Page 26 of Red Hot Roaster

“Let’s clear the table and put any leftovers away. I’ll do the dishes later on,” she directed.

I started to protest, but she shook her head. “No worries. This way, we can take Pirate and Princess for a walk around the neighborhood, maybe down to the park, while it’s still light outside.”

We returned to Rose’s front porch about forty-five minutes later, after a leisurely amble around Dogwood’s streets—or as much as you could amble when the dogs stopped every two feet to sniff—and through the park. I offered, again, to come in and help her clean up the kitchen.

The stubborn woman smiled and shook her head. “You’ve been so sweet, Rafe, I really appreciate it. It made me happy to spend this time together.”

She stepped closer and rose on her tiptoes to aim a kiss at my cheek. Steadying herself by gripping my shoulder with one hand while holding Pirate’s leash in the other. At the last moment, I lifted my free arm and slid my hand around her cheek to the nape of her neck, my fingers weaving into her thick hair. I pulled her head toward mine and kissed her sweet mouth. Gently, gently, I kept my lips on hers and touched my tongue to the seam of her mouth. She let me in.

Meanwhile, the dogs wrapped their leashes around us, getting tighter and tighter.

Chapter 15

Rose

“Then he apologized!” I whisper-shouted into my phone, glancing around to make sure I was alone in my backyard. Except for the two pups, of course.

“He what?” Lauren just plain shouted back.

I winced and jerked the phone away from my ear for a moment. It was early Monday afternoon, and I was filling Lauren in on the sweet ending—or so I’d thought—to my supper with Rafe.

“He said he was sorry. He didn’t want to take advantage of me. Forget he ever did it, won’t happen again.” All these bull-shih tzu excuses delivered while we were still wrapped up in the leashes.

“Well, did you kiss him back?” Lauren demanded.

“Yes!” In fact, I’d leaned into it.

“Was it as hot as it sounds?”

“Hotter!” In fact, I’d melted into it, my first kiss in ages—years, actually.

“So what did you say to his sorry-ass apologies?”

“I said it’s too late for take-backsies. I said I’m not some shy teenager. I said it takes two to tangle…er, tango!” At least, I hoped I’d said “tango.”

Lauren snorted.

I pointed out, “Girl, I was sonotgoing to let him get away with it. Here we’d had a wonderful afternoon together, he’d been kind about Mom, and we’d topped it off with a perfectly sweet—hot—kiss. Then, he’d had the nerve to pull back. Anyway. Something I said must’ve struck him funny, because he burst out laughing.”

She snorted again, the little traitor.

“So, of course, I got all indignant, but only for a moment. I was laughing too. And the dogs started barking and leaping around us. By the time we got the leashes untangled, I managed to extract two promises from Rafe.”

Lauren inserted a “you-go-girl” here before I could continue. I rolled my eyes but realized she couldn’t see me, so I went on.

“One, I got him to swear that he didn’t regret kissing me—or me kissing him back. Two, I got him to agree to walking the dogs together in the evening since it’s getting dark so much earlier.”

I heard another “you-go-girl,” so I had to stop and tell her, “You know—I’m usually so tired at the end of the day that Pirate gets short-changed in the walk department. This way, I can guarantee him a decent outing around the neighborhood each evening.”

Yep. That was my story, and I was sticking with it.

Lauren was my girl, so she was willing to swallow my lie, er, story. We ended our call after she shared she’d decided to drive, rather than fly, for the holidays. Her marriage was winding up for its sad finish, and she wanted to be with friends to start the new year.

I doled out treats and ear rubs to Princess and Pirate and headed down to the café to relieve Mateo.

The first thing I had to do when I got to the Chocolate Lab was break up a fight.

No, it was not what you’d think. This was not a coffee bar brawl where I had to call in the brawny bouncers, meaning Rafe and Mateo, to drag apart two over-caffeinated seniors.

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