Pawsitively Fetching: Romance with a Canine Helper (Romantic Beginnings Book 3) Read online

  Pawsitively Fetching

  By Tammy Andresen

  Samantha smoothed her jacket for the fourth time since exiting the doors of the giant internet company she had just interviewed for. The interview was over, she shouldn’t be nervous any longer, but dread still weighed down her limbs. It was biggest moment of her life, what if she had messed something up?

  Catching her reflection, in a passing window, Sam had to admit, she looked the part. Once, the chubby girl in high school, now her curvy body swelled in all the right places. The suit highlighted her tiny waist, flaring hips, and rather large chest.

  Her thick, dark hair was smoothed into a simple twist, taming the mass of curls, while just a touch of makeup graced her full lips and smoky eyes.

  With her appearance accounted for, she started replaying the interview in her mind, testing her answers and her interviewer’s reactions to them in her memory. So focused on her task, Samantha missed the large metal grate she was walking over. Her three inch stiletto heel shoes were not made for such things and with the first step, the expensive heel stuck in between the pattern of the grate.

  “Oh,” she cried, giving her foot a tug, the interview forgotten. The shoe didn’t budge, the heel wedged firmly in. Sam tugged harder but still nothing. Giving a sigh, she bit her lip. Her skirt was short enough that if she bent down to pull out the shoe she would be giving the crowd of pedestrians on the street, quite the view.

  Heat filled her cheeks. In moments like this, she always went back to her awkward high school self. The one who didn’t know how to act, who got flustered easily.

  “Hey Sam! Is that you?” A deep rich voice, one she would recognize anywhere, called from her right. Please let her be wrong, please don’t let it be him. Slowly, she turned her head towards the sound and then closed her eyes for a brief second before plastering a smile on her face. It was him.

  “Hi Doug. It’s been so long. How are you?” She tried to keep the smile from wavering as she assessed the hottest guy from high school. Somehow, he looked even better. Sparkly blue eyes, met hers as a lock of dark blond hair fell over his forehead. How did he manage to always have that one section of hair laying there just waiting for a girl to push it back?

  Even in her three inch heels, he had to be six inches taller than her and his broad shoulders blocked the rest of the busy San Francisco street from her view. Her eye travelled lower to where his waist tapered down to narrow hips accentuated by his low slung jeans. They clung just enough to show off his muscular legs.

  Her eyes moved back up to his face where a grin played on his sensual mouth, set in a ridiculously strong jaw line. His grin widened. “I’m all right. How about you?”

  She gulped. “Good, good. It was great to see you. Tell your parents I say, ‘hi.’”

  Doug’s family had lived just down the street from hers in a suburb of San Fran. Their Victorian homes had been a picture perfect place to grow up. Doug’s parents had moved right after high school, buying a vineyard in wine country. Her parents were living in New York currently, but had asked her to stay in the house. They weren’t ready to part with it.

  And she was happy to help but it was weird. She had a good job, could afford her own place. Not as nice as her parents, of course, but it made her self-conscience to still be living at home.

  “I will tell them.” His grin broadened further.

  “Ok, great. See you around.” She tried to smile back. Then she started searching through her leather messenger bag for her phone, hoping to look too busy to continue talking.

  “Sam, aren’t you going to ask me to help you with your shoe?” His eyebrows rose as his smile nearly split his face.

  The color that had been creeping into her cheeks, bloomed bright pink. “You noticed?” Her shoulder’s hunched as she pulled at the shoe again, trying desperately to free herself from the grate and this incredibly awkward situation. That was when she heard it, the ripping tearing as her heel partially separated from the shoe. “Oh,” she cried again, cursing in her head. Why did he, of all people, have to see her like this?

  “Hang on. No use pulling now. It will only make it worse.” He gave her a wink and then bent down. One of his very large hands, gently grasped her ankle and removed her foot from the shoe. “Hold on to my shoulders.”

