He’d already decided, no more sex.
“So how are the plans for the studio coming?” he asked, remembering how excited she’d been about it and figuring business talk would keep his head out of places it shouldn’t go. “You talk to the salon down the street about the reciprocal discounts?”
The little scowl straining Elise’s lips split into a beaming smile as she recounted the conversation she’d had with the salon owner, then she spun into some ideas she’d had about promotions, the neighborhood, and maximizing the space before touching on a few suggestions he’d made the first time they’d talked about her plans. Her enthusiasm was contagious. Attractive. And the more she bubbled on about square footage and curb appeal, the more he had to remind himself he was just getting Elise to her front door. Not pinning her against it to find out just how dirty and wet that slip through the mud had gotten her.
CHAPTER THREE
“YOU’RE telling me Bruno needs a babysitter?”
Rounding the corner of her block, Elise shrugged at Levi’s incredulous expression. “I know it’s nuts. But what can they do? He chews furniture and apparently he took a half-inch off their back door, digging to get out.”
Levi reached down to give Bruno’s ears a good rub. “You need some obedience training, my man.”
No doubt. “I think my brother-in-law, David, started classes. But then Ally’s pregnancy had a few complications, and after that they had a new baby and—Bruno basically got lost in the shuffle. Family chaos. You know how it is.”
“Yeah, sure.” The flow of conversation between them came to a standstill as Levi studied the old printing houses, the clock tower rising above the historic Dearborn Station.
A few minutes later, they were at her building.
“Well, this is me.” She waved a hand toward the front entrance, the motion stalling when she realized how much dried mud covered the back of her arm. Levi was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen…and this was how he’d remember her?
Unfair.
“Thank you for what you did today,” she said, then added an only mildly awkward, “It was nice seeing you again.”
His mouth took on that lazy slant that set off yet another batch of butterflies within her. “I’ll help you get Bruno inside and then take off.”
She nodded a little stiffly, but turned and led the way. It wasn’t going to be like before. She was covered in mud and he was just making sure she got Bruno in safely. He’d probably let the dog go at her door and wish her a good life.
Which was completely fine.
Inside the security door, she paused to consider the elevator. Remembered the confines of that space pressing in on them as they’d stood at opposite ends of the car the last time he brought her home. How, by the time they’d gotten off at her floor, the tension between them was snapping taut and it had taken everything they had to make it into her apartment.
“We’ll walk up with Bruno,” she said, going for a casual tone she didn’t quite feel.
“Good idea,” he agreed, that knowing smile tingeing the words.
Fine. So what if he did know? It wasn’t any secret there was chemistry between them. Or that neither of them were interested in giving in to it again. Definitely not.
* * *
Levi blew out a controlled breath. This was worse than the elevator. At least there, he’d been able to watch the floors pass as an attempt at distraction. But here on the stairs, that heart-shaped bottom swinging at eye level less than a handful of steps away had his fingers flexing at his sides. Palms heating at the memory of how she’d fit into them.
What she’d liked.
What more she might—
Not again. He knew too much about her to pretend the one more time he’d be after to get her out of his system wouldn’t be misleading.
So he’d just look.
Let his mind wander with the swing of each step and the tight hug of snug shorts that left next to nothing to the imagination. Damn, he liked those.
At the third floor Elise descended down the hall to her door. She didn’t fumble the keys the way she had that first night. But then he wasn’t pressed against her back with his mouth on the sweet spot at the curve of her neck either.
Not yet, anyway.
As if sensing the direction of his thoughts, Elise cast a slow glance over the shoulder, the smoke in her eyes swirling thick.
Bruno gave a sharp bark and went for the door, pushing past Elise on his way in. The smoke cleared and she laughed, shaking her head as the dog tore around the couch, his paws skidding out from beneath him at the corner. And then he was lunging for her again, backing her up with the bulk of his weight.
“Down, boy.” Bruno dropped to the floor and waited expectantly as Levi crossed to rub his ears.
What was Elise going to do with this dog? “How long have you got him?”
“Maybe another hour, I’m not sure. Just today though.” Elise made a move to sit on the love seat across from the door but caught herself even as Levi’s hand came up in warning.
“Ugh. Mud.” Shaking her head, she peered up at him. “You really think I can’t put him on my list?”
Levi considered, giving the woman in front of him a thorough once-over.
“Levi!” she laughed in amused accusation, obviously noting where his eyes had lingered.
“Yeah, I’ve got no problem with Bruno’s actions.”
A single curl tumbled across her brow. She swept it aside with the back of her hand, leaving another dirty smudge behind. “You like the mud.”
The mud. The shorts. The smile. The cut and curves that made up the shape of her. Reaching out, he brushed the spot with his thumb before forcing himself to walk to her door. “Amongst other things. Take care, Elise.”
* * *
Back against the refrigerator, cordless phone at her ear, Elise strained under the weight of Bruno’s bulk. A kitchen chair lay on its side and a three-foot radius around the Pyrex bowl she’d filled was pooled with water. “What do you mean you aren’t picking him up?”
