Animal Attraction

Lori Foster

Maisey Yates

Heidi Betts

Jules Bennett

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Four of today’s most popular romance authors introduce four sizzling new tales of finding love unexpectedly—with a little help from man’s best friend. Includes an all-new Buckhorn Brothers story from New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster!

The authors are donating all of their proceeds from Animal Attraction to the Animal Adoption Foundation of Hamilton, OH, a charitable organization.

Anthology includes:

Buckhorn Ever After by New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster

Imagine Me and You by USA TODAY bestselling author Maisey Yates

Gimme Shelter by USA TODAY bestselling author Heidi Betts

Partner in Crime by Jules Bennett

Table of Contents

Buckhorn Ever After By Lori Foster

Imagine Me and You By Maisey Yates

Gimme Shelter By Heidi Betts

Partner in Crime By Jules Bennett

BUCKHORN

EVER AFTER

Lori Foster

To Shawn Heighton,

I greatly appreciate your insight into the duties of Park Rangers. The details you shared were invaluable, but I also very much enjoyed your own personal take on moral duty. I have a feeling that many park rangers feel the same, on duty or off.

Thank you for what you do!

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

About Lori Foster

Chapter One

Even at 7:00 p.m., the summer sun hung in the sky, a giant red ball of heat scorching the earth, ramping up his frustration and stealing the remainder of his energy. Sweat glued the back of Shohn Hudson’s uniform shirt to his spine and plastered his hair to his head. After the long day of chaos, he wanted to grab a cool dip in the lake, bum dinner off his folks and then head home to sleep in blessed air-conditioning.

The day had been so hellish, he didn’t even want female company, had in fact turned down a few sexy campers. The ladies hadn’t been shy when asking him to stick around and “share their campfire” with them.

But with other obligations still waiting, not to mention the restrictions of being a ranger, he’d declined, and then lectured them on fire safety.

And now, instead of heading to the lake, he drove to the Animal House Pet Hotel to pick up Amber’s dog for her. His cousin had lousy timing for a favor, not that she’d realize it was lousy timing. And he did owe her. Amber had saved his ass many times by running interference for him, helping him to shake off the women who refused to take a hint.

Pulling into the gravel lot, Shohn admired yet again the setup that housed upward of thirty dogs at a time. He and his family were all animal lovers, and they appreciated the upscale, friendly, caring atmosphere of the place. Anyone in Buckhorn County who needed to board a pet came to the Animal House for top-of-the-line care. From tall shade trees to a grassy field, an obstacle course to a big doggy pool, an exercise track to a play area, Nadine Moest gave dogs the best of everything.

Unfortunately, as far as the females in Buckhorn County went, Nadine was the least interesting on his “maybe someday” list. Never mind that she had a banging body, or that she’d factored into his hottest adolescent fantasies; he and Nadine were friends, nothing more, so most of the time, she didn’t even make that list.

Most of the time.

Speak of the devil...

As Shohn put the Jeep in Park, Nadine came around to the front of the building walking three big dogs, two leashes in one hand, one in the other. She had her long brown hair in a sloppy top-of-her-head bun that threatened to topple at any second. Snug shorts showed off her plump thighs and a spectacularly rounded ass as she directed the dogs. Nadine Moest was not a skin-and-bones kind of girl.

Her loose T-shirt couldn’t hide her generous rack, especially with the words I Heart Wet Kisses drawing his attention. Her shirt was as sweaty as his, a little dusty and had a picture of a dog to go along with the text.

When they spotted him, the dogs began to bark in glee, straining against their leashes. Dark glasses hid Nadine’s eyes, but Shohn could tell that she frowned as she approached his car.

As she reached him, she shoved the oversize sunglasses to the top of her head. “Hey, Shohn. What are you doing here?”

No smile, no happiness at seeing him. That was one of the things about Nadine that he liked least of all—her complete and utter indifference to him.

He rested one arm over the open window frame, the other over the steering wheel. “Picking up Amber’s dog for her.”

The dogs pulled Nadine this way and that, making her boobs jiggle, and since she was right there outside his driver’s side window, well, how was he not supposed to make note of it?

“Amber didn’t say anything to me about you picking up Rookie.”

“Must’ve slipped her mind.” No way was she wearing a bra. Things were moving too easily under there to have any type of restraint.

“Sorry,” she said in a voice gone high. “You can’t have him unless Amber specifically tells me to give him to you.”

“The hell you say.” Hearing the conviction in her tone, Shohn put his ranger hat on the seat, rolled down the remaining windows to let in any scarce breeze that might decide to stir up and opened the door of his Jeep, forcing Nadine to back up. The dogs went berserk with happiness, barking and jumping and nearly taking her off her feet.

He relieved her of a leash—clearly against her wishes.

“Shohn!”

“Nadine.” He smiled, but it had no discernible effect on her. Difficult girl. “Relax,” he told her. “Dogs like me.”

She eyed his utility belt with the Glock, the mace, the spare ammo. “Only trained staff is supposed to handle the dogs.”

“I know what I’m doing.” He knelt down to talk to the husky. “You giving her a hard time, boy?”

“Girl,” Nadine corrected. And then, under her breath, “And here they call you an expert.”

“Hadn’t gotten the back view yet, Nadine.” He rubbed the dog’s head and straightened again. “An expert what?”

She went still, her face flushing, and she frowned some more. “Nothing. Never mind.” She turned and started in. “I’ll call Amber to see if she gives permission.”

Shohn watched the jiggling of her rounded rump in the snug shorts until the husky gave an impatient jerk of the leash. Following behind her, he asked, “You think I’d lie about it?”

“I think I have liability to consider.” She held the door open for him.

Two steps up the porch and he heard the din of a dozen dogs playing. “You’ve known my family forever, Nadine.” Deliberately he sidled in close to her, his chest brushing her...chin. At five-four, she was so much shorter than his six-one that he’d have to bend down to rub against her breasts.

“Your family is terrific,” she said in that slightly shrill voice again. “Lovely, even.” She let the door drop on him and hurried along.

Meaning his family was lovely, but he wasn’t? Not that he wanted to be lovely, for crying out loud. “I don’t lie. If I tell you that Amber sent me, then she—”

“I’ll give her a call to confirm it.” Nadine led the dogs down a hallway and into a penned area at the rear of the house.

Shohn surveyed the room. It was spacious with dog toys everywhere, watering stations, stacked beds and various play stations. Even with so many dogs inside, it looked clean, which had to mean she worked on it nonstop.

“Come on, then,” Nadine grumbled. “She wants to get back in.”

Shohn brought the husky up close and Nadine let her into the pen and then unleashed her. She took off at a run.

An assistant was in the penned area, tossing balls, rubber chew toys and raggedy stuffed animals from a big basket. She was young, slim, cute...

Bristling, Nadine stepped in front of him. “Don’t even think it, Shohn Hudson.”

Leaning away from that venomous tone, Shohn lifted his brows. “Think what?”

“About hitting on my assistant, that’s what.” One hand on his chest, she backed him up two steps. “She’s off-limits to you.”

“Hey, I’m armed,” he teased.

“I noticed.”

Her gaze dipped down his body again, but it didn’t seem to be his gun that held her attention. “Keep that up and I’ll be packing a different type of heat.”

She shook her head as if to clear it. “I mean it, mister. I like Roxi. She’s doing a great job. I do not want you corrupting her.”

What the hell? Shohn planted his feet and refused to back up any farther. So Nadine not only wasn’t interested in him, she also had a very low opinion of him. It didn’t make any sense. As a general rule, women liked him. “How the hell would I corrupt her?”

Her flattened hand turned into a pointing finger that poked, poked, poked with her every word. “The last girl you played with started calling in sick, leaving early and, instead of working when she was here, she was forever checking her text messages, hoping you had contacted her.”

Shohn caught her finger and held on.

She pulled, and when he didn’t release her, she beetled her brows over her big brown eyes. “You hadn’t.”

With her looking at him like that, he had a hard time keeping up. “Hadn’t what?”

“Called her,” she said with exasperation, and again tried to free her pointy finger.

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 known 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.”

“Only because you keep doing...stuff!” Oh, God, she was screeching.

With a lot of carnal insinuation, he murmured, “Not the stuff I’d like to be doing.”