  Tingling sensations shot up her leg and straight to her center of her nerves. A flood of heat filled her and she nearly swore out loud as her panties flooded with something else. Her hands tentatively rested on either side of his neck, a few of her fingers touching his warm skin, just on the other side collar. He looked even broader, from this angle as she looked down, at her hands touching him, while he worked her shoe free. Apparently, being a semi pro baseball player, which was what he currently was, made a man even stronger, and hotter, and definitely less available.

  It was very nearly like every sex dream she had had in high school. Only his hands would slide up her legs and under her skirt and then...

  “Got it,” he announced as she heard the heel break free of the grate. He held it up to her and Sam nearly groaned out loud, this time in annoyance. The shoe was ruined, the heel dangling from the foot bed in a way that was going to make her forty five minute commute home, very uncomfortable.

  “Thanks,” she replied softly as his hand once again grasped her ankle and slipped the shoe back on her foot.

  “It’s a shame.” He shook his head as he slowly began standing, taking her hands in his to keep her from falling in her now wobbly shoes.

  “What is?” she asked perplexed.

  “Those were some sexy shoes.” He winked.

  A laugh bubbled up through her lips. “Now, they’re trash.” Shaking her head, she slowly released his hands. “Really, thank you for helping me.” She tried to take a step back but her broken heel jigged and his hand shot up, grasping her hip to keep her from falling. Everything, including her nipples, tightened at the contact. “Shit,” she mumbled. She wasn’t sure if she was lamenting the shoes or the fact he still had this effect on her but this day couldn’t get any more embarrassing.

  “My apartment isn’t too far away. I could give you a ride. Unless you live close?” He moved beside her, fitting her hip into his so that he could help her walk.

  Dear lord, she was going to have an orgasm on the street. “No, thank you though, I’ll be fine. Really. I can make it. I just wasn’t used to walking with them like this. I...” She was rambling. What was worse, her voice was breathy, her breathing erratic.

  “Seriously, Sam,” One eyebrow lifted as he looked at her. “You don’t actually expect me to leave you like this?”

  She sighed. It wasn’t just that she may orgasm in his presence. Clearly she had neglected her sex life for far too long. How long had it been she had broken up with her last boyfriend, Steve? But she would also have to admit to him that she still lived at home. “Really, I’ll be fine,” she protested.

  But he was already walking her down the street, his arm protectively around her, his hand holding the curve of her hip and mostly supporting her weight. “I only live two blocks away. I’ll give you a ride. Just promise me you won’t judge my place or my car.”

  Sam looked over at him then. A slight redness was staining his cheeks now. Was Doug McCabe embarrassed in front of her?

  Chapter 2

  The feel of his hip pressed against hers as they walked was doing funny things to her brain. That was surely why Doug seemed embarrassed. Because Doug was never uneasy. He was the picture of calm and confident. “I’m sure it’s g
reat I mean I know Double A doesn’t pay that well but…” her words trailed off as the blush absolutely got deeper.

  “Sam, I got cut.” His fingers dug into her hip like she was keeping him up instead of the other way around.

  “Oh Doug, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I’m sure another team will pick you up. You’re going to—“

  “No, no other team. I’m done with baseball. I’m twenty five and it’s time for a real career. Like yours. My mom told me you were doing really well as a software engineer. In fact she mentioned something about a big interview with Am…” he stopped, his eyes going wide. “You aren’t on your way there now are you?”

  Sam pressed her lips together. She hadn’t seen Doug in two years, how did he know about her interview? Not that she didn’t already know. Her mother had blabbed to his mother and then she had told Doug. But did Doug ask or had his mom just filled him in? “I just left actually. I replaying it all in my mind when I stepped on the grate.” She grimaced with those last words.

  “I’m so proud of you, Sam. I always knew you were going to really make something of yourself.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know if I got the job. There is a lot of competition and…”

  “It doesn’t matter. They’ll be other big jobs and you’ll land one of them. You’ve always been smart and driven.” He gave her hip another squeeze. Her insides thrummed in response.

