Page 56 of Just a Stranger

And I had a dog-related crisis to manage.

I repeated Lara’s advice for the millionth time to myself and refocused on Wilson and Georgie.

“What do I do? You can’t fix this with a hairbrush. I tried, he bit me. Can I spray him down with WD 40 or non-stick cooking spray? If we were in California, someone in my lab might be able to make something… a low-friction hair serum? Is that a thing? Think there’s a market?”

I held up one hand, trying to stop Wilson from talking any more nonsense.

“How did this happen?” Major and Georgie would play in the fenced dog yard behind my place all the time. No problem, a few burs or some leaves and sticks, but this. He looked like one big snarl of hitchhikers.

“You weren’t home.” The accusation in Wilson’s tone was impossible to miss.

“Me?”

“Rae said she tried to drop Georgie off for doggy daycare with Major, but you had already left. And Gabriel was early picking her up for their trip to Austin. I was the dog sitter of last resort.”

“Gabriel, Austin?” All this was news to me. Damn it, I knew I should have hired that Australian woman winemaker. I couldn’t believe Rae hadn’t told me about this day trip with, of all people, Gabriel.

A small green hornet buzzed around my brain, stabbing my possessive urges with his dagger-sharp stinger. I clutched Georgie tighter, and he squirmed. On an exhale, I consciously relaxed my grip. None of this was the poor dog’s fault. The humans had fucked up, not him.

“They are buying the furniture for the tasting room. Barstools, tables, chairs, couches. Glassware too, I think. Everything she didn’t buy when she went last time to buy the plumbing and lighting fixtures. It was some last-minute plan… shop all day, stop at the food truck park after to sample dishes from ones interested in coming to Blue Star.”

Gabriel and she must have talked last night after I went home to my bed, satisfied but alone. When I left, she’d been getting in the shower. As I got dressed listening to the water run, I’d whispered Lara’s rule aloud to myself like some kind of loser mantra.

But the ugly feeling in my chest wasn’t from overthinking. Leaving last night couldn’t have been more unpleasant if I’d found a handful of cash tossed on the bedside table paying for services rendered.

She’d been wrapped in a fluffy robe, her face glowing, eyes sparkling and hair mussed. I’d have traded my horse for an invitation to scrub her back. A deep, dark ache welled up in the pit of my stomach as I walked the path back to my place. By the time I’d arrived home, I’d identified the sensation—shame.

What the actual fuck had happened to me? I was having the best sex of my life, nothing to feel bad about. But I was nursing an ugly black spot on my soul over it. Fuck, what a twisted-up mess.

“Atley, Rae’s location isn’t the issue. That is.” He pointed at Georgie, still snuggled in my arms.

I reached for my phone and checked the text messages… nothing from her. The black hole grew two sizes. I’d planned onJeopardy!with her tonight. No,assumed,the voice of reason reminded me. We were only having sex. She owed me nothing.

Gabriel, whom she’d taken to Austin without telling me, wanted to go to Napa. It was his dream. And he was her biggest cheerleader in the tasting room venture.

The angry green hornet jabbed his stinger into the center of my chest. I failed her. She had tried to talk to me about visiting the food trucks in Austin, but I changed the subject… at least twice. No wonder she took Gabriel. I wanted to kick my own jealous, unsupportive ass.

“At least we have time on our side. With Austin traffic, no way she and Gabriel will be home before seven.” I leaned over and put Georgie down.

“No, don’t!” Wilson’s eyes were as big as the ugly hubcaps on his new hundred-thousand-dollar truck.

“What?”

The little dog flopped next to my foot and began nibbling at some hitchhikers stuck to his paw.

“That’s how he ended up a canine cocklebur. We were on a walk. He was being good following along, so I unclipped the leash, then bam. Something caught his attention, and he was off. Bolted through the cow pasture over by the house down to the east vines and came out in the scrub next to the pond. By the time I found him, he was…was… that.”

“Impressive distance.” I considered Georgie, who didn’t look ready to chase anything else in his present condition.

Major roused himself from his spot in the shade under my vehicle to check on his best buddy. He stopped a few feet away and cocked his head. If a dog could saywhat the fuck, Major was saying it loudly. Georgie seemed to realize the severity of his situation. He belly crawled to Major then rolled over, showing off more brambles stuck to his round, pink, mud-streaked belly.

“I think he was chasing a mouse. He’s a bloodthirsty little mop.” Wilson watched Major and Georgie sniff and paw at each other.

“Have you seen him lift his leg?”

“Makes me laugh every time. It’s wrong for something so fancy looking to piss on a bush.” Wilson chuckled, shaking his head.

“He prefers a car or truck tire. More macho.”

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