Page 37 of The Reality of Us
Of course, he’d volunteered to help Eloise.
Alice tilted her chin and remembered to smile with her eyes as well. She shivered when a breeze rolled through, the scent of lavender following it like a wave at the beach. Murphy’s nose twitched, and he sat up, looking away from the camera out towards the field of lavender behind them. “This way,” Alice whispered, pointing, but he didn’t turn around.
“Murphy.” Eloise waved a hand above the camera.
A shrill whistle cut through the air, and everyone looked at Owen. “Murphy,” he crooned, his voice unnaturally soft and velvety. And holy moly, Murphy wasn’t the only one caught in a trance. God, the number of women Owen must have bedded with that tone. Obviously, this would be the only time Alice ever heard it seeing as though he thought she was a cave troll.
“Murphy.” There it was again. It reminded her of the moment a spoon pushed into a chocolate pudding and all the melty deliciousness oozed out. Alice shivered again, and this time it had nothing to do with the wind.
“Okay, I think we’re done.” The glow from the LCD screen on the back of Eloise’s camera cast shadows across her face.
“Good boy!” Alice nuzzled Murphy, and he responded by licking her face before leaping off the bench, cocking his leg. Alice was so pleased he didn’t pee when he was on her lap that she didn’t notice his lead falling. She was busy making a mental list of everything she needed to get for him.
“Murphy!” Owen called, his normal tone shattering her daydream.
Alice looked down. The puppy was gone.
She whipped her head around until she saw him barrelling through the lavender field in the fading light.
Oh God. This was a disaster, like everything else she tried to do.
“Come on.” Owen’s hand clasped hers, and he pulled her up off the seat. “We better catch him before he finds the dam.”
“The dam?”
Sweet mercy. She was already a failure as a pet owner. This had to be a new record.
Owen shucked his jacket and passed it to Alice. The tall, thin reeds around the southern edge of the dam rustled in the wind.
“I’m fine.” Her icy tone matched the temperature. “We should split up. We’d cover more ground.”
He didn’t blame her for being brusque. If the situation had been reversed, his feathers would’ve been ruffled as well. Of course, he wouldn’t have been wearing actual feathers like she was. But the ombre pink feathered necklace she wore worked for her. Everything she wore worked for her, which was why he’d snapped at his brothers, worried his rapidly growing attraction to her was becoming too obvious. Owen swallowed. “It’ll be dark soon. You could get lost.”
“You could get lost,” she volleyed back, wrapping her arms around her chest.
“Sure.” He sighed. “I could.”
Even if he hadn’t been on thin ice, Owen wasn’t about to point out he’d grown up running all over this place. He’d know it blindfolded. He held his jacket out again, trying to make amends. “Please?”
“Fine,” she mumbled, shrugging it over her shoulders. The jacket was so big she could’ve wrapped it around her body twice. He definitely didn’t notice how good she looked in his clothes either. Nope. Not him.
An excited yip cut through the air and Owen froze, trying to pinpoint where the sound had come from.
“Murphy,” Alice called tentatively, reaching around Owen to point her phone towards the northern end of the dam where the jetty was. The wooden structure was a popular spot in summer when locals would don their lifejackets—no one was allowed to swim without one—and jump off it until they tired themselves out.
“Is that …”
Owen ground his jaws together. Murphy was at the end of the jetty, his eyes glittering in the beam of light. Alice pushed past him, hiking her long skirt up around her knees. He grabbed her arm. “We don’t want to spook him.”
She looked down at his hand, and he let her go. Right, he wasn’t supposed to touch her. Or notice how soft her skin was. Alice gestured for him to go ahead of her. He’d only taken one step when she grabbed his arm. Their gazes met. Her mascara was smudged like the night he’d met her. He liked her best when she was a bit messy. It was like he was seeing the real Alice, the one not many people got to see.
“Do you think he can swim? I mean, all dogs can, right? Like how birds can fly? Can baby birds fly?”
“Uhhh, I think so.” Owen helped Alice over a mossy rock, his hands lingering against her soft palms before he let her go. He’d imagined kissing her for weeks now, and under different circumstances, the blossoming moonlight would’ve been the perfect backdrop. You know, if he hadn’t lied about how gorgeous he thought she was, had her overhear it and think he was an asshole and she wasn’t his client.
All minor details.
The puppy barked again.
