Yeah, okay, so she had love issues. Who didn't?
Luke sighed. "Trust me. This one isn't lovable. But I don't need loveable. I just need to be able to manage him. Can you do that?"
She sighed. "You are such an inspiring dog owner."
His eyebrow shot up. "Maybe you should meet him before you judge me."
She winced. What was wrong with her? Was she really that disappointed because he wasn't the guy she'd started fantasizing about? She should know better than to have let her guard down. It wasn't his fault he was who he was. It was hers for letting it bother her.
She took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face. "Fine, but just to let you know, I do have standards about who I work with, and liking your dog is a prerequisite." She shot him a stern look to let him know just how serious she was, kinda impressed with herself that she had the courage to stand up to a lawyer. It was actually a little cathartic to be a bit sassy with him, to be showing a little personality.
Because she had a good personality, she was pretty sure. Or at least she would, once all the scars from years of crushing her inner sparkle had finally disappeared.
His eyebrows went up, and the corner of his mouth twitched, as if he were totally entertained by her sass.
Hmm…maybe Luke was her final key toward healing. Maybe if she could learn to be her sassy self in his presence, then all the damage from her law-firm-hell/turd-brain-ex would finally fade away. Hell, yeah, that sounded fantastic! Luke had been sent by her guardian angel to sass her up. How awesome!
She flashed him a brilliant grin, feeling markedly better, and started toward his car. "He's in your car?"
"Wait." Luke caught her arm, sending those same sparks through her as had happened the last time. Clearly, her hormones weren't remotely concerned he was an attorney. So, that was good, right? Talk about a raw physical attraction...hold on. They hadn't been talking about hot, sexy stuff. They'd been talking about his dog. Right. His dog. Oh…unless he'd stopped her to start talking about playing footsie and—
"The dog will run away if you let him out. Let me get the leash," he explained.
"Ah." Of course he'd stopped her about the dog, not because he wanted to practice massage techniques on her. She sighed and took the leash. "The dog. No worries. I'll be ready."
Paige cracked the door open a tiny bit, bracing her knee on the outside of it to keep the dog from pushing it open. As she did, she caught the smell of leather, and paused for just a moment to bask in the scent. A nice car didn't atone for the misery of being a lawyer, but she had loved her Mercedes. She saw a flash of brown in the back seat. "You have a German Shepherd? I love Shepherds—"
The dog suddenly lunged toward the barely open door. She braced herself, but she suddenly found herself flung backward as the dog threw himself against the door and shoved it open. She lunged for the dog as it raced by her. Her fingers caught on the collar, and then he was out of reach, sprinting right for her dog. "Crap!"
Luke grinned, the tiniest bit of smugness in his smile. "Super loveable, huh?" He held out his hand to help her to her feet.
She accepted his hand, and let him pull her up, relaxing when she saw his dog had stopped to sniff Bandit, and they were both wagging their tails happily. "He has energy. That's loveable."
She wiped the dirt off her bum, and Luke raised his hand as if he were going to do the same. He froze, as if realizing what he was about to do, then quickly lowered his hand. He cocked his head. "You're ever the optimist when it comes to dogs, aren't you?"
"It's in my best interest to do so, given my job." Paige watched his dog sniff with Bandit. The Shepherd was well over a hundred pounds, but had the leanness and floppiness that indicated it was still closer to puppy than full-grown adult. The pup was pure energy and strength, not a dog that would ever fit into the lifestyle of a high-powered Boston attorney. He was drop-dead adorable, and she kind of wanted to run over, throw her arms around him, and hug him until her arms fell off. But since that maybe wasn't quite the professional dog trainer image she wanted to present, she decided to control herself. "He's gorgeous."
"Thanks." Luke frowned at him. "I swear he's bigger than he was when I put him in the car an hour ago. How big do Shepherds get?"
"Big." She cocked her head, studying him. "I had you pegged for a toy dog, or something like a cockapoo or pug. An apartment dog of some sort," Paige mused, wondering how on earth he managed to fit a Shepherd into an attorney's grueling schedule. "What's his name?"
