Turn Up The Heat: Love Won't Wait / Beach House Beginnings / Strong Enough to Love

No, but he wanted her bad. “In this town, everyone is a neighbor.”

“You’re sure?”

“It’ll be my pleasure.” He’d find out where she lived, make himself useful and in the end...he’d have her under him, where they’d both have some fun.

Even to him, that sounded like a Grade-A prick move.

But she forestalled any opportunity for him to retrench when she said with heartfelt gratitude, “Thank you. I appreciate it more than I can say.”

CHAPTER TWO

MERRILY LOOKED AROUND the duplex again, saw everything was in order and tried not to listen for Brick’s knock at her front door. The laundry would have to wait for another day. She’d tidied the space as much as she could with five pets underfoot. Like toddlers, they had toys everywhere. And though she’d just vacuumed, fur was a never-ending issue.

Dundee, an Australian shepherd and border collie mix, knew something was happening. He watched her with ears perked up, expression alert. “It’s okay, Dundee. Just be on your best behavior, please.” Because Dundee was always a happy fellow, eager to please, that wasn’t asking too much of him.

Dolly, a smaller bearded collie mix, didn’t really care enough about any visitor to skip her nap. Merrily could hear her low snores and, as always, it made her smile.

The cats kept vigil in different windows, with Union Tom and Stan the Man sticking together against Eloise, who tended to run the show. Ellie was a lovely lady, but as the only female cat, she ruled the dogs and the male cats with little more than a look.

Merrily ran a hand over her loose hair and again wondered if she should contain it in a ponytail. For the longest time, her regimen had included washing, dressing and restraining her hair. She almost felt pretentious for letting it hang loose.

As for her lip gloss, she’d already chewed that off, so it had been a complete waste of time. At least her jeans and yellow T-shirt weren’t much different from what she wore at work.

Chaos erupted with Brick’s first tap on her door. The cats shot off the windows, Dundee started dancing and Dolly awoke with such a barking start she almost fell off the couch. Merrily could barely hear herself as she urged them all to hush, to heel, to try not to appear quite so much like wild animals.

She opened the door and found Brick standing there with a smile.

“I hear them,” he said with amusement. He leaned around her to peek in, and the smile widened to devastating impact.

Oh, God, Merrily thought. If he was an animal lover on top of being so gorgeous and funny and...attentive to her, she’d be a goner in no time.

“Come on in.”

He got one foot in the door and Dundee was on him, his paws on Brick’s chest as he tried to lick his face, pelting him with doggy breath.

Brick laughed outright. He set aside a large toolbox that looked like it weighed a ton and went to one knee.

Big mistake.

Dundee all but took him to the floor. But Brick was stronger than her so he didn’t end up on his tight muscled butt. Instead he seemed to enjoy Dundee’s attention.

With high-pitched maniacal barking, Dolly vied for her own share of notice.

Sitting on the floor, Brick laughed some more and struggled to give both dogs the pets they craved.

“Really,” Merrily told them. “You guys will have him thinking you’re neglected, that I’m a terrible pet owner who leaves you starved for crumbs of attention.”

“Nah,” Brick said around his chuckles. “They’re terrific.”

Terrific? Seriously? Maybe he hadn’t noticed the cats yet. Or how dog hair already clung to his dark T-shirt. Or the...oh, no...doggy drool on his shoulder.

She covered her mouth and asked in a horrified whisper, “Should I call them off?”

“Why? I like the enthusiastic greeting.”

Dolly got into his lap, and he let her. Dundee kept snuffling his neck and chest—which was something Merrily wouldn’t mind trying if given half a chance.

Unsure what else to do, she seated herself on the couch. Eloise immediately joined her to watch the display with disdain.

Tom and Stan strode into the fray and with little more than a meow had the dogs backing off enough to sit beside Brick instead of on him.

“Names?” he asked Merrily, as if being accosted by an animal horde was just fine and dandy.

She cleared her throat. “Dundee is the bigger dog, Dolly the smaller. That yellow fellow with the round face is Tom, better known as Union Tom because he was found by Union Terminal. That’s Stan the Man with the adorable yellow eyes. And here in my lap is Eloise.”

“She has beautiful coloring.”

Merrily wanted to melt. “She’s a dilute tortoiseshell, and yes, very beautiful.”

“You said Tom was found by Union Terminal?”

“They’ve all been adopted from shelters. Dolly was...not treated well.”

Brows coming down, Brick reached out to the little dog again.

“Her shaggy gray fur needs a lot of work and her previous owners just didn’t care. They kept her outside, and she was dirty, matted... I’m sure she was miserable.”

Brick said nothing, but his jaw tightened and he cuddled Dolly a little closer.

Well. A telling move, that. So he was breathtakingly gorgeous and kind.

No wonder he had such an amazing reputation with the ladies.

She swallowed back her sigh of longing. “Dundee is seven years old but still acts like a pup. As you already found out, he loves to give doggy kisses.”

In an absurd voice, he said to Dundee, “Yes he does. Don’t you boy? You do. Lots of doggy kisses.”

Merrily gaped at him. And wanted to melt again.

Returning his attention to her, and his voice now normal, Brick said, “I’ll be stopping by my brother’s later. He and his wife have a dog and cat who’ll think I’ve been out cheating on them when they smell your pets on me.” He laughed. “Doug and Cate can be very possessive.”

“Those are the pets?”

“Yeah. Doug the dog and Cate the cat. Love the names, right? They were shelter pets, too. Evan and Cinder weren’t a couple then, just neighbors.” He smiled. “Though Evan had it for her bad, I don’t mind telling you. Anyway, they went to the shelter together. She got Doug, and he got Cate, and later they got married, and now they’re a happy family.”

Her heart swelled. “That sounds like a lovely fairy tale.”

Brick shot her a puzzled look. “Nah. Just real-life love. Happens all the time.” Putting the animals aside, he came back to his feet.