Puppy Kisses
by Lucy Gilmore
Publication Date: 6/30/2020
About the Book:
These adorable service puppies are matchmakers in the making…
Dawn Vasquez never takes life too seriously. But when she rescues a golden retriever named Gigi, Dawn begins to imagine what it’d be like to settle down and let someone rely on her for a change. Unfortunately, Adam Dearborn—a handsome, hopelessly buttoned-up cattle rancher in need of a guide dog—has also fallen in love with the little ball of fluff and stubbornly insists that no other animal will do.
Adam isn’t sure what drives him to fight to keep Gigi for himself, but he suspects it has something to do with his growing—and unfortunate—attachment to Dawn. Her whirlwind spirit and sunny disposition might make her a delight to be around, but they also make her unsuited for the difficult life of a rancher. He should be able to put her out of his head. But what’s a love-struck cowboy to do when what he wants and what he needs have never seemed so far apart? And can he allow himself to take a chance on everything Dawn has to offer: puppy kisses, puppy love...and her.
Lucy Gilmore is a contemporary romance author with a love of puppies, rainbows, and happily ever afters. She began her reading (and writing) career as an English literature major and ended as a die-hard fan of romance in all forms. When she’s not rolling around with her two Akitas, she can be found hiking, biking, or with her nose buried in a book. Visit her online at http://lucygilmore.com. She lives in the Spokane, WA area.
Author Website: http://lucygilmore.com
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Read an Excerpt:
Mentioning her lips had to have been some kind of tactic. Just the
word—lips—had him remembering their
shape and size, the way the bottom one was so much plumper than the top, how
good they felt when pressed against his bare skin. She always warned him to
scrub hard before he met up with any other women, since she left a trail of lipstick
all over his body.
He wasn’t seeing any other women, but there was no way he was
telling her that. She already had him under her spell. He didn’t need to be
under her power as well.
“Thank you for the offer,” he said tightly. “But I already like—”
“—the one you can’t have,” Dawn finished for him. She was definitely
closer now, the unmistakable nonscent of her mixing with the hay and dirt to
whirl his senses. “That seems to be a sort of thing with you, doesn’t it?”
He ran his hands through his hair, since it seemed suddenly
important that he do something with them. It was also important to do something
with this situation. If he let her continue like this, unchecked and
uninhibited, there was good chance neither one of them was getting any work done
today.
“As I recall, I’ve had you plenty of times already,” he said, a
challenge in his voice. “In fact, I bet I could have you right here and now.”
Adam didn’t know if he was the one who’d drawn closer to her or if
she’d stepped up to him, but there was no longer anything between them. Not a
puppy, not air, definitely not common sense. The jut of her breasts pressed
softly against his chest, the toes of her shoes touching the tips of his work
boots.
His hands suddenly decided they had minds of their own. Moving
forward to clasp her around the waist, they touched silky fabric and heat and a
patch of skin where her shirt didn’t quite reach her waistband. That alone
should have been enough to stop him—what kind of a person wore a tiny, silken
shirt to a working ranch?—but of course he didn’t. That touch of skin set off
something inexplicable inside him.
It always did. That was the problem. Words could be ignored and the
sound of her laughter pressed deep down inside him, but one graze of his
fingertips on her body and he was lost.
“I’ve always wanted to have sex on a pile of hay,” Dawn said,
calling his bluff. She arched into his touch, allowing his hand to slide up her
back. He encountered nothing but soft skin and the gentle curve of her spine,
both of which promised more of the same, should he give in and really cop a feel. Which was tempting
for a lot of reasons, including the fact that Dawn was stacked in ways that
seemed wholly against nature. “Surely there must be one or two of those in the
barn we could try?”
“There are.” He brought his lips close to her ear, though he was
careful not to press against the gently pounding pulse below it. The moment the
kissing started, all other bets were off—including the one that had a Great
Dane puppy at their feet and a golden retriever puppy napping under Phoebe’s
desk. That was the one thing he knew for sure. Dawn had come out here with the
sole intention of luring him into lowering his defenses, in using her
incredible body and the promise of what it could do to get her own way. She
wanted Methuselah, and she’d stop at nothing to get her.
Well, two could play that way. In fact, he was becoming something of
an expert at this particular game.
“We could slip in there right now, and no one would know where we
are,” he murmured. Dawn arched her neck to give him better access, but he
didn’t kiss, didn’t touch. Only teased. “I could throw you into the biggest
stack of hay and rip this tiny scrap of a shirt from your body.”
A slight, guttural sound indicated how much she liked the direction
this conversation was going. Typical.
With Dawn, the anticipation, the clandestine nature of their meetings, was half
the fun.
Who was he kidding? Where that woman was concerned, it was probably all the fun.
“No one will think to look for us for hours,” he added, still in
that low, crooning voice. “It’ll just be me and you, our bodies slick with
sweat.”
Dawn’s hips pressed against his, her arms coiling around his neck so
that her entire body could melt against him. This was how she always struck,
coiled and soft and yielding.
So he struck back.
“Well, that and the snakes.”
Instead of pulling back, Dawn only laughed and clasped her hands
tighter around his neck. “Good thing I happen to like snakes,” she said. Her
mouth brushed lightly against his, fluttering like a pair of butterfly wings.
“Like the alligators, they make such nice shoes. Purses too.”
Even though Adam’s body thrummed with anticipation, burning hot in
all the places it touched hers, he kept his tone level. “We also get the
occasional badger, even though they’re pretty rare in these parts. Rats are
almost a certainty.”
“Why, Adam Dearborn, are you trying to sweet-talk me?”
No, dammit. He was trying
to do the exact opposite. Why did this woman refuse to act like a normal human
being? She should run at the mention of rats, not press her hips against his
until he ached.
“I’m just making sure you know what you’re getting into, that’s
all,” he said. His voice sounded strained to his own ears. “Things can get
pretty nasty out here in the wilderness.”
“That’s funny,” she purred. “So can I.”
***
Excerpted from Puppy Kisses by Lucy Gilmore. © 2020 by Lucy Gilmore. Used with permission of the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of
Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved.
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