All For You: Halfway ThereBuckhorn Ever AfterThe One You WantOne Perfect Night

by Susan Mallery

  It took some thought before Shohn recalled the girl she meant, and then he was the one scowling. “I’d had one date with her and she turned into a damned stalker.”

  “Oh, poor you. How tragic that a woman wanted a second date.”

  Worse and worse. “I have second dates.”

  She snorted.

  Actually he’d had fourth and fifth dates, but he never got serious about anyone because he liked his life too much to want it to change. With Nadine so unaccountably hostile, he didn’t bother trying to explain any of that to her. “So I’m not allowed to notice when you hire new people?”

  “Sure you can.” She gave a final, more furious yank and freed her hand, which she then tucked behind her back, out of his reach. “I hired Fred weeks ago. He helps keep up the grounds. Go around back and you can visit with him all you want while I try to get hold of your cousin.”

  He didn’t want to visit with Fred, damn it, and he didn’t want Nadine to brush him off. He preferred to stick around and maybe...win her over.

  Why, he didn’t know, since she wasn’t very high on his list. But it could have something to do with the heated scent of her sun-warmed body and all those ripe curves. He had the overwhelming urge to nuzzle the soft skin of her neck, her breasts...those lush thighs.

  “Shohn,” she warned in a shaky voice.

  Right now, with her hand behind her like that, her breasts were sort of jutting toward him.

  With a low growl, Nadine turned and flounced away.

  Pulled from his carnal thoughts, Shohn followed her. “You can call Amber, but you might not be able to reach her. She’s on her way home from a book fair or something.”

  She ignored him and snatched up her phone. “If she’s not home yet, why are you picking up Rookie?”

  “Amber said she’d be home tonight.” Shohn leaned on the counter and watched as Nadine hopped up onto a stool, the phone to her ear. She’d left her flip-flops on the floor and hooked her heels over the bottom rung of the stool. Cute toes. Really sexy legs, different from the model-thin girls he was used to seeing in bikinis at the lake.

  Wondering how Nadine would look in an itty-bitty bikini, he studied her thighs and murmured, “I guess she misses the big lug.”

  After the call went to voice mail, Nadine said, “Amber, this is Nadine Moest from Animal House. Call me, please. Your cousin Shohn is here to pick up Rookie, but I need your verbal permission before I can turn over the dog.” She hung up and looked at Shohn.

  Shohn managed to drag his attention from her legs to her face. “Well?”

  “Well, what? You heard what I said. I can’t give him to you until I hear from her.”

  They’d known each other since grade school. She was well acquainted with his lovely family. She had no reason to distrust him. But she looked as if she meant business. “You’re serious?”

  “About my responsibility to these dogs? You betcha.”

  Though ceiling fans whirled overhead, it was still too warm inside. The muggy heat nudged Shohn’s temper, but he sought to keep it under wraps. He supposed with that many dogs coming in and out, it’d be tough to adequately air-condition the place.

  Pushing back from the counter, he paced three steps away before facing her again. “Be reasonable, Nadine. You know me. You know Amber. We’re close.”

  “I know you misbehave and for some insane reason, Amber finds it endearing.”

  He drew himself up. “Misbehave? What am I? Five years old?”

  “Twenty-five—two years older than me.”

  Exactly. “I don’t misbehave.”

  “Oh, please.” She laughed without an ounce of humor. “I’m not criticizing. You do it well and I suppose for most of the ladies in the county it just adds to your reputation.”

  He folded his arms. “But you’re not of those ladies?”

  Letting out a breath, Nadine hopped off the stool—and sent fun body parts bouncing.

  With a lot of concentration, Shohn managed to keep his gaze on her face.

  “I don’t mean to be insulting, Shohn.”

  “Bull. You mean it.”

  For only a second, she grinned, and she looked so damned adorable that his heart thumped. He realized something important—he rarely saw Nadine smile like that. It did amazing things to her eyes, her mouth...her sex appeal.

