by Lori Foster
Buck was silent for a moment, watching her so intently, her knees felt ready to buckle.
In a voice that sounded remarkably seductive, he said, “You’re a real sweetheart, you know that?”
Her gaze shot up to his face. “What?” Had he just complimented her?
He tucked her hair behind her ear for her, smiled and said, “I’ll help cook while you tell me about Tish.”
No! He couldn’t say something like that and then act like nothing important had happened.
She wanted to know what he meant, but didn’t have the nerve to push him. “You can cook?” She no sooner asked it than she felt like a dolt. He certainly didn’t look malnourished.
“Yeah, I can cook.” He lifted her hand from his chest, kissed her palm and then nudged her out of his way so he could reach the stove. “Nothing too complicated, but breakfast is a must.” He turned the bacon with a fork before dropping butter in another skillet for the eggs. “You can make the toast. I’ll take four slices.”
Like a zombie, Sadie got out the loaf of bread and headed to the toaster.
“So why is Tish bald?”
That brought her around. Sadie glared at his broad back. At least he hadn’t said “ugly” again. She glanced at the little dog, now curled in a ray of sunshine with Butch snuggled up to her back. If Tish moved, Butch jumped up in expectation, only to lie back down when Tish failed to do anything astounding. Too cute. Both of them.
“Her previous owner let her breed with a dog that was too big. She had a really hard pregnancy and couldn’t deliver the puppies on her own. The vet had to do a cesarean section.”
“They do that to dogs?” He dropped eggs, two at a time, into the sizzling skillet. “Cesareans, I mean.”
“When they need to. It wasn’t just the size of the pups that gave her problems. She was undernourished, physically stressed in her labor, and someone had just left her on the shelter stoop.”
Buck turned from the stove to stare at her with an unreadable expression. “The puppies?”
“Were fine. All five of them.” Anger tightened her voice and left her stomach in knots. “Poor Tish didn’t know what was going on. She was so afraid and in painful labor. The trauma of surgery, especially the anesthesia, can make the fur fall out. But it’ll come back.”
Buck paused, then he, too, looked at the dog. “Poor little baby.”
At the sound of his voice, Tish lifted her head and stared at him.
Sadie’s throat ached, and her heart hurt. “Whoever had her also hit her.”
Without looking away from the dog, Buck stiffened. “How do you know?”
“The way she flinches if I lift a hand around her, as if she’s expecting a blow. She’s so afraid, she fights me every time I put her collar on her, and more often than not, she struggles until she can get out of it. I can’t put it on her any tighter without hurting her, and that I won’t do.” She glanced at Buck. “That’s how she got loose this morning.”
Buck looked as disturbed by the truth as she felt. “So don’t put a collar on her.”
“If I don’t, she might get away. I can’t bear the thought of her getting lost and being alone again.”
Buck turned away from the stove, a contemplative look on his face. Then he walked to her patio doors. Tish quickly darted out of his path, which meant Butch followed. Both dogs watched him from several feet away.
Sadie’s apartment wasn’t as upscale as Buck’s. Where he had French doors, she had sliders. He looked out, rubbing his chin in thought. “I could build you a little fence for her. Nothing permanent, so it wouldn’t get in the way when the maintenance guys cut the grass. But she’s so small, it wouldn’t take much to contain her. That way, you could wait to put the collar on her until she starts to like you.”
Offended, Sadie said, “She already likes me. That’s why she keeps bringing me gifts.”
“Gifts?”
“The…bugs and stuff.”
“She brings you a cicada because she likes you?” He grunted. “Good thing she doesn’t hate you, then.”
Ignoring that, Sadie explained, “We’re getting along. Tish’s just cautious.”
“Like you?”
Sadie went still. She was cautious, but she had thought she hid it well. “What do you mean?”
Buck returned to the stove and expertly flipped the eggs. “Anytime I get too close to you, you poker up like you think I’m going to bludgeon you or something.”
