Authors: Lori Foster
“Hmm?” Sadie dug out her frying pan. Cooking for a man would be a unique experience. Her father had walked out when she was young, leaving her mother to raise her alone. As an only child, Sadie had no brothers, and her mother had never remarried. Because her mother’s health had always been frail, she’d never been a big eater. How many eggs would a man like Buck need?
She eyed his enormous form, decided on two, then changed her mind to three.
“About us not always hitting it off.”
She nearly dropped an egg. She didn’t want to discuss that, but apparently, she’d have to. She probably shouldn’t have said anything, but after his heroic rescue this morning, she felt she owed him an apology.
To keep from looking at him, she began laying bacon in the hot skillet. “I’m sure that was more my fault than yours.”
Buck leaned forward, bracing one elbow on the table. “Well, now, I don’t want to rile you, but until today, you have always seemed kind of cold.”
Sadie’s back stiffened. “Cold?”
“Unfriendly,” he said by way of explanation. “Standoffish. Maybe a little—”
“I get it.”
She glared at Buck.
He grinned. “Okay. Don’t bite my face off.”
Blast.
She turned back to the stove. Her words had been sharper than she’d meant them to be. But just because she hadn’t jumped all over him as most women did, he’d labeled her cold? She bit her lip, slapped two more slices of bacon into the pan, and said through her teeth, “Again, I apologize.”
A loud, masculine sigh accompanied the creaking of the chair, and suddenly he was behind her. He didn’t say a word, but the sensation of being cornered had her breath catching in her throat. Heat radiated off his big body, touching her all along her back. And she could smell him again, the delicious smell of warm male.
She couldn’t turn to face him.
“I riled you.”
“No.” Sadie denied that with a quick shake of her head.
“I’d like to get to know you better, Sadie.”
Oh, Lord. Her stomach dropped to her feet. She’d imagined this scenario many times, but the reality was a lot more nerve-racking.
His long hard fingers wrapped completely around her wrist, emphasizing the disparity in their sizes. He lifted her arm and his rough thumb coasted over a small scar, then another. “How’d you get these?”
With her heart ramming into her chest wall, speech was nearly impossible. “Dog.” She cleared her throat. “Make that plural. Sometimes the dogs are…nervous with me.”
“You let them bite you?”
“I don’t exactly
invite
them to, no. But it happens.” He was being so casual about touching her that she regained some—but not all—of her aplomb. “Most of the dogs I take in have been mistreated, abandoned, starved. Naturally, they don’t trust humans, with good reason. Anything can startle them.”
His thumb continued to caress her wrist, sending her senses rioting. “Hmm. Like what?”
He expected her to indulge in this conversation with him so close, his hands touching her, his expression intent? For most women, it’d be nothing out of the ordinary. For Sadie, it was unheard of.
She cleared her throat and tried to keep her voice steady. “Noise really bothers them. And when they’re scared, they lash out. A dog might bite, a cat might scratch. They don’t want to hurt me, but they’re so afraid.”
He frowned.
“It’s not their fault. When I first bring them home, I try to give them security and quiet, lots of love and comfort. If they hear a loud noise while I’m trying to get them used to me—”
“A loud noise, like a laugh?”
He caught on all too quickly. She ducked her head. “Sometimes.”
Carefully, Buck tugged on her wrist until she turned completely toward him. The top of her head reached his bristled chin. His mouth had gone flat and hard, his jaw tight.
She stared at his chest. He was just so…so
large.
And hard. And sexy.
What would it be like to run her fingers through that dark, curling chest hair? She knew it was soft because she’d already touched him there, earlier when she’d demanded his help. At the time she’d been too worried about Tish to really appreciate the feel of him. If she nestled her cheek—
He lifted her other arm and examined it, too. “I’m a jerk.”
She had to quit daydreaming. “No, you’re not.”
“That’s why you don’t like it when I have friends over and we make so much noise. That’s why you won’t ever join us.”
After all his help that morning, she had to be entirely honest with him. It was horrible to admit, but she had to be fair. “The noise can upset the animals, yes. But I don’t join in because I’m not very good in social settings.”
He bent his knees, lowering himself to look her in the eyes. “Yeah? How come?”
He was so close that she breathed in the heat of his skin. She felt tight from her toes to her eyebrows, and everywhere in between was jumpy. But the big goof probably had no idea what he did to her, how his nearness turned her inside out. He wasn’t flirting.
No man ever flirted with her.
Sadie stared at his right nipple and whispered, “Since moving here, I’ve been really busy.”
Skeptical, he said, “Busy, huh?”
She nodded. “Between work and caring for animals, I don’t have time to socialize.”
“But I’m right next door.”
He lifted her free hand and pressed it to his chest—right over the nipple she’d been ogling. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord. To not contract her fingers required all her concentration. She wanted to test his strength, knead him like a cat.
“You could bring your animals with you if you want.”
For a moment, Sadie wondered if she was dreaming. Buck couldn’t be serious. Not only was a man in her apartment, but now he was offering to let her visit, and with animals in tow?
Why would he make such a generous offer? “I’m…I’m usually not good company. Sometimes the dogs keep me up too late. They have nightmares just like anyone else and I get cranky without enough sleep.”
She sneaked a glance at him and saw she’d amused him again. Forging on, she added, “When I don’t make as much progress as I like, it gets to me. That makes me crabby, too.”
With Buck holding one hand, and her other braced on his rock-hard chest, she had to blow away the lock of hair that had fallen in her eyes. She should have taken more time when pinning it up.
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.”
“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.”