The Dog Designer Ruffles Some Feathers

by Heather Horrocks

  Then he leaned toward her … and kissed her, lightly, his lips brushing against hers.

  She kissed him right back, and the kiss deepened.

  She leaned into him, loving the feel of her body against his. He wrapped his arms around her and she melted like butter on a hot-off-the-griddle pancake. Her eyes closed and she enjoyed the sensation of kissing the man she’d wanted for so many years.

  The kiss went on, and on, and she wound her arm around him, trying to catch her breath.

  Then Max barked — and the spell was broken. They broke apart.

  She was really, really sorry that it was. The only good thing was that Kea looked disappointed, too.

  Wait. What was she saying? He was engaged. She couldn’t be going around kissing Kea. He couldn’t be kissing her! What was she thinking? What was he thinking?

  Max barked again, and she turned to see what he wanted. His friendly puppy face was inches from hers, and he leaned into her legs.

  I told him to break you two up, Wencheng sent a mental note. You were making a fool of yourself.

  Poppy chuckled and shook her finger at the little Shih Tzam. You are one naughty little dog.

  Thank you. And you need to learn that you entice people to come to you when you hold yourself back.

  But she didn’t want to entice Kea. Guilt seared Poppy. She would not break up Kea’s engagement.

  No matter how much she might want him for her own.

  Kea had laughed more this afternoon than he had in ages.

  He’d kissed her! Oh, and how that kiss had ruffled his feathers! He wanted nothing more than to pull her back in for another kiss, except the dog had interrupted.

  And then they’d gotten up and began preparing for the arrival of his family as though nothing had happened.

  But everything had changed in that moment. He wanted Poppy. He needed to figure out some way to stay in touch with her when she went home, to woo her, to win her over.

  Just watching Poppy made him smile. Her sparkling sky-blue eyes, the way she didn’t let him get away with anything, the smile that knocked him off his feet.

  And she was so good with her dogs. Puppies, except for the Shih Tzu, who still looked young but had grown out of the puppy stage. But he suspected that because of her tiny size, people would always think of her as a puppy.

  The dogs tumbled around after her, Max pouncing on Blaze, and then Blaze jumping on Max. Wencheng always stood a little apart from the other dogs, but seemed as if she was studying them. Not as though she wanted to join in, but like they were beneath her.

  “Give me a hand?” Poppy asked, flashing him a smile.

  He came out of his reverie and stepped forward to help her flip open a disposable tablecloth and some big plastic clips to hold it in place. “Did Mom send all of this stuff with you? And Aloha loaded my trunk, too. I’m beginning to think she really did send us early for the nefarious purpose of having us set up everything. Why else would they have sent us early?”

  Poppy laughed. “I don’t understand it. I’d have sworn that the text said noon. I would have bet a hundred dollars that it did. And I’d now be a hundred dollars poorer.”

  “I know what you mean,” he said, fastening one of the clips on the corner. Standing back up, he said, “How many more tables do we need to do?”

  “Two, apparently, as there are two tablecloths left.”

  He caught her gaze — and they started to laugh at the absurdity of being sent out so much earlier. Shaking his head, he said, “Next time I’m getting a verbal commitment on the time.”

  “I’d get it in writing, if I were you. Your family is sneaky. And next time, I’ll be back in Colorado Springs. You can set up everything.”

  That made him wistful. He’d just gotten back around Poppy and she’d be leaving soon. “Maybe I can come visit you after you go back.”

  “Maybe,” she said, but the word wasn’t spoken very convincingly.

  As they clipped the last tablecloth to a table, a car pulled in, followed by another. Another few vehicles pulled in. He checked his watch. “They’re thirty minutes early.”

  “I consider them an hour and a half late.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah. Me, too.”

  Soon five vehicles were parking, and his family piled out.

  A blonde was with them. Lizzie.

  He frowned, disappointed. Oh, yeah. Lizzie. He’d proposed to her, though the details were a little fuzzy. He wasn’t sure why he had. Why had he, anyway? Especially since he liked Poppy so much?

