Bet On It

by Elizabeth Perry

  “She might not be the best choice.” My eyes flick from Laci’s over to Jessica’s. “She is my girl Daisies sister, and sometimes, Beatrice can be a little difficult.”

  “Oh? How so?” She turns her attention back to Jessica.

  “Don’t listen to him. Beatrice is very sweet tempered. Sometimes, she can be a little bit much to walk, but only because she is often picked over when people come here to spend time with the dogs. She’s older, and most of the people that come to walk the dogs are families with young kids. The kiddo’s always go for the puppies.”

  Laci frowns, and shakes her head. “That breaks my heart! I definitely want Beatrice. I want her to get to walk today.”

  “Jess.” I give her a look over Laci’s head, but Laci’s eyes snap up and she shakes her head.

  “No, Jake. Don’t. I’m perfectly capable of walking a dog. And if Beatrice is lonely, then I want her. She is my choice.”

  “Ok. I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.” I shrug, but make a mental note to stick close to Laci on the trails, because while Jessica might want to believe that Beatrice is sweet tempered, I know better.

  Beatrice is an asshole.

  I let the women go ahead of me, following slowly behind them as they enter the kennel. The dogs go nuts as we walk past, and it squeezes my heart.

  If I could, I would have already adopted Daisy and gotten her out of this place. Not that it’s a bad place as far as dog kennels go, but still.

  These dogs deserve better than to be locked in a cage for most of their days. If I didn’t travel so much for my job, I would take each and every one of them home with me. Starting with my girl Daisy the bulldog first, of course.

  I grab a couple of harnesses and leashes off the rack by the door.

  I toss one to Laci, and she blinks, before her hand reaches up and snatches it out of the air.

  As she does so, her tank top rises, giving me a nice view, although rather quick view, of a flat stomach.

  I swallow hard, letting my eyes work over her again for just a brief second before focusing on my girl.

  Daisy barks a few times, pushing her nose into the door of the kennel, urging me to hurry up and let her out.

  I kneel down as I open the metal door, and she pretty much barrels into me, jumping into my arms and licking my face.

  I hear a giggle behind me and as I turn, I see that both Laci and Jessica have stopped what they are doing with Beatrice, and both have turned their attention over to us.

  “She missed you.” Jessica tells me, although, I already know this.

  “I missed her too.” I scratch her all over, paying extra attention to the spot between her ears that she loves so much.

  I strap her leash onto her, letting her lick me the entire time that I do so, before rising back up to a standing position as Jessica goes over the rules with Laci.

  I pause for just a moment, as Laci hooks Beatrice up, before motioning to her.

  “You good to go? Got any questions?”

  Her eyes roll high. “I’ve walked a dog plenty of times before, Jake, but thanks. I think I’ve got this.”

  “But have you ever walked here? The woods are beautiful, but it’s really easy to get turned around. There are a ton of trails. We should stick together.”

  “I don’t think so.” She grins, before shaking her head. “I’m the enemy, remember? You shouldn’t be seen with me.”

  “You are not the enemy.” I shake my head. “I really think that you should stick with me. I don’t want you to get lost.”

  “I’m fine.” She rolls her eyes at me, before thrusting a map towards my face.

  “I have a map, and even better, GPS on my phone if I get turned around.”

  “The signal isn’t great out there…”

  “I’m fine. I do not need your help. But thank you.”

  She turns her attention back to Jessica, who continues to rattle off instructions on the dog.

  Laci listens intently.

  “Laci…”

  “Jake.” Her eyes snap back towards me before she makes an exasperated sound. “I’m fine.”

  “Ok. Suit yourself.” Fucking pain in the ass woman. Independent to a fault, I’m sure. But she is right. I do need to keep some distance from her, at least until I can get my head to clear.

  Whenever I’m around her lately, I lose focus of everything, including the fact that I am supposed to be trying to nail her for a bet. And while of course, I would love to strip all her clothes off her and bury myself deep inside of that hot little body, still.

  I need to get my emotions under control, because for whatever reason, she makes me feel way more than I should be. And that is not going to work out well at all.

  I shrug before heading out the front door, towards the park behind the kennel.

  The park has miles of walking paths, that lead from the woods to the water, all around and intersecting with each other at some point.

  Usually, Daisy does pretty well without the leash, and I typically just let her walk along next to me, but all of that will depend on how busy the park is.

  Saturday mornings, depending on the weather, are usually busy here, and today is no exception. The park is crazy crowded, but it always thins out once we hit the trails.

  We head past the playground and make our way towards the path that starts in the woods but ends up going around the lake.

  We start out walking, but I fully intend to pick up our pace to a run. Daisy loves to run, and I’ve noticed that she has gained a few unneeded pounds since the last time that I saw her, which was at least two weeks ago.

  Diet plan, in full effect.

  Once we hit the woods, where it’s far less crowded, I remove the leash, keeping only her harness on her. We start out with a jog, before breaking out into a run.

  I try to clear my head of all thoughts of Laci, but of course, I can’t. It’s like my mind is on a complete reel of events from yesterday to today.

