Passing the Torch (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation 1)

The biker and the poodle. Now if that wasn’t a lame title to a romance book, I didn’t know what was.

Hero opened the gate wider and held it for me. “Something funny?” he asked as I walked past. My shoulder brushed against his chest, and my heart kicked up a beat.

“Nope, nothing at all.” I smirked. I would keep that thought to myself. No way was I going to tell Hero that he looked slightly ridiculous and also sexy as hell with a poodle following his every step.

I led the way around the back of the clubhouse and onto the gravel driveway.

“How long have you worked at the groomers?” he asked.

I glanced over at him. “I’ve owned it for three years.”

He nodded. “Own. That’s pretty cool.”

Yeah, it was. I had worked my butt off to get to where I was today. Not saying I was a millionaire or even close to that, but I was living a life I was comfortable with. The lights stayed on, and I had food on the table every night. “Living the dream,” I mumbled.

We crossed the street to the strip mall. Three years ago, the small five-store row of businesses had been built, and I was the first one in line to sign the lease for my shop. Mine was the first store when you pulled in, and I also had the largest space.

Three-foot high letters stretched across the wall above the door of my space.

Hair of the Dog.

You see what I did there? I had to admit, the first couple of months that I was open, I got some weird phone calls thinking I was a liquor store, but those had all died down now.

I held open the door and turned to let Hero in.

“You didn’t lock the door?”

I tipped my head to the side. “Uh, well, no.”

“You should have locked the door, Reva. Unless you have someone else who works with you?”

I shook my head. I was a one-woman shop. “Just me.”

“You should have locked the door,” he repeated.

“Yeah, well, I was a little more concerned about getting Barbara, and the door is hard to lock in a hurry. Everything is fine.” I reached out to grab the leash from him.

He gripped the leash tightly. “What do you mean it’s hard to lock in a hurry?”

I blew my hair out of my face. “It’s fussy. It takes finesse that I don’t have when I’m screaming after a poodle headed to hang out at the local motorcycle club.” I grabbed the leash and yanked it out of his hand. “Thanks again for your help. I promise it won’t happen again.”

Barbara was going to be leashed no matter what when she came here from now on. I didn’t want to do that again.

“You should get the lock looked at if it’s giving you problems.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve talked to Russ about it.”

“Russ?”

Barbara cried and moved closer to Hero. Lordy. She was completely under Hero’s spell. “Russ is the guy who owns the strip mall.”

“Your landlord,” he clarified.

“Yup. That’s him.” I cleared my throat and nodded to my shop. “I better get back to work. These dogs aren’t going to bathe themselves.” As much as I’d love to stare at Hero’s handsome face all day, I had to do my job to make money to pay my rent. “Thank you again for helping to rein in Barbara.”

He leaned down and patted her on the head. “I’ll see ya later, lil girl.”

My heart fluttered with his words even though he wasn’t talking to me.