EXCERPT

RUFF ROAD TO ROMANCE

A Rescue Dog Romance Book Four

CHAPTER ONE

Itchy Paws

Lily’s day had been full of firsts: first time away from her family, first time leaving England, and first time waking up next to a gorgeous man whose name she didn’t know. He may not have had much choice in the arrangement—the airline had assigned her seat at random—but she’d vowed to make the most of every opportunity her trip presented. After all, she’d made a promise to her gran, and she was nothing if not dutiful.

Turning on the overhead light above her seat, she checked the travel guide her best friend, Chloe, had gifted her. She flipped to the bookmarked page. Step Twelve: Flirt with a Stranger.

Okay, so it was less of a travel guide and more of a life guide. Or, at least, the life she wanted—one she got to choose. She was going to do just what the title said and Live Boldly: Be a More You You. She only needed to figure out who “you” was.

The hot guy in 23C stirred next to her. He’d practically fallen asleep the moment they boarded the direct flight from Heathrow. Lily scanned the page, nervously rolling the corner as she read. Living in a small town, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d talked to anyone new, much less flirted.

Pro tip: Strike up a conversation with the next person who catches your eye. Ignore that self-doubting inner voice and flirt your way to a more confident you. Even if it goes nowhere, the interaction will help you pull yourself out of that rut.

Rut? More like a chasm. The Mariana Trench she’d wallowed in for the last twenty-six years of her life. She didn’t see how batting her eyelashes would change that. But Chloe had seemed so excited when she’d given the book to her and said, “You can leave Old Lily behind.” So, she was going to give it a shot. Because if she didn’t go back home to Worcestershire a changed woman with a plan, she wasn’t sure she’d ever have the guts to claw her way out of the “rut” again.

After a deep breath, she turned to 23C—or Joshua, as she’d discovered by peeking at his landing card earlier. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

Sleepyhead? What? Am I talking to a toddler? That isn’t sexy!

The man rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, was I snoring?”

“No. You looked very relaxed. Not that I was watching you or anything,” she blurted. “I’m just envious. It’s tough for me to sleep in front of other people. I’m always afraid I’ll drool like a Saint Bernard.”

Drool? Brilliant, Lil.

And here she’d hoped she’d left Old Lily behind. Her brothers always said she was born with a foot in her mouth. Then her mum would joke that it’s why she’d needed a C-section.

Joshua had the good manners to chuckle anyway. “A red-eye will do that to me. Something about the engine vibration or the pressure. Knocks me right out.”

“Have you traveled to America a lot, then?”

“A couple times. First time to California, though.” He hit the screen on the headrest in front of him to check their flight path. “Still four more hours to San Francisco.” He shut it off and leaned back. “So, is this a holiday for you?”

“Yes. I’m visiting my aunt. She runs a dachshund rescue center in San Francisco.”

“Oh, I love sausage dogs.”

“I probably won’t spend much time there. I’m really allergic to dogs, but at least I’ll have a place to stay while I do the tourist thing for a couple of weeks.” Who was she kidding? She would probably end up hanging out on her aunt’s couch the whole time, watching telly.

“Lucky you. I’m assuming this is your first time overseas.”

She slumped a little, afraid it was written all over her face. “How did you know?”

“You ended up in a middle seat for an eleven-hour flight. You were either a noobie, or it was a last-minute booking.”

She glanced at the man on her other side who was sleeping against the window. She supposed that was the best choice out of the three. “Guilty. I’m a total virgin.”

Joshua’s head cocked to the side as he gave her a strange look.

She gasped and held up her hands. “No, I didn’t mean … That sounded weird. I mean I’m a virgin traveler. I’m not like an actual virgin. At all.” Why did I stress that last part? “Not that I’m up for it all the time or anything. But I’m not a prude either. I’m the right amount of both … Sorry. I don’t know why I said any of that.”

Instead of flagging down the flight attendant and requesting a seat change, he laughed. “Must be those first-flight jitters.”

“Yeah …” She swallowed, waiting for something witty to come to her—hopefully nothing to do with being a virgin. When nothing popped into her mind, she settled against the backrest and consulted her book again.

The theories were good, but it wasn’t very instructive if you were seeking practical advice. It assumed one knew how to flirt. But she and Joshua had, in fact, talked about shagging—kind of. That counted, right?