  “Okay,” she teased, “maybe I mean it just a little. After all, you did ruin my last assistant.” Still barefoot, she came around the counter to him. “But that’s not what this is about. Yes, I know you and Amber are close. But the point is I have a legal obligation to only let the owners take their pets.”

  Hungry, sweaty and growing irate, Shohn put his hands on his hips and started to complain.

  “Once,” she said, cutting off his objection, “back when I first opened, a woman asked me to keep her dog for a week. A few days later, her husband came in to get the dog, saying they’d had a change of plans. He was nice enough, so I don’t know what it was that alerted me, but I felt like something wasn’t right. I told him I’d get the dog, but instead I went into a different room and called the woman.”

  Shohn had a bad feeling about where this was going. She’d opened up the place during his last year of college. He’d been away then, but he had a feeling this was a story worth hearing.

  “The woman panicked, saying the man had just attacked her and she’d barely escaped. She begged me to protect her dog.”

  Jesus. “What’d you do?”

  Nadine drew a deep breath. “I asked him to come into the waiting room and told him I’d have to fetch the dog from his walk. I offered him a drink and told him it would only take a few minutes.”

  “And?”

  “Instead of leading him into a waiting room, I took him into a storage closet that I always locked up at night. He caught on right before I slammed the door. I barely got it locked in time. He was...” She faded off, shaking her head and folding her arms around her middle. “Well, he was furious and wanted the whole world to know it.”

  Standing there like that, Nadine looked vulnerable and shaken all over again. Shohn had the urge to pull her close, but he knew her well enough not to try it. “You could have been hurt.”

  “Worse, one of the animals under my care could have been killed. But it all worked out. The sheriff got here in time and since the man’s wife was being treated at the hospital, it was an easy case to prosecute.”

  She was brave and a quick thinker. “That sort of thing happen often?”

  “Luckily, no, but now I never take anything for granted.” She stared up at him. “I need Amber’s permission.”

  Shohn blew out a long breath. “You realize there’s little similarity between me and some bastard that would hurt a woman or a dog?”

  She softened. “Of course I do. But it’s a good rule and I won’t break it.”

  And here he’d thought his job came with risks. Being alone in the woods put him at a distinct disadvantage when it came to danger. More often than not, his radio was far more important than his weapon. He was hours away from backup if he ran into trouble or got injured.

  But it sounded as if Nadine had danger knocking on her front door. “All right. I’ll text Amber and we’ll wait for her to reply.” He pulled out his cell and hit his contacts, then sent Amber a succinct message: Get in touch, brat, so I can get your dog.

  “Thanks for understanding.”

  “Like you said, it’s a good rule.” He stowed the phone back in his pocket, then rested his hand on his holster. “But I’ll be damned if I want to run all the way home just to come back out this way again.”

  “I don’t mind if you wait, as long as you don’t go flirting with my assistant.” She thought a second then flapped her hand. “Unless it’s Fred. You can flirt with him all you want.”


  “Funny, aren’t you?” The Animal House was located right outside town, close to the rangers’ station where he worked. It’d be a thirty-minute drive to get all the way home. No reason to backtrack if he could get what he needed here. “You got anything to eat? It’s been a long day and I’m starved.”

  She gave him an owl-eyed stare. “You want me to feed you?”

  Did she have to look so horrified by the idea? “I don’t need filet mignon, but a sandwich would be good. Just something to hold me over until Amber texts back.” He could always run to the nearest restaurant, but for whatever reason, he wasn’t in that big of a hurry to leave now. “That a problem?”

  She studied him in silence before finally shrugging. “I guess I can rustle you up something.” She went behind the counter, stepped into her flip-flops and headed out a side door. “Make yourself at home.”

  Instead, Shohn followed her. “Where are we going?”

  Nadine froze then slowly looked over her shoulder at him. “I’m going to get you food. You’re going back to Animal House to wait.”