Don’t ask, Nadine. Do. Not. Ask. She even bit her lip to keep her sensual curiosity from exploding.

Shohn smiled. “You’d rather I just surprise you?”

“No.” Get it together, Nadine. She cleared her throat. “Do you want to eat or not?”

“Definitely yes.”

The way he said that, with so much heat burning in his eyes, left her even more unsettled. “Then grab a seat at the table. I only have a few minutes left before I need to let the others head home.”

He looked undecided before finally turning a chair at the little table and straddling it.

Relieved, and maybe a little disappointed, too, Nadine went to the microwave and pulled out the now-steaming barbecue. She loaded cheese from the fridge, a bag of chips, two paper plates and two cans of Coke onto a tray.

With his gaze tracking her every move, Shohn asked, “Can I do anything to help?”

Stop trying to melt me. “No. Just...stay over there.” If he started bumping that hot, hard body into her again, she’d end up dragging him down to the floor. “Everything is ready.”

He stood to take the tray from her, holding it in one hand so he could pull out her chair with the other. Such a gentleman. Of course, all the men from his family were the same, meaning they were all gorgeous, sexy, protective, mannerly and alpha. Even the girls seemed to have gotten a little extra “oomph” from that amazing gene pool.

While she loaded up the buns with barbecue, Shohn popped open the drinks. “So once everyone clocks out, you’ll be here alone?”

Uh-oh. She didn’t, couldn’t, look at him. “Me, and twenty-five dogs.” Going past that as fast as she could, she added, “I’ll have at least an hour’s worth of work to get through yet before I can call it a day.”

“What time did you start work?”

“I let the dogs out into the yard early. Around six or so.” She wrinkled her nose. “Cuts back on cleanup.”

“They don’t ever fight with each other?”

“You know right away which animals are social and which ones prefer a little privacy. A big part of the backyard is divided up to suit them all, with separate runs and fenced areas.”

“That’s a long day.” He nodded to the clock on her wall. “It’s almost eight.”

“Overall, it doesn’t really seem like work. I love animals, they love me.” She put some chips on her plate and handed him the bag. With a telling glance his way, she said, “It’s the pet owners who are sometimes a bother.” Especially when they flaunt their perfect pecs at the dinner table.

“Since I was a bother,” Shohn teased, “why don’t I hang around and help you put the pups to bed for the night.”

No, and no. “That’s okay. I have a routine.” And she didn’t even want to say “Shohn” and “bed” in the same sentence, never mind that he meant small pet beds.

“Then let me bring dinner by tomorrow as a payback.” He ate half his sandwich in two big bites. “It’s the least I can do.”

She was already shaking her head, denying him. “No, really. It’s only warmed-up barbecue. No payback necessary.” And trying this twice would be too much temptation.

He finished his sandwich, downed half his Coke then folded his arms on the table and studied her. “You’re not going to give an inch, are you?”

Definitely not. She thought about pretending she didn’t understand, but knowing Shohn, he’d just spell it out for her. So instead, she rolled a shoulder, drank her own Coke and said, “There’s no point.”

“The point could be lust, chemistry—or even good old fun.”

Oh, I bet you would be so fun. Then she caught herself. Be strong, Nadine! She picked up a few chips and tried for a casual tone. “Yeah, see, I’m not into being another conquest for the infamous Shohn Hudson.”

“Infamous?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know.” She rolled her eyes and jammed the chips in her mouth.

“Okay, you mean sex.” He slowly pushed away from his chair.

Nadine sank back in hers. Gaze watchful, she now regretted that mouthful of chips.

“Hot sex,” Shohn clarified as he stood. “With me.”

Nadine gulped down the chips, choked a little and nodded. “Yes.” She coughed, swigged down more Coke and nodded again. “Yes, that’s what I mean.”

Eyes intent, mouth barely curled in a small smile, he circled the table.

She wanted to sink under it...and maybe take him with her for a little hanky-panky.

He stopped beside her chair, right there so that her gaze was level with his abs and she got the up-close-and-personal view of that mesmerizing happy trail that disappeared into his uniform pants.

The temp in the kitchen spiked...oh, a hundred degrees or so.

Shohn brushed the back of one knuckle over her cheek. “How come we’ve never gotten together, Nadine?”

That snapped her out of the spell. In a rush, she shoved her own chair back and scrambled to her feet behind it. Finger pointing, she said, “Because you’ve always treated me like I was a relative or a guy friend or...or old or something.”

Instead of her accusation bothering him, he went all alpha sexy male on her. “So it wasn’t disinterest on your part?”

Jerk! “No, it was disinterest on your part!”

“I must’ve been blind or something.”

Yeah, right. She knew the truth: she wasn’t in his league and never would be. “As far as I’m concerned, you can just go on being disinterested.”

“No, I don’t think I can.” He stepped toward her. She backed up. He stopped. “Are you afraid of me?”

Ha! Stepping around the chair, Nadine butted up to him. “Not a chance.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Oh, her stupid pride. She tried to retreat a little. “Look, Shohn, be reasonable here. You are not, have never been, into me that way.”

He stared at her mouth. “Am now.”

“Well, tough!” It’s too late. “My life is busy enough as is without me trying to fit in a...a fling, or whatever it is you have on your mind.”

“I have all kinds of things on my mind.”

She could only imagine how wonderful those things would be. “Dial it down already, will you?” To give herself something to do other than reciprocate, she began stacking the remains of their dinner back onto the tray. “It won’t do you any good,” she lied. “I’m seduction-proof because I plain don’t have the time for it.”

“For it—or for me?”

“Take your pick.” He looked equal parts insulted and challenged by that, so she kept talking fast in the hopes they could just move past it. “Right now, I need to get out there to let my workers go home. Then I need to start moving the dogs into their beds so I can lock up. You’re right, it has been a long day and I still have a ton of things to do.”

“I offered to help.”

If he stuck around, all shirtless and sexy, she wouldn’t get anything done because she’d spend all her time staring at him. Carrying the tray to the kitchen, she said, “And I told you no, so let it go.” She would not let him bully her, make her feel guilty or cause her to cave in. She had bucketsful of pride and by God, she’d hold on to it. “I do wish Amber would call back, though.” Then he could take the dog and leave.

“She already did.”

Nadine paused in the middle of putting away their mess. In a slow simmer, she turned to Shohn. He leaned there against the fridge, one hand braced on his holster, expression taunting.

“When?”

“Right before I came in here she sent me a text saying she’d called you and left a message.”

And he’d kept that to himself! She scowled. “If you’d told me—”

“You’d have given Rookie to me and sent me away.” He gave up his casual pose and closed the space between them. “But I didn’t want to go. Still don’t.” When she started to object, he cut her off. “Thing is, I’m not into forcing my company on women.”

“You just did!”

He ignored that to suggest, “How about a compromise?”

Said the spider to the fly. She stared up at him, aware of his naked chest so close, knowing he wanted her, even if only for a lark. From the time he was eight or nine years old, Shohn had been flirting with females and winning them over. The elders thought him charming, the young girls had crushes and those his age bragged about how good he was in bed. They all adored him.

Damn it, she would not be that easy. She would not be like everyone else. She would not—

“What compromise?”

He smiled over her surrender. “Give me a kiss—just one, Nadine—and I’ll take Rookie and head out.”

She had to know. “Why?”

Ever so slowly, Shohn lifted a hand and slid his rough fingers over her cheek, around her ear and into her hair until he cupped her head. Her topknot threatened to come undone, but seriously, she just didn’t care, not with him looking at her like that, drawing her in closer, breathing in that low, husky way.

“Because I need to know how it is with you,” he whispered.

Yeah, she kind of needed to know, too. A little dizzy with the idea of tasting him, Nadine wavered on her feet, drawn to him, sinking closer...

Satisfaction put a wicked gleam in his eyes seconds before he leaned down and took her mouth. At first the kiss was gentle, warm, damp—but slowly it grew firmer, hotter, wetter as he moved his tongue over her bottom lip, just inside her lips, then he sealed their mouths together and his tongue stroked in.

His hands wrecked her hair and she didn’t care.

Her hands gripped his shoulders, but he seemed to like it.

On her tiptoes, she fit herself to his hard frame and relished the solid strength of his big body. He moved one arm to her lower back and arched her in closer, higher. His mouth ate at hers, his tongue delving, his hot breath on her cheek.

