Page 76 of Breathless With Her

“Seriously, where’s your mama? Why aren’t you on your leash, or in your little basket? Or in her arms?”

Miss Mahan loved this little dog, and she never let it out of her sight. She pampered the little thing and constantly went to get it pedicures, not just clips, but actual pedicures. I didn’t judge. As long as she was happy and the dog was happy and not biting me, I didn’t care.

But the dog was getting really close to biting me. Really close.

“Okay, Pippy. That’s enough.” I tried to put a growl into my voice, so I sounded more authoritative, but Pippy just kept yipping.

“You need some help, Mr. Postman?” a man asked as he rolled by on his bike. He didn’t even look back, and I really wanted to flip him off. But I was in uniform. So, I couldn’t. I also couldn’t punch the man or try to get rid of the dog. No, I just needed to get back into my truck and go home. Well, back to the office anyway. And then home. I really just needed to get away from this dog. And I didn’t want to think about why I was having such a bad day.

Because that all had to do with a certain somebody who’d told me to get lost.

And, apparently, I was single now. Single and pissed off.

Because Erin didn’t want us. She didn’t want me. She wanted to do everything on her own, and wanted nothing to do with me.

But that was fine. I could do everything on my own, too. Like, get rid of this dog.

“Okay, Pippy. Go back to your mom, please.”

I sighed and went to the back of my truck to finish setting everything up.

“Stop following me, Pippy.” The dog kept barking, yipping.

This would be how my life ended. With a dog yapping in my ear. It would forever haunt my dreams. Yip yip yip, bark bark bark.

All because of a tiny, little dog named Pippy.

It was a Pomchi, a Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix—or so her mama had told me—with bright pink bows in its fur, and hot pink claws.

The dog was usually pretty happy about life, but right now, it hated me.

Well, that was just great. I was the mailman. I suppose dogs were supposed to hate me.

Maybe it was the shorts.

Honestly, I wasn’t a fan of the shorts.

“Where’s your mama?” I asked again as the dog barked.

I didn’t know if Pippy would follow me if I kept moving towards the house or end up in the street.

And with its sharp little teeth, I wasn’t really sure I wanted to deal with bending down and trying to pick it up.

I was not about to get bit by a dog. No, thank you.

Miss Mahan still hadn’t come out of her house, so I had a feeling she didn’t know Pippy was out on her own.

Well, that was just great.

However, before I could figure out exactly what to do, Pippy decided to take matters into her own hands. Paws? She came at me, barking and trying to claw at me, I moved to the side and cursed under my breath.

She rolled out into the street and kept going, right into the middle of the double-lane road. I swore every ounce of blood moved away from my face.

“Fuck.”

I ran out to get her, trying to be faster than my legs actually allowed. I might be in shape. I might work out and run and be on my feet for hours a day.

But I couldn’t outrun a car.

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