Lily flipped to the checklist at the beginning of the book. Digging a pen out of her backpack, she marked off the box next to Flirt with a Stranger, to prove to Chloe that she’d used the book.

Tick.

She closed the pen with a satisfying click and flipped to the next step: Ask Someone on a Date. Her shoulders sank as she read on.

Life is full of missed opportunities. Are things going well with your flirting partner? Live boldly by asking them out on a date. Who knows where it could lead? A kiss? Maybe more? The worst they can say is no.

It discussed pro tips about consent and reading the situation, but she’d have to work on the flirting part a tad more before she attempted that one. However, at the thought of kissing someone, she ran her tongue over her teeth. She regretted eating the curry for dinner—or had it been breakfast?

Slipping the book into the holder in front of her, she stood up and smacked her head on the overhead compartment. She hunched a little and turned to Joshua. “I’m going to go freshen up a bit.”

He shifted in his seat, angling his legs so she could slip past him into the aisle. As she shuffled, her breasts practically scraped by his face. She wondered vaguely, if she accidentally rubbed against him, would that count as Step Fourteen:Make the First Move?

Squeak.

The chair in the row ahead whacked her in the back. She flew face first into Joshua—or, rather, breasts first.

Tick. Chloe would be thrilled.

Stubble scraped Lily’s cleavage. She flung herself off him and into the aisle. Her foot caught on a bag strap snaking out from beneath the next seat, and she stumbled into the approaching drink cart.

She slammed against it. All manner of snacks rained down on her: clotted cream, biscuits, crisps. Cold milk poured onto her head and dripped down the front of her top. She squealed.

Wiping the milk from her eyes, she saw people seated around her brushing ricochet from their clothes. She received a few sharp glances and a tongue click or two. Joshua dabbed at a glop of jelly sliding down his chiseled jaw.

She snatched up some napkins that had fluttered onto her lap and began tossing them to those around her. “I–I’m so sorry.”

The flight attendant behind the cart glowered at her before handing out prepackaged wet towelettes.

Lily shrank under the look. “Again. Sorry about that. I’m going to … clean up.”

She scurried down the aisle, avoiding the rows and rows of stares that followed her. Once she figured out how the folding door to the toilet worked, she slipped inside and slammed it shut. She fought with the lock until it snapped home.

Turning to face the mirror, she soaked a couple of paper towels under the tap and wiped the clotted cream out of her deep-red hair. The long strands had already started sticking together with what looked like honey.

She pumped some of the pink gooey soap onto it and tried to wash it out, but now her hair felt slimy. Giving up, she dabbed at the milk pooling along the underwire of her bra. Then she shook the crumbs from her shirt and took a deep breath.

“Chin up, Lil. This will just be a good story you can tell back home.”

Well … it might be a few years before she could laugh about this with Chloe over a pint. After all, she still had four more hours on the plane with the people she’d involved in a reluctant food fight. And worse than that, she had to sit next to Joshua after covering him in strawberry jelly.

She recalled step three: Be Positive.

Who knows? He could have a good sense of humor. Maybe she’d just broken the ice. This was an adventure, after all. She was here to give her life a shake-up, and no one ever made an omelet without cracking a few eggs. That’s what her gran always said. God, she missed her.

Her gran was the only family member who demanded nothing of Lily except that she listen to what her heart wanted—which was usually hard to hear between her three older brothers bossing her around when they visited and her cousins dropping off their kids for her to babysit, saying “You’re so helpful,” even though no one really checked with her first.

But that was her. Helpful Lily. She supposed her compulsion to help people was why she’d become a nurse, so it wasn’t all bad.

However, it was finally time Lily did what Lily wanted. She just didn’t know what that was yet. For now, she was doing what she’d promised her gran she would do. At the very least, it was better than cleaning pit stains from her brother’s rugby shirt while he called her Cinderlily.

Ding. A seatbelt sign lit up next to the mirror.

Sighing, she gave her shirt one last futile swipe before giving up. She didn’t want to miss any of those scowls that were surely waiting for her on the walk of shame back to her seat. Raising her chin, she grabbed the handle and pulled.

Nothing happened.

She reached for the lock and tried to wiggle it free, but it was stiffer than her mother’s Christmas pudding.