Nadine groaned with the pleasure of it. If she’d had a bed nearby, they’d have been in it.

Suddenly they heard footsteps outside along with the sound of doggy nails on her wooden front porch.

It was Shohn’s turn to groan as he released her.

Nadine knew she was busted, that even a blind man would be able to see that they’d just been making out.

Then Shohn surprised her. He put a finger to her lips and steered her to the dividing wall, out of sight of the front door. His thumbs brushed her cheeks and he bent to kiss her once more, then again, before finally stepping back.

After running both hands through his hair in palpable frustration, he grabbed up an empty Coke can and, using it as a prop, went to the door as if he hadn’t just stolen her will or her independence or her twice-cursed, stupid pride. He even pretended to drink from it.

Cowering back like a guilty college co-ed, Nadine tried to level her breathing as she listened to Shohn greet her assistant and Amber’s dog.

“Hi, there,” Roxi said. “We didn’t get a chance to meet earlier.”

“Hi, yourself,” Shohn replied.

Nadine wanted to leave her hiding place to kick him in his sexy backside. Hi, yourself, she silently mimicked. Oh, she could just imagine what Shohn was thinking while looking at Roxi. Blond hair, blue eyes, petite and—damn her—very nice, as well as good with animals.

Shoulders slumping, Nadine called herself three times a fool.

“I’m Roxi, Nadine’s new assistant. You’re Shohn Hudson, right?”

“Guilty.”

Oh, he was guilty, all right. Guilty of being too blasted hot for his own good.

“Well, your cousin called. She said she’d already left a message saying that you were picking up Rookie. She wanted me to make sure Nadine got it. Since I was ready to go, I figured I’d walk Rookie along with me.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Nadine’s very protective of the animals,” Roxi said. “They adore her, and vice versa.”

Nadine appreciated the defense.

“Amber trusts her completely,” Shohn agreed. “I’ll be sure to tell her how careful Nadine was before letting me have Rookie.”

“Well,” Roxi said with hesitation. “I can’t really let you have him, either. I need to give him to Nadine.”

“Sure, no problem.” Shohn walked over to the wall so he could see her. “You about done? Your assistant needs to see you.”

Done recuperating? No. Done breathing heavy? Not even. Nadine pasted on a smile. “Just finished up.” As if she’d been cleaning, she dusted off her hands as she rounded the wall.

Roxi smiled. “You heard?”

“Yes, and since I got a little hung up here, I, too, appreciate it that you brought Rookie over. Let me say goodbye to Shohn and I’ll be right up.”

Roxi nodded. “It was nice to meet you, Shohn.”

“And you.”

He watched her go, but when she was out of sight, he immediately turned to Nadine, kissed her before she could decide if she wanted him to again—but of course, she did—and then he took the leash.

He was smiling as he stroked the dog. “You ready to go, buddy? Amber will be home soon.” At the mention of Amber’s name, Rookie barked his approval.

“Goodbye, Shohn.”

He winked at her, saying, “I’ll see you around, Nadine,” as he gathered his clothes and headed off the porch.

Not unless you get a dog, Nadine thought. For her own well-being, she intended to steer clear of the awesome Shohn Hudson. He was too dangerous, too outrageous, and far, far too appealing.

If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up like all the other ladies after all.

* * *

Shohn hung around his uncle Morgan’s house, waiting for Amber to get in. At twenty-six, a year older than him, Amber had her own place. Her own business, too, a nice bookstore that kept up with the times and pleased everyone in Buckhorn. But whenever she returned from out of town, she always spent the night with her folks for a little R and R before returning to work.

And so Shohn waited.

His parents had come up the hill to visit Morgan and Misty, too, and they all sat on the front porch, his mom and dad on the porch swing, Morgan in a big chair with Misty on his lap. Shohn lounged on a step. He’d pulled his shirt back on, but the night air remained muggy so he hadn’t bothered to button it.

Since Morgan had been the town sheriff for a long time before becoming the mayor, everyone in the family was used to seeing a Hudson with a gun strapped on. No one reacted to it—in fact, he just realized that Nadine hadn’t reacted much to it, either. Huh.

Usually the ladies either acted fearful, or turned on by the idea of him being armed. Nadine had just been...Nadine. Bossy and spirited, casual and easy to be with.

Why had he never before realized how special that was?

It was nine o’clock, and the sky had turned a deep purple streaked with crimson over the lake. The sight never failed to lull him—even when he felt more testy than usual over a certain soft but stubborn woman. Damn, but she’d tasted good.

“See that look on his face, Sawyer? I do believe the boy might have women troubles.”

Shohn smirked and turned his head to address his uncle Morgan. “Doesn’t matter how old you get, you always have Misty in your lap.”

Morgan hugged his wife to his chest. “Old.” He snorted. “Don’t make me get up or you’ll regret it.”

“I was just saying.” He did love tweaking Morgan.

“Never take for granted the best things in life.” He patted Misty’s hip. “And she is the best.”

“Morgan,” Misty protested even as she laid her head on his broad shoulder.

Time had been good to Morgan. Even with a little gray at the temples, he still looked strong as an ox and far too imposing, but around Misty, he was all heart.

“It’s true,” Morgan said to his wife. “You’re even sexier now than the day I met you.”

Shohn’s mother smiled. “As I recall, you almost ran her off.”

“Not true, Honey. Your sister is far too pigheaded to turn tail and run, even from me.” He kissed Misty and murmured, “Thank God.”

Shohn’s dad, always more somber, got up from the swing and came to sit on the step with him. “Something on your mind other than Morgan trying to embarrass us all?”

Misty laughed. “Stop it, Morgan,” she chided when he continued to nuzzle her.

“You’re still a hot little—”

She smashed a hand over his mouth. “One day, he will mellow,” she promised everyone.

Morgan said, “The hell I will.” Then he looked at Shohn. “So spit it out. What has you brooding here with us? Did some young lady finally turn you down?”

“What makes you think it has anything to do with a girl?”

“Because I know the look, having been there and done that.” Morgan grinned. “Sawyer knows what I’m talking about.”

“Thank God it was a long time ago. Unfortunately I had to put up with your uncles all butting into my business.”

Shohn looked at his mother, and saw her smiling. No doubt there was a good story there, but he’d save it for another time. “I’m not brooding. I’m just waiting for Amber.”

Honey said, “I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

Oh, great. He could tell by his mother’s tone that she, too, thought he was brooding. “Maybe I’ll just catch up with her tomorrow.” But he no sooner said it than headlights shone down the hill at the bottom of the long driveway leading up to the houses.

His dad and uncles owned fifty prime acres surrounding the lake. His parents lived in the same house that had once belonged to his grandma. Morgan had built a nice house farther up the hill but well within visiting distance. His brother Casey lived down the hill with his wife and kids. Uncle Jordan had moved into Georgia’s house back when they’d married. And Gabe kept a place in town with his family, closer to where he worked as a handyman.

One day, Shohn thought, he’d build his own house on a piece of this land. It was what the family wanted, what he wanted. He couldn’t imagine living away from the lake. Not forever.

“Why do you need to talk to Amber?” his mom asked.

“I told you, Honey.” Morgan grinned. “Women trouble. You know Amber is the resident know-it-all.”

Misty smacked his shoulder. “She’s very helpful to everyone.”

“So helpful that she has them all wrapped around her little finger,” Morgan said.

True enough, Shohn thought. Gabe’s daughters, Kady, April and Briana, rarely made a move without consulting with Amber first. Garrett, Amber’s younger brother by two years, gave her hell about being nosy but any girls he actually liked he brought to Amber for approval. Adam, Jordan’s son, who was twenty-eight, wasn’t averse to listening when Amber doled out her unique brand of wisdom. Only Lisa, Jordan’s daughter, who was a regular barracuda in the business world, seemed content to keep her own counsel. At fourteen and twelve, Casey’s kids were still a little too young to need dating advice, but they showered Amber with proper adulation.

“My girl missed her calling working in a bookstore,” Morgan said. “She should have been a bartender.”

“Morgan,” Misty and Honey said at the same time.

Sawyer laughed. “At least that way, she’d always have an ear to bend.” He slapped Shohn on the shoulder. “I have early appointments tomorrow, so your mom and I are heading home. You going to stop in before you leave?”

