Sweeter Than Ever

by Bella Andre

  Smith and Valentina were in the center of the photo with his mother, Mary, between them. The lake was the perfect backdrop--and he chuckled as he remembered how everyone under the age of ten had shot away from the group like bullets the second the photographer said he was confident he had the shot.

  "How did Tatiana manage to get this made into a puzzle overnight?"

  "Your sister learned from the best," he said as he took in Valentina's joy.

  "I loved being a big sister so much, I always longed for more siblings." But her father had passed away before that could happen. "Being a part of your family means so much to me."

  "They all adore you too." He put the puzzle on the kitchen island and pulled her into his arms for a kiss.

  Too soon, she was moving away to open the gift from her mother. "It was really nice of my mom to give us a little special something too," she said as she unwrapped it. Her cheeks flushed once she saw what was inside. "It's bubble bath."

  Taking the package from her, he read the label out loud. "Sexy bubble bath for two."

  Despite the fact that they'd just come into the kitchen from making love this morning--on the heels of their wild lovemaking the night before--her flush grew hotter. "She means well."

  He slid his fingers through hers and lifted them to his lips. "She really does." This was better than the edible panties she'd given Valentina for her birthday, thankfully. But since he knew that Valentina was still more than a little uncomfortable with her mother's borderline inappropriate gifts, he put the bubble bath on the counter and looked over at her suitcase. "You said there's one more inside your bag for me?"

  A few moments later, she handed it to him. Smith had no idea what was inside, but it was sure to be good. After all, no one knew him as well as Valentina. He'd opened up to her in ways he never had with anyone else--his flaws, his fears, his convictions, his hopes, his dreams. Everything that made him who he was.

  Once he had the wrapping off, he found a beautifully decorated cake tin beneath. "This looks like Cassie's work." His cousin wasn't just an artist with sugar, she was also brilliant with pen and paint. It was why even her packaging blew people away.

  "It is." Valentina smiled. "We really owe her big time for everything she's done for us."

  "I was thinking the same thing." But they'd figure out how to wow his cousin later. Right now, he wanted to give his full attention to his wife.

  Savoring the anticipation, he slowly opened the container...and found the sweetest thing in the world waiting for him.

  "I love it." There were a million other things he wanted to say, but for the moment, he had no other words.

  Back when he'd been desperate to convince Valentina that they should be together, he'd learned that she was interested in touring the famous Alcatraz prison near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. While he didn't usually throw his name and fame around, he'd been very glad for it when he'd been able to wrangle two tickets for a private tour. He'd also arranged for a romantic white-tablecloth dinner on the shore. For dessert, he'd risked having two cupcakes made--one with a picture made of frosting where he was standing behind prison bars, holding on to them with a pleading look on his face, and a second where Valentina had been drawn with frosting, the key to the lock dangling from her fingers.

  Thank God, she'd loved the cupcakes. Loved them so much that she'd broken her vow not to be with him and kissed him. This morning, Valentina had brought those cupcakes full circle.

  Instead of two cakes, she'd given him one oversized cupcake. Inside a big red heart, the two of them were pictured in frosting, gazing into each other's eyes, their hands linked.

  "I'll never forget how sweet you were that night at Alcatraz," she said. "No one had ever done something like that for me. No one had ever cared enough. Not until you."

  Carefully balancing the cupcake tin in one hand, he threaded the fingers of the other into her hair and kissed her.

  When they finally drew back, they both looked more carefully at the cupcake. Cassie's work really was exceptional, and Smith made a mental note for an upcoming film they had going into production soon. Her sweet treats would be perfect for one of the characters who worked in a candy store.

  "It's almost too pretty to eat," Valentina said.

  But Smith knew the cupcake didn't stand a chance against her love for sugar. "Actually, I think it's the perfect breakfast for the first morning of our honeymoon. I'll grab my phone and after we take a picture, I say we devour it."