When Luke didn't answer, she glanced at him. He had a pained expression on his face. "His name is Muffin."
She rolled her eyes at his jest. "God, can you imagine? A Shepherd with a name like Muffin?" She grinned. He'd made a joke. That was a great sign, right?
A muscle ticked in his right cheek. "I'm not kidding. That's his name."
"What?" She realized that he wasn't blinking. He was telling the truth. "Pooh." A giggle started at the back of her throat and bolted out her mouth. She clapped her hand over her mouth and turned away. "Muffin?" Dear God. Luke had given his huge, rowdy Shepherd a name that belonged to a small, fluffy lapdog that wore pink bows on groomer days? "You do realize he must weigh over a hundred pounds, don't you? That he's the same breed that's used as police dogs? And attack dogs?" She started laughing again, unable to stop herself. It was just so incongruous with both the man and the dog.
The left corner of his mouth curved up ever so slightly. Did he actually have a sense of humor? Impossible. "I'm aware that the name doesn't fit him, but it's not my fault."
"Whose fault is it?" That was definitely the beginning of a smile. The man practically had a dimple. Heaven help her. She was already much too aware of him as a man. There most definitely did not need to be a dimple added into the equation.
"My sister's. She named him."
"And you let her?"
"It was her dog at the time." Luke cocked an eyebrow at her. "He was pretty cute when he was seven weeks old. Muffin didn't seem overly inappropriate at the time. Not that I would've named him Muffin even then, of course."
"Of course." Now that Luke was talking about his sister, his voice had moved from a deep rumbling to a resonant rolling bass drum. Interesting. It almost made her toes curl.
Muffin had followed Bandit to the edge of the woods, where the two of them were sniffing around the base of a tree, smelling stories that humans would never know.
"My sister got married last weekend. Her husband is allergic to dogs, so she can't keep Muffin. She couldn't bear to give Muffin to a stranger, so I got him. She comes over every day to see him."
Luke's voice was gruff. With emotion? Aww… The man loved his sister. That was super sweet. He'd taken in a dog that didn't fit his lifestyle just to keep his sister happy? Damn him. That was worse than him having a dimple. She did not need him to become more attractive, thanks so much.
The attorneys she'd worked with, and the one she'd shared a bed with, hadn't been the kind of people who would adopt a huge, rambunctious dog named Muffin, just to keep his sister happy. Maybe Luke wasn't a purebred lawyer after all. Maybe he was a mutt that just looked and acted like a lawyer. Maybe there was hope. Not that it mattered. He was too closely related to the life that had destroyed her. Even if he had a few redeeming qualities, there was no way she could even consider him. For heaven's sake, just seeing his car had made her start hyperventilating again. It would never work. She literally could not go back anywhere near that world, or near a man from that world. She had to focus on the dog, the dog, and only the dog. And definitely not the dog's super appealing owner.
The dog. Right. She needed to talk about the dog. "Muffin isn't running away," she pointed out, almost starting to laugh again when she said the name. She wasn't sure she'd ever be able to call that dog Muffin without laughing. "So, that's good."
"Yeah?" Luke raised one eyebrow at her. "You ain't seen nothing yet."
She grinned at his goofy accent, folding her arms over her chest. "Lay it on me. I
can take it."
"Check it out." He walked toward Muffin, calling his name. The closer Luke got to Muffin, the less Muffin concentrated on sniffing the tree, and the more he focused on Luke. When Luke had almost reached Muffin, his hand a mere six inches from Muffin's collar, the dog ducked under Luke's hand and bolted across the yard, barking and flipping his head. Bandit bounded after him, delighted to have a pal.
Luke threw up his hands, shooting a helpless look at Paige. "He does that every single time. He knows exactly where my hand is. The dog's a veritable genius of manipulation."
Paige grinned at Luke's response. Regardless of how good a guy he was, she could already guess that he wouldn't have succeeded at his firm if he was a man who was okay with not being in control. Muffin would certainly help him learn to deal with not being able to control everything, as long as he didn't have a temper. She'd seen plenty of bad-tempered lawyers, and in fact, been victimized by them, because she was lucky that way. But she liked Luke's response, and the good-natured furrow to his brow.