  She opened her mouth to speak then closed it again. The hand on her hip was massaging slowly, methodically. It was sending more feelings ricocheting through her body and his compliments only amplified the sensation. Clearing her throat, she answered, “Thanks. What about you, what’s next?”

  They turned down a side street that was decidedly more dilapidated then the previous one. He shrugged. “Well, I was volunteering at the fire department in the off season. I got lucky and then had a position open. So, I’m making some money while I go back to school.”

  “That’s awesome. What are you going to school for?” Her hand, the one not wrapped around his waist came to his chest. He put his other hand on waist and looked down at her. The embrace was so intimate that she could have sworn, he was going to kiss her. He smelled masculine and clean, and his muscles rippled under her fingers. It briefly crossed her mind to beg him to take her bed. Giving herself a shake, she let out a shaky breath and he snapped his head up.

  “Occupational therapy, actually. I want to help injured athletes.”

  “So instead of a baseball player, you’re a hot fireman who is going to school to help people full time?” She wiggled her eyebrows at him.

  He laughed. “You think I’m hot?”

  “Oh please, everyone who went to our high school thinks you’re hot. Well, the girls any way.”

  “I don’t care about them. I’m asking you.”

  He was so close. They had stopped moving and his hand on her hip was drawing her closer still, pulling her into his body so that they would be stomach to stomach. Her chin slowly titled up to look at him, knowing that she would find his lips waiting for her when she did. If her panties hadn’t been flooded before, they were now.

  “Hey Doug,” a voice from one of the upper windows yelled. “That puppy of yours, shit in my gym shoe again and the other one is fucking growling at me!”

  Doug’s head snapped and Sam let out an exasperated breath. She had been waiting years for that kiss. “Hang on,” he yelled. Then in one fluid motion, he dropped his hand below her bottom and picked her up.

  “What are you doing?” she let out a little squeak as he started sprinting up the stairs, holding her like she weighed nothing at all.

  “I only left them for fifteen minutes to go to the post office. I take them to the fire station with me when I go to work but they hate my roommates. Every time I leave they crap on, pee in, or chew up their stuff. I should have walked them with me but what do I do with them while I’m in the post office.”

  “Who are we talking about?”

  They had reached the third floor and Doug set her down, then began tugging her skirt back into place. It was so familiar, so intimate it somehow seemed more intimate then their near kiss. “We got a call two weeks ago at the station. Lost dog and her pup. Bad shit happens at the shelters, you know. So I took them in.” He opened the door then helped her inside. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

  Then he closed the door and left her standing in the entry. She could hear Doug and another man gruffly talking but she couldn’t make out the words. She leaned a little, careful not to fall over on her broken shoe.

  “You better not have touched her, man. She’s a baby.” Doug’s voice was filled with anger that was barely contained.

  “You better keep her form shitting in my shoe. And that other one is aggressive. You can’t have dogs like that around.”

  “Of course she would growl at you if you were threatening her puppy. She’s a mother.” Doug’s voice was getting louder.

  “Well, hello,” a voice behind her startled her from her eaves dropping. She turned quickly and nearly toppled over. “Aren’t you a sexy dish.” A guy, about her and Doug’s age, stood practically leering at her, his voice dripping with ick.

  “Hi,” she replied with as much disdain in her voice as one word could convey.

  “What do you say me and you—“

  “Shut up, Alex.” Doug nearly growled as he led a beautiful brown, white, and black boxer and a little white puppy out on leashes. “Ready?” He looked at her.

  “Sure,” she answered. Then turned to open the door, concentrating so that she didn’t fall over. Once in the hall, she slipped off her shoes, though it pained her to do so. The floors didn’t look very clean. Doug scooped up the puppy and started down the stairs with the mother. “How old is the pup?”

