Little Bird - Honey Palomino Page 0,1

to treats, and while she was definitely interested in the treats, she hadn’t yet figured out she was supposed to actually behave in return for them.

To be honest, I’d given up at this point. She was a hopeless case and mostly only acted up while we were walking. The public humiliation was just something I’d have to deal with, I’d decided.

She barked at every passing dog, lunged at every squirrel, and rushed every human that looked at her along the way with an ecstatically wagging tail, begging for attention.

The irony of the fact that I’d named her Gigi, which was originally meant to stand for ‘Good Girl’ was not lost on me, as I turned the corner and she lunged for another squirrel.

“Why are there so many damn squirrels in this neighborhood?” I asked myself, shaking my head. I’d moved into a rental house in the Irvington neighborhood of my home town, Portland, Oregon, a few months ago, and after a few walks with Gigi around the block, I realized I should have done a little more research into the squirrel population before signing the lease.

It was too late now.

Spring was in the air, and while I was sure that allergy season was going to strike me down any day now, I was enjoying the blooming cherry blossom trees overhead and the multi-colored tulips jutting out of the ground, even if the sunshine was repeatedly peeking in and out of the clouds.

Gigi finally gave up on the squirrel she was enamored with trying to kill and we resumed walking. Of course, walking means stopping every ten feet or so so she can sniff something, but you catch my drift.

We rounded another corner and Gigi lunged again, this time at a man standing near an old Ford truck parked in front of a dated ranch-style house. The truck caught my eye first — an old beat up and rusty seventies model with original black paint and a dented tailgate. As Gigi ran up to the man, I turned my focus on him.

If she wasn’t pulling so hard on the leash, I would have gasped at how gorgeous he was. Instead, I groaned at the pain in my shoulder and apologized profusely as she literally leapt up onto the man’s body.

“I’m so sorry!” I said, attempting to pull her off of him. “Gigi!”

“No worries,” he said, laughing, and once she’d put all four paws back on the ground, he leaned down and petted her. He was definitely gorgeous. Tall and thin, with muscular, sinewy arms slathered in tattoos, a tight black t-shirt stretched across his hard chest, and long, floppy black hair that fell over one eye.

My gaze quickly trailed down, taking in the rest of him. His Levi’s fit like a glove and his black Adidas sneakers had a hint of hipster to them.

“She’s so big!”

“Yeah, too big,” I said. “I don’t think she’s finished growing yet, to tell you the truth.”

He laughed and continued petting her, while I drank him in silently.

“Her name’s Gigi?”

“Yeah,” I said, rolling my eyes. “It’s supposed to stand for Good Girl, but that just seems stupid now.”

“Aww, she seems sweet,” he said, while she began slurping on his face.

“She’s sweetest when she’s asleep.”

He laughed again, standing up and running a hand through his hair and meeting my gaze with his sparkling blue eyes. Something about him seemed familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Chalking it up to his boy next door looks, I gave up trying to figure it out. Realizing I was staring, I turned away and pulled on Gigi’s leash.

“Have a nice day,” I said, walking away, my heart racing.

Damn, he was hot.

It’d been way too long since I’d dated anyone, and while my job as a pediatric nurse kept me busy, it didn’t keep the loneliness at bay as much as I wished it did. Not that it mattered with this guy, because did I mention, I looked like I just rolled out of bed? He was clearly more interested in Gigi than me.

“You, too,” he said, his gaze lingering on us as we walked away. I ignored the heat flushing through my body and kept walking, not allowing myself to look back at him, no matter how much I wanted to.

Gigi did, though, which was embarrassing enough.

“Keep walking,” I said, pulling her along.

We were a few blocks away from the man’s house and almost home when I heard the rattling of a loud engine beside us. I