“Maybe she could give Luka a walk too?”
Emma stared at me, blinking her false eyelashes slowly as she jutted her chin as if she were saying ‘go on, try to tell me no, and I will whip out my claws’.
“Well, I can’t take a dog into city hall...”
Aubrey laughed. “Of course, you can. I take Pixy all the time. It’s just a quick run in and out. You’ll be fine.”
I looked from my smiling boss to Emma’s raised eyebrows then finally to Luka. He tilted his head, blinking those big dark eyes....and...
What could I say? I was a sucker for a puppy look.
Chapter 2
For a dog with a broken paw, Luka moved incredibly fast.
I dodged uneven dips in the sidewalk and clumps of grass from newly mowed lawns as Luka happily pranced along like he’d finally gotten his freedom ride.
My shoulders fell as realization dawned on me.
This wasn’t his freedom ride. He’d just have to go back to the shelter and the little yard he relieved himself in and then went back to his medical boarding.
I glanced down at the folder in my hand. I didn’t get to read over as much of it as I wanted since Luka was bouncing at my heels, ready to go for his walk, but from Aubrey’s explanation, I knew they were trying to buy a vacant lot on Main and turn it into a dog park that could be used by the city, but especially the shelter dogs.
It would only be a block away from the shelter and they’d have a sectioned off area for older dogs and meetings for the dogs waiting to be adopted, especially the more timid ones who weren’t sure of big crowds.
To me, it seemed like the perfect use of that flattened space that had been nothing but a dumping ground as long as I’d known it.
City Hall loomed over the sidewalk, like a stucco beacon.
It wasn’t a scary looking building by any means with its manicured palms lining the sidewalk and even a little porch complete with wooden rockers.
But the only time I’d ever been in there was for a parking ticket and now I was about to walk in with a dog and had to pretend I had enough confidence to know where I was going and drop off this folder for Aubrey. My first task as an intern.
I guess if watching as she cleaned out the truck didn’t count.
Looking down at the beagle’s puppy dog eyes, I squared my shoulders. “Think we can do this, Luka?”
He wagged his tail in response.
“All right, let’s do this.”
I held my head high; careful my heels didn’t get caught in the ruts of the path as we made our way to the glass doors.
Of course, Luka didn’t get the memo we were trying to be professional.
He tugged on the leash with each step, panting hard while his paws skid against the sidewalk then slid as soon as they hit the tile floor inside.
“Luka, come on, calm down boy,” I whispered, trying to grasp the folder tightly in one hand and grip as much of his leash as I could with the other.
“What is a dog doing in here?” A deep, husky voice echoed.
My shoulders shook as I turned about to defend my case, but as I turned, Luka got a wild hair, deciding to wrap the leash through my legs, locking my legs together.
Before I could think of a way to get out of the tangle of fabric, twisting my body out, my head hit a brick wall. My feet slipped underneath me and I had to decide whether to catch myself or the folder that was now slipping through my grasp.
Luka decided that for me as he tugged on the leash before I could right myself and documents went floating around me like a paper snowstorm.
The brick wall vibrated underneath me.
Oh shit.
This wasn’t a wall.
This was warm.
And ridiculously hard.
I looked up to meet a hazel gaze, only accentuated by a pair of aviator style glasses.
Holy hell, the guy was smiling at me.
A freaking dimpled smile like out of a fantasy I didn’t know I had.
Trying not to stare, I did a quick assessment of the man in front of me.
Effortlessly styled, short cropped hair? Check.
Suit molding to his broad shoulders and that hard chest like it was made for him? Check.
Staring at me like I was the craziest thing on the planet? Also check.
“Oh, I’m, um, sorry.” My face flushed as I bent down, trying to untangle Luka with one hand and grab the fallen papers with the other.
“Here, let me help you.”
He crouched down in front of me and the manly scent of his cologne hit me. Or maybe it wasn’t cologne and he just smelled that woodsy and clean.
“No, it’s fine. Really, I got it.”
Someone else noticed the smell too because as soon as the man was close enough, Luka whined, tugging at his leash, only to get caught short because he’s already wrapped himself around me.
The little beagle whined, his tail thwapping against my back.
“Luka,” I chided, unwinding the leash from my legs, and staring at the little face next to me so I wouldn’t keep checking out the man in front of me.
“Hey, I know this area.” The man’s husky voice had me pulling forward, holding Luka with one arm as I looked up to see him staring at a paper with a map of the empty lot.
“Yeah, that’s where the shelter is proposing a new dog park be placed. Thus, why I’m here with Mr. Luka, dropping off the proposal. He needs a new place to run and heal this broken foot.”
Dammit I was babbling.
In my head I had this whole speech prepared that I was going to tell someone if they asked about the area, but instead I was just trying to hold a dog back and staring at possibly the sexiest man I’d ever seen.
Even if he did have glasses that looked like the ones my dad wore in the 80s. Somehow that just added to the whole suit-wearing-sex-on-a-stick thing.
He smirked. A smirk that brought out a damn dimple on his chin.
Why did he have to have that little signature?
It just made me want to lick it.
And this was definitely not the place or time.
“Ah, so you’re the one trying to get in the way of my strip mall.”
My shoulders tensed as I blinked hard. “Your what?”
He picked up the last of the papers shuffling them on his leg, that damn smirk still on his face as I just sat there with my mouth open.
“My company, Chase Properties, put in a bid to build a strip mall there. But I guess your organization is who I’ll be seeing at the city council meeting.”
Chase Properties.
Adrian Chase.
The most eligible bachelor in the area.
They did a full spread on him in one of the local magazines.
City councilman, billionaire, and bachelor at the age of twenty-five.
I guess they also forgot to add besides being at the top of his political game, he was also kind of a prick.
A political prick.
“Yes, yes you will,” I snapped, ripping the pages from his hand. “And I hope you sleep well knowing you’re trying to keep a park from some defenseless animals.”
He had the nerve to laugh.
“It’s just politics. Nothing personal.”
“Seriously? You’re saying that as a dog with a broken foot is staring right at you?” I gritted, my heart pounding in my ears.
“Well. Technically the dog isn’t supposed to be in the building.”
Ugh. I groaned, snatching up the last of the papers and clutching them against my chest.