Home Is Where the Bark Is

by Kandy Shepherd

  Serena looked up at Nick to see the same deer-in-the-headlights expression she imagined she had on her own face. His breathing was none too easy, either. He raised his eyebrows, looked at the closed door, and quirked that sexy mouth. Perhaps he, too, was feeling the adolescent-like awkwardness of the moment.

  She smiled at him in shared camaraderie, then fought an irrational urge to giggle.

  Which was insane. Someone had stolen her identity and all her money. Everything she’d worked toward was gurgling down the puppy potty. And yet she felt like giggling at the thought of being caught by her staff member kissing a client. The same client who, if truth be told, she had been fantasizing about kissing from the moment she’d met him.

  The same client who had not told her the complete truth about himself and his dog.

  She found it impossible to believe that Nick had anything to do with the identity fraud that had stripped her of everything. For one thing, would he be here, kissing her in her office, if he’d taken off with all her funds? But still, there was still something about him and his Yorki-poo that did not seem right.

  Suddenly she didn’t feel like giggling anymore. She forced air into her lungs in a deep, steadying breath. Took a step right back from him and wrapped her arms tightly around herself.

  “Maybe . . . maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.” Her mind was trying to make sense of it. But her body was just clamoring for more. More kisses. More caresses. More Nick.

  She didn’t dare look at him in case she threw herself back in his arms. Rather she concentrated on her vet tech diploma that was framed and hanging on the wall behind him.

  He put one finger under her chin and tilted her face up so she had no choice but to look up into his face. “But it happened, and it was amazing,” he said in that deep, husky voice that sent shivers of desire up her spine.

  How could she ever have thought his eyes cold? And his mouth. His sexy, sexy mouth. She loved the way the top lip was narrower than the lower one and the way it curled up so sensuously at the corners. It made her want to run the tip of her tongue along it, to taste it again, to—

  “Amazing . . .” she repeated, still stunned by the kiss, dazed by the feelings it had aroused. It was amazing all right. Quite possibly the most amazing kiss she’d ever had. After all those months in the self-exiled celibacy zone those unleashed hormones had gone crazy.

  “But . . . it . . . it still sh-shouldn’t have happened,” she stuttered. Heavens above, she couldn’t even speak properly!

  This kiss had made her already-complicated life that much more complicated. Because it wasn’t just about hormones. It wasn’t just about awakened sexual hunger. It was about him. Nick. She liked him. Really liked him. Heck, she had even thought she might learn how to cook to impress him. That was a first.

  But what was it about him that still didn’t quite strike the right note? Why had he left so abruptly that day after lunch? She remembered how upset she’d felt. She hadn’t liked that feeling one little bit. Wasn’t sure she could cope with being plunged right back into the maelstrom of emotion that being with a man involved, the angsting if he didn’t call, the constant wondering was it something she’d said, something she’d done. After it ended, the devastation of squeezing a squeak toy just to hear the words “I love you.”

  “I don’t know that this is . . . is the time for kissing,” she said. “Not with everything else that’s happening.” She looked up to him, wordlessly imploring him to understand.

  Compassion. There it was in his eyes again. Somewhere behind the heat that was banked down now but still glowing.

  “Serena, let me help you,” he said. “Tell me what you need me to do, and I’ll do it.”

  Now she gripped her hands together to control the trembling. “I . . . I don’t know what you can do to help me. I don’t know what anyone could do. I’m only just getting my head around what’s happened.”

  Her voice threatened to tip into hysteria, but with a great effort of will she forced it to stay level. She forced herself not to throw herself into his arms and take every bit of help this gorgeous hunk of man could offer. It was really important to her that she stood on her own two feet and fought her own battles. Not take the easy route as she had done so many times before. Paws-A-While had to be her success.

  Kylie rapped on the door again. “Hey, guys, hurry up in there!”

  Nick placed his hands on her shoulders to anchor her. “Trust me. I can help, if you’ll let me. We have to talk.”

  Trust me.

