New Leash on Life(12)

Well, he had given her the idea when he mentioned the dog training facility. He just failed to mention his family owned it.

“We’re going to the dogs?” Jeannie joked, getting a nervous laugh from the rest.

“It’s a doggone good town?” This from the undertaker, making everyone moan.

She let them settle down before taking ownership of the room again. “You’re close,” she said, so as not to alienate the mockers. “I propose we position Bitter Bark as the most-dog-friendly vacation spot in the state of North Carolina and, in fact, the entire US.”

“How?” someone asked.

“By making dogs welcome in restaurants, in shops, at all businesses, all around the campus of our local college, at the river rafting, on the hiking trails, and in every single shop. Not simply welcome, but a focus. If families know they can bring their furry companions and come as a whole family, then they are so much more willing to book a vacation. We have a dog training facility…” She nodded to Shane. “Which I understand is world-class.”

“It is,” he agreed.

“And we have one more thing that no other town has.”

They all stared at her, some definitely mesmerized, some processing this idea. Or stunned speechless. She still didn’t know, but had a feeling she was about to find out.

“We have the name. Or at least we will.” She clicked to the next slide showing a large map of the state of North Carolina with Bitter Bark in big, bright letters. “Let’s seal our place on the tourism map as the number-one family destination for people who love dogs when we change the name from Bitter Bark….” She clicked again, this time with the new name. “To Better Bark.”

The room instantly exploded.





Chapter Four





She was serious. She was dead-ass serious, and Shane didn’t know whether to throw his head back with a hoot of laughter or kiss her on the mouth, because the idea was hilarious and she was…sexy. Confident. Smart. And sexy.

Considering how badly he wanted to undress her with his eyes while she spoke, he couldn’t get down to imaginary underwear, because the idea was so damn good he actually had to pay attention.

And now, all around him, the outburst around a table full of opinionated people who were arguably some of the town’s biggest movers and shakers filled the room. The divide was easy to see and evident by the questions and comments.

“You can’t change the name of a town that’s about to celebrate its 150th Founder’s Day!” sourpuss Nellie Shaker predictably squeaked out. She’d never shaken anything in her life, Shane thought, and wouldn’t start now.

“That is the most inventive thing I’ve ever heard!” Andi may have smashed his brother’s heart a while back, but she was cut from the same intelligent, professional cloth that Chloe was wrapped in.

“Inventive? Try ridiculous!” the news guy, Chandler, balked. “We’d change the name to the Better Bark Banner? Next you’ll suggest editorials written from a dog’s perspective.”

Chloe brightened, unfazed by the criticism. “I love that idea, Ned.”

“Well, I’m not going to be Better Bark Body and Mind,” Jeannie Slattery snorted. “Unless I add dog grooming to my services.”

“You might consider that and double your business,” Chloe replied with a dazzling smile. She let the reaction die down, then placed her fingertips on the conference table and leaned a little closer to pin them with her sparkly ebony gaze.

Shane let his attention slip down to see how nicely her top clung to her figure under that white jacket, appreciating her long, thick ponytail the color of a freshly washed chocolate Labrador spilling over a shoulder. Everything about her was clean, crisp, orderly, and hot.

Oh, he would have so much fun undoing that hair and getting her out of her flawless white clothes and making her all messy and sweaty and—

“Ladies and gentlemen, will you please hear me out?” she asked, pulling him out of his fantasies.

“What kind of town changes its name?” Easterbrook demanded.

“A smart one,” Chloe replied. “There’s plenty of precedence of small towns who changed their name for a day or a month or a year, including Joe, Montana, to capitalize on a celebrity. Some have changed their name permanently, like North Tarrytown, New York, when they embraced a famous local legend and become Sleepy Hollow back in the 1990s. Check the record, because the economic lift to that community was tangible.”

A few responses, some harrumphing, and the mayor tapped her hand as if it were a gavel. “We asked for a great idea,” Blanche Wilkins said loudly. “So let’s give her a chance to explain what she’s thinking.”