His dad saw more patients now than ever, but still worked from home. Shohn shook his head. “I’ll help Amber round up Rookie and then head on to my own bed. I’m leading a school field trip through the gap tomorrow. Second-graders.”

Honey smoothed his hair, bent and kissed his ear and said, “If you need to talk, you know where to find us.”

After shooting a dirty look at Morgan, which only made his uncle grin, Shohn tipped his head back to see Honey. “It’s fine, Mom. No worries, no women troubles, nothing like that.”

“Famous last words,” Morgan said. Then he stood with Misty held in his arms. “Tell Amber we’re inside. You’ll have five minutes to talk before I come out to get her.”

“Yes, sir.” Knowing how Morgan adored his family, Shohn appreciated the effort. When Amber’s truck pulled into the long driveway, he walked out to meet her. Rock music blasted from the radio, and when she cut the engine, near silence fell around them. Only the chirping of crickets and rustling of leaves disturbed the darkness.

Long dark hair windblown from the open windows, Amber hopped from the truck, saying, “Hey, cuz, what’s up?”

He heard the worry and hurried to say, “Not a thing. Rookie’s in the house, playing with the other dogs.”

The animals all got along well, but together, they could be a handful. Though Morgan and Misty always offered, Amber liked to leave Rookie with Nadine for overnight stays.

“Nadine let you have him okay? Sort of sounded like she was hesitant to turn him over to you.”

“It’s a liability thing.” He hefted her heavy suitcase from the truck bed then spotted some boxes, too. He set the suitcase down. “I can carry this stuff in for you in a minute.”

Amber paused, her expression alight with curiosity and anticipation. “What is it? What’s going on?”

Yeah, she did that to everyone, already knowing stuff before she was told. “I wanted to talk to you about Nadine.”

Throwing up her arms, Amber whooped. “I knew it! She’s perfect for you. Marry her and let her have your babies.”

Whoa. “What the hell, Amber. Are you nuts?”

She laughed then slugged him in the arm. “Just teasing. What about Nadine?”

Heart still pounding, Shohn scowled at her. “No way. You were serious.”

Holding her finger and thumb close together, Amber said, “Just a little, maybe.” She hugged his arm and leaned into him. “She really is perfect for you. But the babies can wait if you’re determined to drag your feet.”

Jaw loose, Shohn tried to shake her off, but she clung like a damned monkey. “I’m not marrying anyone.”

“Start with a kiss and see how that goes.”

Already done, and it had been oh-so-hot. But no way would he encourage Amber by telling her so. “You’re nuts.”

Amber grabbed him by his ears. “Have I ever steered you wrong?”

No, but today seemed to be a day full of firsts. Like the first time he’d really gotten turned on by Nadine, the first time he’d kissed her.

The first time a woman made him brood, just as Uncle Morgan claimed.

Shohn smothered a groan and asked, “Why Nadine? What makes you think she’s so great?”

“Oh, my God, it was incredible.” Always a little dramatic, Amber hunkered in close as if telling a state secret. “I was dropping off Rookie. He loves that place, you know, which makes it easier not to fret about him when I’m gone. I mean, he loves Mom and Dad, too, but the doggy hotel is like a vacay for him. Anyway, Nadine was filling out the paperwork, and two other chickies were in there.”

“Chickies?”

She flapped a hand. “Two of your flighty exes—women I had not approved, by the way. And they were prattling on about getting you up in the woods and out of your uni. Really explicit stuff, Shohn. Made me blush.”

Yeah, right. Nothing made Amber blush. “Baloney. You’re making that up.”

“Just the blushing part. Those two airheads were talking loud enough for even poor Fred to hear. He’s Nadine’s new groundskeeper in case you don’t know.”

“I heard all about Fred.”

“So anyway, they were talking about you like you were heaven’s gift to women and all, and I looked at Nadine, and she rolled her eyes.” Amber watched him expectantly, as if that should somehow be important.

“Sorry, hon, but if that’s the punch line, I don’t get it.”

Huffing, Amber clarified, “She was disgusted, Shohn.”

“Great. I disgust her.” Not when kissing her, but yeah, at other times, she had acted pretty put out over stuff. “How does that make her perfect?”

“Don’t be obtuse.” Amber shoved him, or at least she tried to.

Since she’d been doing that sort of thing forever, roughhousing as if she were one of the boys, Shohn stayed prepared around her. He didn’t budge a single inch. He lifted a brow and waited.

Grabbing his shirt, Amber pulled him down to her level and enunciated clearly. “She doesn’t buy into your awesome rep, cuz.”

Well, that sucked, because he made a lot of headway with that rep, a rep he’d carefully cultivated with the ladies.

“She’s above that nonsense,” Amber said. “Nadine doesn’t see you as a charming stud at all.”

“Lucky me.”

Amber laughed at his lack of enthusiasm. “No, it’s better than that. I asked her a few things about you—”

He groaned. “God help me.”

“—and you know what? She thinks you’re smart and considerate. She respects your job and she knows some of the more heroic crap you’ve done, which means she’s been paying attention, just not to the hype.”

Shohn scoffed, but he was intrigued enough to prompt Amber. “I haven’t done any heroic crap.”

“Puh-leeze.” Amber walked around him and opened the truck gate. “You went out on the frozen lake to save that dog last winter.”

“I had all the right equipment so it wasn’t—”

“And,” Amber said with emphasis, “you helped track that one dope dealer who was trying to hide in the hills.”

“We were all tracking him. I was just lucky to find him fir—”

“And,” she interrupted again, “you scaled down Culper’s Cliff to save that boy when his doofus dad let him fall over.”

“Yeah,” Shohn agreed. “That was a little harrowing.” But anyone would have done the same.

“You’ve done tons of awesome stuff and Nadine knew about all of it.” Amber hauled out a heavy box. “She even remembered that time back when you two were early teens and you stopped that loudmouth Bob from calling her names.”

Shohn nodded slowly. “I was fourteen, but she was only twelve.”

“Bob,” Amber said, “was fifteen, and still you beat him up.”

“Bob was a damned coward who enjoyed making fun of people.” Shohn recalled that day as if it had just happened. They were all at the lake, swimming and flirting and doing what kids did. Nadine hadn’t worn a suit, which he remembered thinking odd. During summer in Buckhorn, especially on the lake, everyone wore a suit.

But not Nadine. She’d been in shorts and a shirt.

Then Bob had pushed her in and she’d gotten soaked. Her T-shirt had glued itself to her chest in a way that had them all gawking. Even back then, Nadine had been chesty. He remembered being floored by his first shot of honest-to-God breasts.

It had left him curious as only a horny fourteen-year-old boy could be.

Then, out of the blue, Bob had called her a cow. Big tears had joined the lake water on Nadine’s face, and Shohn had suffered his very first bout of possessiveness.

Chapter Three

Fists curling, Shohn got furious all over again. If Bob hadn’t mellowed into a decent enough guy he’d be tempted to go whip his ass all over again.

Amber deliberately elbowed him as she walked past with the box, saying, “Nadine is the one.”

The one what? He snatched up a box and her suitcase and followed her to the porch. “So you like her?”

“A lot. She’s supersmart and really compassionate.” Using her foot, Amber got the door open, and then suddenly Morgan was there.

“Give me that.” He took the box from her, bent to kiss her forehead and said, “Your mom is waiting in the kitchen with pie and coffee.”

“Love you, Dad,” Amber said sweetly.

Shohn shook his head. Only with Morgan was Amber ever that sugary. “Move so I can set this stuff down.”

She did, but because Morgan had only gone as far as the living room, she leaned in again to whisper, “Go after her, Shohn. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

“How?” he whispered back while keeping an eye on his uncle. “She wasn’t exactly receptive.”

“Well, duh. She knows your rep, whether she buys into it or not, and as I already said, she’s not a dummy.”

Done with being insulted, Shohn turned to go. “A lot of help you are.”

She followed him out. “Get a dog.”

He stopped midstep. That was...ingenious. “Yeah.” He nodded while thinking it through. “I could do that.” Hell, he loved animals. Most everyone in the family had pets. And he could use the excuse of having Nadine watch the dog for him when he worked. She wasn’t overly expensive, dogs loved her and then he’d have a reason to visit her.

