with the best names.”
Skyler turned and looked at me, her eyes widening as she stayed closer to her mother’s side.
“This is Mason,” Danielle said, rising and glancing at me. “Mason, this is my daughter, Skyler, and her as-of-now unnamed kitten.”
She was a mom. Likely a wife too. How damned stupid was I to assume a catch like her wasn’t already taken? Figures, the first woman I’d seriously considered taking out on a date in years would be unavailable.
“What a cute kitten,” I said, finally finding my words again. “You know, I had a black cat growing up. Her name was Cinder.”
“Like Cinderella?” The girl’s eyes lit up as if that was the most brilliant idea on the planet.
I chuckled. “Something like that, I guess.”
“I love it. Mommy, can we name her Cinder?”
“Of course, sweetie,” Danielle laughed. “Whatever you want.” She looked at me and mouthed the words thank you, her perfect, naturally pink lips becoming the focus of my attention and making my knees go weak.
I wished I had something clever to say, but I had to settle for a simple, “You’re welcome.”
“I’m not usually the type to ask strange men back to my place, but we sadly don’t have an office anymore, so…”
“I promise I don’t bite.”
“Probably a good thing since we have some very large dogs that wouldn’t take too well to you laying your hands on us.” She smiled to take the edge off that threat, but it was still there. A warning. Just in case I had any funny ideas. “Come on, follow me up the hill.”
She turned and began walking toward her house, her daughter by her side. I was frozen in place at first, watching as Danielle’s blonde ponytail fluttered behind her. My eyes scrolled down her body and landed on a perfect ass.
Dammit, Mason. Stop being a perv. She’s likely married. And even if she’s not, it sounds like you’re not getting anywhere near that fine ass.
Not without a literal dogfight.
Danielle
When I laid my eyes on the handsome stranger, I was blown away. First of all, due to his sheer size - he was easily one of the largest men I’d ever seen in real life. He was well over six feet tall and all muscle. His face was chiseled and masculine, with a jawline that looked carved of stone. His brown beard was short and trimmed, not obscuring that perfect face at all. And those eyes…steely, grey eyes that looked both serious and sincere. It had been a long time since my heart fluttered upon laying eyes on anyone, but Mason Harvey had caused quite the reaction in my panties, I was ashamed to say. Which was why inviting him back to my home was a little more awkward than with a usual client.
“Don’t mind the mess,” I said as we stepped inside the house. “I’ve had to run my business from my home, and as you can see, there’s not a lot of room.”
I bit my lip as I watched for Mason’s reaction. We’d started off on a bad foot, mostly because I didn’t trust any man who just waltzed on to my property. But I’d heard the Harvey name around town. In small towns, word traveled fast. I knew a little about Mason Harvey already - like how he helped with the flooding efforts even though he was new in town. He and his brothers worked tirelessly to rebuild the town and care for the sick after a weird illness plagued Liberty.
Even though the dogs were trained to not jump on us when we entered, they did rush into the room as soon as the door had opened. Grizzly’s bark was bigger than his bite, but as a gentle giant, he was intimidating as hell. Mason didn’t know that in reality he was just a big teddy bear that often let Skyler curl up with him at night. He was a massive Tibetan Mastiff mix, and his thick, dark hair made him look even bigger than he was.
Then there was Oscar, the Great Dane. Again, a big dog, but absolutely no bite in him. In fact, Oscar rushed over to Mason and was already making friends with him as he often did when he met anyone knew.
The one that Mason really had to worry about was Zeus, our rat terrier. The smallest dog of the bunch who was missing an eye, but he didn’t let his size or his disability stop him. His bark was high-pitched and caused Skyler to