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She presses her lips together hard, her eyes flaring with some hot emotion. I brace for impact.
I’m fully expecting to like it.
She looks away and, when she looks back, that stupid fake smile is in place. “I did hear you say that, but I have an offer to sweeten the deal.”
“There’s nothing you have that I want.” Nothing worth spending more time with her and discovering she can’t match up to the muse of my fantasies. Nothing worth getting closer to a woman I’m already dangerously obsessed with and risking a betrayal like Lucia’s.
She taps her chin. “But there might be something Barley wants.”
I stare at her, flummoxed. “Pretty sure Barley has everything he could ever want or need.”
She looks around at Barley’s top-notch playground and her lips curve up in the first genuine smile I’ve seen from her, a smile that crows triumph.
I’m leaning toward her, my body lit with desire, before she says the first word.
“He doesn’t have a wife.”
I swear, Barley lets out a tiny grunt of longing and it’s an emotion I totally relate to at the moment. “I’m sure I can find Barley a wife myself.”
Her eyes sparkle. “She won’t be as good as who I’ve found for Barley. Trust me, I’m a true matchmaker when it comes to animals.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Really?”
She snorts. “No, but I promise, Barley is going to love the lady goat I have in mind.”
Barley ma-aaas in a tone that sounds like a plea. “I’ll think about it.”
She grins. “Great. I’ll be back tomorrow to start treasure hunting.” She spins on her heel toward the front of the house.
“I didn’t say yes. I’m probably not going to say yes.”
She doesn’t even look back, just waves over her shoulder as she leaves. “See you soon.”
I groan. “I have a terrible feeling about this, Barley. What do you think? Should I forbid her from ever stepping foot on my property again or help her?”
Unfortunately, Barley chooses to keep his opinions to himself.
CHAPTER FOUR
Honey
I could have knocked on Bigfoot’s door, but maybe I’m hoping for another sighting of him in the nude.
Or maybe I just need some time with Barley before I face the purple-haired man.
But Barley’s not in his kennel and there’s no blinking light on the camera, which means there’s probably not an alarm going off in Bigfoot’s house.
Disappointment feels like a catastrophe after my run-in with Dell. It’s been two days since I saw him, but I can’t shake the icky feeling he gave me. I need something good to wash away my spinning thoughts of guilt over Dell’s situation and the sick twist in my gut at the thought of him revealing my secrets to my sisters.
I walk back around to the front of the house, my good angel telling me to just ring the doorbell. But I’ve already been so good this morning. I called my cousin Levi, the same cousin who helped me out when things went so, so bad with Dell and Maya.
The only other person in the world who knows just how bad things went.
Instead of calling a friend of my father’s who could make Dell disappear for the right price, I asked Levi to help me figure out what Dell’s really up to.
Levi makes friends wherever he goes and he’s got connections even I don’t fully understand. All I want to know is that he can get me what I need and he’ll keep my secrets. I don’t need to know Levi’s.
And now, I need to stir up the kind of trouble that’ll put a smile on my face.