Often.

“This is why you come to me,” Amber announced with great fanfare. “Go to the shelter. There are a lot of dogs there looking for a home.”

He saluted her, and now, with a plan in mind, he felt better. Less unsettled. Tomorrow, on his way to work, he’d get a dog. Something easy and friendly. A mature dog that wouldn’t need to be trained.

Then he’d have all the reason in the world to hang around Nadine, and maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to figure out what it was about her that suddenly pushed all the right buttons.

* * *

It was just after 9:00 a.m., but the sun blazed in a bright blue sky, promising a scorcher. Suffocating humidity left the air dense, but Fred had mowed the yard an hour earlier and the freshly cut grass smelled oh-so-sweet.

As she did every morning, Nadine faced the new day with a sense of promise, never mind the sleepless night spent mooning over Shohn Hudson.

For years, she’d done her best to block him from her thoughts. She was a realist, and she knew anything more than a shallow friendship wasn’t meant to be. Shohn seemed to see her as an asexual being.

Or at least, he used to.

Last night...what a difference. But she could probably chalk that up to boredom or a full moon or some other fleeting happenstance that would never again occur.

Still, that kiss had kept her awake long into the night, making her think about “what ifs” and keeping her too hot and achy and hungry.

As she came in from bathing a dog, she again shoved thoughts of Shohn and his awesome bod and well-deserved confidence from her mind. Because she’d been sluggish that morning, she’d put her hair in sloppy braids down her back. Somehow the ends had gotten soaked along with her T-shirt and shorts. She had mud on her nose, dog hair stuck to her cheek and her feet were bare. Sadie, an older German shepherd, loved her baths so much that she bounded and splashed and played and made it almost impossible to get her clean.

So sweet, and so much fun. Nadine was lucky to have a job she enjoyed that also paid well enough for her to keep her independence. And if the hours kept her single for the entirety of her life, well, that one kiss with Shohn would have to suffice for a fantasy life.

Her thoughts had gone full-circle to him yet again. “Just stop it,” she told herself.

“Stop what?”

Oh, no, no, no. Trying not to grimace, she looked up, and there stood Shohn.

Her heart threatened to punch out of her chest. Her bare toes curled on the linoleum floor, and a vise closed around her lungs.

Oh, for heaven’s sake. The memory of his kiss, of being pressed to that tall muscular body, was good, sure, but it didn’t warrant all that.

Liar.

Shohn looked down at his lap. “Is my fly open or something?”

“What?”

“You’re staring.”

“Oh. Sorry.” She straightened her shirt and used a wrist to try to swipe away the mud on her nose. “What are you doing here?”

Rather than answer, he gave her that cocky, crooked and endearing smile. “What have you been up to? Mud wrestling?”

“No.” She felt a little slow and stupid, but ho boy, he looked good first thing in the morning. He was freshly shaved, his uniform shirt opened at the throat, showing off a little peek of chest hair. He had his hat pushed back, his thick utility belt hanging around his lean hips.

She’d seen sheriffs and cops and military men, but not until Shohn became a ranger had she truly gotten the appeal of a man in uniform.

“No?” he asked. “That’s it?”

“What?”

His smile widened, became intimate and knowing. “Having trouble keeping up today, huh? Me, too.” He reached out to tweak one of her braids. “I asked how you got so messy.”

“Dog bath.”

His attention went to the front of her shirt and a brow lifted. “Did the dog bathe you, or vice versa?”

“Little of both.”

He nodded at her chest. “Nice shirt.”

Remembering the shirt she’d chosen sent heat into Nadine’s face. It read I Like Tiny Wieners and came with a picture of a dachshund.

With a load of suggestiveness, Shohn said, “I hope that doesn’t take me out of the running.”

The running for what? He didn’t want her, not for anything more than a joke or a way to kill time or some equally repugnant motive. She had to remember that.

Trying to switch the topic to something less stimulating than his size, she gestured at the carrier he held in one hand. “What do you have there?”

He twisted his mouth. “Well, see, after being here with you, around all the animals, I mean, I kept thinking about getting a dog.”

“Really?” Her heart swelled with pride. If nothing else, she’d been a positive influence.

“I went to the shelter first thing this morning.”

“Perfect!” Adopting a rescue was always better than buying some fancy little dog with a pedigree or, God forbid, paying a puppy mill.

“The thing is—”

She leaned down to look in the carrier—and a distinct “Meorwwwww” came out.

Nadine straightened. “Funny sounding dog.”

“Yeah, see, I was looking at the dogs...”

She took the carrier from him and moved to the counter, where she could better see. She looked in. Yup. “That’s a cat, Shohn.”

“I know it’s a cat, smart-ass.” He braced a hand on his gun. “His name is Louie.”

She’d noticed that was a familiar stance for him. “Friendly?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Superfriendly, actually.”

“Come on.” Curiosity got the better of her. She loved animals, all of them, and she wanted to meet this wonderful cat that had won over Shohn Hudson.

“Where are we going?”

“To a private room so I can let him out.”

“You’re not going to coax me in there and then lock the door on me, are you?” He followed her in. “I need to head to work soon.”

“Don’t be dumb.” She closed the door to a small waiting room—not the storage closet—and set the carrier on a table. Leaning down again, she looked in and said, “Hi, Louie.”

“Meorrrwww.”

“Yeah, baby, you want out of there, don’t you?” She reached a finger in through the opening, and Louie rubbed his square head against her knuckle. “Very sweet.”

“Yeah,” Shohn said with clear doubt. “Sweet.”

“He looks older.”

“Ancient, even.” He dropped into a chair. “The shelter wasn’t sure of his age, though. They just know he’s mature and kind of set in his ways.”

“That’s okay, isn’t it, Louie? Pets, like people, have their preferences.” She opened the front of the carrier and Louie, who was built like a small scruffy bulldog, shot out. For a thick, older cat, he moved with incredibly agility, darting right past her, down to the floor, up Shohn’s pants leg and to his chest.

Wow. She’d never seen a cat move so fast.

With a great throaty purr, Louie crawled up and over one thick shoulder so that his tail circled Shohn’s neck.

For his part, Shohn didn’t move, he just sighed.

Amused, Nadine crossed her arms and leaned a shoulder on the wall. “Friendly, huh?”

“He freaking loves me.” Shohn held perfectly still, his hands at his sides, his head tipped a little away from where the cat nuzzled against him.

Nadine smothered a laugh. It was just too precious. “What’s the matter, Shohn? You don’t like him?”

“He’s...fine.” Still straining away from the cat, Shohn said, “It’s just that I went into the shelter to look at the dogs, but Louie spotted me and apparently decided I was his or he was mine or whatever. He’s been really clingy.”

The cat purred and turned so that his tail slid just under Shohn’s nose.

That got him moving real fast. Face twisting away, Shohn tried to pry Louie loose, but the cat wasn’t budging. He managed to wrestle down Louie’s butt so that it wasn’t right in his face, then scowled at Nadine for laughing. “The guy that runs the shelter said he’d never seen anything like it.”

“He adores you.”

“I guess. But why me?”

“Who knows. Maybe he realizes you’ll take good care of him.”

“I will, but I wasn’t counting on a cat, you know?”

“In many ways, cats are easier.” She snickered as she said, “They need less attention.”

“That’s not funny.”

But it was, because at that moment the cat was trying to crawl inside the neckline of his shirt.

Again Shohn tried to gently wrestle him back. It wasn’t easy. He’d get one paw loose and Louie would hold on with the other three.

“You could help, you know. This is your forte, right?”

Grinning, Nadine went over to assist in getting the cat loose. Louie wasn’t happy about it. He panicked and grabbed for Shohn even more.

When Nadine finally got Louie free, she cuddled him close and stroked him to calm him down and let him know it was okay. In the process, she noticed he had part of an ear missing, and a distinct kink in his tail. “He looks a little worse for wear.”

Shohn left his chair and came over to them. “Spent too many years tomcattin’ around, fighting for the ladies, didn’t you, boy?”

The way he stood right behind her, reaching around to pet Louie, was almost like being hugged. She felt Shohn’s chest on her back, and hopefully that was his holster nudging her hip. “Maybe,” Nadine said in a croak.

