Playing for Keeps (Heartbreaker Bay #7)(24)

“Yes. I think she was just sad that I left. Listen,” he said to Lollipop. “You can’t howl like that. People’ll think I’m killing someone in here.” He set the dog on the phone and rose to his feet, and then suddenly Sadie’s view went topsy-turvy.

He’d dropped the phone.

It hit the floor, bouncing close to Lollipop, who leapt straight up into the air and, with a terrified expression, went scrambling out of sight.

“Shit,” Caleb muttered and then he called out to Lollipop in a gentler voice. “It’s okay, baby, it was just my phone . . .”

“Someone must have thrown things at her,” Sadie said, her chest tight.

“I know.” He was already moving, clearly going after her. “Lollipop?”

A noise alerted them both, a whimper really, and tugged at all of Sadie’s very new and very raw emotions.

“She’s under my bed,” Caleb said and dropped to his knees.

Lollipop was back as far as she could get, huddled up against the wall, cowering.

“Aw, no, baby,” he murmured. “Don’t be scared. No one’s going to hurt you, I promise.”

Lollipop just stared at him with those huge soulful eyes and Sadie could hardly breathe.

“I get it now,” Caleb said softly. “You don’t like to be alone. And some asshole wasn’t nice to you and probably threw things at you. That life’s over, okay? You can come with me to work. You liked it there, remember? My admin has that beef jerky you love.”

Lollipop didn’t budge except for the very tip of her tail which wagged once. She wanted to believe but she couldn’t.

Sadie’s throat burned. She knew just how the dog felt.

Caleb set the phone down low so Lollipop could see Sadie. “Talk to her,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

He reappeared in less than a minute with some deli meat and cheese. After coming out from beneath the bed to scarf it down, Lollipop appeared to forget her trauma.

Caleb met Sadie’s gaze via the phone. “So she can be bribed.”

“You just fed her a fortune in fancy cuts of meats and cheeses,” she said. “Anyone could’ve been bribed with that. Hell, I’d have jumped into a stranger-danger van for that.”

He smiled. “Good to know that too. I’ll bring you some when I bring Lollipop.”

She rolled her eyes and disconnected.

And then proceeded to think about him for the rest of the day.



A few minutes later, Caleb and Lollipop were in his car, finally heading to work, holding hands, one of them smelling like turkey and cheese and drooling on the passenger window.

Twenty minutes later they were in his building heading for Sienne’s office instead of his own. Hannah was there too and he gestured to the dog at his side in her harness and black patent leather Hello Kitty leash. “Take a good look at this,” he said to his sisters. “What is she?”

“You have an MBA from Stanford,” Hannah said. “I think you know what a dog looks like. Did you hit your head at the gym this morning? And why are you in possession of a dog?”

“The question isn’t why,” he said. “It’s how am I able to be with a dog in the first place. In the same room. Me not dying.” He squatted down beside Lollipop and she wriggled in happiness at him. “I mean, look at her. She was abused, abandoned, and has not a single clue that she’s got an owie. Also, I just used the phrase ‘she’s got an owie.’ What the actual hell?”

They both just stared at him, boggled, as they shook their heads.

He drew in a deep breath and studied his closest confidantes. “Someone tell me why I’m not allergic to dogs.” He pointed to Hannah. “Go.”

“Um . . . you outgrew it?” she asked.

“Bullshit.” He turned to Sienne.

Sienne shook her head at Hannah and then moved to Caleb. She squatted low to pet Lollipop, who surprised everyone by affecting a protective stance in front of Caleb and growling low in her throat.

Sienne didn’t take it personally. She smiled and rose. “She doesn’t want another woman touching her man.”

“I’ve known her all of two days,” Caleb said. “It’s not that—” Before he could finish the sentence, Lollipop sat on his feet.

“Cute,” Hannah said. “She’s claimed you.”

Out of patience, he shook his head. “One of you has a business MBA and the other was third in her law class. I want answers.”

“Okay, fine,” Sienne said. “You were allergic to everything back then. You eventually outgrew most of your allergies. It was more that a dogiiogou eventually outgrew most of your allergies. 'Sadie. red out from a black face. and in makeup, looking put together for onc didn’t fit our lifestyle.”

He stared at her as the truth hit him with the force of a two-by-four. Back when he’d been a kid, they couldn’t have handled even one more mouth to feed. His mom and sisters had had their hands full just keeping a roof over their heads and him healthy and alive. And like always when he remembered what it’d been like, he felt a gratitude fill him that those days were long over. Letting out a breath, he nodded. “Well, she fits my lifestyle now.”

“You’re really going to keep her?” Sienne asked.