“He must have done it before we left to meet you at the park, but David says it looks like Bruno chewed up half of Dexter’s toys from the nursery. He’s worried it’s territorial. That it wouldn’t be safe—” Ally’s voice trembled between broken gasps “—for him to come home.”
One jealous baby chewing up another baby’s things. No, this wasn’t good.
As if sensing his mommy on the other end of the line, Bruno huffed at the air, his tail wagging hard enough to shake the both of them.
“Ally, okay, take a deep breath.”
Her sister made a shaky attempt on the other end of the line. “Elise, I know you’re more busy than ever, but all our friends have kids and there’s no way I can take him to Mom’s.”
“No, of course not.” They’d always been a dog family, but some overgrown animal thundering through the house and threatening the routine that had become so critical to maintaining the status quo was the last thing any of them needed. Her mom wouldn’t admit it, but the situation at home had been deteriorating for months. Just yesterday, Elise had noticed the lines and shadows around her mother’s eyes had become more prominent. She’d lost weight. But she wouldn’t even consider making any changes. There was no way Bruno could go there. “I can handle it, don’t worry.”
“David mentioned the shelter, but Bruno’s not trained. And he’s going to have the stigma of being given up. What if they can’t find anyone to take him? What if they have to put him—?”
“No. That’s not going to happen. Bruno’s a good dog.” Sort of. Mostly. “He’ll be fine. I’ll keep him for now and we’ll find him a nice home with the right people.”
Dexter’s hungry wail sounded in the background. Ally sniffed, and Elise heard the shifting of the phone against her sister’s shoulder followed by the soothing hush of a mother’s comfort to her child. Closing her eyes, she let the sound of it wrap around her heart like a tiny fist.
“You just
take care of Dex and don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of Bruno. I promise.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Ally.”
* * *
Eighteen hours later Elise was nursing a new scrape down the side of her leg, a slamming headache, and a hard grudge against the Great Dane skidding across her oak floors. She’d spent the night making calls, seeing if anyone she knew was interested in a gently used, fixer-upper puppy beast who didn’t answer to her at all, but went by the name Bruno.
While she’d struck out so far, there were plenty of avenues left to investigate. She’d traded her morning classes to another instructor, but she’d mention him at her classes that afternoon.
Her anxious gaze landed on Bruno. She just had to get there.
Leaving Bruno in the apartment was unavoidable, so she’d deal with it. Tape some cardboard to the door before she went. Provide an arsenal of chewy toys in the hopes it meant he’d forgo the temptation of her couch leg. Whatever.
It was the walk before she left that overwhelmed her.
Staring out the front window at the swath of concrete and obstacle course of signposts, constant traffic, pedestrians, and hydrants, she winced.
David had come over the night before to drop off Bruno’s supplies and walk him. This morning she’d braved taking him out herself and barely made it back in one piece. She just hadn’t managed to assert her authority in a way that could compete with his brute strength.
She slumped into the couch, trying to ignore the thought that kept creeping into her mind. The obvious…intensely uncomfortable solution to her most immediate problem.
Bruno sat with his big Great Dane thighs sloppy, droolly jowls leaking all over as he stared up at her looking dumb and sweet. He was a big oaf who didn’t know any better and needed someone strong enough to show him how to behave.
There wasn’t another choice.
* * *
Levi shoved back from his desk, eyeing the phone in his hand with slow-rising satisfaction. Elise Porter.
He hadn’t even left her apartment before the sud-soaked shower fantasies had begun a relentless assault that, almost a full day later, had yet to cease. It had been a minor miracle he’d made it out of her building at all, and even more so that he’d managed the night without returning to talk her into another bad decision and work his way into her bed.
Just one thing had stopped him.
She’d tried to walk away. At the park and again outside her building.
The chemistry was there. Unmistakably. But she’d resisted it, because she knew—they both knew—he wasn’t the kind of guy who could give a woman like her what she needed.
So once he’d gotten her home safe…he’d done the right thing and left.
Only now, she’d called. Reopened a door he’d had one hell of a time forcing himself to close. Which meant all that noble, well-intentioned, do-the-right-thing garbage that had been the source of his sleepless night and his irritatingly, unproductive morning was done.
He eased deeper into his chair, pondering how she’d approach him. Maybe she’d ask for help washing some dirty spot she hadn’t been able to reach.
He wished. Connecting the line, he answered, “Levi here.”
“Umm, hello, Levi. This is Elise. Elise Porter…from last week at the bookstore…and after…and at the park yesterday…with Bruno…”
Again he was looking at the phone. Okay, so not the smooth approach he’d been anticipating—not that he should have been surprised. And from the sounds of it, she was still going on, trying to cast about more clues for him to nail down her identity.
How many women did she think he picked up during a week? “Elise, I know who you are.”
Her breath sounded in rush. “Okay, good. Thank you.”
More thanks? She could keep them. He couldn’t quite bring himself to accept praise for knowing whose body he’d been buried in a week ago. “Sweetheart, what can I do for you?”
“I know this is going to sound crazy and it’s sort of in violation of the unspoken one-night agreement, but I need a huge favor and you’re the only person who can help me.”