  But Lizzie came forward with a huge smile, and a look of relief. He imagined his family had grilled her during the drive.

  “I thought you’d like a cold Gatorade,” she said. “I’m sure you must be hot, poor baby.”

  She’d opened it already and he took it from her. He was kind of thirsty.

  “Thanks.” He drank and felt the electrolytes do their thing. She took his arm, and a warmth spread through him as he looked into her purple eyes.

  Those beautiful purple eyes. A man could get lost in those eyes.

  Lizzie was so beautiful. He couldn’t wait until they were married.

  “We need caramel popcorn.” Nalani did a fake pout of her lips, and quavered them in a way that made Poppy laugh.

  “Oh, you poor baby. You do need some, I can tell. Let me run right over to the store to get that for you.”

  “Be sure to buy the Werther’s brand. That stuff is addictive.”

  Poppy laughed again. “So I’m your enabler now? And you don’t even offer to go with me.”

  Nalani pointed at her Minion PJs, as if that explained everything.

  They’d arrived home from Indian Falls around seven and had decided it was a good night for a PJ party. Nalani had changed into hers, and Poppy was about to change into hers when Nalani decided to send her out on a munchie run. She said, “People go out in their pajamas all the time.”

  “Not this girl, thank you very much.” She fluttered her eyelashes in an outlandish manner. “How can I possibly handle gossiping about the extremely phony Lizzie without more sugar in my system?”

  “She does seem phony, doesn’t she?” Poppy thought about the woman who’d come in and captivated Kea with her mere touch and a blink of her eyelashes over those weird purple eyes. That just seemed really weird — and had been more hurtful than she’d like to admit. “And creepy.”

  “Yeah. I will need lots of sugar.”

  Poppy thought for a minute. “Werther’s does sound good, actually. Okay, I’ll go.”

  Nalani rubbed her hands in an evil-villain sort of way and did a little, “Hee-hee-hee.”

  “That’s kind of creepy,” Poppy said. “Are you Nalani’s evil twin?”

  “Yes, I am. Hurry back soon, serf.”

  “On second thought, it’s like you’re Wencheng’s twin.”

  Poppy petted the dogs and promised to return with a treat for them, too, and then drove to the local grocery, the Monster Mart.

  To save time, she asked a clerk where she could find the caramel popcorn, and went down that aisle. Luckily, they did have Werther’s, so she grabbed a bag. Oh, what the heck. She grabbed two. She wasn’t counting calories this trip, and they did have a movie or two ahead of them.

  Just in case, she grabbed two more.

  Making her way down to the dog aisle, she picked up a big bag of their favorite treats, made her way to the front of the store.

  She grabbed a Moonchuckle Bay baseball cap from the checkout display. “I’ll take this, too.”

  She paid, and the clerk handed her the two bags and smiled. “Thanks for coming in.”

  As she took them, the bagger nudged the clerk. “Check it out.” And he motioned out the window.

  Both the clerk and Poppy peered out to see a couple, who looked like they were fighting. Which of course meant they all started paying intense attention.

  They both had blond hair and … Wait a minute. That blonde looked a lot like ... Lizzie! But that man wa
s nowhere near tall and muscular enough to be Kea. So who was Lizzie fighting with?

  They were walking away from the store, yelling back and forth. Lizzie stomped off and the man started following Lizzie.

  Poppy moved closer to the windows. She could still see them, but not as clearly now.

  She needed a better viewing vantage — plus, she needed to be outside so she could maybe hear what they were saying. And to see the purple of her eyes. Because maybe this woman wasn’t even Lizzie, but just someone who looked like her. She’d only know if she could get close enough to see if she had purple eyes or eyes of a more normal color.

  She jerked out her new cap and slapped it on her head. As a disguise, it wasn’t much, but it would hopefully cover her features enough that Lizzie wouldn’t realize it was her. Just some random Monster Mart shopper. Nothing to see here, folks. Continue your fight.

