Page 51 (1/1)

Chapter 1

TheTroubleWithMistletoe

The sun had barely come up and Willa Davis was already elbow deep in puppies and poo—a typical day for her As owner of the South Bark Mutt Shop, she spent —andeither

Whichher irresistible to any and all four-legged creatures within scent range A shah that a treat hadn’t yet been invented to ed male creatures as well Now that would’ve been handy

But then again, she’d put herself on a Man-Ti

“Wuff!”

This frouy wobbled in close and licked her chin

“That’s not going to butter me up,” she said, but it totally did and unable to resist that face she returned the kiss on the top of his cute little nose

One of Willa’s regular grooolden retriever puppies

Six of them

It was over an hour before the shop would open at nine am but her client had called in a panic because the pups had rolled in horse poo God knehere they’d found horse poo in the Cow Hollow district of San Francisco—nified pile in the street—but they were a mess

And noas Willa

Two puppies, even three, weresix by herself bordered on insanity “Okay, listen up,” she said to the squir room “Everyone sit”

One and Two sat Three climbed up on top of the both of the Willa in the process

Meanwhile, Four, Five, and Sixover their eyes, tails wagging wildly as they scrabbled, cliet out of the tub

“Rory?” Willa called out “Could use another set of hands back here” Or three

No answer Either her twenty-three-year-old employee had her headphones cranked up to ram and didn’t want to lose her place “Rory!”