Levi’s head tipped to rest against the leather back of his chair. He couldn’t wait to hear this one, especially knowing the kind of tizzy she’d worked herself up to just calling. “What kind of favor are we talking about?”
His mind was already working through a few ideas in explicit detail. And if they were on the same page…he was feeling very generous.
“I’ve become Bruno’s temporary owner, but I still can’t quite handle him.”
The dog again. Well, he couldn’t knock the tactic. It had, after all, worked before.
“You’re the only guy I know who doesn’t work in the afternoons. I’d like to hire you to walk him today.”
Hire him?
Levi sat up in his chair, his mouth twitching against his barely restrained laughter. Damn, she was good. He was no stranger to women looking for excuses to get back within jumping distance of his bed, but, to date, he’d never had one offer cash as an incentive—not that he’d actually take it, but this was too good. “You want to hire me to walk Bruno? How much are we talking?”
Her sigh filtered through the line, heavy with relief. Gratitude. A nice touch. He liked a woman who didn’t skimp on the details.
“I was thinking fifteen bucks for thirty minutes at the park.”
“No.” As a rule, games weren’t his thing. But this one was too much fun not to play— And the truth was, he could have really used this call about twelve hours ago. So maybe he wanted to make her squirm a little. “I’ve already proven I can handle Bruno. Call it an even twenty and I’ll run him, too.”
That ought to throw a wrench in her plans. No chance of a long intimate talk if he was running down that beast of a dog. Let’s see how she wiggled out of this one.
“Deal. That’s perfect.”
Sure it was. He couldn’t wait to see what she came up with next. See if Bruno was there at all. Not that he cared. She’d scored major points for style and originality—despite the sporadic awkward factor he was coming to recognize as pure Elise. So she’d fabricated an excuse to reconnect with him, big deal. Whatever it took for her to make the call, he was on board with one hundred percent, because the fact remained… He just hadn’t had enough of her yet.
CHAPTER FOUR
“YOU’RE serious?” Levi stared down at the leash, empty newspaper bag and crumpled twenty she’d stuffed in his hand and let out a laugh that was equal parts irritation and incredulous amusement. He should have seen it the second she’d swung open the apartment door, greeting him with that wide, grateful smile. No makeup, her hair stuffed in another one of those elastic things. Ratty jeans and a not too tight T-shirt. “This is actually about the dog?”
Elise blanched, her chin pulling back. “You thought it wasn’t about the dog?”
What a chump. This was not how it went with him.
He liked to be in control. Hell, he was man enough to know he needed it. And, this thing with Elise. He was most definitely not in control.
But, based on the Olympic-level hand-wringing happening in front of him, neither was she.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he shook his head. “Not to sound like an ass here, but it usually isn’t. The dog, the lost earring, the house keys—” misplaced thong “—whatever it is, it’s usually an excuse.”
Shaking her head, she gave him one of those earnest looks that made him wonder how he’d ever gotten past it. Then she swallowed, licking her lips—oh, right, that was how—as she geared up to something big.
“I swear, that wasn’t my intention. I mean, yes, I like you.”
Ah, hell, he knew where this was going…held up a staying hand, thinking his ego really wasn’t up for the speech he’d given too many times to count.
“You’re an attractive man and the other night was incredi—”
Her words cut short as Bruno barreled into the room, his
huge body skidding into Elise’s knees from behind—taking her down over his back.
“Elise—” He was at her side in a second. “Are you hurt?”
“No, no,” she grumbled, trying to wave him off even as he caught her.
Fingers moving swiftly, he checked her wrists and elbows, worked his way over her arms…to her shoulders…the slender column of her neck…and the loose, silky spirals falling around it.
Gray eyes fringed with dark ash locked with his.
“I’m fine,” she answered quietly, looking away as she pushed to stand. “Getting used to it even.”
Right. Following her to his feet, Levi brushed his hands over his thighs in a weak attempt to replace the velvet-soft feel of her beneath them.
Bruno’s nails were already clicking frantically over the hardwood as he scrambled to get his lanky legs back under him following a tight turn.
“Sit, Bruno.” The dog dropped at his side, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.
Elise ducked to rub a hand over his knobby head. “Good boy. He just doesn’t know his own strength yet.”
Then after a pause, she shook her head. “Look, this is my fault. I shouldn’t have called, but no one else was available. You’d handled him so well at the park, and I really needed—”
Yeah, he got it now. “You really needed help.”
Crouching down, he snapped the leash onto Bruno’s collar. Leveled the beast with a no-nonsense stare. “You’re on my list, dog. No more knocking women over.”
Bruno met him with woeful eyes even as his puppy feet kept moving. Definitely time to get this dog out.
As he stood, Elise checked her watch, a furrow pulling between her eyes. She walked over to the little catch-all table by the door and pulled out a ring with two keys. “These are the spares for downstairs and the front here. I’ve got to change and leave for my class in about fifteen minutes. Any chance you could let Bruno back in after your walk and then just make sure the door locks behind you after?”
Levi looked at her outstretched hand and back to her face, irritation taking fast hold of him. “Your house keys?”
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