No, she pokered up like she thought she might jump his gorgeous bones. It didn’t matter that she was plain and inexperienced. She was as curious as any woman, with all the same desires. But because of her natural shyness, the overwhelming responsibility she’d held for a sick parent, and her own high standards, she’d had very little chance to indulge those desires.
Sometimes she felt ready to explode with frustration. And putting her next to a guy like Buck, a guy who oozed confidence and sex appeal, was like waving a flame around a keg of gasoline. She didn’t want to do anything to embarrass herself, so she tried very hard to contain her interest.
Naturally, she couldn’t tell him any of that. “I, uh, that is…”
“You don’t date much, do you?”
If by “not much” he meant never, then…
“Sorry,” he said, not sounding the least bit sorry. “I don’t mean to be nosy. Well, I guess I do. But I don’t mean for it to embarrass you.”
Sadie fell back against the counter. Her thoughts went this way and that, trying to figure him out. What possible reason could he have for wanting to know about her lack of a social life?
The wall clock ticked loudly while she considered it. The dogs stared at her in expectation. Sadie straightened. She had a man in her kitchen. And not just any man, but Buck Boswell. He was showing interest. He was more naked than not. Shyness be damned, she had a right to ask.
She cleared her throat. “Why do you want to know?” Her voice emerged as a hesitant squeak.
He carried both plates to the table. “A guy needs to find out these things.”
She looked at the dogs, and they looked back. No help there. They wore identical expressions of confusion. She turned back to Buck. “But…why?”
He moseyed over to the toaster and stared at it as if willing the bread to pop up. “We’re neighbors. We’re both single. Close to the same age.” He looked up at her. “I’m thirty-one.”
He seemed to expect some reply, so Sadie said, “I’m twenty-five,” and he nodded.
“We both have Chihuahuas, too. That’s a lot of stuff to have in common.”
He had to be kidding. In truth, they had nothing in common.
“I was hoping to visit more,” he said. “Hang out a little with you and Tish. But I don’t want to intrude if you’re going to be busy.”
“Visit more? Hang out?” Real intelligent, Sadie. Soon he’d consider her a blithering idiot, as well as a wallflower.
Buck shrugged away her stammers. “Yeah. Nothing formal.” He looked down at her, his green eyes warm and speculative. “For now.”
For now? Was he saying that, later, he’d want to get more formal?
“I mean, we have two dogs to deal with, right? Butch isn’t nervous like Tish, but he doesn’t much like to be left alone. No matter what I do, he’s on my heels.”
Sadie pointed out the obvious. “He’s not on your heels now.”
That made him grin. “No, he’s busy trying to woo Tish, but I’m still in his sights. He might not like it if I left. So maybe we could hang out together at my place or yours. Maybe watch a few movies or something.”
“Oh.”
He smiled down at her. “You like movies?”
“Yes.” She loved movies. They were a form of entertainment she could enjoy in her own home, with her pets nearby.
“Great. Seems like Tish would get used to you quicker if you were around more, right?”
Sadie bit her lip. “I didn’t intend to leave her alone, except when I go to work.�
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“But see, that’s the good part. I’m on vacation, so I don’t have to go to work. I could be here while you’re gone, and maybe she’d get used to me that much quicker, too.”
His sincerity held her in place as surely as if her feet were nailed to the floor. “I suppose.” She couldn’t believe this. Buck Boswell, a hulking bachelor with a score of women at his beck and call, was trying to sell her on the idea of him spending more time with her.
Or was it that he wanted to spend time with Tish? Sadie frowned, more than a little confused.
“If I’m here enough,” Buck continued, “she’ll start to trust me. And if she trusts one human, she’ll trust another, right?”
Sadie nodded. “That sounds, uh, reasonable.”
“And then maybe…” He smoothed his big hand over her hair, once again tucking it into place. “You’ll start to trust me a little, too.”
No one, except her mother, had ever felt free to touch her so casually. To keep from falling over, Sadie took two deep breaths. She had no idea what was going on.
