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

“I think Hero has a better ring to it,” he chuckled.

He was right. “Whatever,” I muttered. I moved around the front counter and tossed my purse on the shelf below.

“You pretty busy today?” Hero leaned against the front counter and damned if he didn’t look handsome as hell just staring at me. I had to wonder if he really knew just how good looking he was. I figure most people knew if they were hot or not, right? But Hero was beyond hot. He was off the charts handsome, and he was standing there looking at me.

Oh. He had asked me a question. He was waiting for an answer. “Uh, some?”

His lips curled into a smile. “You’re some busy?”

Ugh. Major facepalm. I nodded dumbly. “Yes.” Might as well just roll with it.

“Knock, knock!”

Hero glanced over his shoulder, and I leaned to the side to see Mrs. Klein stood in the door with Cosmo on her arms while Tim was on his knees with his face to the locky thing on the door.

“Hey!” I called, thankful to have a distraction

from Hero. “He’s gotten so big!”

Tim moved and motioned for Mrs. Klein to come in.

She stepped through the doorway and smiled at Hero. “This is a sight I never thought I would see. Hero at the dog groomers,” she laughed.

Hero shrugged. “Supporting local business,” he replied breezily.

“Still smooth,” Mrs. Klein muttered. “I knew the second you walked in my classroom in tenth grade that you were going to be trouble.” She winked at me. “Though back then, you were Micha.”

Ah. So his real name was Micha. How interesting. I would have to file that away for later. I knew Mrs. Klein had recently retired from teaching, but I didn’t realize she had been one of Hero’s teachers. She had decided to adopt a golden lab puppy to occupy her time now that she wasn’t teaching. Cosmo was a handful, but he was the cutest puppy ever. I loved that she brought him in every three weeks for a bath, though I did feel a little bad about it because he really wasn’t dirty enough to need a bath each time he was here.

“He’s six months, and he still loves for me to carry him everywhere.” She moved to the counter and set Cosmo on the counter.

I scratched his chin. “You’re training her well, Cosmo. I bet you just have to bat those pretty blue puppy eyes at her, huh, buddy?”

“That’s the truth,” Mrs. Klein confessed.

“I see you’ve softened over the years,” Hero hemmed.

Ms. Klein laughed. “For puppies, yes. For high school students, no.” She turned her smile to me. “I’ll be back around three to pick him up. Is that okay?”

I nodded. “Totally.” That would give me plenty of time to bathe him and get some playtime in with the little cutie.

Mrs. Klein left with a wave, and then it was back to Hero standing inside my shop while Tim walked out to his truck.

“Don’t you have something to be doing?” I asked. I picked up Cosmo and scratched him behind his ears. He leaned into my touch and closed his eyes. This little cutie made me contemplate kidnapping. He was the perfect puppy. Though he was getting on the big side to be carried around. He had to be pushing thirty-five pounds.

“Not really.”

I rolled my eyes and moved to the large wash basin. “Must be nice.” I hated that saying and hated that it had come out of my mouth. Ugh.

“It is pretty nice, Sunshine. Later in the day is when things get a little busy for me,” he explained.

Oh, well. I turned on the water and held my hand under it until it warmed up. “I should be okay over here if you have anything you could be doing.” Casually hinting that he could leave was not working. I might as well yell at him to leave with the way I was awkwardly suggesting he go. Smooth, I was not.

“Do I make you nervous, Sunshine?”

Not nervous. Well, maybe a little. I shook my head. “No. I just figured you had better things to do than watch me give Cosmo a bath.”

“Figured you’d like some company that actually talks.”