  She went out the exit farthest from them so she could work her way toward them without giving herself away, then walked through the parking lot two rows over. The man had caught up with her now and their voices were lowered, but still animated.

  Poppy pulled out her phone and held it up like she was checking the screen, but instead she silenced it and took a picture, then another. She zoomed in and took another.

  Then she walked closer, in the row of cars.

  And that’s when the man kissed the woman.

  Did she push him away? Fight him off? Announce loudly and indignantly that she was engaged?

  No. She did none of those things. She must not be Lizzie, after all.

  Instead, she threw her arms about him and gave him a passionate Hollywood-worthy kiss.

  Her jaw practically falling open, Poppy raised her screen again, and snapped a picture of the cheating wench and the idiot. Another. A third.

  And then the woman opened her eyes and she got a fourth picture. A picture of a woman with purple eyes kissing another man. It really was the cheating, two-timing Lizzie.

  Figuring she’d pushed her luck, she stumbled to her car. By the time she started her engine, the couple was in Lizzie’s car.

  Should she follow them? A split second later, the decision came. Why, yes. Yes, she should follow them.

  She fell back and let them pull out first. Her heart pounding — she wasn’t usually into this espionage stuff — she drove after them as far back as she could and still keep them in sight. She didn’t have long to wait to see where they were going.

  Were they really going to have a tacky rendezvous at Motel 666?

  The guy dashed inside the office and came out, climbed back in the car, and drove down the row of rooms.

  Poppy drove in, slowly, as if she were heading to her own room. Her heart pounding, she parked a few doors down and, stealthily, held up her phone again. When Lizzie jumped out and raced toward the door the guy had already opened, she clicked off several shots and then the door was closed behind them.

  She pulled through the lot, struggling to catch her breath. She went back into the Monster Mart parking lot and pulled over, parked.

  Scanned through the pictures.

  Most of them were too blurry because of the dark — but one of them was clear enough to see that the blonde was Lizzie and she was kissing a man who was not Kea — and the date stamp said it was tonight, after she was supposedly engaged to Kea. And though the picture of the blonde running for the motel wasn’t as clear as she’d like, paired with the other picture, it told a story. The whole a picture is worth 1000 words thing. And these pictures told a sordid story.

  She pulled up her text, ready to ask Nalani for Kea’s number. She was ready to send the pictures to Kea, along with the caption of Look who I ran into at the grocery store — and the sleazy motel.

  She struggled with what to do. If she sent the pictures to Kea, he might break up with Lizzie — which would give Poppy a chance with him. If she didn’t send it, he might marry the cheater.

  Finally, she set her phone down on the console. She couldn’t send the pictures like that. Kea didn’t deserve to be blindsided.

  Plus Poppy’s life was many miles away. She really didn’t want to be a homewrecker. Though it looked like Lizzie had beaten her to the punch on that.

  She drove toward home. She’d go home and show the pictures to Nalani first. Between them, they could decide on their next step.

  Of Course I’ll Report It

  POPPY LET HERSELF INSIDE THE HOUSE, the windows of which were lit bright against the darkening sky. The dogs jumped around in the foyer and she greeted them. “Hi, guys, I’m back. Where’s Nalani?”

  In the kitchen, Wencheng sent. With a guest.

  “Okay, thanks.” Poppy drew in a deep breath, blew it out slowly, and drew another one. She had to tell Nalani what she’d seen — but not in front of company. The only other person in town she’d be willing to tell everything was Chicory.

  “Nalani, I’m back, with more delicious things than just caramel popcorn. Do I have things to show you!” She walked into the kitchen — and found Kea there.

  He looked at her with such warmth that her heart sang. “Hi, Poppy.”

  “Hi, Kea,” she said, pushing down her reaction. He belonged to someone else, at least temporarily.

  They were seated at the kitchen table, so she sank down in the seat next to Nalani and across from Kea. She set the bag with the caramel popcorn and dog treats in the center.