Shohn’s jaw brushed the top of her head. “I know just how you feel, buddy.”

Nadine snorted. “Like you’ve ever had to fight for a girl.”

“Just you—or don’t you remember Bob?”

It wasn’t easy to remember anything with him so close, stirring up the memory of his kiss and the expanded fantasies she’d indulged all night long. “Bob who?” she asked while continuing to soothe the cat.

“The idiot who teased you when we were kids.” He leaned closer and said near her ear, “He pushed you in the lake, and you got all... wet.”

Nadine stepped away from him so quickly, Louie protested. She tried a laugh that fell flat, but the incident he mentioned was still painful to her. When all the other girls had been tiny and cute, just starting to mature, she’d already been...thick. It wasn’t until she turned twenty that she decided she no longer cared. She was not, and never would be, a skinny person. Not only wasn’t it part of her genetic makeup, but it was just plain too much work to always be exercising and dieting and fretting about it.

She liked herself, abundance of curves and all. And she loved her life, a life filled with activities that made her happy.

Shohn watched her closely. “I didn’t think it was funny.”

No, she hadn’t, either. For three days she’d hidden away and cried. Twelve-year-old girls could be so melodramatic and tenderhearted. “Well, it wasn’t then, no. I was so embarrassed.” More like humiliated beyond endurance. “The lake made my shirt all but transparent and Bob started poking fun at me for being chubby.”

Shohn strolled closer again. “Bob was an immature jerk.”

“We were all immature, you included, Shohn. You were only, what, fourteen?”

“Yeah. Fourteen and eternally horny. When you came out of that lake, I thought my knees would give out.” He smiled and teased a finger along her braid. “You’re right about the shirt. I remember it was so wet that I could even see your nipples. I about swallowed my tongue.”

Nadine could only stare at him. His memory of the day was vastly different from hers. “I’m surprised you noticed that, given how you were eyeing all the girls in their bathing suits.”

“That wet T-shirt on you was far more interesting than any bathing suit could ever be.” He stroked down to her chin then lifted her face. “I wouldn’t mind seeing it again, now that we’re not kids anymore.”

“I’m still chubby.”

His eyes darkened even more. “You are so damn curvy it’s making me nuts thinking about it.” He started to lean down to kiss her.

Nadine started to let him.

Then with a protesting “Meowrrr...” Louie wriggled free from her hold and butted the top of his head on Shohn’s chin.

Nadine ended up with the cat’s tail in her face.

Talk about ruining the mood.

Relinquishing the cat to Shohn, she grabbed a wall for support and asked, “So what are we doing here?”

“I was trying to seduce you.” He frowned. “That wasn’t obvious?” He shifted the cat down to his chest and cradled him like a baby. Louie approved, given his rumbling purr.

“No, I mean... Yes, it was. But why are you here?”

“To see you.”

“With a cat?”

“Oh, yeah.” He checked the time and cursed low. “I need to get to work. I was hoping you could watch Louie for me until the end of my shift. I get off at six then I’d need an hour or so to get out of the park and drive here.”

Nadine eyed Louie. He stared back, his big yellow eyes unblinking. On the one hand, cats didn’t always mix well with dogs. But on the other hand, it’d be a terrific reason to get to see Shohn again.

Shohn shifted. “If you tell me which part of the question is throwing you, I might be able to help.”

“Just weighing the pros and cons.” The con being, of course, that she wanted to see Shohn again and it wasn’t a great idea. “It might be tough to keep Louie separated from the dogs.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. He had the run of the shelter and got along great with all the other animals, dogs included.”

“Really? That’s unusual.”

“He’s an unusual cat.” After opening the door, Shohn put a hand to the small of her back. “Let’s see how it goes before I take off.”

Nadine let herself be ushered to the indoor play area. They had just entered the hallway when Louie heard the dogs. He lifted his head, his ears forward, then leaped from Shohn’s arms and loped forward as if excited to join in.

In one agile move he launched up to sit on the gate, surveying the dogs from his perch. The dogs, somewhat stupefied, stopped to stare.

“Huh.”

Shohn asked, “What?”

“They’re not barking.”

“Maybe they know Louie wouldn’t like it.”

Could be, she decided, when en masse the dogs approached, their noses sniffing the air. Louie was so unconcerned that he lifted one rear leg straight into the air and started to groom himself.

Shohn rubbed his face. “I told him that if he does that too often, it no longer counts as a bath.”

Nadine snickered.

One dog reared back on his haunches and barked. Another turned a circle. Another jumped. Louie gave up his ablutions and instead jumped down to run and play with them.

“I’ll be.” She turned to Shohn. “Any dog that’s aggressive is kept separate from the others, so these are all social animals. I’m not worried if you’re not.”

“So you’ll keep him for me?”

“Sure, why not?”

He surprised her by grabbing her upper arms, lifting her to her tiptoes and planting a firm kiss on her parted lips. “Thank you.”

No, thank you. Resisting the urge to grab him back for a better taste, Nadine cleared her throat. “Sure. No problem.”

“Give me your number and I’ll check on Louie later just to make sure everything is okay.”

Turnabout seemed fair. “All right, but I also have some papers for you to fill out, including with your number, just in case I need to reach you.”

It was another five minutes before Shohn was finally able to head out. She walked him to the door, wondering if he’d maybe steal another kiss, but a couple was on their way in with their new puppy, so he only thanked her with a smile before jogging out to his Jeep.

This time, telling him goodbye was different.

Because this time, she knew he’d be back.

* * *

Shohn was more than a half hour late, and Nadine began to wonder if something had happened. He had her number, so why didn’t he call if he had a problem? Roxi and Fred went home for the evening, all the dogs settled down to sleep, but Louie watched her with his big yellow eyes as if in accusation.

“I know, sweetie, but he will be here eventually.”

The cat paced the front room, probably wondering why all his friends had been taken away.

All day, Louie had run with the dogs inside, and occasionally in a fenced area outside. She had open runs for the bigger dogs, but the little ones that might look like hawk food were kept in the contained areas, well protected from predators.

Louie went to the door and scratched.

“Sorry, bud. No can do.” She tried to pet him, but he had other ideas—like meowing loudly, which stirred a few dogs. Nadine knew well enough that if one dog started barking, they’d all soon join in.

“Tell you what,” she said to Louie. “We’ll go over to my house to wait for him.” Which meant she also needed to tote over the cat box and bed and a food and water dish... What a bother.

Where was he?

She decided to make two trips, taking Louie over first so he wouldn’t get the dogs riled, and then coming back for all the other stuff. She was loaded down and crossing the yard when a vehicle pulled in.

She paused to look, and Amber hopped out of her big truck, Rookie with her.

“Amber?” Nadine stood there until Amber spotted her. Rookie ran over first to greet her.

“Hey there,” Amber said, already reaching for half of Nadine’s load. “Everything is fine, but Shohn’s held up at the park.”

Bummer. “For how long?”

“Right now he doesn’t know. Could be all night.” She looked from Nadine’s house to the office. “Where is this stuff going?”

“My house.” She started that way. “So what happened? Is anyone hurt?”

Amber shook her head. “Some idiot got lost. A group of guys were drinking too much and they got into an argument and one of the knuckleheads wandered off. Now they can’t find him.”

“It’ll be getting dark soon.” She peered in through the screen, didn’t see Louie anywhere, so she held it open with her shoulder while Amber went in first, followed by Rookie.

“I know. I hate when stuff like this happens.” She lifted the cat bed stacked with a food dish and a bag of food. “You got a cat?”

“No, Shohn did.”

Incomprehension filled Amber’s bright blue eyes before she grinned. “A cat, huh?”

“A very unusual cat.” Nadine looked around. “He must be hiding somewhere.” She nodded at Rookie. “Does he like cats okay?”

“Rook likes everyone, don’t you, buddy?”

Alert, the dog thumped his tail hard on the floor, his expression hopeful. Amber smiled. “You want to find the cat?”

Ears up, Rookie gave a loud, positive “woof!”

“Go on, then.”

He took off like a shot, running from the main room and down the hall. At Nadine’s bedroom he slid to a sudden halt that sent his tail past his head. His nails wheeled on the floor until he grabbed some traction, then he launched into the bedroom.

In a fast walk, the ladies followed and found the dog sitting at the ready beside Nadine’s full-size bed, staring at where Louie curled up, nose to butt, on her bed pillow.

