Candy Hearts, Vol. 2

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

GARRISON

I drummed my fingers on my steering wheel as I raced home as fast as I safely could. Of all the dog walkers in the area, Lex was waiting in my backyard.

I’d bet a thousand bucks he’d been walking Scout. That little troublemaker was infamous in the neighborhood. I had no idea how he’d gotten on my roof, but I hoped my camera caught it. It had to be hilarious.

Lex. In my backyard. I shook my head. I hadn’t recognized him until he’d taken his hat off.

It was the fourth time the universe had thrown us together. Surely, that meant I should shoot my shot.

After the show on Saturday, I’d wanted to go to the sandwich shop and try to catch him, but I hadn’t made it happen because I’d been out of town at a conference for three days, and today, I’d had a meeting during lunch. I’d thought about going tomorrow to see if he was working, but with each day that passed, I talked myself out of it.

Would it freak him out if I showed up at his job? I didn’t want to be a creep.

Though he worked at a sandwich shop. He had to expect to see me again at some point. The man owed me a good sandwich.

How would he react when he saw whose house he was at? Hopefully, he’d laugh instead of getting freaked out. Hopefully, he’d also find the humor in the universe repeatedly throwing us in each other’s paths.

I didn’t generally believe in fate, but we’d encountered each other in three different cities at this point. That had to mean I was at least supposed to ask for his number. Maybe I’d fallen victim to Valentine’s Day or gotten swept up in the romance of Ewan’s wedding.

At a stoplight, I tuned in to the camera feed again and saw Lex sitting on my garden bench with his face angled toward my roof.

“If the homeowner has a creepy basement and I end up there, I’m going to need you to rescue me. It’s the least you can do. If you don’t and a serial killer gets me, I’m going to haunt your house. If your food bowl moves on its own or treats disappear, know it’s me,” Lex said.

Scout barked.

Laughing, I cut the feed.

My pulse quickened as I pulled into my driveway a few minutes later. I straightened my jacket as I exited my car and walked toward the gate. Lex was heading my way.

A wide smile bloomed over his face when he saw me. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You live here? In the fairy cottage?”

I tilted my head as a smile tugged my lips. “Fairy cottage?”

He waved me off, but I caught a blush painting his cheeks.

“What are the odds, huh?” I snuck a glance at the snug black jeans highlighting his legs. When I finished the perusal, I caught him smirking at me. Not as subtle as I thought.

“What are the odds indeed?” Lex’s tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip.

The man had starred in my dreams each night since he’d danced for me, but nothing beat him in the flesh.

Scout barked and interrupted the moment. He stood on the edge of the roof closest to us.

“Hello, Scout. How the hell did you get up there?”

“I’ve been wondering the same thing. I can’t figure it out.”

“I’ll grab the ladder.”

“Any chance you have an extra leash?” Lex sounded hopeful.

“Unfortunately, not. No pets, but I have a rope. We can drive him back to his house if that would help.”

Lex smiled gratefully. “That would be great. Thank you.”

I lost myself in his smile. It was surreal having him in my space—even more so given he seemed happy to see me. I liked having him there. A dangerous thing to want to get used to.

I walked over to the shed and unlocked it. The ladder hung on the wall to my left.

“Do you think he’ll climb down the ladder?” Lex sounded unsure.

“Let’s hope so. Otherwise, I don’t know how to get him off the roof. I’ll check the videos to see if we can figure out how he got up there. We might be able to coax him down the same way.”

“That’s a great idea.”

I locked eyes with him and smiled. A long moment passed. Stop mooning over the guy and rescue the dog. Maybe that’ll score me some brownie points and an acceptance of a dinner invitation.

I carried the ladder to my back porch and extended it. Scout hopped eagerly and barked like he thought we were going to join him on the roof to play. It made me nervous seeing him moving so close to the edge. Lex must’ve thought the same thing because he hovered underneath Scout with his arms out.

I extended and angled the ladder so it was as close to horizontal as possible while still reaching the roof. I held on to it and tapped the aluminum. “C’mon, Scout. Run down the ladder.”

Scout danced side-to-side as Lex moved closer. I got a whiff of something citrusy and bright coming off him. He smelled like a refreshing summer drink.

“Hey, buddy. Want to go for a walk? Come on!” Lex snapped his fingers.

Scout bent his front legs and crouched half his body into a playful pose as his tail wagged behind him, but he didn’t step on the first rung.

I pulled my phone out and scrolled through video clips for the backyard camera until I saw Scout chasing an orange blur. The next video showed Scout leaping onto a tree branch, dancing along the top of a fence, and hopping onto the roof.

I tilted my head back and laughed.

“What?” Lex glanced at my phone. “Did you find it?”

I passed him the phone. “You’re not going to believe it.”

Lex’s laughter was lively as he watched, and I wanted to hear more. “How in the world did he manage that?”

“I heard he failed out of canine police training. He’s got a bit of a reputation in the neighborhood. Great at jumping and agility, but clearly not so great at minding commands.”

Lex pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of all the extraneous information I was given about Scout, that was not among it. Would’ve been nice to be warned I was walking a Houdini on four legs.”

“I think they’ve had a hard time keeping a consistent dog walker.”

He rolled his eyes. “I wonder why.”

We tried to call Scout down again, but he wouldn’t do more than bounce a paw on the top rung of the ladder.

“I’d go up to carry him down, but I’m not sure how safe that would be for either of us. He’s not exactly small, and I don’t trust he wouldn’t leap from my arms and hurt himself landing.”

Lex began shaking his head as soon as I started sharing the idea. “Oh yeah, definitely not. I could call the owners and have them deal with it.”

If it were anyone else standing there, I would’ve agreed, but I didn’t want Lex to leave yet. Shit. Maybe he needed to get to work or something. Did the club have shows tonight? Wasn’t the sandwich shop already closed for the day? But he might have a different job.

“Do you have somewhere you need to be? I can sort this out.”

Lex rocked on his heels. “Nope. Nowhere to be. After walking Scout, I had nothing planned. Do you have plans? Am I interrupting you?” He glanced at the house as he paused in the tumble of questions. “Or a partner?” His eyebrows lifted.

I couldn’t hide my teasing smile. “No partner. Super single. You?” Why not put it out there? If I was lucky, I might get Lex’s number by the end of this.

“Also super single.” His lips shifted slightly into a grin, and the effect was devastatingly sexy.

“Good.”

“Yup.”

Scout barked his agreement.

Now, I wanted this dog gone so I could get to know Lex better without the distraction of trying to save Scout from potential injury.

“I’ve got an idea. I’ve got some leftover cooked steak in the fridge. If I heat it up and activate the scent, we might be able to entice him with that.”

Lex smothered a laugh and his eyes twinkled in the coming twilight. I was so charmed by him.

“What?”

“I never considered steak to be a cooked leftover. Isn’t it best when you cook it fresh?”

I arched an eyebrow and enjoyed his playful tone. “Not sure I’m interested in food advice from someone who thinks extra pickles make a sandwich better.”

Lex’s laughter was filled with delight. “Precooked steak and no pickles? You need some culinary help, darling.”

Though the endearment was said casually, I liked it. A lot.

“I’ll take some if you’re offering, darling .” I smiled playfully, then walked over to unlock my back door and head into the kitchen.

I glanced at Lex through the window as he kept trying to lure Scout down. It took less than a minute to get the steak heated enough to put off a scent, which was probably a silly thing to worry about. Scout had a better sense of smell than humans.

Lex crouched and eagerly patted his legs as he stared at my roof. “Who’s a good boy?”

I still couldn’t believe he was in my yard. Now that he was here, I wondered if I could entice him to stay.