Page 122 of The Guy Who Fake Dated Me

After I’d met Holly at the pound, I’d told Kyle about her. He’d been looking for a mellow dog, and he and Natalie had adopted Holly. He’d begged me to come and meet them here today so I could say hi to Holly, the only dog I trusted not to eat me. Now that I was here, and despite the chilly December air battling the warming sunshine, my only thoughts were of getting mauled. “I’m going to go sit in the car.” I turned and almost ran into a familiar chest.

“You’re leaving?” Kyle pouted at me as sweat dripped from his head.

“Uh.” I managed.

Kyle looked down at Holly, who was breathing hard but looking happy. “Vici here was going to ditch us.”

Holly paused her panting to give me an accusatory stare.

Those blasted golden eyes…I was helpless against them.

Brooke squatted down and gave Holly a few good rubs. “Good girl, how was your run?” Brooke had stayed with me for the past week. If she hadn’t been here, I never would have agreed to meet Kyle at the dog park.

Holly gave her a lick.

“Oh, I missed you too.” Brooke hugged the dog.

If only I could see these animals as she did. To Brooke they were basically people.

The sound of running feet caught Holly’s attention. Her ears went up, and she turned her head to look behind Kyle.

To my utter surprise, William was jogging this way. He was leading what I thought was a gray pit bull.

A few weeks before, I would have immediately retreated, but Brooke had given me articles to read about dogs, and it turned out that unless they’d been trained to be mean, pit bulls were as nice as most other breeds.

Kyle rubbed Holly’s head. “Told you we could take them.” He then pulled a water bottle out of his back pocket (don’t ask me how he ran with that thing there) and took a swallow. Then he offered some to Holly, who drank greedily.

William slowed to a walk a dozen feet from us and frowned. “Frank here needed a bathroom break.”

“Sure, blame the dog,” Kyle teased.

I hadn’t seen William since he’d come to my apartment, but he’d texted multiple times to check up on me, which I thought had been sweet. Of course I’d been asking him about the lady prospects in his life, and he’d supposedly been too busy to think about that.

Maybe I’d make him go talk to a random woman inside. That cheered me up a bit.

Once again, William and Kyle were dressed like polar opposites. Kyle wore old sweats, ratty shoes, and a T-shirt he’d probably gotten at Goodwill. On the other hand, William sported designer everything, and even a run hadn’t messed up his hair.

I’d have to find out what product he used.

He also had a water bottle and gave his dog the same treatment Kyle had given Holly.

“William, what are you doing here?” I asked.

William stood up. “I was in town for a meeting, and Kyle invited Frank and me to come jogging.” He scratched his neck. “And to see you.”

Brooke let out an almost silent huff. I’d have to let her know that William and I were not a thing.

“Who’s your friend?” Kyle asked me.

Oh. Right. Manners. “Kyle, William, this is my friend Brooke. Brooke, this is my cousin, Kyle, and William, his wife’s cousin.”

Brooke wiped her hand on her jeans—at least I’d gotten her to wear something besides overalls—and offered it to Kyle.

Kyle shook without hesitation. “Good to meet you.”

“Glad you adopted Holly. She’s a sweetheart.” Brooke then turned to William and gave him the once over. I could practically hear her inner monolog which would include something about how William’s shoes were too white and his hair too perfect.

William bristled—I didn’t blame him because Brooke was a force of nature, and that force was giving him the evil eye—but he dredged up a pleasant smile and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

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