do it.
She wouldn't ever make the mistakes
her mother had
made though. Not ever.
251
40
t was almost one o'clock when the
last few kids left
Ithe dance. Strung tight as a banjo
string, Colby
should have been tired, but she
wasn't. She and Ian had
barely said two words to each other
since he'd left the table
earlier, returning a little while
later with a set look on his
face. She'd danced with the
principal and a couple of other
acquaintances, all of whom were
married. Each of them
teased her about the silent music
she and Ian had been
dancing to. Colby made light of
their joking, while inside
cringing at the thought of how it
must have looked.
Ian hadn't asked her to dance again.
In a way, she was
relieved. She didn't think her
nerves could handle being that
close to him. She wasn't a good
enough actress to pretend
indifference.
Lena came by the table earlier and
said she wanted to
spend the night with Mil ie. The gym
was so crowded that
Colby barely caught a glimpse of her
the entire evening.
Some of the other parents helped
them clean up and
put away the stereo equipment. Once
they'd finished, she
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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
col ected her purse and coat and
deliberately avoided looking
at Ian. “I'm cal
ing it a night. 'Bye, everybody.
She'd just reached the parking lot
when a voice behind
her said, “Colby.
Wait up.
She turned around to find Ian
walking in her direction,
his hands shoved inside the pockets
of a long black wool coat
that made him look even more
appealing than he had earlier.
He held her gaze for a moment before
saying, “I'm sorry
for being such a jerk in there.
“You weren't.
“I was.
“Okay, so you
were.
That got a crooked smile out of him.
She looked away. “I
have to go. Good night, Ian.
“Would you like
to take a drive?
Tentative though the question was,
it surprised her. She
met his gaze and shivered in the
chil October air. “I real y
should get home, she said, stepping
back.
“Just to talk?
For a little while?
Common sense told her that going
anywhere with him at
this hour would be asking for
trouble. “It's not a good
idea.
“Probably not.
Put that way, with that particular
look on his good-
looking face, Colby ignored logic
and walked with him
through the parking lot. She climbed
inside the vehicle when
he opened the door, then sat waiting
for him to come
around to the other side.
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INGLATH COOPER
They left the high school and headed
out of town,
driving without saying anything. The
tension between them
all but hummed.
Blue Mountain Lake lay some ten
miles outside of town.
She recognized the turnoff to the
dam as soon as Ian
swung onto the narrow paved road
that led to the lookout.
It had been years since she'd been
out here. During the day,
the views were spectacular. She'd
never seen it in
moonlight. Until a couple of years
ago, it had been closed off
at night.
They pulled into the left-hand
corner of the lot. Ian
cut the engine, and everything went
black. He looped his
arms over the steering wheel and
stared out into the
darkness. “I have
no excuse for acting the way I did
tonight. I had a good time. Maybe
too good. And that was
the problem.
“You don't have
to apologize.
“Yeah, I do. He
hesitated and then said, “The only
excuse I have is that I wanted to
kiss you so much I
couldn't think straight.
She considered that, a little
shocked by his honesty.
“I still do, he
added, turning to look at her.
Colby's pulse began a slow, rhythmic
thud. It was cold
inside the vehicle, and yet she felt
suddenly warm, too
warm. She loosened her coat and
twisted the ring on her
right hand. “Ian.
. .you shouldn't be saying that.
“No, I shouldn't.
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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
She felt the force of his gaze on
her in the darkness, the
heat of it, the directness that told
her she hadn't imagined
the chemistry building between them
throughout the night.
When he moved toward her, she leaned
across the seat
to meet him, barely conscious of
doing so, as if some
irresistible force were pul ing them
together.
His hand slid behind her neck, his
thumb caressing the
side of her throat.
“I've done my
best not to think about you. About this,
he said, his voice low and ragged.
“And it's been driving
me crazy.
They sat there, mere inches between
them, suspended
between “Should
we? or “Shouldn't we?
When he eased her against his chest,
she realized
they'd been headed toward this al
night. Pretensions of
anything else fel away, leaving
nothing between them but
raw, honest feelings. Al the
lectures she'd given herself these
past weeks about getting involved
with a man who wasn't
free collapsed beneath the reality
of being in his arms. They
kissed like two people who had been
thinking about it for far
too long, their mouths open and
seeking, their arms locked
tight around each other.
Colby had been kissed before. She
was a grown woman.
She had a teenage daughter. But in
Ian's arms, she
felt
like a
teenager. His touch made her forget
al else. Pure, undiluted
physical attraction caught her in
its grip, full and ripe, like a
peach ready to fal from the tree.
Ian had taken his coat off before
they'd left the school,
but he stil wore his suit jacket.
Her own coat suddenly felt
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INGLATH COOPER
too cumbersome, too confining. As if
reading her thoughts,
he reached for her belt and untied
it, slipping his hands
inside to curve around her waist.
All the while, they kissed and the
clock on the
dashboard ticked, ticked.
Colby's hands found their way inside
Ian's jacket,
around to his back, where she
smoothed her palms across
corded muscle, then up to his
shoulder blades.
His hands cupped her face, tilting
her head back while he
nuzzled the line of her jaw. “You
smel so good, he said,
his voice hoarse at the edges.