  The way she smiles, the sound of her laughter, the way her eyes light up when she is about to fire back a smart remark to me. The fiercely independent streak that seems to run through her.

  Fuck.

  I need to focus more on her body. That’s what I am supposed to be after, anyhow. And what a fine body it is.

  I can only imagine what she looks like, sans clothes, her full breasts heavy in my hands, her tight little body wrapped around mine, those sweet lips begging for me to fuck her.

  Yes. That would all be fucking perfect. And that is all that I need from her.

  A quick fuck, and then a quick boot, just like every other woman.

  Except, I know far too well already. Nothing could ever be quick about her. Or easy to get rid of for that matter.

  She strikes me as the kind of woman, where one time could never be enough. And that is going to pose a major problem here.

  Not just because of the bet, which, by now I am so regretting ever being a part of. It’s more just the fact that this entire thing is completely fucked up, and I’m ashamed of myself for participating.

  While the rest of the guys love to play the mom game, I’ve never partaken in it. I’ve never been one to treat women like that, which is why I have never messed with a mom before. I’ve never taken part in the pranks, never made any kind of advances towards them.

  Until now, when I am front and center, playing the leading role in this whole damn thing. I have two sisters, and with that, comes a lot of protective instincts.

  I would fucking murder anyone who tried to do something like this to one of my sisters, trying to swoon them enough to sleep with them, only to turn around and get them fired.

  And Laci could very well be someone’s sister. She is definitely someone’s daughter, and I would like to think that she has someone looking out for her the way that I do to my own sisters.

  But something inside of my gut tells me that she doesn’t. Maybe it’s because she told me that she has been on her own since she was just a teena
ger, or maybe it’s just because she seems so hell bent against asking anyone for help.

  I’m not sure which it is, but still. I feel like Laci probably doesn’t have anyone looking out for her, which leads me to feel even shitter about this entire thing.

  Then again, I have to face the facts here. If I don’t fulfill this bet, one of the other guys will most definitely try. They will all swoop in, and pull out all the stops to try to get her into their beds. Either that, or they will bring the pranks up to a whole new level.

  And that is a thought that doesn’t settle well with me. Not at all.

  Sweet tempered? My ass. Beatrice is a complete and total asshole.

  She is adorable, with the largest blue puppy dog eyes I have ever seen. And she’s lucky that she’s cute, because otherwise?

  I might just leave her out here and say to hell with it.

  Ok, so I wouldn’t really do that, but the thought right now is tempting.

  First of all, there is no ‘walking’ her. She goes from either a brisk trot, to a full out run. And while I have a hold of her leash, she’s a lot stronger than she looks.

  And apparently, a lot stronger than me.

  We started out ok, she trotted through the playground at a nice pace, which was totally deceiving for what was to come. Because once we hit the woods?

  All hell broke loose.

  At this point, I’m not even walking her anymore. She is walking me and I can’t even call it walking.

  She is basically dragging me along behind her, without a single care in the world.

  I already ripped my tank top, my right knee is skinned from where I hung onto her leash for dear life before tripping over a rock and dragging my leg across the dirt.

  My shorts have stains on them that I’m not even sure I want to know the origin of, my hair is plastered to my head from sweat with a few random leaves and sticks in it from my fall, and my heart?

  Holy freaking moly. It’s getting cardio on steroids.

  Finally, she stops, coming to an abrupt halt next to a large tree. I hit my knees, gulping in air, trying to get my heart to slow down.

  Seriously.

  I know it’s been awhile since I’ve walked a dog, but this. This is just not normal.

  This is not what I had expected, at all. And to top it all off, I’m certain that I’m lost.

  While I will never admit it to him, I might should have taken Jake up on at least showing me where these trails all led to. Not that I wanted to walk with him, because I most certainly did not. But, I was a little bit over zealous when I thought that my little map would get me around back here.

  Well, maybe it would have, if Beatrice the jerk hadn’t drug me along and made me lose said map.

  Oh, and the cell service thing? Yeah. Jake was right about that too. I have zero bars out here, not that this devil of a dog would stop long enough for me to even try to use the navigation app on my phone.

  I tried to retrace my steps once I realized that I had lost the map, but, Beatrice had other ideas. In a moment of keeping only one hand on the lease, she decided to lurch forward, chasing a stupid squirrel.

  That was how I skinned my knee, and probably where all the crap in my hair came from.

  We’ve been wandering around in circles, at least, I’m pretty sure we are going in a circle. It’s hard to tell out here, since all the paths look the same.

  I really should Hansel and Gretel it, and leave myself a trail of breadcrumbs or something to figure out if we really are walking in a damn circle.

  Isn’t Beatrice supposed to know the way back? I mean, she is a dog…

  Not that I can really blame her for not wanting to go back to the shelter. I wouldn’t either. I can’t imagine being locked up in a cage for most of my day. My heart pangs a little bit for her, as I realize that is probably why she is such a pain to walk. The poor dog finally got a taste of freedom, she’s taking full advantage of it.

  But still. She doesn’t listen to me whatsoever, so while I do feel a little bit bad for her?

  She’s still an asshole.