  Why was it when people said that, she always felt like running a mile? Why should she trust him? She scarcely knew him.

  But oh, how those hungry hormones want to get to know him better.

  Serena stepped back so he was forced to lift his hands from her shoulders. Freed from his touch she felt more clearheaded, more able to think. She could not let herself be distracted by the feel of his hands on her body. Even their light touch on her shoulders sent her senses zinging.

  She kept her voice low, wary of Kylie on the other side of the door. “Nick, tell me straight out—have you ever lied to me?”

  He hesitated for just a microsecond. But she noticed it. Pounced on it like a puppy on a chew toy. “No. But there are things I need to explain—” he said.

  Another knock on the door. Now Kylie’s voice was edged with impatience. “Shall I ring the vet hospital? Tell them you’re not coming?”

  Serena cleared her throat, called back to Kylie. “No. Wait. Nick is on his way. And I—”

  He put his hand over her mouth. Just long enough for her to be shocked into silence. “Don’t say anything about the identity fraud. It’s vital you keep it to yourself.” His voice came in a harsh, urgent whisper.

  She felt suddenly very unsure. Even a bit frightened. “You’re losing me, Nick. I don’t get it. What does what’s happened to me have to do with you?”

  “You have to trust me.”

  “I really don’t—”

  “Just until I get back. I’ll tell you everything then.”

  Everything? What hadn’t he been telling her? How much was there to tell?

  Kylie called through the door again. “If Nick can’t make it, I’ll go with Adam to the vet,” Kylie called.

  “Adam?” said Serena.

  “No need for that. I’m coming out,” Nick called through the door. Then to Serena: “Adam is my business partner. Here to give me a hand with Mack.”

  “But I—”

  He had his hand on the door handle. “Remember. Don’t tell anyone—and I mean anyone—what happened with the bank.”

  She shook her head from side to side. “I don’t know why I’m agreeing to this, but okay.”

  Nick opened the door and pushed it wide. She followed him out. Then fought the impulse to snatch her hand to her mouth.

  There seemed to be a cast of thousands outside the door. But closer focus showed it to be just an indignant Kylie, a tall, dark-haired man wearing frameless glasses immediately behind her, and beyond that the rest of the staff, who quickly dispersed and pretended to be working.

  “About time,” Kylie huffed. “If you miss the appointment, Mack might have to wait for days.”

  “It’s all right, Kylie,” she said. “Mack will get to the vet on time.” She was surprised how normal her voice sounded to her own ears.

  On the bookshelf in her office was a snow globe—a gift from Maddy—that contained a figurine of a Maltese terrier dressed in a striped red scarf and a Santa hat. When she’d gone into that office before the call from the bank, all had been right in her dog-centered little world—just like that tiny plastic Maltese. Now, leaving the room, she felt like she was in a snow globe that had been shaken and shaken and shaken and the snowflakes had settled on a completely different world with the ground uneven and treacherous beneath her unsteady feet.

  “Everything okay?” said Kylie, looking from Serena to Nick and back again.

  It was killing Serena to smile and act a
s if everything was okay when it was so not okay.

  Insufficient funds to pay the wages.

  All her hard-earned modeling money—her safety net for the first year of business—gone. If Paws-A-While had to close, Kylie would be out of a job. So would the others. “I had a problem with the darn accounting software. You know how frustrated I get with it. Nick was able to help me.That’s all.”

  Kylie’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You’re sure about that?” She was as protective as a barnyard cat with its kittens. Serena appreciated that. Kylie had started out as an employee but was becoming a friend. She dreaded having to tell her what had happened.

  Serena made a point of looking at her watch. “Kylie’s right. You’ve got to get Mack to the vet, pronto.”

  “You’re not going with him?” asked Kylie.

  Serena shook her head. Lydia, her regular vet, who was also a friend, had sung the surgeon’s praises, and she would like to meet him herself. But she didn’t think she could stand having to go out and act normal in front of strangers. And she needed time to think about what had happened with Nick.

