“Hang on,” he said, flicking his wrist over to check his watch without losing his grip on the wheel. “Is the shelter even open now?”
“The manager said she’d still be out back doing paperwork, so she’d let us see Frank.”
He had a feeling that more was going on here than she was saying, but he had no idea what. He could press Harper and try to work it out, or he could stop worrying and simply roll with the punches. He chose the latter approach.
When they arrived at the shelter, Harper called a number, and a woman with bright red hair, green eyes and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose came out and unlocked the front door. She wore a friendly smile and a shirt with Royal Safe Haven across the pocket. “Are you Harper?”
“Yes,” Harper said brightly. “And you must be Megan. Thanks for letting us in after closing time.”
“No problem,” the woman said as she closed the door behind them again. “I have a soft spot for Frank.”
Harper glanced up at Nick, as if judging his reaction, then turned back to Megan. “Can we see him?”
“Sure. Follow me.” The shelter manager led the way past an office to a small room that had a couple of chairs and a dog bed on the floor. Over by the wall, a skinny chocolate Labrador lay with his head on his paws. “This is our meet-and-greet room. I thought I’d bring Frank down here in case you turned up.”
“You thought we wouldn’t come?” Harper asked.
“Let’s say that Frank hasn’t been too popular.” She turned to the dog. “Have you, sweetheart?”
At hearing his name, the dog moved his eyes to check without lifting his head. He clearly had little interest in what was going on around him, which seemed unusual for a Labrador, especially one who had new people to meet.
Nick crouched down, held out a hand and said, “Hey, Frank. How are you doing?”
Frank glanced over suspiciously, then went right on ignoring them. Something was very wrong.
“What’s his story?” Nick asked, still focused on the dog.
Megan leaned back against the painted brick wall. “His owner was in the military and left Frank with family while he was on deployment. Unfortunately, he never came home from his tour, so Frank ended up here.”
Nick felt it like a punch to the gut. He could barely draw breath. Since he’d returned home, he’d been tormented by thinking about the people in his unit who hadn’t gotten to go home themselves, and here was a dog who was suffering for the exact same reason.
Harper crouched beside him, but said to Megan, “Is he sick?”
“Nope, he’s depressed. He’s been like this since he arrived. The staff has tried all sorts of strategies to get him to engage, but no dice. We even have trouble getting him to eat. It’s like he’s given up hope.”
Trying not to look big and menacing, Nick got down on his stomach and wriggled over to the dog. He held out his hand, and Frank lifted his head, sniffed in the hand’s general direction and dropped his head to his front legs again. Every protective instinct Nick had reared up.
“What’s the plan for Frank?” he asked, speaking softly so as not to spook the dog now that he was closer.
“Best-case scenario,” Megan said, “he’s adopted by someone who understands his situation and emotional state, and they’re patient and loving while he recovers.”
“Worst-case scenario?” he asked, not taking his eyes off Frank.
“He stays here longer and gives up a little more each day.”
Nick held back a shudder. That wasn’t going to happen. “Other options?”
“We find him a foster home, so he’s out of the shelter while he heals, then he gets adopted.”
He looked over at this sad dog who’d lost his human due to the same war that haunted Nick. Frank clearly couldn’t stay in the shelter, and what he needed wasn’t a temporary foster home. This dog needed someone to commit to him. Someone who’d stay and have his back. Someone who’d never let him down.
Nick drew in a deep breath. He might not have been able to save every man in his unit, but he could save Frank.
He glanced over at Harper, one questioning eyebrow raised, and Harper nodded.
Nick threw Megan a look over his shoulder. “What paperwork do I have to fill out to adopt this dog?”
* * *
Harper leaned to look in the backseat of Nick’s car at the sad dog who hadn’t yet realized his fortunes had turned. All in all, she was pretty pleased with her night’s work.
Nick started the engine and said, “We don’t have any of the things at home Frank will need.”
“Hang on.” She picked up her cell to check online for the nearest pet supplies store. “There’s a place not too far away that’s still open.” She gave him the directions, and he turned the car.
When they reached the store, she stayed in the car with Frank while Nick ducked in to grab what they needed.
“So, Frank,” she said once they were alone, “you’ll like Nick. We’re both pretty lucky he picked us.”
Though luck might have had a bit of a nudge in Frank’s case. Since Emily had urged her at their lunch yesterday to “do something,” Harper’s mind had been whirring. She’d researched and found two pieces of interesting information. First, programs that matched former military personnel suffering from PTSD with trained service dogs who could intervene and head off some of the symptoms were seeing some amazing outcomes. Getting Nick a trained service dog would have been the ideal solution, but there was a waiting list. She’d made a mental note to do something about fund-raising for the group that was training the dogs to help them help more veterans.
In the meantime, she’d found another piece of useful information—one recommendation for PTSD sufferers was to do something to help someone else. Nick was so concerned about letting someone down again, she wasn’t sure he was ready to do that yet. But then she’d wondered, what if the someone who needed help wasn’t a person...?
