Read Online Bootscootin' Blahniks by D. D. Scott - Free Book Online Page A

stepped onto the third floor, the view stopped him with an unexpected punch to his gut. Ten-foot ceilings and expansive windows filled one wall, framing Nashville’s downtown skyline. The picture-like setting begged him to step onto the outdoor terrace.
    Passing a fireplace that separated Roxy’s bedroom from an ornate, yet comfortable sitting room, Zayne opened the French doors and walked out into the spring night.
    At this height and location, an electrifying quietness blanketed the cityscape. He’d never looked at Nashville from this vantage point. If he lived in this house, he’d spend all his quality time here, watching the city sleep, dozing in the chaise lounge until the sunrise awakened him.
    His mom would get a kick out of this.
    Scratching noises broke the spell. He hustled inside, feeling bad he’d forgotten the reason for his sojourn.
    Once back in Roxy’s sitting room, he found the dogs and their cages next to a drafting table. Dipstick and Darling looked out with their large, sweet-natured eyes. Zayne’s chest swelled as if a balloon filled with the animals’ joy took over his heart. Dogs socked him in the cardio muscle, creating irreversible damage.
    Unlatching their cages, he noticed one-of-a-kind, jeweled labels attached to each. They could only have been Roxy’s handiwork. The girl certainly loved her bling. On polished silver, in decadently scrolled script, he read ‘Dipstick’ and ‘Darling.’ Dipstick’s plate was studded with some type of funky brown crystals and Darling’s featured large, pink sparkling rocks. He also wasn’t surprised, knowing Roxy’s flare for matching everything, that each dog wore a collar and tag coordinating with its crate label.
    Zayne had no sooner let Dipstick and Darling free when both dogs and their loose-skinned, wrinkly-faces were all over him. They licked and sniffed identifying him as (a) dog-lover or (b) non-dog-lover. Quickly deciding he was the former or perhaps remembering he’d helped them in their snack sickness state, the dogs wouldn’t leave him alone. Maybe they also smelled traces of their long lost buddy Studley Pete.
    Zayne sat down on the edge of an over-stuffed ottoman. Both dogs jumped up on him, competing for his attention as their curly-fry tails jiggled.
    A far cry away on the canine social scale from Studley Pete’s shelter-rescued, lab shepherd mix, Zayne had read about these designer mutts after his mom had seen them on the Today Show. She hadn’t let him forget since how much she wanted one. Yep, Dipstick and Darling were definitely Puggles — a cross between a pug and a beagle. And if he weren’t mistaken, their breed had first been discovered walking alongside Manhattan elite. No wonder Roxy had them. He couldn’t imagine a woman more uniquely elite and Puggle-worthy.
    “What are you doing up there?” Roxy’s voice crackled, appearing to come right through the wall. “I’m sure the poor dears have to pee something fierce.”
    Zayne looked in the direction of Roxy’s voice and found an intercom, its green light buzzing.
Damn
! He couldn’t get away from her, even two floors up — definitely the house’s biggest design problem yet.
    “Do they look like…they…uh…missed me,” Roxy said, her slurred speech, signaling the pain medication must be working.
    Not really, Zayne thought to himself, they just look like they have to pee. Thinking it best to ignore his sarcastic impulses, he pushed the intercom’s green talk button and changed the subject. “I’d been meaning to ask where did you get these dogs? I’ve looked online. No one seems to be able to keep them in stock.”
    The intercom beeped. “I don’t know where they came from. My mom got them for me after she forgot my birthday last year. Head…upstairs…I mean downstairs. We’ll talk while we pee. There’s intercoms…in the…stairwells too, so you won’t lose me.”
    ‘We’ll talk while we pee?’ Something wasn’t quite right with that