His brother’s counting fell away around eighty, but Spencer forced himself to keep going. Caleb had probably gotten distracted by something shinier and more entertaining. Follow-through had never been his strong suit. Spencer kept count under his breath and was rounding a hundred when he heard a female cry in the distance.

Something that sounded suspiciously like “Wheezy, no!” rose up just as he was hit in the side by a bag of rocks—a heaving, hairy bag of rocks that began lapping at his face with an exuberance that seemed excessive, given the length of their acquaintance.

“Did I forget to mention that we’re getting started on the dog training tonight?” Caleb asked from somewhere above his head. “Oops. My mistake.”

Spencer tried to roll out from underneath the golden retriever’s bulk, but there was no hope for it. Caesar took one look at the dog pile in progress and decided that he couldn’t allow it to continue without him. He heaved his massive body on top of Wheezy and began a game of sniff-and-wrestle that Spencer was powerless to stop.

In other words, he was pinned to the ground, half-dressed, covered in dogs, and making a fool out of himself in front of the most beautiful woman in the world. And just as he’d been unable to prevent her from entering the dog show in the first place, there was nothing he could do about it now.

Chapter 4

Ruby wasn’t normally a woman who stared. As a former beauty pageant star, she’d seen literally everything the female body had to offer; as a nursing assistant, she’d seen the same when it came to the bodies of the elderly.

And as for men, well, she’d seen her fair share of those too. Dressed and undressed, big and small, handsome and not so handsome, there were only so many ways a collection of body parts could be put together. Once you’d seen the apex of one pair of thighs, you’d basically seen them all.

But nothing—and she meant nothing—could have prepared her for the sight of Spencer Wilson doing barefoot push-ups with his forearms fully revealed.

Or for the sight of Wheezy pouncing on him before Spencer noticed their arrival.

Her “Wheezy, no!” might as well have stayed unuttered for all the attention the dog paid. It had taken twenty minutes and the threat of untold tortures to get Wheezy in the car in the first place, but the moment he caught sight of Spencer, he was as eager as if the dratted man were a piece of raw steak.

“You were right to hire me.” Caleb found his way next to her. He pushed his hair out of his eyes and offered her a lopsided grin. “That dog needs some serious work.”