Page 22 of Daring Lance

Willow cuddled the puppies closer to her chest. “They’re so adorable, Lance. We have to give them equally adorable names.”

Lance held the squirming puppy in front of him, tickling its underbelly with the tip of his fingers, and Willow envisioned him doing the same someday with his children, kids that would not be hers. She had no plans to wait for him to settle down in one place in the likely event that the day never came.

“Adorable? Great. You’ve stuck me with adorable dogs that children and little old ladies will be fawning all over, exactly what I need. Why couldn’t we take home Spike? He seemed like a great dog. I love Rottweilers.”

Willow placed both puppies, each still asleep, on the blanket next to her. “Because Spike was missing a leg and therefore not a likely running partner for you. Besides, the lady at the shelter said Spike already had a pending adoption.”

Lance let out an exaggerated sigh, and Willow was tempted to call him a drama queen but didn’t because he certainly didn’t look the part. With a black cotton shirt pulled tight across his chest and wisps of his sandy blonde hair brushing against the corner of his eyes, he was more the warrior king in her mind, something she refused to share with him. “We need to name them!”

“How about Huey, Louey, and Dewey? Or Moe, Curly, and Joe?”

Willow folded her arms across her lower abdomen. “Ha, ha. Those are all boys’ names, and we need one for a girl too. Let’s think. There has to be a music group or a movie that had two male leads and one female lead that would be perfect for these three.” She rubbed the top of the puppy’s head that had worn itself out under Lance’s attention and now lay curled up in Lance’s lap, sound asleep like its siblings.

“Taylor, Justin, & Ed?” Willow surprised herself when she was able to keep a straight face after making the suggestion.

“What?”

She continued to rub the puppy’s head, refusing to look up at Lance because she knew she would burst out laughing if she did. “You know, after Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Ed Sheeran.”

Lance jerked back as if she had punched him in the stomach. “What? Are you kidding? Oh, hell no! We can name them Mick, Stevie, and Ozzie if we are going for band member names.”

“Mick, Stevie, and Ozzie? Huh?”

Lance rolled his eyes. Obviously, he thought her music knowledge was not up to his standards. “Mick Jaggar of the Stones, Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, and Ozzie Osbourne.”

She looked at the puppy in Lance’s lap and then the two curled up next to her on the blanket. “I don’t want to picture Ozzie Osbourne every time I see one of these adorable little guys-it would be too much of a contradiction. Maybe we should forget I suggested music bands and stick with movie characters.”

Lance removed one of his hands from underneath the puppy and used it to tuck a strand of Willow’s long hair to behind her ear, a habit of his that she had come to expect and appreciate. His fingertips lingered, slowly drawing small circles over the skin beneath her earlobe. Willow’s eyes fluttered shut. “Mmmm…” she whispered, leaning into the palm of his hand.

Lance’s lips brushed against hers, and she immediately felt the jolt of desire that blazed through her any time he touched her.

“Why don’t we take advantage of the puppies napping and retreat to the bedroom ourselves?”

Lance kissed her again, only this time his lips lingered, ultimately coaxing her mouth open, and Willow groaned as she leaned into him. She felt his small movements and assumed he was transferring the puppy from his lap to rest with its siblings on the new doggie bed they had purchased. He settled his hands on the sides of her waist and lifted her up, so she now stood in his embrace, his lips still linked with hers. With what felt like a lifetime but was likely mere seconds, his hands had traveled underneath her thin tank top to cradle the outside of her bra, the pad of his thumbs skimming back and forth over the delicate lace. Several parts of her squirmed. An intense ache began to throb at her core.

He pulled her hard against him, their bodies flush against each other, the evidence of his arousal pressed against her lower abdomen. He abruptly broke their kiss, and Willow, startled, opened her eyes. “Willow, let’s retreat to the bedroom. I don’t want to traumatize the little guys on their first day at their new home.”

“Traumatize?” She trailed the tip of her finger along his jawline, never tiring of the chance to admire his strong bone structure.

He gently pinched one of her nipples through her bra, and a pool of heat gathered at the apex of her thighs. “Most definitely. These guys are far too young to witness all of the things I plan to do with you this afternoon.” He lowered and then opened his eye lids in that slow motion movement that always caused Willow’s insides to go soft.

“You’re probably right,” she said but knew it came out as more of a pant. “Best, best not to wake the little guys.”

Lance crooked the corner of one side of his mouth upward. Without warning, he scooped her up to cradle her in his arms. “Sweetheart, with the sounds you’re going to make, they will, without a doubt, wake up, only it will be on the other side of the bedroom door.”

Before Willow could respond, they were halfway to his bedroom, and soon after, as Lance had promised, her cries of pleasure had the puppies scratching at the door.

EIGHT

“I can’t believe it has taken a month for us to have dinner together.” Madison smiled at her new husband, who leaned over and placed a swift kiss on her cheek. Lance was glad to see his brother and his new wife so happy together. “When Luke suggested we take Lance out to dinner to thank him for taking care of Harold and Cooper, I was so glad Lance mentioned including you, Willow.”

“The dynamic duo were both so good, and I now have three dogs because of them or, I should say more precisely, because of Willow.” Lance took a swig from his beer bottle and then casually rested his arm on the back of Willow’s chair. Madison shot a curious look his way while one of his brother’s brows lifted slightly at the corner.

Willow laughed. “Lance, you love Fred, Daphne, and Shaggy. We struggled to agree on their names, and after two days, we finally settled on the gang from Scooby Doo. Besides, the shelter said the trio won’t get any bigger than thirty pounds each, so that’s like having only one and a half Harolds.” Willow laughed, and Lance realized how much he enjoyed the sound as it never failed to start a cascade of warmth inside him.

“Once they stop chewing my shoes, I will have more love for them.”

Willow playfully punched his upper arm. “I think they’ve chewed up more of my shoes than yours, in addition to my favorite purse.”

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