  No, he wasn’t. He wanted to stick close to her, to figure out this sudden urge to...do things to her.

  Sexual things.

  Hot, nasty, possessive things.

  Looking beyond her in the direction she’d headed, he realized that the small outbuilding could be her home. “You live here?”

  A dozen different lies showed in her big brown eyes. “Um...”

  Screw it, Shohn thought. If she already considered him an irredeemable reprobate, he may as well quit trying to be polite. “Forget I asked.” Pulling his khaki uniform shirt from his cargo military-style pants, he started toward the building without her.

  Scandalized, she asked in a rush, “What are you doing?”

  “I need to cool down.” He unbuttoned the shirt as he went. On the side of the small building was a garden hose left uncoiled in the grass. Between the temps and the direction of his thoughts, he needed a douse of cold water in a bad way.

  “Wait a minute!” He heard her hustling along behind him. “You can’t do that!”

  He didn’t slow. “Sure I can.” He shrugged the shirt off and hung it over the limb of a tree. “I’ll be careful not to soak my weapons.”

  Nadine stopped dead in her tracks.

  Sitting on the ground, aware of her consuming stare, Shohn pulled up a foot and removed his boot. As he peeled off a sock, he glanced up at Nadine.

  She just stood there, one hand on her tummy, the other at her throat.

  Liking how she stared so fixedly at his chest, he smiled to himself. “Don’t get too close. I have sweaty...everything. But especially my feet.” He tugged off the other boot. “Some kid got stuck out on a rock in a stream today. I had to wade out and get him. In this heat, my pants dried, but my socks? Not so much. My feet have been swimming for over an hour now.” He rolled up his pants legs.

  Nadine hadn’t moved.

  “Also had a lady slide down a ravine into a patch of poison ivy. And some bozo misplaced his car. Couldn’t remember which lot he parked in before taking the expert trail up into the woods.” Shohn shook his head. “I swear, sometimes it’s a wonder the human race survives.”

  Because Nadine still stood there, mute and bug-eyed, he decided to tease her. Rising up to his feet, he reached for his belt buckle.

  She gasped so hard, it took her back a step.

  Shohn laughed. “Forget it, woman. I’m not stripping down for you, no matter how hard you stare.”

  She sputtered, turned, turned again and with a distinct, “Argh!” marched past him toward her small house.

  Shohn called after her, “I’m going to use your hose to cool off while you fix me something to eat.”

  “Drown yourself for all I care!” Her screen door slammed.

  In slow-mo, the grin spread until Shohn had to laugh aloud. Yeah, he had Nadine figured out now. She wanted him. Maybe not as much as he suddenly wanted her, but probably enough.

  Nothing else made any sense. He wasn’t an unlikable guy. Shoot, everyone liked him.

  And not to be vain, but he wasn’t an ogre, either. As a ranger, he stayed fit. Had to, what with the possibility of getting stuck in the woods, having to climb mountains, swim streams...hell, he was almost like Superman, if Superman had to hang in the Kentucky hills.

  He wasn’t dumb. He’d breezed through college even while having his fair share of fun. Right out of school he’d worked as a deputy for a year, and then signed on with the park rangers.

  He came from a great family. His dad was the most popular doctor in the county, his uncle Jordan the most respected vet. After many years serving as the sheriff, his uncle Morgan was now the mayor, and Uncle Gabe was a jack-of-all-trades who at one time or another had fixed something for everyone in Buckhorn County. Casey, his older brother, had a successful financial consulting firm.

  And he was nice. Everyone in Buckhorn told him so, but especially everyone female. He smiled easily, enjoyed laughing, helped others when he could. And yeah, he was successful with the ladies. He paid attention, pampered them, made sure they enjoyed sex as much as he did...why wouldn’t Nadine want him?

  She could protest all day long, but they had some explosive newfound chemistry going on, and he for one planned to explore it.

  The sooner the better.

