Page 8 of Love in Fine Print

“I’m not drooling.” I dipped my head and discreetly checked to make sure I didn’t have a pool of drool at the edge of my mouth. I didn’t.

“Mmm, hmm.”

When I looked back up, I gasped audibly. I didn’t mean to. It was just, I hadn’t expected to see Arm Porn stripping out of his white t-shirt. My entire body tingled with awareness as I drank in the sight.

“What? What’s wrong?” Trevor, who never missed anything, asked.

“Nothing.”

“What happened? You arenota gasper.”

I gulped over the large lump of lust that had lodged in my throat and whispered, “He took off his shirt.”

“I’m coming down.”

“No!”

“Girl, I left when you said Arm Porn, I’m almost there.”

“Trevor! Do not?—"

It was too late. The line was already disconnected. Which meant I had two minutes tops before Trevor would not-so-subtly be objectifying the man across the park. I needed to go. Fast.

I stood quickly and then looked down to grab my purse. When I straightened my head back up, I saw a flash of fur barreling toward me. The next thing I knew, the fur had jumped on me, and I was falling backward. I did my best to regain my balance, but I ended up tripping over my own foot and then crashing down onto my tailbone. I tried to sit up but there was a problem. First, when I attempted to put weight on my arm, my wrist screamed in pain. Second, the flash of fur had pinned me down and was covering my face in sloppy kisses.

All I could think about was standing up before the owner of the sloppy kisses saw me sprawled out on the ground.

“Dolly, sit!” I heard a deep voice, and when I opened my eyes, I saw Arm Porn standing above me.

Too late.

4

BEN

"Dolly, sit!"I shouted the single command that I'd been able to teach the two-year-old golden retriever in the past six months.

By the time I reached Dolly, she was dutifully seated on her hind legs awaiting a treat. Before I rewarded her, I bent down and offered my hand to help the woman stand up.

"I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

“I’m fine.” The woman’s eyes met mine, and my mouth went completely dry.

Large doe eyes stared back at me. Honey blonde hair that looked as soft as silk framed one of the prettiest heart-shaped faces I’d ever seen, complete with full, biteable lips, high cheekbones, almond eyes, and a cute button nose. She had an ethereal glow around her that made me wonder if she was even real. She looked like an angel.

An angel whose face Dolly was licking again.

“Dolly, no!” I commanded as I reached out and grabbed her collar. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. She was just giving me kisses.” The blonde wiped her face, smiling from ear to ear.

“Oh fuck! What happened? Are you okay?” A man in a tailored suit rushed up to the striking blonde.

“I’m fine. It’s fine.”

I watched helplessly, keeping a firm hold on Dolly’s collar as the man helped her up. When he did, the alarm on his face magnified. “You’re bleeding.”

He turned the angel’s hands over and sure enough her palms were scraped and bleeding. Her skirt looked like it had a rip, and what I was sure had been a pristine light gray silk shirt now had blood and dirt on it.

---