Designed for Love (Texas Nights) Read Free

leather wasn’t known for its tractor-pull abilities. God knew she probably looked like a cartoon character as her legs windmilled and flew out from under her. Pain arrowed from her tailbone up her spine to reverberate through her brain. She rolled to her hands and knees, but before she could pull herself up, Mac was there, his warm palm wrapping around her elbow and yanking her up. Damned man didn’t say a word or ask if she’d broken anything, just kept jogging in Napoleon’s direction.
    Rubbing her abused butt, she limped along behind him. Mac cut sharply to his left and headed down the coffee aisle. Oh no, Napoleon did love his French roast.
    When she found them, Mac and Napoleon were engaged in a Mexican standoff. Mac with his hands back on his hips. Napoleon with a bag of coffee beans in his mouth, the best brand the Piggly Wiggly carried, in fact.
    “Drop it,” Mac growled, and Napoleon backed up several steps. Well, that tone of voice certainly wouldn’t work. “I mean it, dog. Drop it.”
    “He doesn’t know—”
    Mac glanced over his shoulder at her, and Napoleon took that as his opportunity to make a break for it. In his wake, he left a trail of coffee beans that looked like little poop pellets. Ashton slapped a hand over her mouth to trap the laughter trying to escape. So not the right time. Especially with Mac glaring at her, then glaring at the other end of the aisle where Napoleon had disappeared again. “You think this is funny?”
    “No, I have this problem. You know, sometimes bursting out in completely inappropriate chuckles.”
    Was that a quirk on the right side of Mac’s mouth? Ashton peered closer. Hmm...maybe it was an involuntary muscle tic.
    “Yeeah!” A woman’s scream came from a few rows over. “Holy God in heaven, keep that animal away from me. I don’t like dogs. That thing is dirty and slobbering and vicious.”
    Wait a minute. Now that was downright ridiculous. Napoleon just had a bath, had excellent oral hygiene and was the sweetest animal on the planet. Ashton took off with Mac right behind her. She skittered across the coffee beans, but kept her balance with Mac’s help this time. Maybe his grip was a little tight, but his palm was warm and big, and she wanted to feel it against her—okay, so not the time for that either.
    They found Napoleon two rows over, half-empty coffee bag still clamped in his jaws, tail wagging as though he’d just found the universe’s biggest bone. Hopefully that wasn’t the way he saw the woman he had backed against the feminine products. She reached around behind her blindly, grabbed a package of maxi pads. Using it as her cattle prod, she tried to shove Napoleon away from her feet. “Shoo, you mongrel.”
    Napoleon, of course, thought she was playing a game. So he dropped the coffee like a bad date and clamped down on the package. Shook his head back and forth, whacking himself in the head with the maxi pads.
    “Yeeah! Demon dog. Somebody get animal control in here.”
    “Ma’am.” Mac’s voice was deep and soothing and sent both a bolt of awareness and a stream of calm through Ashton. “He’s harmless. He’s just excited. If you’ll just back away, everything will be fine.”
    The woman glanced at Mac, her wide eyes gleaming white. She scooched a few inches to the right, her back still against the shelves. “This your dog?”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Mac answered. “Just keep coming this way.”
    Another few scooching inches. “I’ve got a lawyer.”
    Ashton’s mouth went dry. She couldn’t afford to get sued. Ironic since that was exactly what she’d done to Roxanne Eberly not long ago.
    Mac, on the other hand, smiled. And that? It popped Ashton right in the heart.
    That smile hinted at the little boy he’d probably once been. The kind who shoved frogs down girls’ shirts and shot out windows with BB guns. The kind who got away with all his mischief because of the way his lips tilted up slightly higher on the right side.