Once I turned the corner I ran into something solid and knew I had spoken too soon.

“Harley? Darling, what are you doing?”

Taking a step back, I looked up into the deepest of blue eyes. They almost left me breathless.

John Parker. The man was the older image of all of his five sons. Handsome. Built. And a smile that made your knees week.

“Oh shit,” I mumbled.

“Hell, shit, fuck,” Chloe whispered next to me.

“Chloe Lynn!” John said.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

My eyes darted to Tripp.

Great. Just great.

“Oh hey. I was, um, just showing Chloe your new puppy.”

Tripp’s eyes about popped out of his head. Of course, the little rascal who had started all of this was standing next to me giggling.

“Ah. Come again?” Tripp asked.

“You got a dog, Tripp? That’s amazing,” John said as he turned and smiled big. “I’ve been telling him for years he needed a dog.”

I let out a nervous laugh. “Well, he’s got a cute one!”

“Wait. What?” Tripp said as he shot daggers at me.

“Who’s got a cute what?” Trevor asked, walking in behind Tripp and his father. Of course, the whole damn family would be walking through the very door I was trying to escape out of. We would have been better off going out the front door.

“Tripp’s got a new puppy!” Chloe called out as I hit her on the arm as a warning.

“Wait!” Tripp cried.

I panicked and did the only thing I could think of. I unwrapped the puppy and shoved it in Trevor’s face. When he was little he was a sucker for a cute puppy; I was hoping things hadn’t changed.

“Oh, my gosh! Look at this little guy,” Trevor said in a baby voice as he took the puppy from my hands.

“Great, you want him? He’s yours,” Tripp said.

“It’s a girl!” Chloe said with a clap of her hands. I hit her a few times to get her to take it back a few. We weren’t out of the woods yet.

“Aww, he’s so cute. Don’t worry, Tripp. I won’t steal your girl.” Trevor looked at me when he said that and winked, causing my cheeks to heat up.

“Now wait a second here,” Tripp started. I knew I had to cut him off.

“Tripp mentioned he wanted a hound dog, and when I saw this little girl in town, well, I had to get her.”

I could feel angry eyes on me, but I kept going.

“I mean, she was the last puppy and I felt so bad, I had to take her.” Looking at Tripp, I motioned with my head to Chloe, hoping he would catch on. “He was afraid y’all might be mad if she was in the house so I was fixin’ to take her to the barn.”

“What? Nonsense. Tripp, we don’t mind your puppy being in the house,” John stated.

“Hell, Patches is always in the house,” Trevor said with a deep rumbling laugh.

John sighed and lifted his cowboy hat to run his hand through his dark hair. A sigh of resignation escaped his lips.

“What’s her name, Tripp?” Trevor asked.

Chloe grabbed onto my hand and squeezed it hard as I held my breath.

It felt like forever before Tripp finally spoke. “Hemingway’s Whiskey. Hemi, for short.”

I pinched my brows together as I tried to figure out how in the hell he came up with that name off the top of his head. I knew it was a Kenny Chesney song, and Tripp liked his Kenny Chesney. But Hemi?

“What the hell kind of name is that for a girl?” Trevor asked.

Tripp forced a smile. “The moment I found out the dog was mine, I wanted to drink a fifth of whiskey.”