  She comes to an abrupt halt, and her tiny ears stand straight up on her head. She tilts her head to the side and sniffs, as I use the moment to catch my breath.

  I’m sure that in the next few seconds she is going to take off again, dragging me with her. She has done this same routine for every single squirrel that we have walked past.

  But this time, she doesn’t. She just stops instead and turns to look at me, as if to say, “This way” before turning around and walking back where we just came from.

  Since I of course have no idea how to get back, I follow behind her, hoping to God that she has also realized that we are lost and has decided to lead me home.

  We walk for a few minutes, and I of course, am loving the pace. I’m exhausted from our nearly two hour run.

  I can’t wait to go home and soak in a hot bath.

  I’m convinced that this was one of my worst ideas yet, showing up to a dog shelter and deciding to walk a dog in the woods that I have never met before.

  But earlier today? When I saw the commercial for the shelter asking for donations, and then Beatrice’s sad face flashed across the screen?

  I couldn’t resist.

  Maybe Jake also saw that commercial. That would make sense, right? But of course, that would also mean that he has a heart, and that’s something that up until today, and ok, maybe last night, I was convinced that he was missing.

  While I hate to admit it to myself, he’s not that bad of a guy. Sure, he’s full of himself and thinks that he is the bombdiggity.

  But isn’t he kind of? I mean, at least in the baseball world he is. Maybe he has a small right to act that way…except, he didn’t act like he was too good for his fan last night.

  That kid last night acted as if Jake hung the moon, and in return? Jake had acted as though meeting that kiddo was the highlight of his day.

  It was pretty sweet.

  No. Dammit. I force nice thoughts of him away. Those kinds of thoughts are trouble for me. He’s already far too hot, and last night when he had me alone? My knees went weak, my heart began to race in my chest, and suddenly, even though I knew that it was wrong, things could have easily gotten out of control. Because the second that I looked into his eyes?

  I was a goner.

  And then today, when he took steps towards me like a tiger stalking his prey? It happened again. My breathing became so fast, that I worried for a second that I might pass out. But then, just as fast, his hungry look was traded for an adorable little boy look grin when he heard his dog barking, and my stupid heart nearly exploded.

  Gah. See? He is major trouble, and I definitely need to stay far away from him. Because while Jake may not be the asshole that I had him pegged to be, he is still bearing one huge strike in my book.

  He is a major league baseball player, and he is still a complete and utter man whore.

  I shake my head, clearing my thoughts. I need to focus on so many other things, besides Jake Matthews. But of course, every few seconds, my mind flicks back to him.

  Dammit all.

  I’m so lost in my thoughts, that I miss the way Beatrice turns her head back up towards a sound.

  And in an instant, she takes off, causing me to lose my balance as the leash circles around my wrist.

  I scream out in pain as she yanks me, causing me to fall again, taking off in a mad dash through the thick woods, dragging me behind her.

  Daisy comes to an abrupt halt, before turning her head towards the sky.

  “You hear them, girl?” I reach down and scratch her head, as she wags her tail.

  We finished our walk at least an hour ago, but I noticed that Laci’s SUV was still in the parking lot.

  We waited around for a little bit, and still didn’t see any sign of her or Beatrice, so I decided to trek back into the trails to see if I can’t find them myself.

  I never should have let her hit these trails alone. The paths all wind t
ogether at some point, but each one goes on for miles. It would be easy to get lost back here, especially if you aren’t familiar with it.

  While she would have never agreed to walk with me, I could have kept a nice distance behind her so that I could have at least helped her out if needed.

  And then of course, while I would have been there to help, I would have also had a nice view of her perfect ass in those tiny little shorts.

  I’m a gentleman like that, even if I’m also a little bit on the pervy side.

  I should have done that, but since I didn’t, I am now more than a little bit worried.

  Beatrice can be a lot to handle sometimes, especially if she’s been cooped up for a while.

  I know that Jessica meant well when she gave her to Laci, especially since Laci was adamant about taking that particular dog, but in all honesty, she should have said no and given her a milder mannered one.

  Beatrice can be an asshole sometimes.

  Once, I tried to walk both she and Daisy at the same time. I ended up nearly breaking my neck as she took off after a squirrel when I wasn’t paying attention.

  I soon learned that where Daisy is easy to walk, and just happy to trot along, Beatrice likes to sprint, and needs a loud, firm voice to slow her down.

  We make our way back into the deeper part of the woods, where the daylight is still just barely peeking through the treetops. I scan in all directions, looking and listening for any signs of them, coming up with nothing.

  But then, Daisies ears stand at full attention. She comes to an abrupt halt, before barking once. I stop in my tracks, listening intently as she does the same.

  And then, I hear it.

  Her scream echoes through the woods, so damn loud that it seems like she should be within my sight. Except she’s not.

  I turn my body, trying to place the direction of the sound, but it’s no use. It literally echoes through the woods, and could have come from any direction.

  Luckily, Daisy heard it too, and she turns to our left, before running forward.

  I follow behind her, jogging to keep up, as the screams get louder. We make our way into the even thicker part of the forest, headed towards the small body of water that sits in the center of these woods.