“Gizmo!” I rush across the restaurant toward the booth, and Gizmo finally lifts his head and tilts it, as if he’s surprised I’m there. “Oh, my God, I was so worried!”
Without even considering the huge stranger sitting on the bench seat, I bend down and scoop Giz up into my arms from the man’s lap. I clutch him to me as the man assesses me with an intensity that raises the hair on the back of my neck.
Retreating a step, I examine him the same way he is me.
Heavily tattooed, muscled arms encased in a tight t-shirt are crossed over his barrel chest beneath his broad shoulders as he reclines slightly against the back of the booth.
The man with the dark coppery-red hair screams danger and would be intimidating to anyone, and given how Gizmo usually reacts to strangers, let alone men, there’s only one way this guy could have him.
I straighten my spine and glare at him. “Why the hell did you steal my dog?”
2
LIAM
Wait, what?
It takes a few seconds for me to process her words.
Maybe I was too focused on the stunningly beautiful woman standing next to my table to actually hear her right.
I shake my head in an attempt to clear it and ensure I’m processing properly, then climb from the booth and approach the breathtaking stranger with hair the color of the bluebells that grow on the mountain and a dusting of freckles that spread across her peachy skin. Icy eyes that match the locks spiraling around her face meet mine and don’t look away.
And I have to hand it to her, she doesn’t appear at all fazed by the fact that she just accused a McBride of theft.
Stopping a few steps short of her, I tilt my head, examining her even more intensely now that we’re this close. And I can’t miss the slight blush that pinkens her cheeks the longer I assess her. “Did you just accuse me of stealing your dog?”
She clutches him tighter, like I’m some sort of villain who is going to snatch him straight out of her arms, and even though she’s clearly distraught about her missing pup, a laugh bubbles up from my chest that I can’t contain at the absurdity of the accusation.
The woman seems startled by my laughter for a moment, and her wide eyes that match the sky over the mountain on a crystal-clear day lock on me as I struggle to contain my reaction.
It takes a few seconds before she seemingly realizes how ludicrous the allegation is, and she finally cringes and shakes her head, sending those brightly colored locks floating around her face.
She releases a deep sigh, glancing down at the dog. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
That ache in her voice and how deeply she obviously cares about the dog make it impossible for me to be mad—not that I was in the first place.
I incline my head toward the little fur ball who is snuggled deeply against her as if he never left. “I found him on the road west of town in the pitch-black last night. What were you doing out there?”
Her shoulders tense at my question, and she clears her throat, glancing out the windows toward the street. “I, uh…I’m not sure how he got away from me.”
That wasn’t what I asked, and her avoidance to my real question seems intentional.
There’s absolutely nothing out that way except the lumber yard and the falls, and they’re both several miles from where I found her dog. If he was with her and they somehow got separated, he either trekked pretty damn far by himself or this woman was on the base of the mountain alone, at night, somewhere she definitely shouldn’t have been.
The business owner in me bristles at the possibility that she might have been trying to do something illegal at McBride Lumber. The product and millions of dollars of equipment sitting in the yard could certainly bring someone a lot of money if they sold it to the right people, but this woman doesn’t seem like the type to hop a fence to steal a sawmill.
Which leaves the falls as the other possibility, and that’s just as strange because it’s closed after dark due to the drowning danger.
What were you doing out there, Bluebell?
She clearly doesn’t want me to know, and I won’t push.
“It’s all right. No harm done.” I tip my head toward the tiny animal in her arms. “At least, I don’t think. I was going to take him to see Doc as soon as he opens to have him checked out, but he was with me all night and seemed completely fine.”
Her head whips back up, her soft brow now deeply furrowed as her eyes meet mine. “You had him that long?” I nod. “And he…behaved?”
I narrow my gaze on her and the dog, then reach out and run my hand over his head and scratch him behind the ear in a spot that I found that he likes so much. “Yeah. Me and my little buddy. He snuggled with me all night.”