"It'll take me hours to catch him now," Luke sighed, watching the dogs frolic as he walked back to Paige. "He thinks it's hilarious to torment me."
"Ah, poor Luke." She patted his shoulder in consolation, allowing her hand to linger for just a moment longer than was proper. He was so muscular, and so what if she couldn’t help but notice? She was human, not a robot. "On the bright side, he's not actually a person, so he can't do things like intentionally torment you. He's just being a dog."
Luke snorted. "Look at the expression on his face. He's basking in the fact that I have no chance to catch him. Can't you hear him laughing? He's definitely laughing at me. He'll never come."
Paige grinned. "Never?"
Luke glanced at her. "Is that a challenge?"
"Yup."
He folded his arms across his chest. "Go for it. Try to catch him."
"Sure." She pursed her lips and whistled shrilly. Bandit bolted toward her, and, as she knew he would, Muffin followed on his heels, eager to find out what Bandit was after. When the two dogs reached Paige, she gave a treat to Bandit, ignoring Muffin. Like any good dog, he became pushy the moment he realized Bandit was getting treats, and he wasn't. He impatiently shoved his nose in, trying to snag a treat. She gave him one, and quietly snapped the leash on him while he chewed. She grinned at Luke. "Easy peasy."
"How'd you do that?" Luke looked genuinely shocked.
"I'm just fantastically brilliant and gifted, of course." She laughed at his comically disgruntled look, crouching down to play with Muffin, grinning when he gave her kisses. "He was following Bandit. Dogs learn from each other."
"God, that's brilliant. Can I take your dog with me, then?" His gaze flicked toward where Muffin was licking her collarbone, just above the neckline of her tee shirt, and the look in his eyes was momentarily, like completely, distracting until she managed to refocus.
"No, you don't get my dog." She ruffled both of the dogs' heads. "I keep him."
Luke's eyes were dark as he watched her. "I suppose that's best. Your dog probably wouldn't want my life. How long should I leave Muffin with you? A few weeks? I don't know how this works."
She sat back on her heels, smiling at him. Somehow, she wasn't completely surprised that Luke would think that leaving his dog to be trained would make sense. "Well, some dog trainers work like that, but that's not how Freedom Dog Training works."
He cocked his head. "How does it work?"
"You need as much training as Muffin."
He paused for a moment. "I'm not a dog."
She grinned. "I didn't say you were. I'm pretty aware that you're a man." The moment she said it, his eyebrows went up, and her cheeks immediately heated up. Crap. She hadn't meant it to sound like that. "I just meant even if I train Muffin to obey me, it doesn't mean he'll obey you. You and Muffin have a partnership, so you have to go through training together."
His gaze flicked to her neckline again, and then back to her face. "Together? With you?"
With her? His question hung in the air, and suddenly, the space between them felt very small. She cleared her throat. "Yes, with me. One-on-one sessions." Suddenly, those words seemed to carry innuendo that they'd never had before. Did she really want to deal with him again? And again? And again? He was everything that had, quite literally, almost broken her, and she'd made it pretty clear that he was dangerous to her foundations, in all sorts of ways, including terror, anxiety, and unfiltered sexual longing, none of which she really wanted to deal with at the moment.
Or ever.
Yeah, try ever.
She stood up, suddenly wanting out, away from him, away from all that he represented, and all that he made her feel. "You know, I'm sure you're super busy with work, and I can see that might not be the best arrangement for you. I know of a couple places that will take Muffin. Shall I give you some other names to try?"
He studied her. "Maybe."
Maybe? Why wasn't he grabbing that escape she'd just offered both of them?
God, he was intense. Sexy, masculine, and strong. She'd never be able to handle being around him. She was so not ready to face all he represented yet, if ever, and she certainly wasn't ready to be in another relationship, and that was a definite never. "Why don't I run inside and write down a couple names for you?" She held the leash out to him, but he didn't take it. "Seriously. Here. Take the leash."