One call to the Royal Safe Haven Animal Shelter and she’d found the perfect dog. The fact that Frank had lost as much to war as Nick had meant they were perfect for each other. Megan had said Frank would need someone dedicated to help him get through his depression, and the look on Nick’s face when he’d asked for the paperwork to adopt the dog had told her all she needed to know about that.
Helping Frank would help Nick. And, hopefully, they might even be able to get Frank some training to help Nick even more after that. Win-win.
Nick emerged with his arms full and loaded the bags in the trunk. When he slid into the driver’s seat again, she said, “All for Frank?”
“Just a few things to get us started—food, a bed, collar and leash, treats and toys.”
“Just to get us started?” His arms had been so full that Harper would have needed two trips to bring all the purchases out.
He arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t you tell Ellie you had dogs before?”
“A Great Dane and a Labrador.”
“Marshall and Darcy.”
He’d listened to her and remembered the names of her childhood dogs. The thought warmed her heart. “That’s right. But I don’t remember having so much paraphernalia for them. Maybe things were simpler back then.”
He grinned at her. “Or maybe your parents handled that side of dog ownership.”
“True.” She smiled back. “So have you had a dog?”
“Most of my life.” He threw Frank a quick greeting before starting the car again. “Dogs make life better.”
She waited while he pulled out into traffic, thinking his words through. There was a gaping hole. “Why didn’t you have one already, then?”
He shrugged like it was no big deal. “I was coming and going on deployment, and Melissa said she wasn’t interested in looking after a dog while I was gone.”
“But you’ve been divo
rced for almost two years, and, more to the point, you’re not in the military anymore.” She turned in her seat a little to see his profile better. “You’re not coming and going.”
“I hadn’t thought about it,” he said as he smoothly changed lanes to overtake a slower car.
She didn’t believe that for a second. Even if he hadn’t considered it, which was unlikely given his reaction to Frank and his comment about dogs making life better, the conversation in the diner with Ellie would have prompted thoughts about a pet dog. There was something else.
“Truth?” she said softly.
He blew out a long breath and rolled his shoulders back. “I guess I didn’t think I was in a fit state to take on any big responsibilities.”
“But you have,” she said, laying a hand over her stomach. “You’ve taken responsibility for these babies. You didn’t have to—you had several chances to bow out. But you stepped up.”
He was quiet for a few minutes, until they stopped at a red light. Then he turned to her, brows drawn together. “Before that day Malcolm called and told me you were pregnant, I was basically a hermit.” His voice was like gravel, his gaze serious. “The babies and our situation have forced me out of hiding. Prodded me back into the world.”
“Are you glad?” she asked, thinking about the discussion she’d had with Sophie and Emily the day before. “Not about the babies, I mean, but are you glad that you’ve been pushed back into the world?”
He speared the fingers of one hand through his hair. “I think so, but truthfully, I don’t know.” The light changed to green. His attention returned to the road, and he eased down on the accelerator. “All I know for sure is that I’m pleased you and the babies are in my life, and you three are all tied up in the package of me being out in the world.”
She slid her hand over and let it rest on his thigh, offering wordless support.
He seemed to give himself an internal shake, then when he spoke again, his voice was brighter. “Hey, you know who’s going to be the most excited about Frank?”
“Ellie,” she said, unable to stop the smile as she imagined the little girl’s face. “She’ll be thrilled.”
He laid a hand over Harper’s on his thigh. “Seriously, though,” he said, and his Adam’s apple bobbed down, then up. “I am glad.”
She knew he was talking about her and the babies again, and her heart clenched tight. She turned her hand over so they were palm to palm. “Me too,” she whispered.
Less than an hour later they were home, Nick’s stir-fry was sizzling on the stove and Frank had settled on his new bed, his belly full. He’d sniffed around the yard a little, peed on a plant, then explored a few rooms in the house before curling up in his bed with a sigh. He obviously didn’t have high expectations of this place, but then, he wouldn’t think of it as his own home yet—he was probably still waiting on his original owner to come back for him.
But he was keeping his gaze on Nick in the kitchen. It could have been because of the food, but Harper was hopeful it was more than that. That they were bonding already.
She wandered over to the stove. “This smells great. Anything I can do to help?”
“Not really,” Nick said. “I’m not sure what sort of food you like, so I just grabbed some things from the grocery store today.”
She looked into the sizzling pan. “This is exactly my kind of food. But you’re right. We should go shopping together when we get a chance so we can see what we both like.”
He considered her for a moment, his expression serious. “We’ve been trying to cover big-picture stuff, but I guess there’s still a lot of day-to-day stuff to learn about each other.”
She laid a hand over her stomach and glanced from Frank to Nick. “I think we’re doing pretty well. We just need to keep moving forward and not let the big stuff overwhelm us.”
He smiled at her. “You know what? I think you’re right.”
