Free Flirting with Love by Melissa Foster

belong. Granted, both Ross and Kelsey hadn’t looked at her like that, but she didn’t want to chance it. Even though Ross had looked at her like he wanted to kiss her when he left the other night, she knew how fickle men could be. Wanting a woman one minute and then changing their mind the next. Maybe sneaky was a better word. Maybe men know exactly what they were doing from square one.
    She laughed at herself. Ross didn’t seem sneaky at all. A man with a sensual edge? Definitely. Hot, sexy, interested? So damn interested the air between them nearly caught fire when he was around. She pushed thoughts of him aside and set to work making flyers for her idea. If she was going to make a go of her pet bakery and spa, she needed to get the word out. Surely everyone didn’t believe that dog grooming was a waste of time.
     
    ROSS WAS CLOSING up shop when his phone vibrated with a message from his sister.
    Mom and I are having dinner at her house. Join us?
    He glanced out in the yard at Sarge and Ranger. Knight was standing by his feet, his favorite place. He’d planned on going for a run and taking Knight with him, but that had been a farce. Sure, he wanted a run, but what he really wanted was to run by Elisabeth’s house on the pretense of checking on the piglets again. Lame, he knew, but hell. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her all day. She’d mentioned talking with Emily, and he wouldn’t mind pumping his little sister for some information.
    He texted her back— Sure. Be there in twenty minutes— then went to answer a knock at the front door. Elisabeth stood on the porch with a basket in one hand and a smile that made his stomach do some funky flips.
    Ross couldn’t help but roll his eyes down the sexy little sundress that accentuated her curves and stopped midthigh. She had on heels that made her legs look a mile long and brought her almost eye to eye with Ross.
    “No piglet today?” Holy Christ, you look hot.
    Knight pushed past Ross and sniffed at the basket.
    She knelt to pet him. “Not today. I brought goodies for your pooches as a thank-you for taking care of Kennedy and checking on his littermates. And for helping with Dolly. And the fence. And for the coffee.” She sighed and smiled again. “Thanks for being there for just about everything, Ross.”
    He laughed as he stepped outside and slid his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out and touching her. He liked her in those heels, her lips so close to his. “Well, that’s really nice of you, but you already shared your wine with me.”
    “I know.” She rose to her full height, and when her hand grazed her dress, some of Knight’s fur remained on the fabric.
    “Sorry about his shedding.” He brushed the fur from her hip.
    “Dog fur doesn’t bother me.” She glanced at his hand, still brushing her hip.
    Oops .
    Elisabeth held the basket toward him.
    “These are pupcakes for your dogs.”
    “Pupcakes?” He wrinkled his brow as he took the basket from her. “My boys don’t need sugar in their diet.”
    She thrust out a hip. “No dog does, silly. No sugar or unhealthy fats. I use a touch of honey for sweetener, and it has all-natural ingredients like cooked chicken and cornmeal. Trust me, you could eat these, but I don’t suggest it. They’re frosted with mashed potatoes and decorated with carrots.”
    “Mashed potatoes and carrots?” His dogs would love that, even if they didn’t need it.
    “Yeah, see?” She withdrew a small box from the basket and removed a pupcake, complete with swirled icing and tiny flecks of orange. She held it in her palm, and Knight wagged his tail and craned his neck to sniff it.
    “Settle.”
    Knight sat beside him.
    “That was really sweet of you, but you didn’t need to go to the trouble.” He eyed Knight. “You can give it to him if you’d like.”
    She knelt with another smile that lit up her eyes, and it shattered any chance he had at remaining unaffected. He was trying his best