  Truth was, she felt barely able to stay upright. Nausea rose in her throat at the thought of telling Maddy what had happened—Brutus was a major investor; his funds were at risk. In a way, she was grateful to Nick for his demand not to talk to anyone about the disaster just yet. She wasn’t good at sharing her pain with humans. She just wanted to spend time with the dogs and their simple, uncomplicated attitude to life. Maybe then she could come up with some kind of plan.

  She turned to Kylie. “I’d go to the vet if I didn’t have so much to sort here. But Mack is Nick’s dog now. It will help them bond.”

  “True,” said Kylie. “A bit of doggy-daddy together time never did any harm.”

  Serena did not dare look at Nick to catch his reaction to Kylie’s comments.

  “Did I hear someone say that Jenna was here?” Serena said.

  “She dropped in an order but couldn’t wait. She asked could you please give her a call.”

  Outside she was smiling; inside Serena was churning with anxiety. What if Jenna asked why her invoice hadn’t been paid? Jenna was a doctoral student working on her thesis in some highly complex area of mathematics that Serena didn’t even pretend to understand. Jenna needed her income from Paws-A-While as much as Kylie did.

  This just got worse and worse.

  Serena turned her gaze to the tall, dark-haired man wearing glasses who hovered behind Kylie. Leaner than Nick, he gave the same impression of coiled strength in a Clark Kentish type of way. Somehow she’d never thought of insurance assessors as being as built as both Nick and this guy.

  “This is my colleague, Adam Shore,” said Nick. “He’s here to lend some muscle if we need help with Mack.”

  Adam was impeccably polite but the way he kept his gaze forcedly above her neck made it obvious he was not oblivious to her past as Serena St. James. Could he tell she’d been kissing his friend? If he made some innuendo-laden remark, it might just send her over the top.

  How long until she was able to put the girl-in-a-bath-of-chocolate thing behind her? It had made her enough money to start Paws-A-While and to live comfortably in the apartment upstairs. Sometimes she wondered if the notoriety it had brought with it had been worth the money.

  One thing was for certain: never, ever again would she pose half nude in a tub of chocolate. Nothing could make her do that again. No matter how much money she was offered—the amount of dollars went up with every call from her agent. Not even if she’d lost everything to identity fraud.

  But if Adam was wondering about the chocolate thing, he certainly gave no evidence of it. In fact, the way he was covertly checking out Kylie made her wonder if short, curvy blonds were more to his taste. Maybe that was why Kylie had sounded so eager to go with him to the vet?

  Kylie was practically hopping from foot to foot with impatience. “Time, people. You guys have gotta get that big mutt into your car and around to the vet hospital.”

  “Right,” said Serena. Curious about Adam, she walked alongside him to the playroom. “The vet hospital is only a walk away,” she explained, “but poor Mack’s knee is too bad for him to take weight on it for any distance.”

  “Nick told me,” said Adam. “I’m just here to help.”

  “Do you have a dog of your own?”

  “No,” he said. “I live in an apartment with a very dog-unfriendly landlord.”

  Mack lurched to his feet to greet them, but his knee was obviously bothering him. He suddenly whipped his head around and furiously licked his knee joint. But Nick was immediately there to help him, and Serena noted how the big dog was already comfortable with Nick. “I’ll lift him,” said Nick to Adam, “then you help me get him into the car.”

  “Wait,” said Serena. “Kylie, can you get another collar for Mack from stock? That really nice embossed leather red one will do the trick.”

  “Sure,” said Kylie and turned on her heel.

  Nick stopped what he was doing with Mack. “Another collar?”

  She intercepted a quick glance between Nick and Adam that she didn’t understand.

  “Uh, can I ask why?” said Nick.

  Serena pulled a face. “I can’t stand this studded number he’s wearing. It’s way too butch for Mack, don’t you agree?”

  “I, uh, guess so.”