The plane suddenly leaped. The floor dropped out from beneath her. Her knees buckled, and she braced herself against the sink.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the fasten your seat belt sign. We are now crossing a zone of light turbulence. Please return to your seats and keep your seat belts fastened. Thank you.”

Her heart seized. Was that normal? Were they going to crash? God, she really was a noob.

With a shaking hand, she gripped the door’s metal handle and yanked as hard as she could. The folding door bowed, but it didn’t open.

It would be fine. Turbulence happened all the time in the movies, right?

Another lurch sent her stumbling. Before she could get her bearings, she was tossed the other way. Her head cracked against the mirror.

The tiny bathroom seemed to close in on her. Her breath whooshed out in a panicked grunt. Bracing a foot against the wall, she pulled on the handle again.

The airplane rocked. Her hand slipped. With a screech, she flew back, whacking her elbow against a button on the wall. As her butt hit the toilet seat, a rumble beneath her told her it had been the flush button.

Hissing erupted beneath her. Lily’s eyes widened. Images of her getting sucked out of the plane flashed through her mind.

As she scrambled to get off, a tug on the hem of her tunic shirt sucked her back down. She struggled against the force, thrown about by the so-called light turbulence.

Clamping onto the soap dispenser, she hauled herself up. Then the plane lurched sideways, slamming her against the door. It folded beneath her weight—out, not in, apparently.

Tumbling out, she crashed into someone standing outside and slid against them to the floor. Grateful she wasn’t in free fall over Canada, or wherever they were, she thought she might actually survive her first flight. Then she blinked up at the man standing above her and thought she might not survive the humiliation.

It was Joshua coming out of the opposite bathroom, clearly just having cleaned up the mess she’d made. However, now some sort of pink goo slithered down the front of his trousers. Soap, she realized, from the broken dispenser still clutched in her hand.

Her eyes ran down his light gray trousers smeared with something blue. Of course, she thought bitterly, the dyed toilet water. She could feel it sticking her shirt to her back.

Her face creased into an apologetic grimace, and she gave him a weak wave. “Sorry. Virgin, here.”

With a sigh, he turned and headed right back into the loo.

Getting to her feet, she scurried back to her seat. As she maneuvered past the flight attendant putting the cart away, she handed over the broken soap dispenser.

The attendant gaped at it. Before she could respond, Lily slipped back into her middle seat, buried her nose into her book—clearly, she needed it more than she’d realized—and hid behind her hair for the rest of the flight.

#

As Lily waited in front of the luggage carousel, all she wanted to do was get out of there. To drag out her humiliation, her luggage must have been stored in the farthest corner of the plane. Or the flight attendants were paying her back for what she’d done. At least the airline hadn’t banned her from flying with them again. Although she wouldn’t have blamed them if they had.

When nearly all the luggage had been claimed and she’d endured a hundred sidelong glances as each passenger wheeled past her, she began to worry. She hovered around the carousel, anxiously watching the conveyor belt spin round and round until it finally came to a stop. Her luggage was nowhere to be seen.

Lily stalked over to the customer service desk. They took her information and offered reimbursement for the essential items she might need to buy until her luggage showed up.

But wasn’t it all essential? Or else she wouldn’t have brought it, would she have? Her orthopedic insoles, her noise machine, her bite guard. She could hear Chloe’s voice in her head, chastising her. A bite guard didn’t exactly scream “adventure.”

Lily had all she needed: her Live Boldly book. So, she slung her camera bag onto her back and wheeled her carry-on out the arrival doors to greet her new adventure. And, of course, her aunt.

She couldn’t wait to throw herself into Marilyn’s arms. However, she didn’t see her aunt’s usual animal-print tunic and leggings. In fact, only a few people lingered, probably waiting for the next flight to show up. Maybe her aunt was running late.

She turned on her phone, and while she waited, she scanned the area again. Still no Marilyn, but a man caught her eye. He was handsome. Not Joshua’s rugged kind of handsome, but more put-together. Totally fit—in the British sense of the word, not the muscular kind. However, he was that, too.

Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome wore his tailor-made suit like he’d been born in one. Much luckier than a foot in the mouth. His brow furrowed as he paced, arguing with someone through his earbuds. He appeared very important, like he’d just walked off Wall Street. He was so deliciously … American.

