on, Cupid,” Tana said, opening the car door.

  Cupid raced over to the car and then jumped into the back seat. Within a few seconds, she’d found her way to the driver’s seat.

  “Gross. I’m going to be sitting on all those dirty paw stains you’re leaving on my seat, Cupid.”

  “It’s nothing water and a bar of soap can’t handle.”

  “Thanks for everything today. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She climbed into the car, scooting Cupid over to the next seat, abandoning any notion she’d stay in the back seat even if she gave the command. She quickly put the key in the ignition and started the engine.

  As she drove away and looked back at Jett in the rearview mirror, her stomach was in a knot and her whole body felt restless with anxiety and mixed feelings. She’d enjoyed herself out there in the pasture. Even though at times she’d been frustrated with her progress, it was only one day.

  It was being with Jett that left her feeling unsettled. From the moment she’d arrived and he’d announced he was leaving her to take a shower, her head had been filled with images of him standing naked outside in the sun beneath a stream of water. And her imaging herself standing naked there with him, soaping each other's bodies and running their hands in places that even now aroused her senses and made her moan.

  She shook her head as if that would rid herself of these fantasies.

  Cupid whined.

  When she glanced at Cupid, the beagle cocked her head to one side.

  “Don’t you look at me that way. I was having fun, too. I have a lot of work to do tonight.”

  Chasing Cupid: Chapter 4

  Tana had spent far too many hours the night before thinking about that first day she had shared with Jett out at his property. She couldn’t remember the last time she spent this long thinking about an ex-boyfriend even when she’d been dating him. Since that day, they’d gotten together a few times. Both of them were busy. Both didn’t have time for the relationship that was brewing between them. They’d both decided to wait until the weekend to see each other again.

  It had been a long week.

  It was hard to ignore her feelings. And Jett was hard to forget. She’d actually found herself struggling to remember Art’s name in conversation with a co-worker a few days ago. Art wasn’t so far in her past that she should forget him this easily. After all, Tana still had his dog.

  When she’d finally gotten a call from Lacey in Madrid, Lacey set Tana straight about Jett.

  “You’re not a kid. Neither is he. You both have the hots for each other so why not just see where it goes? Why still make it about the dogs?’ Lacey said.

  “You’re right. I know you’re right. But it’s complicated.”

  “Everything in life is complicated. If you wait for things to be easy, you’ll be dead.”

  “When are you coming home? I need another Goddess Circle.”

  “Sooner than I expected. But not for another week. Tony has some business and we…”

  “What’s going on, Lacey?”

  There was silence for a few seconds. “You have the stick. This can wait.”

  She’d hung up the phone more worried about Lacey than she was about herself and Cupid.

  Since then, Tana had thrown herself into her work. She had always been focused. She’d seen what happened to Koti and how having a baby midway through college had changed all of her plans. Having Braden hadn’t ruined them. Koti had had support from her family and, of course, from the Goddess Circle. She always had that. And she had eventually finished school a semester behind the rest of them and earned her degree. But the plans she’d had to be an architect and travel the world had completely been erased from her to-do list. Today she worked as a junior architect in a large firm and watched people move up the ladder and taking trips that she herself had dreamed of taking to work on interesting projects.

  What surprised Tana the most was that Koti never seemed upset about the one thing that had cost the derailment of her life. It wasn’t Braden. She loved that boy more than anything in life. Braden had always been a gift. It was her ex and the fallout after he’d found out she was pregnant. He’d gone on to be everything he’d wanted while Koti sacrificed. These days Mason only came in and out of her life from his home base in London when it was convenient, and just enough to mess with her head and give Braden hope he’d be a father. Tana was convinced Koti had never gotten over him.

  Well, that wasn’t the case for Tana. And it wouldn’t be. She had never been in love with Art. They had been together six months and had never reached a level of intimacy that she’d heard Jade talk about when referring to Andre, or any of the other girls who’d been heartbroken or in love with a man over the years. Something about that now made Tana feel empty inside. How could she have gotten to the ripe old age of thirty-six and never experienced that?

  But then Jett had phoned in the morning and said that he’d been called out for an emergency at the clinic and couldn’t meet her. But he wanted to see her just to see her. He was bringing dinner over tonight because he knew she’d been working hard and he didn’t want to derail her progress.

  She’d become giddy with excitement when she’d gotten off the phone. It was such a thoughtful offer, especially since it was he who was likely to have a more stressful day being called in for an emergency. But without even thinking how much more she had to do on her proposal, she had agreed.

  She had incentive to do as much as she could on the proposal and worked the entire day researching numbers and properties for her position. As a property acquisition associate, her job was to seek out and research properties for her company to invest in. It wasn’t exactly the dream job she’d envisioned, being able to travel extensively, since most of her work was done on the computer. But she’d done well.

  Except now that she was under the gun, she’d hit a snag. Her heart wasn’t in what she was doing. At one point, she even thought about texting the Goddess Circle and seeing if they had time to chat. She wanted to share details about the beautiful time she had spent with Jett and the dogs and how terrified she was about where it was going or if she should even go there, given the reason they’d spent time together. How was Jett going to feel about her when she finally returned Cupid to the shelter?

  But she never sent the text. She knew Lacey was still in Spain. Everyone was busy with their lives. All she really had to say was Jett was a great guy, a decent guy, and wasn’t that a breath of fresh air for a change. Even though she felt light-headed just thinking about Jett and the fact that he had called to say he was bringing dinner, she felt foolish texting her friends for such a mundane reason. Tana didn’t even care if all Jett brought was hotdogs and beans. The fact that she didn’t have to think about dinner, didn’t have to prepare it after worki
ng all day at the computer, and would only have to do dishes, not the pots and pans normally associated with cooking, was a major plus tonight since she was going to have to make up the valuable time she’d spent daydreaming today instead of working.

  Realizing that continuing to force herself to work in her state was futile, she finally gave up and decided to go to the package store to pick up a few bottles of wine so she could put them in the fridge and chill them before Jett arrived. She made the trip to the package store quickly, bringing Cupid with her just so she could kill two birds with one stone and take her out for a quick walk as soon as she got home so she wouldn’t need to do it later. She showered and wrestled between two outfits in front of the mirror for fifteen minutes before deciding on the outfit that looked good on her, but was casual enough for a quiet dinner.

  After putting on some makeup and brushing her teeth, she inspected herself in the bathroom mirror and said, “This isn’t a real date. It’s just… I don’t know exactly what this is but it’s not a date because a date would mean I have to shave my legs just in case.” She pointed at her reflection in the mirror. “You’re not shaving your legs, Tana. That’s final.”

  As soon as she was done with her mirror pep talk, the doorbell rang. Cupid barked and ran to the door, tail wagging with elation that they had a visitor.

  Her heart pounded in her chest as she moved through the room, straightening a book on her coffee table in the living room on the way to the door. She wasn’t a neat freak, but she did have a housekeeper come twice a month to clean because her housekeeper was better at it than Tana. Her mind raced to remember when the last time Aubrey had been there to clean, but she couldn’t remember because Aubrey always came while Tana was at work.

  “Cupid, go to your blanket!” she said, pointing to the bedroom where she kept the blanket Cupid sometimes actually slept on when she wasn’t sleeping on Tana’s bed.

  Cupid yelped and jumped on her thigh as if she wanted to climb into her arms.