  “People are nervous enough around a black dog his size without making him look so intimidating with that brutish collar. He’s a gentle giant with a sweet nature and needs a collar to match his personality.” She knelt down and unfastened the ugly collar she had disliked from the get-go. “Something smart and cheerful. He’ll look very handsome with a red collar.”

  “You mean you didn’t choose that collar he’s wearing?” Nick asked.

  “Heck no, I hate it. He was wearing it when his owner brought him in. But now that he has a new owner I think he should have a new collar.”

  She smiled at Nick. It made her feel warm every time she thought of Mack going to a good home. Amidst all the bad things happening, Nick paying for Mack’s knee operation and adopting him was a good thing. “Let me give it to you as a gift.”

  That nerve in Nick’s jawline twitched. He seemed mesmerized by Mack’s old collar as it swung from her hand. “What will you do with the old collar?” he asked.

  “Throw it out. Recycle it.”

  “Can I have it?” asked Nick, his eyes watching it swing back and forth.

  “Oh. Of course. He’s your dog now. You might like the studded collar. I’m sorry; it’s not my place—”

  “No. No. The red collar sounds great. I agree with you entirely. It’s just I know someone else who would really like to have that collar.”

  “It’s me,” said Adam. “I want the collar.” He held out his hand.

  Puzzled, Serena frowned. “But you don’t have a dog,” she said, hanging on to the leather band.

  “No. But I will one day and that is just the collar I would like for my dog. When I get him, that is. The collar would look great on a . . . on a pit bull.”

  Serena shrugged. Adam seemed more a Dalmatian type of guy to her. A Dalmatian with an altogether more elegant style of collar than this. Though black would look okay on a Dalmatian, just not the ugly studs . . .

  Obviously her matching-dog-to-owner intuition was failing. First Nick with a Yorki-poo and now his partner with dreams of a macho pit bull terrier. How off target could she get?

  She handed the collar over to Adam. “It’s yours, Adam. I hope your future dog will be very happy with it.”

  “Thanks,” said Adam, holding the darn collar as if it were studded with diamonds. There was definitely no accounting for tastes when it came to dogs and dog accessories.

  Nick spoke to her in an urgent undertone that she had to lean close to hear. “We have to talk. When I bring Mack back.”

  “I’ll be here,” she said.

  “No. Not here. A coffee shop maybe.”

>   “Okay,” she said, not sure why she was acquiescing and hoping like hell that he would make things clearer when they next met.

  Kylie came out to help load Mack into Nick’s truck. As soon as she had gone back inside and Nick was back in the driver’s seat, he turned to Adam. His business partner was gloating over the collar, turning it over and over in his hands.

  “Definitely a micro surveillance camera in there. An expensive one. Relaying to a cell phone most likely. Although I think—”

  Nick shot him a warning glance.

  “Don’t worry,” said Adam. “I’ve disabled it. They can’t hear us or see us. Whoever ‘they’ might be.”

  “Now they’ll know we’ve found it.”

  “That’s a risk we have to take. It might even flush him out.”

  “We know it’s not Serena. You heard her. She didn’t put that collar on the dog.”

  “So she says.”

  “She was going to put it in the trash.”

  “And you believe her?”

  “Yes, I do. She’s got nothing to do with the fraud. Except for being its latest victim.”

  As he drove away from Paws-A-While, Nick relayed to Adam what Serena had told him.

  By the time he’d finished they were parked in the veterinary hospital’s designated parking area. For all that rush against the clock, they were five minutes early.

  Adam swore. “You better be right about Serena. It’s easy enough to check if she’s telling the truth. And I will.”

  For the first time Nick felt angry with his partner. “You do that. But I’m certain she’s telling the truth.”

  “She could be setting herself up as victim to deflect attention from herself. It’s been done before.”

  “Not by Serena. She’s innocent.” He’d felt his instincts had gotten out of whack. Now that gut feel he’d learned to trust was back. “I’d stake everything on it.”

  “Everything?” His partner looked at him with cool, level eyes. “You’re sure you want to take that gamble?”