The words were intoxicating. Colby
sighed, and
something inside her went warm and
liquid. His lips trailed
the curve of her neck, paused at the
hol ow of her throat
while his thumb stroked her pounding
pulse point.
No one had ever held her with such
appreciation, such
heat, such wanting. It was heady and
gratifying and
unbelievably empowering.
His kiss deepened, and the world
tilted on its axis. She
should stop him. Real y. But it had
been so long since a man
touched her this way. Since she had
wanted a man to touch
her this way. “Ian—
“I know, he said.
“I know.
She loosened his tie and marveled
that her fingers stil
functioned when her insides were
shaking. With the tie out
of the way, she undid the buttons of
his shirt. Surely she
would die if she didn't touch him.
Now. Now. Her hands
found him. Ah. Hair-roughened skin
over contoured muscle.
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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
He felt as wonderful as he looked.
She tugged the sides of
his shirt free from his pants.
“Colby—
Her name on his lips was low and tortured,
his breathing as uneven as her own.
She couldn't think for
wanting him. Al the reasons why they
shouldn't be doing
this slipped out of her grasp.
Nothing seemed more
important than following the road
before them, finding out
where it led. Their movements became
frantic, as if neither
of them could get close enough,
touch enough.
Headlights suddenly flooded the car.
The sound of
crunching gravel hit Colby like a
blast of cold air, jolting her
back to reality. “Oh,
no, she said. “Who is that?
“I don't know. He
adjusted her dress and pul ed her
coat around her shoulders.
He quickly buttoned his shirt just
before a flashlight
shone in through the driver's-side
window. She looked up,
completely blinded by the glare.
“Jefferson County
Sheriff's Department. Step out of
the car, please, the voice behind
the light said.
Ian opened the vehicle door and slid
out. “Is
something wrong, Officer?
Fear should have been Colby's
overriding emotion. But
mortification left it in its dust.
She recognized the deputy's
voice. Joe Middleton. They'd gone to
high school together.
He bent over and directed the beam
inside, once again
blinding her. “Is
that you, Colby?
“Hi, Joe. I
apologize if we were trespassing. We were,
ah, just looking for a quiet place
to talk.
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Joe chuckled, diverting the beam
toward the other end of
the darkened lot. “Yeah,
you and the rest of the
homecoming dance.
In the arc of light, she caught a
glimpse of a few other
cars, teenage boys standing outside
the doors while two
deputies questioned them. She closed
her eyes and pictured
the headlines in Monday's paper.
“Local Vet Arrested for
Parking at Blue Mountain Dam. A
second later, she added,
“With Engaged
Man.
Ian had stepped away from the car
with Joe. They talked
for a couple of minutes, but she
couldn't make out what they
were saying. When Ian got back in,
Joe leaned down and
said, “Night,
Colby. See you around.
Joe got into his car, following the
other vehicles from
the lot.
“I told him we
would head out in a few minutes, Ian
said.
Colby pushed her hair away from her
face. “I've
already written the article in
Monday's paper. I'd just gotten
to the part where I was trying to
explain this to Lena.
Ian dropped his head back on the
seat, a low chuckle
rumbling from his chest.
She laughed, too.
He sobered first, and even in the
dimness she saw the
light in his eyes. He shoved a hand
through his hair. “I'm
sorry about this. But I'm glad
you're the kind of woman
who can see the humor in it. He held
her gaze for several
long moments. “You
know, I think I've laughed more with
you in the past couple of months
than I have in years.
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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS
The words pleased her. A lot. “We
both got caught up
in things tonight, she said,
striving for reason. “The
dancing. Being al dressed up—
“I wish it were
that simple, he interrupted, his voice
serious now. Not knowing what to
say, she sat there, fighting
a feeling as easy to ignore as a
tidal wave coming in from
the ocean.
Still looking at her, his eyes dark
and intent, he said,
“My life's done a
one-eighty, and I don't know what to
make of it, anymore.
The admission took her by surprise.
“What do you
mean?
With the engine stil running, he
slid sideways to face
her, his left elbow propped on the
steering wheel, his right
knee on the emergency brake. “I
came here with my life all
mapped out for the next year. Since
I met you, not one
thing has gone the way I planned it.
When I'm around you, I
find myself doing things I never
intended to do. Like asking
you to come out here tonight.
“I shouldn't have
agreed. You're not entirely to
blame.
“I can't think
when I'm around you. And when I'm
not around you, you're all I think
about.
“I. . .I don't
know what to say to that, Ian. I
conveniently let myself forget that
there's another woman
in your life. That was wrong. I
can't be part of messing up
someone else's future. I'm a
practical woman. Practical
women don't have affairs with
unavailable men.
“Colby, I wasn't
asking you to—
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INGLATH COOPER
“Then what were
you asking me? We've agreed to be
friends, but friends don't do what
we just did. And they
don't want to do what we wanted to
do but didn't get around
to doing. If she hadn't been so
frustrated, she would have
laughed at herself. But she
was
frustrated and a little angry
now because he wasn't hers to want.
She
did
want him.
If she let this play out any
further, she would lose her
heart in a big way. She couldn't
afford to do that. She'd
tasted rejection once. Hopeless
situations were hopeless.
“I'd like to go
back now, she said.
He didn't say anything, merely
watched her a few
moments longer. “Okay,
he said final y, shifting in his seat