Rookie seemed very pleased that he’d so easily located the cat. For his part, Louie lifted his head, seemed to give a mental shrug, and after a long stretch and toothy yawn, he lazily got up to greet Rookie.

Amber and Nadine both stood in the doorway.

At almost the same time, Amber said, “That’s Shohn’s cat?” while Nadine said, “Looks like they’ll get along just fine.”

Slowly Amber went in and sat on the edge of the mattress. Louie glanced at her, sniffed her outstretched hand and jumped down to play with Rookie.

“His reaction to Shohn is very different.”

“How so?” Amber rejoined her and they followed the animals back to the main room.

“He adores Shohn. It’s something to see.”

With a coy look, Amber said, “Everyone adores Shohn. Why should a cat be any different?”

“Speaking of Shohn...” As she arranged the cat’s stuff on the floor, she asked, “If he could call you, why didn’t he just call me?”

“He didn’t call. Adam was at the park for a field trip. They were just wrapping up the school activities when Shohn got word that the guy was missing. He told Adam to tell me that if I didn’t hear from him before eight-thirty, I should let you know what’s going on.”

Adam was Shohn’s cousin by marriage. His uncle Jordan, the town vet, had married Georgia, who already had Adam and Lisa. But if you asked anyone in the family, they were as much related as if Jordan had fathered Lisa and Adam himself. “I thought he was a gym teacher. Why would he be on a field trip?”

“One of the other teachers got sick last minute, so he filled in.” Amber pulled out a chair at her little table, the same chair that Shohn had used the night before. “Am I keeping you from anything?”

“Not at all.” Looked as if Amber planned to stay and visit. From one animal lover to another, she liked Amber a lot.

Plus, she was Shohn’s cousin.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“Sure. Anything cold.”

After pouring them both colas, Nadine joined her at the table.

She’d just taken a big drink when Amber said, “I’m kind of glad we have a chance to talk.”

Nadine slowly lowered the can. Amber had a way of dropping bombshells on people. She always stated things so boldly, without any reserve at all. Nadine had learned to be cautious, so she hedged, saying, “I always enjoy visiting with you. You know that.”

“Yeah, yeah, same here,” Amber said, moving right along. “But that’s not what I meant.”

“No?”

“I think you should give Shohn a chance.”

Dreading the answer, Nadine asked, “A chance to do what?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe...sleep with you?”

Yup, a bombshell. Nadine rolled her eyes. “I can always expect the unexpected from you.”

“So will you?”

In many ways, Amber was as pushy—maybe more so—as Shohn. “What makes you think he even wants to?”

She crossed her arms over the table and leaned in. “He’s wanted to forever. He just didn’t realize it until recently.”

Nadine had to laugh. “You’re nuts.” Shohn was the most straightforward, on-track person she’d ever met. He always knew what he wanted, and he always went after it. “I remember when he was sixteen and decided he wanted to be a park ranger. A bunch of us were at your uncle Sawyer’s house. I think it was your brother Garrett’s birthday.”

“Probably,” Amber said. “Garrett’s only a year older than you.”

“Anyway, your uncle Jordan showed us a baby hawk that had gotten injured by some idiot campers.”

“Uncle Jordan probably crooned it back to good health.” Amber grinned. “He has such a knack for helping animals.”

“Shohn was pretty furious about it.” And since Shohn had such a congenial, easygoing nature, it was rare to see him fired-up. Usually it only happened when he was defending someone or something else—like injured baby birds, or chubby girls. “He announced he was going to be a park ranger, as if that’d keep anyone from ever injuring a baby animal again.”

“And here he is, a ranger,” Amber said. “And I’m willing to bet few dare go in the hills with the intent of tormenting a poor animal, not when they have to deal with Shohn.”

“Your pride is showing,” Nadine teased. “But my point is that if Shohn had feelings for me, he’d have known it.”

“He probably did on some level, and that’s why he hasn’t come on to you before now.”

That was so absurd, Nadine choked on it.

Amber narrowed her bright blue eyes. It was a fact that everyone in Buckhorn had noted: those extraordinary eyes of hers packed a lot of punch. When she looked at people, they felt it.

When she looked at the guys...well, she had as much impact with them as Shohn had with the ladies.

Nadine fidgeted. “Dial it down, okay?”

Confusion stole Amber’s intensity. “What’s that?”

“All that laserlike focus. You’re trying to intimidate me, but it’s not working.” Ha. It worked all too well.

“I wasn’t,” Amber objected.

“Baloney. You do it to everyone, and I’m sure most cave under your resolve. Especially anyone possessing testosterone.”

Grinning, Amber shrugged. “My point is that Shohn had a lot of wild oats to sow and now, at twenty-five, he wants more.”

More...what? No, Nadine wouldn’t buy into any of it. She gulped down more Coke then shook her head. “Does Shohn have any idea that you’re meddling like this?”

“Are you kidding? No way.”

Thank God. “Then let’s make a promise not to ever tell him, and we can forget all about it.”

Amber’s determined stare returned. “You know he wants you, Nadine.”

She turned her Coke can, turned it again and traced the wet circle on the table... “He did sort of come on to me.”

“Sort of?” Amber laughed. “He must be slipping if you’re not sure. God knows every other girl in town thinks he’s making moves even when he isn’t. Do you know how many times I’ve had to save his butt? Too many times, that’s how many. But you’re different.”

Yeah, didn’t she know it. “Well, if he is interested, that’d be why—because I’m a challenge. If we ever got together, then he’d be over me real quick.”

“I don’t think so.” Amber got a text before she could expound on that. She pulled out her phone, read the message with a smile and sent back a reply. “He’ll be here in another ten minutes.”

“They found the missing camper?”

“He didn’t say, but I assume so, otherwise he’d still be there looking.” She finished off her Coke and stood. “I’m supposed to get lost, though.”

“Oh.”

Walking to the kitchen to rinse out her can, Amber said, “Look at it this way. If Shohn only sees you as a challenge, then isn’t it better to find it out now before you fall hopelessly in love with him?”

“Hopelessly, huh? How dramatic.” Nadine tried to infuse the right amount of sarcasm, because God knew, she’d been hung up on Shohn Hudson since they were in their early teens.

“It is dramatic,” Amber said with a sigh, “the way the ladies all swoon over him. As his cousin, I can testify to how nauseating it is. But you don’t swoon...yet.” She put her can in the recycling bin and turned, forearms braced back on the counter, her pose relaxed. “So, what do you think?”

“About what? Swooning?” Just the thought of him showing up made her feel light-headed. A swoon could very well be imminent.

“No, about giving in to see how things go.”

This was not a conversation she’d ever thought to have with one of Shohn’s relatives. “He doesn’t need your help, Amber.”

“Ha! Of course he does.” She looked toward Louie, who was busy walking up Rookie’s back while Rookie laid perfectly still except for the tail he had thumping. “He even got that mangled old cat for you.”

“Not so.” Nadine smiled as she shared the wonderful truth. “He went to the shelter to get a dog, but Louie claimed him, and Shohn was too sweet to turn him away.”

“There you go!” Straightening in a rush, Amber walked from the kitchen. “Sweet on top of being passably handsome.”

Nadine snorted. Even a close cousin could be objective enough to know Shohn was the epitome of hotness.

“Though he’s a wiseass, he has his moments of humor, too.”

“You don’t have to sell me on him,” Nadine told her. “I already know he’s funny and smart, generous and loyal, hardworking and—”

“Yeah,” Amber interrupted, her tone wry, “let’s not saint him, okay? He’s a great guy, but still a guy, so he needs to have things made clear to him.”

“Those things being?”

“Just do me a favor,” Amber said, suddenly all business and ready to go. “Put on a shirt that shows a little cleavage, brush the dog hair off your shorts and when he makes his move, try being a little receptive. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Her heart could get irrevocably broken, that’s what.

But pride had saved her many times over the years, so maybe she could do this and then, with her pride, hold it all together—no matter how things went after.

Amber headed to the door. “She looks convinced, Rookie. Our work here is done.”

Shaking her head, Nadine picked up Louie to ensure the cat wouldn’t get out the door. “Thanks again for stopping by.” She would not thank her for pimping Shohn.