He just stood there, silent, as he apparently considered her question. As she waited, she began to relax. He'd never hire her. She'd been irreverent, bossy, and dirty. Not to mention, working with her would take a lot of his time, time that any lawyer from his firm simply didn't have. He might be tempted, but she knew what the answer was. There was literally no way Luke could hire her. She was safe.
"Paige."
"Yes?" She held out the leash again, not quite able to suppress the feeling of disappointment that he was going to walk away, and she'd never get the chance to be completely uncomfortable around him again.
"You're hired."
Chapter 3
Luke wasn't prepared for the look of horror that sprung to Paige's face at his response. Yeah, he'd heard all the lawyer jokes in his life, and he knew that many people put his profession at about the same level of morality as loan shark, hit man, or blackmailer. He knew the stereotype, but he considered himself a pretty good guy, certainly not the kind who would elicit a look of absolute "God-help-me-no!" on a woman's face less than an hour after meeting him.
Maybe it wasn't him.
Maybe she'd just remembered that she'd left the stove on. Or…that she'd run over someone on the way home, and had just remembered that she forgot to call the police. He frowned. "Are you okay?"
She stared at him for so long without answering that he took a step forward to help her, stopping when she held up her hand. "Did you just say you were going to hire me?" she asked.
"Yeah." Again, she looked like she was about to pass out from terror. Huh. He was starting to think it was him, which really didn't make his day all that fantastic. He liked her. She was sassy and irreverent, and didn't take any shit. He kinda wanted to work with her, but if she was repulsed by him, that would make it slightly awkward. He frowned. "You don't want to work with me…us?" He decided to change the pronoun at the last second, on the chance that he was misreading the situation and it wasn't actually about him.
"Whaaat?" She laughed so awkwardly that he didn't buy it for a split second. Son of a bitch. It was him. She laughed and waved her hand dismissively, in that super-awkward way that no one with half a brain would believe. "Oh, no. It's no problem. It's great... I just wasn't expecting you to hire me is all. You sort of had that look like you weren't. No biggie. Okay, well, let's focus on the dog, then." She turned away, waving her hand in front of her flushed cheeks.
"Um...sorry." He was feeling a little thunderstruck, he wasn't going to lie. He'd spent the last couple decades running as fast and hard as he could from the small-town life that had sucked his child
hood away from him. He'd worked hard to find solace in the big city, away from dirt, nature, and financial pressure. He wore nice suits, and he liked it. He drove a nice car, and he liked it. He lived in a flashy condo and liked it. He dated women who took time for manicures, and hairdressing appointments, and he liked them...well, honestly, he didn't really like them, but he was optimistic that at some point he'd find a woman like that who actually interested him.
Bottom line, he'd worked his ass off to get away from everything that Paige Turner represented, and yet he was completely ensnared by her, in every way, which meant, he was so not a fan of her "I-think-you-might-be-an-axe-murderer" reaction to him.
And her rejection of him also reminded him too much of the reaction that another small-town female had had to him a long time ago, the woman who had been the catalyst to galvanize him to throw a backpack over his shoulder, and get out of town for good.
Damn.
He didn't quite know what to do next. Walk away and spare himself an unwanted trip down memory lane? But everyone he'd met in town had said she was the best. He needed the best. Without the best, he wasn't going to be able to keep Muffin, and he couldn’t let that happen.
This was about the dog. His attraction to Paige had been unexpected, and his disappointment at her reluctance to spend time with him wasn't exactly his feel-good moment of the day, but this was, first and foremost, about the dog.
He owed his sister.
He had to find a way to get this dog to a point at which he could manage him.
Which meant, he wasn't giving Paige an out. So, instead of taking Muffin's leash from her hand, he jammed his hands in the pockets of his suit pants. "Do we start now?"
She stared at him for almost a full minute, and he could practically see the wheels turning in her head. For whatever reason, she didn't want to work with him, and she'd finally realized he wasn't going to let her off the hook.
Pawfectly In Love Page 3
