Grooming Mr. Right

by Tonya Kappes

  Betty had filled my Adopt-A-Pet schedule and the event actually turned out to be awesome. Those who ended up adopting also made appointments eight weeks out to get their dogs groomed. Eight weeks was a good timeframe between groomings for a dog, which meant I was booking three months out and I could calculate a steady income.

  I hadn’t been able to check the wanted ads for any jobs in the fashion design field. Birdie was finally coming today to get Iggy. She had called to say that she had made a detour back to New York City and gave the landlord notice because she wasn’t sure what she was going to do with her life. The donorsexual thing hadn’t worked out, so she was on to her next big adventure with a stop in Kentucky along her way.

  I was getting skilled at grooming and was much faster than I had been just two weeks ago. The classes were great and I couldn’t believe how much I was enjoying myself. This job allowed me to have the freedom of creation that designing clothes had given me, and I had even made Barkleigh some better shoes. I hadn’t seen Ms. St. James again, but Granny dropped them off to her, since they lived in the retirement community together. Granny said Ms. St. James and Barkleigh loved them, which tickled me to no end.

  Everything in my world had become routine and I was settling back into life in Lexington. I was getting calls from all over the city and near-by cities from people who had heard about my service. The local news station had even contacted me to do an interview, which was scheduled for two weeks from now. I wanted to make sure I promoted the benefit sufficiently and hoped to gain a few more attendees in the process.

  The flyers I had put out around the city had proven to help. I always asked clients how they heard of me, and seventy-five percent of the time, they said they saw a flyer posted somewhere.

  The country road on the way to a new client groaned under the RV tires as I took each curve slowly. The new client lived in a part of town I was unfamiliar with, and was more on the country side of Lexington. Thank God for GPS, because it had saved me from being late on several occasions over the past few weeks.

  The woman gave me directions on my voice mail. She never once said her name or the dogs’ names. She just said to be at her house on a certain day at a certain time and that she didn’t need a call back. At first, I was a little put off by how she just assumed I would be there, but intrigued with why she would think that. So I decided to keep her on the books and head out there to see what she was all about. With Lucia Beiderman as a mother, I had seen many snooty women in my day. This one didn’t scare me a bit.

  But her house did.

  I pulled off the gravel road like the client’s directions said, and followed it over a small bridge that crossed a little creek, and then a small—and I mean very small—cabin appeared out of nowhere in a little meadow.

  Woof, woof. I honked the horn. I had no intention of getting out of the RV until I saw a woman with a dog…not just a woman, but a dog too. It wasn’t like someone would get rich if they decided to rob me, but I didn’t want to be killed or kidnapped and never heard from again. That could happen. That was something that was on America’s Most Wanted all the time.

  Woof, woof. I beeped again, rubbernecking to see if I saw any movement from anywhere.

  The cabin door flew open and out came Duke, the Irish Setter from the dog park, followed by a very shirtless, very ripped Jase. He put his hand above his eyebrows to shield the bright sunshine and squinted. He was barefooted with only a pair of men’s plaid pajama pants on.

  I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles becoming white. The tingly feeling I was having was not good for a steady hand that had to hold a pair of scissors.

  Duke hopped up and down around the RV, barking. Jase walked up, each muscle in his upper body rippled with each movement, making them even more defined, sending me into hot flashes.

  The closer he got, the more my brain went to mush.

  “Roll down the window,” Jase’s voice brought me back to earth and I did exactly what he said. “Luvie, right?”

  “Yea,” I said nonchalantly but my brain was screaming he remembered my name.

  “What are you doing here?” The look in his eyes told me he had no clue why I was there.

  “I guess your wife,” dear God he was married, “called for me to groom Duke.”

  “She did, did she?” He folded his tanned biceps across his chest and then leaned his torso on the door.

  “Yes, she did,” I said matter-of-factly. I leaned away from the door. I couldn’t be liable for any actions of jumping his bones. He smelled so good and I wasn’t going to be some homewrecker. “She said to be here at this exact place and time. I even wrote it down.”

  I picked up my calendar from the passenger seat and tried to point to the time and location, but the smell of Gucci Guilty Cologne made me swoon. I dropped the calendar in my lap and closed my eyes.

  “Ah.” I inhaled deeply and slowly let the smell entangle my senses.

  “Are you okay?” Jase popped his head in the window and my eyes flew open. He took a deep breath, “Are the fumes of all of this dog crap getting to you in there?”

  “Gucci Guilty. I’d know it anywhere.” When I would show fashion houses my designs, I would spritz them with Gucci Guilty—my favorite men’s cologne.

  “How did you know?”

  “Let’s just say that your wife has great taste.” Not only in cologne, but also in men.

  “I’ll be sure to tell her that when I meet her.” He laughed, causing his dimples to send my heart into a tailspin.

  “I guess we’d better get started so you can go meet her.” I opened the door, causing him to back up. I really wished he would go put a shirt on and hated that he had a wife.

  “That’s the problem.” He held the door open by the handle. When I was clear of it, he shut it. “I don’t have a wife, darling. I didn’t call you either.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I really like your hair. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

  “You don’t have a wife?” Did he say he liked my hair? Nervously, I touched the ends of my long hair that I had let fall around my shoulders today. “Then who called me with your address?”

