On a bright autumn day, Flynn Marlowe lost his best friend, a beagle named Barley, while out on a hike in Seattle’s Discovery Park. On a cold winter day, Mac Bowersox found his best friend, a lost, scared, and emaciated beagle, on the streets of Seattle. Two men. One dog. When Flynn and Mac meet by chance in a park the next summer, there’s a problem -- who does Barley really belong to? Flynn wants him back, but he can see that Mac rescued him and loves him just as much as he does. Mac wants to keep the dog, and he can imagine how heartbreaking losing him would be -- but that's just what Flynn experienced. A “shared custody” compromise might be just the way to work things out. But will the arrangement be successful? Mac and Flynn are willing to try it ... and along the way, they just might fall in love.

Lost and Found

That wasBarley! Flynn knew it as surely as he knew his own name.


He felt an adrenaline rush. He was going to get his dog back. He wiped angrily at his face. Flinging open the car door, Flynn put his feet to the pavement. He took off, pausing only long enough to twirl around a bit to lock up the car with the remote.


He ran the almost three-mile circumference of the trail around the lake in what he’d guess was record time.


But Barley and the redhead were nowhere to be found.2


For Christ’s sake, he’d lied about his name, which wasn’t even the worst of his lies. He’d never stooped that low before, even with a one-night stand he didn’t want to see again. And Mike? Couldn’t he have come up with something more original?


Kneeling on the hardwood floor in the front hallway, Mac Bowersox pulled the harness from Hamburger. “Good boy,” he said, stroking the dog. He then bent a little to give the dog a good, strong hug. The dog wriggled to be free. He’d never liked being hugged.


Chapter 4