  "Good plan." She ran her fingers through his hair. "And then once we've replenished our energy levels, I say we devour each other again."

  After carefully putting the cupcake on the counter, he put his hands on her waist and was about to lift her on the counter too--he'd much rather devour her before the cupcake--when they heard a sound outside the front door.

  They both stilled. "Are you expecting someone?" she asked.

  "No." And he couldn't imagine what reason Cassie would have for returning this morning, when she'd been so mortified at having still been in the cabin last night. "We're on over a hundred private acres, and there's a big rock wall at the main road where the driveway begins. If the paparazzi think they can follow us here and trespass on to private property during our honeymoon, they're about to find out just how wrong they are."

  "Smith." Valentina stopped him from tearing over to the front door with her hands over his. "Whoever is out there, it's going to be okay."

  Damn it, he wanted this to be the perfect honeymoon for her. She put up with so much because of his job, his fame. For seven days, was it too much to ask for a reprieve from all of that?

  "Don't worry, I'll keep my cool," he promised. But his hands were already flexing into fists as he headed for the door.

  Looking through the peephole, all he saw was the woods. "There's no one out here."

  But just as he said it, the sound came again. A scratching sound, along with a little whine.

  Valentina rushed over as he opened the door...where a medium-sized black and white dog of indeterminable breed sat on the front step, thumping its tail.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Valentina immediately got down on the ground to pet the dog. The dog, of course, knew a good thing when it saw it and moved closer so that she could give it love.

  Smith had always liked dogs. But his job had never been conducive to having one, because he didn't like the thought of leaving it in lengthy quarantines every time he had to work in the UK or Australia or Hawaii.

  "Oh, look at you! Aren't you cute?"

  Smith also got down on one knee. "He is. Or she?" He shifted to get a look at the dog's undercarriage. "Nope, definitely a he."

  She laughed, but then sobered too soon. "Who do you think he belongs to? He doesn't have a collar." She looked down the long driveway. "Do you think he could have been going for a walk with his owner and gotten loose?"

  Smith studied the dog more closely. For all his cuteness, he had a slightly feral look--as if he had been on his own for longer than a few hours. He also had eyes that looked partially cloudy. "Let's bring him inside and give him something to eat while I look up the local vet."

  Valentina happily invited the dog in. "Let's see what we have to eat for you." As if he could understand her perfectly, the dog walked in beside her, leaning slightly against her leg as they headed for the refrigerator. "I know you might be hungry," she said in a gentle voice as she pulled out a container of cold cuts, "but I don't want you to get sick on human food." After he sniffed, then gobbled down the few pieces she handed him, she said, "Smith, we should get him some actual dog food."

  He nodded, but at the same time he knew that if the vet found a chip, he'd be going straight home to his owner. And there would be no need for dog food.

  Smith had been longing for a week alone with his new wife. But watching her with the stray dog made something ache inside his chest. They'd talked of having a family, of course, but once they'd started their production company things had tak
en off to such a high level that there had barely been time to breathe.

  Maybe this week should be the start of something new. Not just seven days and nights of blissful alone time, not only their first week as husband and wife, but the beginning of the part of their lives where work didn't always come first, no matter how exciting the projects.

  "I'll bet your owners are worried sick about you." She ruffled the fur on the top of the dog's head. That was when Smith saw her notice the dog's eyes. "We really should find a vet soon. His eyes are kind of cloudy."

  "It looks like he might have partial vision loss. Although," he added with a small smile, "he was certainly able to follow you toward the fridge with no problem. Why don't you hop into the shower while I call the vet I found on my phone to let them know we'll be coming straight in?"

  She nodded, then turned to the dog. "I'll be right back. Don't worry about a thing, we'll take good care of you until we can get you home."

  Smith made the call, then made a clicking sound to see if the dog would respond. It was a clear path from the fridge to where Smith was standing, and though the dog headed straight for him, he was more careful walking through the house than other dogs might have been.

