by Everly Lucas
I shove at Andy’s shoulder and stake my claim. “I’ll talk to her. Just give me a second—and stay away from her. Got it?”
The douchebag laughs at my uncharacteristic territorial outburst, but at least he has the good sense to step back and hold up his hands in surrender. “She’s all yours, man. Take all the time you need.”
I know he’ll stick to his word and leave her alone, but he’s wearing one of those wicked, arrogant grins I’ve learned not to trust. Snatching up the Frisbee from where Cannoli dropped it at my feet, Andy aims at an empty area of the lawn. I crouch down to grab my water bottle and steel my nerves, and when I look up, Cannoli’s chasing the neon disc…and headed straight for my redhead.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” Flipping my soon-to-be nutless friend the bird, I take off to try and prevent a disaster. Cannoli wouldn’t hurt a fly, but a massive pit bull charging toward her might scare the future mother of my children into leaving the park. And I’m not ready for her to go.
A high-pitched squeal has me picking up speed. By the time I get close, Cannoli’s already abandoned his plastic prey and has his mouth at her neck. I call his name, shouting at him to back off, but he doesn’t budge.
As soon as I grab his collar, my angel busts out laughing. Not cute, girly laughter, but loud and unrestrained, and I want to cover her mouth with mine and swallow it all down. She’s squirming, too, which…yeah, let’s not go there. When she pushes the seventy-pound beast off her and sits up, I see a large patch of shiny dog slobber on her neck and shoulder. Instead of wiping it off right away, she gives Cannoli a thorough scritching and plants a kiss on his forehead.
Is this girl even real? If Andy hadn’t seen her, too, I’d think I just imagined her and have officially lost it. It was bound to happen, eventually. You can only search for the One for so long before your sanity craps out on you.
“Your name’s Cannoli, huh?” she asks the thoroughly pleased pup. He wags his tail, like her speaking to him is the greatest thing ever. And now I’m jealous of a damn dog. “You look like a cannoli. I could just eat you up!”
And I could just stand here and watch her all day. But as much as I disagree with my best friend’s methods, he did give me the perfect opening. He’ll never let me hear the end of it if I don’t take it.
“Hi. I’m Ben.”
About the Author
After years of rooting for couples and falling for heroes created by other authors, Everly decided to create her own. She now has a crowd of characters hanging out in her head, with no intention of kicking them out.
She lives in Philadelphia with her precious laptop, a cat named Bunny, and a kitten who falls down a lot. Her favorite things include Dr. Pepper, sparkly stuff, blissful silence, and singing while doing the dishes.
Everly can be found on Twitter, like, all the time.
To stay up to date on new projects, upcoming releases, and sales, visit everlylucas.com.