  “I don’t know and I’m sorry you had to come out all this way.” He pointed to the cabin. “Do you have time for a beer?”

  No wife, and I made this appointment the last one of the day because it was so far out. Hmmm.

  “Sure.” I shrugged wondering why he didn’t have a wife and who was the woman who did call me? The old red and white Chevy pickup was the only car on the gravel driveway next to the small cabin. “Sweet truck.”

  “That old thing?” He patted it as we walked by. “It was my grandfather’s and I just couldn’t part with it when he died.”

  Hot and sensitive? There was definitely a reason he wasn’t snatched up, but then again, maybe he was a love ’em and leave ’em kind of guy.

  “That’s sweet.” I tried not to sound too impressed or too interested, though I had a sudden urge to know everything about him. Too bad Vivian or Millie weren’t with me. They can tell a person’s life history within ten minutes of meeting them.

  Not me. When anyone around town heard my last name, they immediately thought of the Lady B and the empire that Granny and Daddy had built in the horse racing community. That was why I generally only said my first name when I introduced myself. That was one thing I loved about New York. I had planned to make it on my own there where nobody knew the Beiderman name.

  Bang, bang. Shots rang out. I dropped to the ground.

  “What are you doing?” Amusement danced in his eyes.

  “Did you hear those shots? Aren’t you going to do something?” Panic rose in my gut with more fear on top of that.

  “I’m sure it’s just a hunter.” Jase put his hand out to help me up.

  “Damn hunters.” I shook my head. I never understood why they found killing animals was something so great.

  “It is hunting season,” Jase reminded me of the law in Kentucky. There were only certa
in times of the year someone could hunt with a shotgun. That time was now. “They have to keep the deer population down.”

  “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.” I wasn’t going to go into the details of why I hated hunting. I decided to switch gears.

  After he helped me up, I followed him into his cabin. “What a charming place.” When we walked in, I was half expecting to find clothes, dishes, pizza boxes, and empty beer bottles. It was quite the opposite. The leather seating was definitely a guy thing, but the warm fuzzy throws and hot apple pie on the stove made it feel and smell nice and homey.

  “Yea, that’s me. Charming.” Sarcasm dripped from his lips. He grabbed a shirt out of the nicely folded basket of laundry next to the stairs that led up to an overlooking loft and put it on. “I don’t have light beer, is that okay?”

  “What?” I glanced down at my hairy outfit. “Does it look like I need to lose weight?”

  His face stretched into a sudden smile. “Far from it.” His dark eyes framed his handsome face. “Most girls like that light stuff. And I’m beginning to think that you, Luvie, aren’t like most girls.”

  I remained motionless for a moment while my brain processed what he had said. Was he flirting with me? Nooo. Was he? It sure did seem like it.

  “That is something you are going to have to find out.” I bit my lip. Where did that come from? I had never been one to flirt, but Jase was making it so easy to do.

  “Tell me, Luvie…” I could tell he was searching for a last name, so I had to cut him off at the pass.

  “Tell you what?” I walked over to the kitchen in the open-floor-plan cabin and admired the open-shelf cabinets where pristine white dishes were stacked. He was definitely a simple guy. Duke lay on a braided rug under a large harvest table that could seat a family of eight.

  “I want to know about this benefit you are helping with and how you got involved.” He held the refrigerator door open with his foot and took out two beers. He held one out for me. When I took it our fingers touched, sending a wild urge through me to jump back, but I didn’t. A knot rose in my throat when I realized he hadn’t moved either.

  Our eyes locked. His stare was bold as though he were assessing me. I felt a pink blush cover my cheeks.

  “You have beautiful freckles.” His finger reached up and brushed my cheek. The touch was cold because of the beer he had handed me. I tilted my head to the side and he pulled his finger back. “I’m sorry. That was way over the line.”

  “Oh no,” I brushed him off. “I just can’t stand my freckles.” I stepped back and made my way over to the couch.

  I should be terrified of being in a stranger’s house in the middle of the woods, but I wasn’t. I felt a strange inner excitement instead.

  “Back to your question.” I leaned back into the leather and took a sip of the beer to calm my hammering heart. “I’m helping out a friend.” Friend, right. But if I told him that I was helping my mom, he would instantly know the Beiderman name and then run like the dickens—just like every other guy I was ever interested in.

  Once my daddy ran a boy off with a shotgun and it had become a big urban legend ever since. Half-truths, half-lies. That was another reason I’d wanted to start my life in New York; only when I got there I was too busy trying to move up in Sasha Designs to leave any time for myself.

  “I’m doing free baths for the animals at Adopt-a-Pet Day each month, and I thought it would be a great way to get my new business off and running.” I tried not to watch him drink from the bottle and see his strong jaw clench, but he was so sexy that I couldn’t force my eyes away from him.

  “A business decision. You hear that Duke?” He hollered over his shoulder.

  Umph. Duke groaned from underneath the table.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that you don’t really care about the animals if you are doing it purely for business.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Jase…”

  “Nelson,” he reminded me.