  "She's already lost her heart to you, you know." He could have sworn the dog nodded. "I honestly don't know whether to wish that we can get you home to your owner, or that we'll get to keep you because you don't have one anymore."

  As if in reply, the dog nuzzled his hand, then rolled over on his back for a belly rub.

  "Looks like you've placed your vote." And who could blame the dog for wanting to stay with a warm, loving woman like Valentina fussing over him and giving him lunch meat?

  Smith had hoped to share a shower with his beautiful wife, but that wasn't going to happen this morning. Taking a seat on the floor while continuing the belly scratching, he idly wondered if this dog would get along with his brother's dogs.

  "Looks like you've found a new best friend." Valentina emerged from the shower in record time, already dressed but still towel drying her hair.

  "He's a charmer, that's for sure." With a final belly pat, Smith got up from the floor. "I'll jump in the shower, and then we can head out for the vet." As much as he liked the dog, and had secretly always wanted one, he knew he needed to prepare her for the near certainty that they were going to have to let their furry new friend go in a matter of hours. "If they find a chip--"

  "Then I'll be glad we helped him find his way back home. But if they don't know who he belongs to--"

  This time, he was the one interrupting. "He's staying with us."

  She dropped the towel to throw herself into his arms. "I know it will be crazy with our travel schedule, but we'll make it work."

  "If we do get to keep him," he reminded them both again as he breathed in her delicious scent, "you're right. We'll figure out a way to make it work."

  *

  They'd chosen rural Maine for their honeymoon partly for the quiet beauty of the area, but mostly for the anonymity. The press would assume they should look for a movie star and his bride in the usual honeymoon destinations--Hawaii, the Italian Riviera, Paris. Not the thick woods close to the Canadian border. Cassie had helped them out by stocking the house full of food so that they wouldn't even have to go to the grocery store. It had been a foolproof plan.

  Of course, the second they walked into the vet's office, their brilliant plan to stay completely undercover and out of sight for a week was blown to smithereens.

  "Oh my God!" The young woman at the reception desk nearly fell off her chair. "Are you...? Could you really be...?"

  Smith smiled as he walked over with his hand outstretched. "Great to meet you--" He looked at her name tag. "--Amy."

  "I can't believe you're you. I mean," she fumbled, "that you're really here! I was just reading about your secret wedding in my magazine." She pointed to one of the weekly gossip magazines on her desk.

  Smith quickly noted that he and Valentina were on the cover, before saying, "This is my wife, Valentina."

  "Oh...wow..." The girl's eyes were big as she shook Valentina's hand. "You're beautiful."

  "That's very nice of you," Valentina said with a smile. She gestured to the dog, who was leaning against her leg. "We found this charming fellow on our doorstep this morning. He doesn't have a collar on, so we were hoping the vet could tell us if he's chipped. We'd also like the vet to look at his eyes, which seem a little cloudy."

  Finally noticing the dog, the woman nodded. "Sure. She's in with a patient right now, but I'll let her know you're waiting to see her."

  Fortunately, there was no one else in the waiting room. The fewer people who saw them, the better. Especially given that they were already on the cover of a magazine barely twenty-four hours after their wedding.

  Ten minutes later, a woman with a cat in her arms walked out, the vet following at her heels. "I'm Dr. Coggin," she said as she introduced herself. Unlike her assistant, she was perfectly calm and composed. "Why don't the three of you come into my office and we'll see if we can figure out what happened to your new friend?"

  "We don't know how long he's been lost," Valentina said as the vet began a quick examination of the dog's body, checking for possible injuries. "We heard him scratching at the front door this morning. Our cabin doesn't have any dog food, so I gave him a few cold cuts, which he was very happy to have. But I didn't want him to get sick from eating the wrong food, so he might still be hungry."

  The vet pulled a dog bone out of a nearby container and offered it on an open palm. He sniffed it, then took it into his mouth. "Aren't you polite?" Dr. Coggin looked up at them. "And from what I can tell--and I'd have to do more tests to be completely sure--it seems that he was born partially blind, rather than it being due to a recent injury or infection."