His voice dropped when he murmured, “Your hair is really soft.” His thumb grazed her jawline. “Your skin, too.”
Sadie’s insides started a slow burn. She was about to melt when the toast popped up, making her jump a foot.
Buck reached for the toast before she could. “So tell me, you seriously involved with anyone right now?”
She was seriously involved in a fantasy. “No.”
He took a second to absorb her fast reply. “Casually dating anyone?”
Sadie shook her head.
He stared at her, brows slightly drawn, expression probing. “Dating at all?”
Why did she have to be so fair-skinned? Her blushes didn’t make her look pretty. They just made her look scalded. “No.”
“Why not?” Buck slathered an obscene amount of butter onto the toast while awaiting her answer.
What to tell him? The truth? She actually shuddered. No, some humiliations should be kept private forever. Like being stood up on prom night. Her blush intensified with the awful memory of standing there in her fancy dress with her fancy hairdo, feeling so giddy and anxious—and two hours later, finally accepting the reality that her date wouldn’t show. Being the sophomore joke had been enough to last her through the rest of high school.
She locked her knees. “There hasn’t been much time.” Her eyes sank shut at that awful fabrication. She had all the time in the world and he probably knew it.
“So you used to date, but don’t much anymore?”
She refused to bare her soul, to totally expose herself and her lacks. She was a grown woman, not a wounded child. Her chin lifted. “Are we going to eat this morning, or keep talking?”
“Let’s do both.” He turned to carry the toast to the table, and almost tripped over the dogs. Butch knew better than to think he’d get table food, but Tish apparently had no manners. She jumped, barked, begged.
“So now you like me?” Buck inquired of the little dog with a smile.
“Sorry.” Sadie hurried to the cabinet and got out the box of doggie treats. “When we first got her, she was so thin that everyone hand-fed her, just to make sure she’d eat. Now she thinks any food near a hand is hers for the taking.”
“It fattened her up, so I’d say it worked.”
Sadie couldn’t take offense at that comment; Tish was as plump as a little penguin. She dug out a small bone-shaped treat, then thought to ask, “Is it okay if I give Butch one, too?”
“Sure.” Buck sat the food on the table and again crouched down to pet Tish. She lurched away with a yelp, making him sigh. “That’s okay, baby. I understand.”
The way he knelt left his towel wide open over his spread knees. Sadie leaned forward to peek, but could only see his upper thighs. Nice, muscular thighs.
Buck turned to smile up at her. Either he didn’t notice what she was doing, or he chose to ignore it.
“I really want to hold that little dog.”
“I know. Me, too. Eventually she’ll let us.”
He turned back to the dog. “I’m always patient when I want something.”
His tone of voice was sweet and gentle. Tish watched him, creeping closer, inching toward the table.
“Good girl,” Buck crooned softly.
Slowly, he reached out to her. He was almost touching her when Tish snatched his colorful boxers off the back of the chair and ran off.
Startled, Buck shot back to his feet. “Hey!”
Sadie watched her run around the corner and into the living room. “Uh…”
Butch ran after Tish, and Buck was next in line. Sadie followed. The dogs had gone under her couch. When Buck knelt down to look underneath, both dogs barked at him, trying to warn him off.
“What the hell is she doing with my underwear?”
Sadie stared at the picture he made, on his knees peering under her furniture. “I don’t know.” And as Buck stood to face her, she said, “I can get them for you later, when she comes back out.”
Buck hesitated, then, amazingly enough, stood, slung his thick arm around her shoulders and led her back to the kitchen.
“I suppose that’ll be okay.”
Awareness made Sadie so stiff she could barely walk. Buck’s arm was heavy and warm, his embrace casual. He kept her tucked in close to his side. When they reached the kitchen, he pulled her chair out for her, waited until she got seated, then joined her at the table.
“So tell me what you do. I know you work at the shelter, but what’s your job there?”
He began eating, not paying her much mind, and that made it easier to converse with him. “I work as a vet’s assistant.”
He nodded. “I sort of figured it’d be something like that.”