  “Jase Nelson.” I stood up and sat my beer on the coffee table. “That is not true. I love those animals and would do anything for them.”

  “Settle down.” He stood up. His body was so close it felt like a magnet. I had to tell my legs to move back a couple of steps before I listened. “I was joking.”

  “Oh.” I was already halfway to the door. I couldn’t turn back now.

  “Let me make it up to you by taking you to dinner tomorrow night.” Every time he looked at me, my heart did flips.

  “As in a date?” I halted in shock. How was it that I had spent years in New York with millions of single men and never once scored a date…neither a boyfriend nor a date? Then I come back to Lexington and within a few weeks I have a date?

  “Unless you have a boyfriend.” He stopped and ran his hands through his hair. I suddenly wished he hadn’t put that shirt on. “Damn. Of course, you have a boyfriend. I’m so sorry.”

  “No, no, no.” I shook my head. My hair swung back and forth. “No I don’t have a boyfriend and yes I would love to go to dinner with you.”

  “Great!” He rushed over to the counter and grabbed his cell from the charger. “Where should I pick you up?”

  I had forgotten about that little thing called “pick up.” I knew I was going to have to tell him my last name sooner or later. I chose later and rattled off Vivian’s address. It wasn’t so much my last name that was throwing me off; it was the fact that I was living with my parents.

  “I’ll see you soon,” I said.

  “Can’t wait.” He stood at the door with a gaze that was as soft as his fingers when he touched my cheek, but much warmer.

  Remembering the touch was almost unbearable.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Oh my God, oh my God!” I screamed into the phone and tried to maneuver the curvy road back to the Lady B. I had called Vivian because I was about to explode. “You aren’t going to believe what happened to me.”

  “Tell me!” Vivian screamed into the phone. “But first, I have to tell you something.”

  “What?” Her news didn’t sound nearly as exciting as mine did.

  “Birdie showed up and she and Lucia had it out,” Vivian laughed. “Lucia told Birdie that she had to take out all of her piercings, dye her hair all one color and change the style and not wear it spiked.”

  “She’s there now?” I figured Birdie would call me once she got into town. I totally figured wrong.

  “Oh yeah.”

  “What happened?” I was almost afraid to ask.

  “Birdie propped up her dirty Converse tennis shoes on the marble-top table in the family room and folded her arms. She protested she wasn’t moving until you got home.” Vivian was far too amused by the situation. “She’s been sitting there since ten this morning.”

  The clock on the RV dash said it was eight at night, which meant that both Birdie and Mom were still in a face-off waiting for me to get home.

  “That isn’t going to dampen what just happened to me.” I shook off Vivian’s news. “I met a guy and I have a date!” I squealed into the phone.

  “That is so great, Luvie!” Vivian was as excited as I was. “And the urban legend didn’t scare him off?”

  “Well…”

  “Uh-oh. What are you leaving out of this?” Vivian asked.

  “I omitted my last name and gave him your address for him to pick me up tomorrow night.” The pause was long enough for me to know she disapproved. “I know you are mad.”

  “It’s your life and you are ruining it by starting what could be a great relationship with a lie.” Vivian was always the voice of reason and I hated it.

  “It’s not a lie. I didn’t tell him I lived there. He asked for an address.” I was good at making excuses that made me feel better. That was how I had always lived my life.

  “Is he a client of Primp My Pet?”

  “That is the strange part.” I had to go back through my phone messages and find the number of the woman caller
. “I informally met him at the dog park when I was posting flyers, and a woman called and left a message saying that she wanted her dog bathed. She left a day and time but no callback number. I put the address in the GPS, and when I got there, it was the guy from the park, only he said he didn’t make the appointment.”

  “Who was the woman?”

  “He’s not married, doesn’t have a girlfriend, and lives alone.” I pulled into the driveway of the Lady B and typed in the code at the gate. It slowly opened and I pulled in. I parked at the side of the driveway to finish my conversation with Vivian before I went into World War Three with Mom and Birdie. And that I was not looking forward to.

  “So he asks you out instead of telling you who called?” Vivian always had to be the sensible one.

  “Not exactly,” I explained how the night went and how he touched me. She even let out a few sighs. I was probably making it more romantic than it actually was, and my heart beat a mile-a-minute recalling every single detail…down to the color of his dishes. “I’m going to have to go back and see what the number was. Someone wanted us to meet. But who?”

  I could feel it in my gut. The person who called had to have known us. This just couldn’t be a coincidence.

  “Listen,” I put the RV in gear and headed up to the front of the house. “I’m home, so I’d better get off here and see what in the world is going on in there.”

  “Good luck,” Vivian laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

  Tomorrow night couldn’t get here soon enough. I wasn’t looking forward to going into the house of fire.

  I would have to wait to clean the RV until after I settled the feud between Birdie and Mom. Walking up the steps, I felt like I was walking into a lion’s den without a steak. I inhaled deeply before I unlocked the door with my key.

  “I’m so glad you are home,” Mom called out. I could hear her before I saw her. Her heels stomped on the marble flooring, which was a familiar I’m-pissed-so-you’d-better-get-the-hell-out-of-my-way stomp.