  “About seven weeks the vet thinks. Too little to be away from its mom. They said at dispatch that if I sent them to a shelter, they would likely kill her, the pup that is. But in another week she’d be old enough, she could be adopted, they both could.” They had made it to the bottom of the steps. Doug opened the door and Sam was faced with a problem. Did she walk on the filthy side walk without her shoes or wobble in her heels?

  Without a word, dog handed the puppy to her. It may have been the softest, warmest thing she had ever felt in her life. She cuddled it close, snuggling her nose into her white fur. But before she could process it, Doug picked her up again and carried her while she carried the puppy. The other dog trailed behind them still on the leash.

  Doug’s car came into view, and Sam almost laughed out loud. It was the same Acura he’d driven in high school. He made at a face at her. “Don’t judge.”

  “No judgement.” She affirmed as she snuggled the pup closer.

  “I made some money playing ball, I swear, but I’m using it to pay for school. I don’t want loans, you know. My parents would have helped but I don’t want that either.” He sounded defensive and Sam’s insides twisted in sympathy.

  “Trust me. I had a fantastic apartment. But my Dad got transferred to New York. My parents didn’t want to rent the house out so they convinced me to give it up and move back in to keep up the house. So basically, I’m living back at home.” She sighed. At least he would know where to drive her.

  “You made a choice, Sam to help your parents. It’s different then not being able to afford your own place.”

  “Goody two shoes, Sammy, doing what her mommy and daddy say like always.” She wrinkled her nose.

  He opened the car door and swung her around to set her in the seat. How did he manage that, she thought? Then he opened the back door and let the other dog in. “You said that like it’s a bad thing that you’re a nice person. It’s not. You wouldn’t really want to be like those dicks I live with.”

  “What is up with them?” She asked as he put the car in reverse.

  “The guy that hit on you, I played ball with. I needed a cheap room so I could live off of the firehouse money and use my savings for school. But the p
lace is awful. I spend as much time as I can at the fire house.” She saw his hands tighten on the wheel. “But I’m not sure I can live there anymore.”

  “How come? She asked as she snuggled the now sleeping pup up to her nose. Doug kept flicking his eyes between her and the road.

  “I’m pretty sure Jared, the d-bag that leaned out the window, hurt Snow, and that’s why Clara was growling. He didn’t come right and admit it but…”

  “Are you serious?” she lifted her head to look at him, her mouth hanging open. Who could hurt this adorable little puppy?

  “They’re just jerks. No respect for anyone or anything.” He raked his fingers through his gorgeous hair, brushing her favorite lock back. As soon as his finger’s left it, however, it fell back into place, waiting for her fingers.

  “That sucks. I’m sorry.” Cresting a hill, started over one of the many bridges that connected San Francisco proper to her home town.

  “I know we haven’t seen each other for a long time, but would you mind if I hung out with you for a little bit this afternoon? I won’t let the dogs do anything to your house and I need to calm down. Figure this out.”

  “Of course.” Excitement bubbled inside of her, though she tried to push it down. “You’ll keep me from obsessing about all the things I should have said differently.”

  His hand reached out to hers then and as he grasped it, warmth spread through her . “I bet you were perfect.” He gave her a wicked grin.

  Biting her lip, Sam realized that she would let Doug stay for as long as he wanted. The real problem was going to be keeping her hands off of him. He was the guy a girl like her couldn’t have. It was best not to get herself horribly rejected by attempting a move.

  Chapter 3

  An hour later, Sam realized it was going to be impossible not to touch him. First of all, he kept touching her. Playing with the dogs, helping her make lunch. She had put on her cutest jeans that hugged her ass, and she saw him looking more than once.

  Second, she wanted this man more than any other in her entire life. Despite what everyone thought, she wasn’t a complete goody and there was no reason not to sleep with him just once. So what if she had never done that before? In Doug’s crowd, people did it all the time. They were doing it in high school for crying out loud. Maybe she would have too, but the guys in the chess club and band hadn’t inspired the same sort of feelings.