Eight
It had been ten days since Nick had married Harper and she’d moved into his place, and a week since he’d adopted Frank, and already he couldn’t imagine his life without them. He spent his days with Frank—there was a deluxe dog bed in the downstairs office for Frank’s naps while Nick worked on Tate Armor business, then when they needed to work out the kinks, they’d go for a walk together. He hoped to build that up to a run as Frank’s fitness increased.
The evenings were for Harper. They’d been taking turns cooking, then sometimes they’d watch a movie. Other times they’d talk about the smaller details of their lives—getting to know each other. But they’d avoided ice cream, and they’d especially avoided all unnecessary touching.
And that part was slowly driving him insane.
Each day he wanted her more. Each hour. Each minute.
He wanted her with a ferocity that surprised even him. And it wasn’t just about making love—he wanted the casual intimacy that lovers had. Stealing a kiss when they crossed paths in the hall. Gathering her close when she arrived home from work. Simply touching her, being near her. He wanted it all.
So that night when they stood on his back lawn in the moonlight waiting for Frank to have his final toilet stop before bed, Nick decided he needed to broach the subject.
“I’ve been thinking about something,” he said, gaze on Frank. “You know that if we’d just met tonight, I’d want to date you.”
She shrugged. “But we didn’t just meet. Our situation is far too complex already.”
He turned to face her and dug his hands in his pockets. “What if we kept it simple? And agreed that whatever happens, we wouldn’t let it affect our parenting of the babies.”
She turned to face him as well, the moonlight catching on her dark hair, making it shine. “What exactly are you suggesting?”
“That we start dating,” he said simply.
She arched an eyebrow. “You want to date your wife?”
“More than you can imagine.” So much that he’d been having difficulty concentrating on anything else but her.
“I don’t know, Nick.” Harper folded her arms tightly under her breasts. “There’s so much risk, especially for the babies and Ellie.”
“But there’s also so much potential to have more,” he said. “More for us, the babies and Ellie.”
For one hopeful moment, her eyes sparkled, then she winced and shook her head. “I think our window of opportunity is gone. Maybe if I hadn’t gotten pregnant and we’d met again in a supermarket or socially...”
Her voice trailed off, and she wandered farther into the yard, pausing to rest her hand on top of a dense shrub. Part of him wanted to leave the topic there, but the bigger part of him couldn’t let it go, so he followed.
“It’s crazy that the one woman I want to date is off-limits because we’re already married.”
“We had good reasons for putting that intimacy rule into place,” she said, her voice sounding strained.
That was true, but there was something undeniable between them. Something that wasn’t fading away by ignoring it. “My last tour taught me is that life is short and unpredictable. And I don’t want to live with regrets.”
“But that’s my thinking, too.” She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it tightly back from her face as she spoke. “I don’t want to move our relationship into new territory and come to regret that.”
“Harper, we’re never going to be a couple who only react to each other like friends.” He reached for her hand and laced their fingers together, relishing the sizzle as her skin slid along his. “We have chemistry. If we continue like we are, the tension will eventually explode. The best way forward is to manage that tension as much as we can.”
There was silence for three beats, four.
“Okay, if—and I’m only saying if—we tried to manage this, how would you see it workin
g?”
“We’d date. We’d treat it as a totally separate thing from our marriage. The marriage is the legal agreement that we entered for the sake of the babies, and Ellie, and Tate Armor, and to ensure you had support.” He took an infinitesimal step closer. “Dating would be just for us.”
Frank came ambling over, finished with his nightly business. Nick gave him a short pat, and, obviously realizing the humans might take a while, Frank lay down at their feet.
“How would we date, though?” Harper asked. “We’ve just watched a movie together on the sofa. Our life together has moved past dating scenarios.”
“Just because we live in the same house doesn’t mean we can’t go out on dates. Maybe we fool around if the mood strikes, the way a dating couple would.”
Her brows drew together. “Sex is a line in the sand for me in this relationship.”
“It doesn’t have to be sex.” He took another small step closer. “Holding hands. Making out. Just like if we were any other dating couple. And we see how it goes. If it’s making things messier, we haul it back again.”
She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth as she considered and he watched, mesmerized. He’d kissed that plump lip. What he wouldn’t give to be able to kiss it again right now. To pull it into his mouth and gently bite down...
She released her lip and blew out a breath. “If we keep crossing that line and then retreating, the line is going to get completely blurred.”
“It comes down to one question.” He took her other hand as well and brought them together—all four of their hands in one grip. “Harper, do you want to do this?”
She closed her eyes tight, as if in pain, before opening them and meeting his gaze head-on. “Of course I want to. That was never in question.”
“Then let’s give it a try. We’re both well aware of the potential pitfalls, which means we’ll be on our guard for them. Let’s just give it a try.”
She opened her mouth to say something, hesitated, swallowed hard, then nodded. “Sure. Okay. But it needs to be a trial, just to see how it goes.”
He wanted to haul her against him and hold her, but he knew the only way forward was cautiously, so instead he just said, “Deal.”
Tempted by the Wrong Twin Page 10
