The Love Experiment (Stubborn Hearts 1)

She’d only texted Y because she wanted to see him again, wish him luck without the anger of their parting. Kiss him one last time in memory of the way his kisses had made her feel.

But then the dog happened.

Jack stood under their tree in the park with a dog that looked a lot like Ernest. A tan and white hound who took one look at her and nearly pulled Jack’s arm off trying to get to her and then almost pushed her over when he did.

He jumped and squirmed and whined and licked and wriggled and put his paws and his back all over her, shedding fur and slobbering. It couldn’t be. She grabbed his collar to check his tag, and he smashed his nose under her chin, making her bite her tongue. It was Ernest, all the way from Orderly, and he did remember her. He remembered her so damn hard he stung her shins with his whipping tail.

She pressed her face into his coat. “What are you doing here, Ernie?” He barked when she said his name. “Did you miss me, boy? I missed you so much. I thought you forgot me. I thought you didn’t love me anymore.” That was met with more excited whining and a big wet lick to her cheek. “You’re such a good boy. My good boy.”

She looked up to see what her other boy was doing while her hands were full of Ernest’s ecstasy.

Jack kept a respectable distance, stood watching, wearing jeans and a white business shirt with the collar undone, with his hands in the pockets of his beaten leather coat. He wore a new pair of glasses that would’ve made him look as Old Hollywood glamorous as the last pair had if his face wasn’t scraped and his eyes weren’t sunk in dark bruises.

That was evidence of his epiphany at the Church of the Cocked Fist.

And Ernest was proof he’d been to Orderly, found out where she grew up and met her parents. That couldn’t have gone well. It was possible the black eyes didn’t come from church.

“You met my parents?”

“They said to say hello.” She motioned to his eyes and he said, “Courtesy of St. Longinus. Your dad thought it was bad form to hit a guy who was already hurt.”

She almost smiled at that. She almost did an Ernest and rushed Jack, slobbered all over him. “Why is Ernest here?” Ernest barked and slumped against her, his head lolling on her thigh.

“Because I’m a coward and I could use all the help I can get.”

“You’re using my dog as leverage.” And her insult as a peace offering. Jack wasn’t a coward, but he might not have a tolerance for love.

He took a couple of steps toward her and put his hand to Ernest’s head. “I tried using my cat and that got me nowhere.”

She shouldn’t want Jack to be touching her instead of her dog. “I appreciate you bringing Ernest and writing another installment of the love experiment story, but it’s all too late. I did the experiment with Artie.”

He blinked hard, his head jerking up. “Did you fall in love with him in thirty-six questions?”

“You don’t get to ask that.” He took that with a sharp nod. “You can read the story with everyone else next week. Why am I here, Jack?”

“Because I have a last question for you and I wanted to get the conditions right before I asked it. It’s not perfect, but there are trees and some early stars, and you can pretend not to hear the city. I think Ernest scared all the birds away, but he’s here at least and I’m staking my reputation as an investigative reporter on him being part of your perfect day.”

Jack’s question was going to shake her safety and challenge her caution. Her limbic system was on red alert, breaking news all over her body, fear and desire and excitement and anger and pleasure and wanting, so much wanting.

“I love you. I didn’t stop loving you when I pushed you away. I didn’t understand how much you could ask of love, how much you could receive.”

His question was going to wreck her in a way his story had made her resolve fray.

“I quit on us because I was afraid to lean on you and forgot the first thing I learned about you.”

That she was a rookie and not cut out for the “if it bleeds, it leads” of journalism. That she was too green for the rough and tough, an imposter in the city.

“Your strength.”

She looked down at Ernest, at Jack’s hand resting on his head. He’d made her feel small and worthless when he pushed her away. He made hope tremble in her now.

“From the first day you stood up for yourself and the love experiment, I knew you had grit, and look at what you’ve done since then.”

Professionally, she’d kicked ass. She put her hand on Ernest’s back. Personally, she’d been cut back, sold out. “I lost you.”

“No, you didn’t.” Jack slid his fingers over hers. Ernest used their movements to lie at their feet. “I had to find myself before I could keep you.”

“What does that mean?” Other than the terrifying painful, expectant thudding of her heart.