Hope pursed her lips to squelch the smile. She didn’t think now was the right time for it. “Not the little nip. The pups. I don’t know where you live.”
“It wasn’t a little nip. Think alligator mouth. The little bitch drew blood. And I live next door.”
“That makes sense,” Hope replied, thinking aloud. “Her former owners lived next door. Isn’t there a doggie door in the back? That must be how she got in. It’s her home, so maybe that’s why she went there to have her babies.”
Lucca nodded toward Hope’s house. “Well, that’s her home now so let’s get a box or a basket and get them moved.”
Hope frowned. “I don’t know … is it safe to move them? They were just born. I don’t have any experience with puppies. I didn’t even realize she was pregnant. I thought she was getting fat because she liked the brand of dog food I gave her.”
Shoeless, shirtless, and whisker-stubbled, Lucca Romano stood in Hope’s front yard oozing sex appeal. However, his eyes shot green fire as he braced his hands on his hips and declared. “Those dogs are not staying in my closet.”
Hope contemplated turning the water hose on herself. Instead, she walked over to the faucet and twisted the spigot, cutting off the flow of water. Her thoughts spun. Puppies. She’d had two female dogs in the past. Both had been rescue dogs whom she’d adopted and had come to her spayed. She’d wanted a puppy before Holly was born, but Mark had vetoed the idea. She knew puppies were a lot of work, but honestly, she couldn’t help but be a little excited.
“I’ll call Nic Callahan. She’s our town vet and she’ll tell us what to do.”
“You. She’ll tell you. I’m not dealing with puppies.”
And Hope wasn’t moving them unless Nic gave her the okay to do so, but that argument could wait. “I need to look up Nic’s number. I’ll be right back.”
She left him standing in the yard like a grumpy Roman god as she entered her house and walked through the mud room to her kitchen where she kept her iPad. She accessed the Internet, searched for the Eternity Springs Veterinary Clinic website, then added the number to her telephone’s address book. She could have done it from her phone, of course, but she’d wanted a little space from the man.
How had someone as nice and friendly as Maggie Romano raised such an ill-tempered son?
Hearing a noise, she glanced up to see Lucca Romano standing on her stoop, glaring at her. “What? I had to get the number.”
“I thought you might be trying to dodge me.”
Rather than dignify that nonsense with a response, she moved toward him. As she walked past her washer and dryer in the mud room, she scooped up an oversized rose-colored bath towel. When she opened the screen door, he stepped aside to let her pass, and she tossed him the bath sheet. “You’re all wet, Mr. Romano.”
He caught the towel and smirked. “You’re funny, Ms. … what did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.” And she wouldn’t. Not even a Roman god physique could overcome the disposition of a badger.
He dragged the towel across that expanse of male chest and waited. She decided to let him wait longer. She thumbed the number of Nic’s veterinary clinic, and after three rings the answering machine clicked on. Feeling petty, Hope managed to leave a message without mentioning her name.
As she prepared to disconnect the call, Lucca interrupted. “Ask her if she gave that dog a rabies shot.”
Hope slipped her phone into the pocket of her shorts. “Roxy’s shots aren’t due until January.”
“Good. Glad to know that … Gertrude.”
She returned the smirk. She didn’t know why she was being stubborn about telling him her name. It was stupid, really, but something about this man brought out the ornery in her.
He wrapped the towel around his hips, eyeing her speculatively. “Ready to go get the puppies?”
“I do want to see them.”
He made a sweeping gesture and bowed his head. “After you, Ethel.”
This time instead of smirking, she snorted, then started across her lawn toward his house. He trailed after her, oblivious to the curious looks he attracted from a car with Kansas plates. “If you won’t tell me your name, of course I have to guess.”
As they crossed her front walk, Hope took the conversation in a different direction. “I really like your mother, sister, and brother.”
“You know them?”
“Of course.”
“Right. Of course. They’re pillars of the community.”
Hope’s eyes widened at the bitterness in his tone. He might have heard it himself, because a moment later he added, “They are good people. I have a great family and I love them very much.”
Okay, maybe he wasn’t one hundred percent jerk. Ninety-five, maybe. No lower than ninety-three. “I know your mother was thrilled that you agreed to help her with her B&B.”
“I don’t know how much help I’m going to be. My remodeling talents are limited.” He shrugged and changed the subject. “I think there’s an empty box in my garage that you can use for moving the puppies. The clothes she used for her nest will need to be tossed, but I’ll donate a couple towels to the cause.”
“How generous.”
By now he’d overtaken her with his long-legged strides. He glanced back over his shoulder and flashed her a smile with plenty of teeth and masculine challenge. “Oh, Esmeralda, you don’t have a clue as to just how generous I can be.”
Hope almost stumbled as sexual awareness rose up like a trip wire. Holy guacamole. The man wielded that smile like a weapon, and it wasn’t even a very nice smile. Imagine what he could do with a real one—a smile that reached his eyes.
His brother Zach had a nice smile, something she’d noticed at a baseball game the week before when she’d watched him flirt with his wife, Savannah. If Lucca Romano had any of his brother’s charm in him, he’d be lethal.
Not that he’d ever turn any charm he might have on her. She wasn’t the type of woman who attracted the attention of a man like this. He was a professional athlete and coach, a Ferrari who lived his life in the fast lane. She was a girl-next-door kind of girl, closer to a golf cart than a sports car.
This truth didn’t improve her frame of mind one bit.
Grumpily, she asked, “Are you always this big of a jerk?”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t help that the painkillers haven’t kicked in.”
She frowned. “Is the bite really that sore?”
“If I said yes would you kiss it and make it better?”
She halted abruptly. Her jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe he’d said that. They had just met, and he didn’t even know her name, and he went and spouted something like that. Unreal. “You are a pig.”
“Goes without saying,” he fired back, shrugging. “I’m a guy. The bite feels better, thanks for asking, Beulah. So does my head.”
“You had something wrong with your head? Why am I not surprised?”
Again, he showed her that smile. “Hangover.”
“I repeat: Why am I not surprised?” And his mother was such a nice person. Poor woman. Imagine this horror sitting at the dinner table on Sunday.
As they approached his house, he increased his pace so that he reached the front porch well ahead of her. The hinges on the screen door creaked as he yanked it open, then motioned for her to precede him.
Hope knew what to expect inside the house. She’d visited many times after she first moved to Eternity Springs. Her neighbor Louise Morrison had been a widow in her seventies who had befriended Hope and taught her things that had helped her adjust to life in a small Rocky Mountain town. When Louise died in her sleep the previous March, Hope had been devastated. Louise had left both her house and the care of her beloved Roxy to her nephew.
It hadn’t been a good match. The nephew’s family hadn’t liked small-town living, so as soon as they could manage, they’d moved back to Colorado Springs, leaving Roxy behind but promising to send for her as soon as they could find a new apartment that allowed pets.