  “Oh, goodie!” Nalani opened a bag and took a handful, chewed, and sighed contentedly. “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

  Kea didn’t take his eyes from Poppy’s. This was her chance. What was she waiting for? She could show him the pictures — and ruin his life. He’d thought enough of Lizzie to propose. Even if Poppy wanted a relationship with Kea, what kind of foundation would her ruining his engagement be?

  “What did you want to show me?” Nalani said, reaching in for another handful of popcorn.

  “Oh. It’s not important,” Poppy said, waving her hand. She couldn’t trust her own judgment on whether to show the photos to Kea because she wanted to break them up, while at the same time she didn’t want to be responsible for the breakup. Until she got Nalani’s opinion, she would keep quiet. Which would be hard if she stayed in this kitchen.

  She was having trouble remembering exactly which photos she’d taken, kind of a fuzzy feeling in her brain that she’d only experienced once before, when someone had put a spell on her. But who would have done that?

  Shaking her head, she forced a smile. “What are you guys doing?”

  Kea said, “I dropped by to say hi and Nalani invited me in for a relaxing evening of card games and chick flicks. How could I say no?”

  She couldn’t spend the evening with Kea. Not if she wanted to keep her sanity. She was far too aware of the man, and there was no way there’d be any relaxing in this so-called relaxing evening.

  She stood. “I’ve really got to walk my dogs. I’ll catch you later, guys.”

  Disappointed, Kea watched Poppy leash up the dogs and leave.

  When he turned, he saw that Nalani was staring at him.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Why are you marrying Lizzie when it’s obvious you can’t take your eyes off of Poppy?” She sounded genuinely curious, not upset. Well, okay, maybe a little bit upset.

  Kea paused, searching for the answer, but he didn’t have one. He shrugged, confused.

  After a long moment, Nalani said, “Why, Kea? You don’t even know Lizzie. And no one in the family likes her.”

  He realized he didn’t especially like her, either — though he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her when she was around. “She has a lot of charisma.”

  “Charisma,” Nalani said flatly.

  The word was lame, and Kea knew it.

  “But do you love her?”

  “Hey, you know what, I’m not really in the mood for games, chick flicks, and a sister’s interrogation, so I’m heading out.” He stood, leaned over, and kissed the top of her h
ead. “Love you, Sis.”

  She sighed deeply as he let himself out.

  If he jogged, maybe he could catch up with Poppy and the dogs. And he would study what led him to think going after her was a good idea. Later.

  As he ran, thoughts bounced around in his brain, leading nowhere productive.

  Why was he engaged to Lizzie when he couldn’t stop thinking about Poppy? And why couldn’t he stop thinking about Lizzie when she was around — but not the rest of the time?

  He was the most confused fire chief in the country. Maybe if he kept running, like Forrest Gump, he could finally make sense of things. Eventually.

  All he knew was that he had to talk to Poppy, to spend time with her. He felt an urgency that he’d only heard of from his fellow supernaturals. Was she his lifemate? If so, why was he marrying Lizzie?

  He caught sight of Poppy — and increased his pace.

  When a man called out her name, Poppy turned, ready to defend herself if necessary.

  The dogs turned, too.

  It’s that big man, Wencheng sent. The one you like.

  Kea?

  It was Kea. Had he followed her? Or was this a coincidental meeting?

  Her stupid, traitorous heart did a happy little dance, while her brain said, oh no he didn’t!

  He slowed his jog as he drew near and stopped beside her, still bouncing on his feet. “Mind if I join you?”

  Yes, she did mind. Very much. And she ought to tell him that she did. He needed to go find his blonde fiancée that no one but him seemed to like. And speaking of Lizzie … she felt like there was something important that she needed to tell him about Lizzie, but it was fading, like a wisp of smoke that she couldn’t quite grasp. He was walking beside her, waiting for her to respond. It would probably come back to her later…

  His dark brown eyes flashed at her, and he added a smile to finish the job, and she relented.

  “Sure. I’m just walking around the block. The other two dogs will be able go for longer distances after they mature, but Shih Tzus aren’t built to go far.”