Joel closed the front door behind him before unfastening Bramble’s leash. “You had to go running off, didn’t you? You had to go talk to your doggy pals.” Bramble gazed at him with those liquid brown eyes, his tail thumping on the floor, and Joel realized he was fighting a losing battle. He could never stay mad at this dog for long. He rubbed Bramble’s ears. “Just don’t do it again, okay?”
Bramble’s soft woof might have been Okay, but Joel would lay even money it was more a case of hey, why are you complaining? You got to meet a hot guy, didn’t you?
There was no denying it—Finn was hot, from the sweep of his hair off his brow, to those gunmetal eyes, the color of the ocean during a storm, to that scruffy beard and barely-there mustache. And then there was his build: the heavy coat might have hidden his frame, but it was obvious Finn was not a slight man, capable of being blown away by a stiff breeze.
It was no surprise to Joel that the word stiff came to mind. And now that he knew where Finn lived, Joel would keep an eye out for him when he took Bramble for a walk.
Down boy. You don’t know anything about him—except that he’s hot.