  Bending forward, Shohn opened the hose over his head. The water was tepid at first, warmed from the hose’s position in the sun. By the time he rinsed his arms and feet, it had cooled. He didn’t want to soak his pants, his gun, stun baton or radio, so he only splashed his chest.

  He’d just finished using his shirt to dry off when his phone beeped. He took it out to see a message from Amber. Called and left Nadine a message. Thx!

  So he could leave now. Only...he didn’t want to. Not yet. Knowing he wouldn’t mention the message to Nadine, he texted back, Drive careful, and put the phone back in his pocket.

  Now somewhat refreshed, Shohn finger-combed his hair back, folded his shirt and put it with his socks and boots on her front porch, and peered in through her screen door.

  He had a clear view from the small living room straight into the kitchen—where Nadine was bent at the waist, getting something from a bottom cabinet.

  Lord have mercy.

  That heart-shaped ass offered such a nice invitation.

  Two things happened: his exhaustion evaporated, and Nadine moved up to the top of his list.

  Shohn said softly, “Knock, knock,” and opened the door to step in.

  * * *

  STARTLED, NADINE STRAIGHTENED in a rush, the fresh buns squeezed to her chest. She twisted around to face the door, and stalled.

  Shohn was in her house.

  Every scrumptious inch of him. Shirtless. Barefoot.

  Looking at her as if she was the meal.

  Be still my heart.

  He really had rinsed off, leaving his inky-black hair damp and pushed away from his forehead. Water droplets clung to his wide, tanned shoulders, then trailed down over his chest and into that crisp chest hair.

  Lucky little water droplets.

  A fire lit behind his dark eyes as he watched her. Long lashes lowered when his gaze moved down to her breasts, lower to her belly, then to her thighs. His lean jaw tightened, his high cheekbones flushed.

  And he moved that sinful body of his even closer.

  Filling her lungs with needed oxygen didn’t help because it also filled her head with his rich scent. Shohn Hudson smelled like the great outdoors, like heat and man and pure deliciousness.

  In contrast, she probably smelled like dog. “Shohn...”

  “Nadine.” He smiled, again looking into her eyes as if he knew her every thought.

  But why now?

  She’d k
nown him forever, and not once, not ever, had he come on to her. He was always his usual charming self—all while seducing every other young woman in Buckhorn County.

  But not her.

  Her he treated the same as he did elderly Mrs. Crook at the grocery, or twelve-year-old Suzy who helped her dad at the vegetable stand.

  Was Shohn bored? Was this retaliation because she wouldn’t let him have Rookie? Nadine pulled her brows down and asked, “What are you doing? You can’t just walk in here.”

  But he already had. And now he stalked toward her, his gaze touching all over her body again, turning her into a puddle of nerves.

  No, she would not let him toy with her like this. She lifted one hand, palm out. “Stop, Shohn. I mean it.”

  He did. He even looked confused by the fact that he’d intruded uninvited. He nodded at her chest and said, “You’re mangling the buns.”

  “What? Oh.” Now that he was no longer advancing on her, she turned and put the buns on the counter. Maybe if she didn’t see all that masculine perfection, she could get herself together. “I have some leftover barbecue. How’s that sound?”

  “You going to eat with me?”

  She’d planned to, but now, with him acting so differently—as if he were lustful or something—she just didn’t know.

  His breath brushed her ear when he spoke from right behind her. “So much hesitation. I won’t bite, you know.”

  Paralyzed by his nearness, she grabbed the counter to ground herself.

  When he whispered, “Unless you want me to,” it wasn’t just his breath she felt. It was his warm lips, too, barely touching her earlobe.

  Nadine almost knocked him over when she bolted out from between him and the counter. Spinning to face him, she backed up a few more steps and bumped into her fridge.

  Damn her cozy little cottage for being so...cozy.

  She put her shoulders back, lifted her chin and said, “All right, Shohn. Just what do you think you’re doing?”

  CHAPTER TWO

  ONE SIDE OF Shohn’s mouth curled. “You keep asking me that.”