Hounded (Going to the Dogs) by Zoe Dawson

this guy is caught. I have a private investigator working on it.”
    “All right.”
    “What changed your mind?”
    “She did. I’d better get back there.”
    Harper nodded. “Thank you. And I’m so sorry about what I said.”
    He waved his hand. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. You were just trying to protect your friend.”
    Harper scratched Daisy’s head. “She is really cute.”
    The pooch bayed as if to say, you’re damn right .
    Back at Poe’s apartment, he found her standing in the entryway, her face drained of color.
    She whipped whatever was in her hand behind her.
    “Hi,” she chirped. “Did you go for a walk?” Damn. She even sounded guilty.
    “Yes,” he set Daisy down and unclipped her leash. The Terrible Two bounded into the room and danced around her until Daisy followed them into the kitchen.
    Poe’s voice was strange, with apprehension and fear wrapped around each syllable.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing.”
    He walked up to her and reached around and grabbed the letter.
    “What’s this? Someone is threatening you!”
    She bit her lip. “Yes, but I think that’s all it is. I’ve contacted the police.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “I don’t know. It’s my problem, not yours. You barely know me.”
    “I’d like to get to know you better.”
    Her eyes widened and he ground out, “Like a friend.” Though they both knew it was a lie.
    “Oh, well, that’s good, since we’ll be stuck together for three weeks.”
    He nodded. “I can drive you to work and pick you up if you’d like.”
    “No. Thank you for the offer, but I need to do this for myself.” Her eyes got moist and his heart turned over in his chest. “Do you understand? I can’t let him win. I’ll be careful.”
    He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, unable to just do nothing when she was feeling scared and alone.
    He promised himself he wouldn’t make the situation between them any worse. She buried her face in his chest and slipped her arms around his waist.
    “I’m getting a lot of hugs lately. It’s nice, especially with you.”
    Yeah, great. Now he was finding his rational decisions a little harder to hang on to.
    His body was finding it even more difficult. But he was a man, after all, so it wasn’t his fault Poe felt good in his arms. He liked how her soft hair feathered along her delicate jaw. “It is very nice,” he said, his voice rough.
    She looked up at him, and it was not helpful to his resolutions to have her studying him like she was thinking the same forbidden things about him. Temptation swirled around him. He really was here to do a job. He couldn’t afford to be distracted.
    “You don’t have to handle this alone, Poe.”
    “There’s nothing to handle. It’s just someone blowing off steam.”
    “Steam? I’d say the bruises on your face say differently.”
    “That was a mugging and had nothing to do with this.”
    “You’re sure about that?”
    She released him and he reluctantly let her go.
    “You don’t really know me that well, Jared. I worked hard to get to this point in my life, and now it’s second nature. I’m used to handling myself and my own problems. I’m not a baby anymore and I don’t want to be treated like one.”
    “Baby? What does that have to do with this situation?”
    “I was the baby of my family, and they always treated me like I was a naïve little helpless female. I’m not helpless. I may still be a bit idealistic and choose to look at the glass as half full, but I’m not helpless.”
    “Asking for help doesn’t make you helpless. I could look into things—”
    “No!” She stepped back and he backpedaled. Harper was right. Poe absolutely would not tolerate having him acting as her bodyguard. He would have to continue to be sneaky about it, even though he’d rather not be.
    “It was just a suggestion. I withdraw it.”
    “Good. If I thought for one second you’d use your contacts to handle this situation for me,