The puppy’s response was to leap nimbly into his lap and stare up at him. Her paws made almost no indentation on his leg, her weight so slight he hardly felt it. She was warm though—a little ball of heat pressed against him.

Since his body temperature usually registered cold due to the lowered amounts of insulin in his blood, he kind of liked it. But, “No, no, no,” he said, his voice deep and firm. “That’s not how this is supposed to work. You sit next to me.”

He set her aside once more only to have her leap into his lap again, this time with a nervous shake to her little body. He remembered what Sophie had said, that Bubbles was still skittish, and gave in. She might be able to tell this poor, quivering dog to behave herself or else, but Harrison wasn’t that strong.

“Only this one time, okay?” he said as Bubbles licked gratefully at his hand. He stuck the key in the ignition and turned it, pausing to check on the puppy’s response as the V6 engine roared to life. “And you have to sit quietly and behave like a lady, or I’ll end up driving us both off the highway.”

She did neither of those things. Sitting seemed to be beyond her as all the glories of the world passed them by, and no lady he’d ever known would have been lolling her tongue out the open window as though she’d never tasted fresh air before.

The Vasquez domicile was located in the heart of Spokane, which meant that it wasn’t too bad, having a tiny puppy hanging out his truck window while the speed limits remained well within the thirty mile per hour range. As he hit the highway leading north, however, which provided him with the quick, half-hour commute to Deer Park, the speeds increased dramatically.

Too dramatically.

He cast one anxious glance down at the puppy in his lap and touched the brakes. Veering quickly to the right, he turned onto a side road that demanded all drivers amble along at twenty miles per hour or risk heavy fines.

A car coming the opposite direction honked, startling them both. With a light curse, Harrison dropped his left hand and held Bubbles around the dainty bones of her ankles to keep her in place.

“Don’t you dare jump out when I’m not looking,” he warned.

The only answer Bubbles gave was a happy twitch of her nose.

“What has that woman been doing to you, anyway?” he muttered. “You don’t get any snacks, she never takes you on fun road trips, you have to put in eight hours of hard work a day…”

Bubbles turned and licked his face before resuming her windswept survey of the scenery around her.