Lily’s phone vibrated in her hand, dragging her attention away. Hoping it was her aunt, she checked the call display. She frowned at the name but took a deep breath and answered the call anyway.

“Hi, Mum.”

“Lily Margaret Baker, what do you think you’re playing at? Have you really gone all the way to America? Just up and left me with little more than a note?”

She cringed. “Um. Yes.” If she’d told her mother to her face, the trip never would have happened.

“Here I woke on a beautiful Thursday morning, ready to make you eggy bread for breakfast, and I find an empty house. I was absolutely gobsmacked. As if it isn’t bad enough that your father left me, your brothers have all moved to the city—”

“They’re barely twenty minutes away.”

“—and your grandmother isn’t yet cold in the ground, but now you’ve up and left me too.”

“Mum, I haven’t left you. I’m on holiday.”

She scoffed. “This is your first time away from home. You can’t handle this. You’re too naive, too inexperienced.”

“Cheers for that.”

“Why would you do this to me?” she wailed. “Oh, my nerves.”

As usual, it was as though Lily exerting her own will was a direct attack against her mother’s “nerves.” “I just needed to do this.”

“Needed to break my heart?” her mother shrieked. “You’re over there doing God knows what with God knows who—”

“I’m going to be with Auntie Marilyn—”

“What if you get hurt? What if you end up in trouble or disappear?” She gasped and then groaned. “Oh, my heartburn is acting up again. Did you even consider what this would do to me?”

As her mother listed all the ailments Lily had triggered by her disappearance—the arthritis in her knees, the migraine at the base of her skull, the jitters in her chest—she settled on a bench.

It wasn’t that she didn’t take her mother’s conditions seriously. However, Mum had been to the doctor time and time again with the same complaints. And after a myriad of tests each time, she always came home with the same conclusion: she clearly had more knowledge than doctors these days.

As her mum carried on, Lily watched the handsome Wall Street man pace the arrivals area. He spun on his heel to walk the other way, and she noticed a white cardboard sign he tapped against his thigh.

Baker.

What were the chances? Could he be there for her? Surely not. But there was still no trace of her aunt.

“… and another thing,” her mum continued.

“Mum, I have to go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

There was a “harrumph” on the other end. “Fine, but keep in touch. Ring me every day. And text me. Lots of texts.”

“Miss you too.”

Hanging up, Lily sidled over to the handsome man. His gaze was distant as he talked on the phone, so she waved her hand to get his attention.

He blinked and took her in. Slowly, his scowl faded. “Carson, I’ll have to call you back.” Slipping his phone into his pocket, he held up the sign. “Lily Baker?”

“That’s me. And you are?”

“Ethan.” He shook her hand. “My sister, Piper, volunteers at the dachshund rescue center. Your aunt is her manager.”

Lily nodded. “Piper Caldwell. I know who she is. She’s in a lot of my aunt’s social media photos.”

“I stopped by there today, and Marilyn asked if I could meet you. She’s sorry she couldn’t come herself.”

As his gray eyes swept over her, the corner of his mouth curled like he wasn’t sorry. She bit her lip, thinking she might get another shot at Flirting with a Stranger.

He reached out to touch her hair. She froze and swallowed hard. Maybe she’d even get to Step Thirteen: Ask Someone on a Date.

When Ethan drew his hand back, he was holding a chunk of broken crisp. “Rough flight?”

Lily looked down at herself, at the food smears, her blue-stained tunic, and the overall rumpled state of her. No wonder he’d stared at her.

She raised her chin. “I take it you’re giving me a ride to the center, then?”

“That depends. Do you have a change of clothes before getting into my car?”

She rolled her eyes. What a gentleman. “They lost my luggage. You’re stuck with me how I am.”

He frowned. “All right. I might have a towel in the trunk you can sit on.”

Surely, that had to be a joke. Matching his deadpan tone, she said, “I’ve already had the flight from hell. I don’t fancy riding in the boot.”

A surprised laugh escaped him, and the previous surliness vanished from his face, replaced with easy smile lines. “That’s all right. I’ll let you ride on the hood.”

She giggled, but when they finally arrived at his pristine silver BMW convertible, she wasn’t entirely sure he was kidding.

Already, this trip wasn’t going according to plan, but she’d be damned if she was going to prove her mother right. She—and her Live Boldly book—could handle this. She hoped.