“I’ve always loved animals.”
“It shows.”
He was so open and friendly, he made it easy to talk. “I’d always wanted to be a vet, but I never got my schooling finished for it.”
“How far did you get?” In two large bites, he finished off a piece of toast.
Watching him eat amazed Sadie. Without looking like a glutton, he polished off the food in short order. She pulled her gaze away from him to taste her own eggs. Delicious.
“I got accepted to a veterinary college,” she admitted, and hoped she didn’t sound boastful.
“Yeah? You have to have a really high GPA for that, right?”
She remembered how thrilled and proud her mother had been. Buck sounded almost as admiring. “Yes. Admission was selective, but I’d already completed a pre-veterinary curriculum with a strong focus on the sciences. Anatomy, physiology, chemistry, microbiology and some clinical sciences.”
“Wow. Heavy subjects. So what happened?”
Sadie toyed with her fork. “My mother needed me at home.” So that he wouldn’t misunderstand and think her mother selfish, she rushed through the rest of the explanation. “She’d raised me on her own. For as long as I can remember, it was just the two of us. She did a great job, but she was sick for years.”
“Sick how?”
“Cancer.” Just saying the word made Sadie relive the hurt. “She’d go into remission, feel a little better, then go downhill again. Each time it got worse and worse, and her recovery from treatment took longer. The cancer began to spread.” Her voice started to shake. It hadn’t been that long since she lost her mother, and talking about it still hurt. “I didn’t want her to be alone.”
Buck pushed his empty plate away. His brows were drawn with concern and sympathy. “You took care of her?”
“Me and a nurse who visited three times a week.”
“How old were you when she first got diagnosed with cancer?”
Looking back, it seemed her mother had always been ill, but Sadie knew that wasn’t true. It was just that when most young women were breaking away from home, striving for independence, she’d had to stay close to her mom. “We first found out she had breast cancer when I was almost fifteen. She ha
d surgery, and things seemed okay for a year or so. Then they found more cancer. Lung. Bone.” She swallowed and pushed her plate away. She couldn’t eat another bite. “Eventually brain cancer.”
Buck reached across the table and took her hand. “Must’ve been really rough.”
Watching her mother weaken over time had been a living hell. But she’d borne it all alone. There’d been no one, other than peripheral strangers—doctors, nurses and a variety of legal people—to offer her any support or assistance.
For years, she’d been hungry for human contact, and to compensate for that lack, she’d turned to the animals she’d understood best. But now Buck held her hand as if he really cared. Sadie was amazed, and very grateful.
“Toward the end, she had very few good days.”
Buck turned her hand over and rubbed her palm with his thumb while looking into her eyes. Sadie felt touched everywhere. Not just on her skin, but in her heart, too. For once, the icy memories didn’t linger. They got soothed away by the intrusion of other, warmer emotions.
It was the oddest feeling, like falling into a deep, heated pool. Silence stretched out between them. She saw Buck’s eyes narrow marginally, saw his shoulders tense.
He said, “Finish your breakfast, okay?”
“I am finished.” Her upset was over, but now she was too excited and anxious to eat.
The dogs came back into the kitchen, distracting them both. Tish crept, keeping her eyes on the humans. Butch just pranced beside her, waiting as Tish dragged the colorful cotton boxers to a sunny spot in front of the sliding doors. She laid them down, used her nose to push them this way and that, digging, tugging with her teeth, before circling three times and dropping into the middle of the material with a grunt.
Butch, openly confused but unwilling to be left out, glanced at Sadie and Buck, back at Tish, then curled into her side.
A slow grin came over Buck’s face. “I think she likes me.”
Sadie actually giggled. “If she’s willing to sleep in your underwear, then she must.”
He turned to face her, still holding her hand captive. “And what about you?”
“I don’t want to sleep in your underwear.”
Buck accepted the joke with a laugh. He tugged her closer, leaning toward her at the same time. “But do you like me, Sadie? Because I like you. A lot.”
