Within a few minutes, they were curled up together, both of them happily chewing on a couple of soft toys.
“Oh, that’s sweet,” Erin said. “Agatha has a new best friend.”
“She did good.” Jason moved into the kitchen to wash his hands.
Erin came in there with him, washing her hands as well. “She obviously loves having a companion.”
“So maybe you need two dogs.”
She laughed. “She’s all I can handle right now.”
“She makes you happy. You’re smiling again. You needed that.”
She hadn’t realized that, but he was right. Despite how overwhelming bringing Agatha into her life had been this past week, the puppy had also taken her mind off everything that had happened with Owen. She hadn’t had time to think about him . . . or herself. And that had been a huge relief.
“You’re right. She is just what I needed. Thank you for that.”
“It was her, not me. She was yours from the minute you rescued her.”
She looked over to see Agatha and Puddy playing tug-of-war with a long knotted rope. Seeing her puppy engaged and happy made her heart swell. “Yeah, she sure was.”
“Good.”
“Okay, so what are we cooking?” she asked.
“Steaks on the grill. Roasted potatoes. Grilled corn salad.”
“Fire up that grill, then. I’ll start the potatoes.”
“Sounds good. They’re in the pantry. Make yourself at home.”
He grabbed a beer and headed outside while she put the potatoes on to boil. She opened one of the bottles of the wine she’d brought and grabbed a glass from the cabinet, then perused his fridge. It was nicely stocked, so she decided a watermelon salsa also sounded good. While the wine breathed, she chopped watermelon, jalapeño, mango, onion and cucumber, tossing it all into a bowl she found in one of the cabinets.
Jason came in to grab the corn, then eyed the bowl on the counter.
“You’re making a fruit salad?”
She shook her head. “Watermelon salsa.”
“I knew there was a reason I wanted you to have dinner with me.”
“Other than my sweet disposition and charming personality?”
He snorted out a laugh as he walked back outside.
“Jerk,” she said to herself, but then she glanced outside and noticed both dogs were looking up at him with pure love. Sure, because he had the steak, but she had to admit, he was quite the man. Tall, rugged, with nice lean muscle, and he was good with animals? So gentle and sweet but also . . . oh, so damn hot. She just knew he’d be dynamite in the sack.
Girl, you are so smitten.
She blinked. She was not smitten. She just got dumped. She just wanted a hot revenge fling with Jason. Who wouldn’t? The man oozed masculinity and ultimate hotness.
She finished chopping the basil and added it to the bowl, marveling at her own wayward thoughts.
“Smitten” meant there were emotional things involved. Heart things. And she was in no place to even think heart things. Her heart lay broken at the altar of her non-wedding, and it would be a long damn time before she could duct-tape the pieces together and even think about falling in love again.
No, what she wanted from Jason was smoking-hot sex and nothing more.
If she classified Jason into the “sex only” category, she could handle this.
Smitten? Emotion? Nope. She was not going to go there. Not with him. Not with anyone.
Not for a very long time.
If ever.
But she glanced out the door again, and there he was, teaching her puppy how to obey commands. Agatha’s little wiggly butt plopped firmly on the ground as Jason leaned over and smiled at her, and then he gave her an overabundance of affection, causing the pup’s entire body to vibrate with absolute adoration.
Well, hell. Who wouldn’t be affected by a sight like that?
Jason popped open the door and since she’d already been ogling him, he didn’t need to catch her attention. “Would you mind bringing me the salt and pepper? It’s in the door of the small pantry.”
“Sure.”
She found them and brought them to him.
He graced her with a warm smile. “Thanks, beautiful.”
Zing. Bang. Boing. “You’re welcome.”
She closed the door, trying very hard not to be affected by him calling her “beautiful.” He’d always called her that whenever he saw her. It was a throwaway term of endearment and meant absolutely nothing.
Except now the word felt like a caress all over her extremely sensitive skin. Which was ridiculous and probably meant she needed to get laid.
She was just raw and hurt and once she got her revenge, she’d feel more in control of her own destiny and feelings and every damn word Jason uttered wouldn’t feel so . . .
Special.
Whatever. She tucked her raw feelings inside and finished the salsa, putting it into the fridge. She took a couple long swallows of the wine, which was delicious, of course. Not too dry, not sweet, but oaky, leaving a buttery vanilla flavor on her tongue. It was a perfect vintage.
She was so proud of her family. They made damn good wine. From the time she was a child, she’d watched the vineyard and its products grow in popularity. They’d added the wedding venue fifteen years ago, just when Erin was hitting adolescence, and she’d been dreamy-eyed and starstruck seeing brides and grooms profess their love for each other at the place she called home. She used to hide out on the side of the house to watch the bridesmaids and the bride walk down the aisle. They were always so pretty, the brides so happy.
Erin and her sisters used to sneak peeks at the receptions, peering into the barn windows when they were supposed to be in bed, watching the bridal party and their families and guests dance late into the night. While Brenna and Honor gushed over how in love the bride and groom seemed to be, Erin always wanted to see how many bottles of Red Moss Vineyards wine got consumed and tally up how many guests were present, her mind calculating the profits.
Huh. She took another swallow of wine. Maybe she lacked a romantic side. Though that couldn’t be true. Owen had fallen in love with her. He’d asked her to marry him.
He had loved her, right? Of course he had. And she was totally fun. She wasn’t all numbers and business. Once she walked out of her office at the end of the day, she shut all that down and she could really let loose. That was the part of her that Owen had fallen in love with.
There was nothing at all wrong with the business side of her.
She had no idea why she was even questioning herself. She’d been ready to get married. The fault was all Owen’s, who she was not going to think about tonight.
She set the table and dumped the water out of the potatoes and patted them dry. She sliced them in half, put them in a pan, seasoned them and added butter, then turned on the stove to get them nicely browned.
Jason came in with the corn and the steak. He sliced the niblets off each ear. While she worked on the potatoes, he set to work on making the corn salad. The dogs curled up on the pallet on the floor and went right to sleep.
“They were very busy outside fighting each other for a stick, so I think they’ll nap for a while.”
“It was nice of you to play with Agatha.”
“She’s a great puppy, Erin. And she’s fast with learning commands. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with her.”