  "He gets around really well," Valentina told her. "But I'm still so thankful that he didn't get hit by a car before he found us."

  "I am too," the vet agreed. "The good news is that he seems to be in perfect health. A little underweight, perhaps, but otherwise fit as a fiddle. Now, I haven't felt a chip anywhere on him, but let's see if there's one hiding beneath his fur."

  From a drawer, she took out a scanner, and the dog thumped his tail as she ran it over him, head to toe. Valentina squeezed Smith's hand tightly, and he knew exactly what she was hoping for. Because for all that he'd wanted a perfect, private honeymoon for two, now he was hoping to add a third.

  "No chip. He might be lost," the vet said, "but since I haven't seen any posters up or gotten any calls, odds are that he was turned loose by people who found it too difficult to take care of him. Probably just drove into a remote area, put him outside, and drove away."

  "That's horrible!" Valentina was outraged as she stroked the dog's head. His eyes all but rolled back in his head with pleasure.

  "It is," the vet agreed, "but I see it happen all the time, unfortunately."

  "What are our options?" Smith asked.

  "There's a good shelter in Bar Harbor. But that can be pretty iffy for a dog who has trouble seeing. Especially because he's not a puppy anymore. Probably close to seven or eight, given the wear on his teeth. Other than that, I might be able to find a family to foster him for a little while in the hopes that they fall in love with him and keep him despite the extra work he'd be."

  Smith shared a quick look with Valentina. "We'd like to adopt him."

  "You would?" The vet looked a little stunned.

  "He's exactly the dog we've been looking for," Valentina told her.

  "But aren't you on your honeymoon?" The woman put her hands over her mouth. Though she'd been totally professional throughout, and hadn't made even one comment about their wedding or Smith's movie roles, at the moment it was as if she couldn't believe a movie star and his glamorous wife could possibly be interested in adopting a stray, half-blind dog. "I'm sorry, that's none of my business. It's just that every time I turn on my TV or computer, your wedding is all people can talk about."<
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  "There's no need to apologize," Valentina said in a kind voice. "Although we would really appreciate it if you and your assistant wouldn't let anyone know we're in town. But we're more than happy to add a third to our honeymoon." She scratched the dog between his ears. "In fact, we'd love to take care of whatever paperwork you need us to fill out to make it official. And it would probably be a good idea if he had a chip, wouldn't it?"

  "Absolutely." The vet reached into a filing cabinet and handed them a stack of papers. "You can fill these out while I take him into the back for the chip. Don't worry," she said to the dog, "I'll make sure it doesn't hurt." She looked back at them before she guided him out of the examination room. "You're going to have to put down a name for him on the license. It can be temporary and you can change it later, but the field can't be left blank."

  When Smith and Valentina were alone again, she moved into his arms. "I'm so happy."

  "I am too."

  And not just because he was finally getting the dog he'd secretly wanted for so long. Anything that put a smile this big on Valentina's face was worth it a million times over. He wasn't naive enough to think that having an older dog with vision problems was going to be easy, but they did have one heck of a brilliant dog training sister-in-law in Heather to help them out when they needed guidance.

  "So," Valentina said as they split up the paperwork and both filled out the pages in front of them. "What do you think we should call him?"

  Smith laughed out loud at the name that popped into his head. "You're going to think I'm nuts."

  "What could be more nuts than Cuddles?" Valentina wanted to know.

  Cuddles was the name of Smith's brother Zach's teacup Yorkie. He hadn't chosen it--their niece Summer had--but boy, were the rest of them ever glad she had. All of them had gotten plenty of joy over the years out of seeing his alpha, race-car-driving brother call out the name Cuddles to the dog that had him wrapped completely around her little paw.

  "Do you remember that cartoon? The one where the guy had trouble seeing? They made a movie out of it starring Leslie Nielsen in the late nineties."