“You betcha,” Amber said. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” And with that, she left.

Nadine didn’t bother replying. When it came to Shohn there wasn’t much she didn’t want to do. If Shohn was willing, well then, better not to make promises she wouldn’t want to keep.

Chapter Four

Shohn pulled into the lot of Animal House as quietly as he could. He knew well how dogs reacted to noises in the night, and since the sun had already set, the dogs were surely tucked away for the night. If one barked, they’d all be kicking up a fuss and then Nadine would have more work to do.

Relieved not to see Amber’s truck in the lot, he made the safe assumption that he and Nadine would be alone. Taking care to close his door quietly, he left the Jeep. Hat in hand, his imagination already in overdrive, he walked toward her house.

Would she be wearing that same silly shirt with the suggestive comment on it? He’d thought of a dozen ways to tease her about it, and a dozen other ways to get her out of it.

She’d left the porch light on for him, so Shohn took a minute to remove his boots and socks. His feet weren’t wet this time, but he’d spent so much time hunting for the lost camper that he had half the damn mountain stuck to the treads.

Boots in hand, he stood and lightly tapped on the screen door.

Nadine showed up immediately. Her long brown hair hung loose, trailing down her back and over her shoulders, curling in and around those large, luscious breasts. Her eyes were darker than usual as she pushed open the screen and said with a “come and get me” smile, “Hi.”

Damn. He knew acquiescence when he saw it. Nadine wanted him. Tonight. Maybe even right now.

Knowing that had an instantaneous effect on his body. His guts clenched, heat rushed to his skin, his breathing grew shallower.

He got semihard.

Knowing he had to keep it together, he dipped his rapt gaze over her, stalling first on her soft, damp lips, then on that heart-stopping cleavage displayed under a V neck T-shirt. This one read Life is Short—Pet Hard.

Without a single word, he crowded in and dropped his boots just inside the threshold. The screen door closed behind them. He reached for her.

And Louie came up his leg in a dash, already purring, head-butting his chin and rubbing all over him in ecstasy.

“Shit.” Shohn caught the cat to help support him so he wouldn’t get shredded. So far, Louie had been great about not putting the claws to him, but his shirt could only take so much of Louie’s enthusiasm.

Nadine sighed. “Ah. He missed you.”

Her gentle expression fired his blood even more. Shohn wanted to see her looking at him like that, maybe after a really hot orgasm. “He could miss me a few minutes more, damn it.” What lousy timing the cat had! But Shohn pet him, anyway, giving him the greeting he wanted.

The rumbling purrs started to sound like a broken truck engine. Eyes closed, Louie continued to rub against him.

“Take it easy, buddy.” Shohn managed to get the cat away from his face and settled more on his chest. “Ah, that’s better.”

Nadine smiled.

“Now I can kiss you.” Her smile froze, but Shohn took her mouth too quickly for her to object.

Only she didn’t. She kissed him back. Awkwardly because, yeah, they had a big old rumbling tomcat between them, but still, it was pretty hot the way she turned her head, how she willingly parted her lips.

How she accepted his tongue.

She tasted even better than he remembered, hotter and sweeter. She made a small sound that he took for encouragement. He answered with a low groan, his thoughts already on getting her naked and under him.

Suddenly Louie butted his head up between theirs, and Shohn pulled away with a “Bleh.”

Breathing fast, Nadine asked, “What?”

“I had cat ear in my mouth.” He used a shoulder to wipe his face.

She snickered then took his arm. “I’m sorry. Why don’t we sit down for a bit? Are you hungry?”

Was that nervousness that had her talking so fast? “Not this time, thanks.” Shohn dropped onto her couch and again tried to rearrange the big cat. Louie was so muscular and rangy at the same time that doing anything he didn’t fully approve was damn difficult. “I grabbed some fast food to eat on the way here.”

“I wouldn’t have minded fixing you something.”

“Thanks, but it wasn’t food I had in mind.”

“Oh...well, a drink, then? I’m out of Coke, but maybe some iced tea?”

Shohn grinned over the way she avoided his innuendo. “With you looking like that, yeah, iced tea with plenty of ice would be great.”

She smoothed her hands over the shirt then tucked her hair behind one ear. “I took a really quick shower just before you got here.”

Damn, he was sorry he’d missed that. “If you’d waited, I could have showered with you.” To keep her from reacting to that too much, he went on in a casual tone. “It was one hell of a day and I’m grimier than usual. Not that Louie seems to mind, do you buddy?” He tickled under the cat’s chin.

Eyes widening, Nadine opened her mouth twice before she finally said anything. “You, ah, found the missing camper?”

“Yeah. The drunken dumbass had completely left the trails. I found him snagged up in a briar bush, sniveling and ready to wet himself. Apparently he fell in there and then kept getting scratched worse every time he tried to free himself.”

“Serves him right for getting drunk.” Nadine headed into the kitchen to get the drinks. “Will he be fined?”

“Who knows? I turned him over to the local authorities. He’s their problem now.” Shohn liked watching Nadine move in the kitchen, seeing the way she turned this way and that in the shorty-shorts and clinging T-shirt. She had supershapely legs and her bare feet made it all more intimate somehow. “Love the new outfit.”

She ducked her face, letting her hair hide her profile. “It’s just an old shirt and shorts.”

No, it was a sexier shirt and shorter shorts that she’d put on for him. “I like your hair loose like that, too.”

She dropped an ice cube on the floor. “Thanks.” She accidentally kicked it when she went to pick it up, then had to chase it before it went under the fridge.

“Nadine?”

“Hmm?” Face flushed, she tossed the ice in the sink and, with trembling hands, poured the tea.

Shohn understood, because he felt a little shaky himself. Lust had never hit him so hard. “You have a kickin’ body with killer curves, honey. I hope you know that.”

She twisted her mouth then squared her shoulders as she faced him with the glasses of tea. “I’m satisfied with it.”

Leering a little, Shohn said, “I’d be more satisfied with it if you were naked. But this display is great for starters.”

She stumbled over nothing.

Shohn bolted forward in his seat, ready to grab for her. “Easy.”

Face flaming, Nadine managed to catch herself without spilling the tea. “Sorry.”

“I should be the one apologizing.”

“You do tease a lot,” she agreed.

He wasn’t teasing, but no reason to tell her that. She was already looking very unsure of herself. Because he’d jostled the cat, he said, “You okay, Louie?”

Head tipped back over Shohn’s arm, Louie watched Nadine, still purring.

She set the tea on the end table. “I think Louie’s content as long as you’re holding him close and stroking him.”

If only Nadine had the same preferences. Another thought to keep to himself, at least for now. Shohn patted the seat beside him. “So tell me how he did today.”

“He owned the place.” Nadine sat by him, close, but not quite touching. “He could be a sheepherder, only for the dogs.” She ran one finger over Louie’s big block head. “Everywhere he went, the dogs followed.”

“So it wasn’t a problem having him here?”

“Not at all.”

Perfect. Then she could continue to watch the cat, which would give him a reason to keep coming back. “I’ll hold him a little longer, okay?”

She stared at Louie instead of meeting his gaze. “Before you leave, you mean?”

“Before I kiss you again.”

An expectant stillness fell over her. She licked her lips, slowly turned to put her tea on the end table and finally looked up at him. Their gazes met, held, as his heart beat a little faster.

“I was hoping you would.”

Damn. Her honesty put him on a low simmer. “To hell with waiting.” Keeping Louie relaxed in his arms, Shohn leaned down to take her mouth.

Meeting him halfway, Nadine put one small hand to his neck, the other flat to his chest. He meant to keep things easy—after all, he had Louie sprawled in his arms—but he couldn’t hold back, not from Nadine.

Her tongue touched his, and he groaned low. He leaned closer, kissed her deeper—and Louie put his claws to his thigh.

Shohn jumped so fast that he and Nadine bumped heads.

“Ow, damn it, cat. That hurt!”

He rubbed his inner thigh where Louie had gotten him.

Nadine rubbed her forehead where they’d bumped and rushed to the cat’s defense. “Maybe you squeezed him.”

“Or maybe he’s just too damned possessive!”

She laughed, tried to muffle it, and ended up making a ridiculous sound.

“You find it funny that he scratched me?”

She said, “No,” but she was still snickering.

Shohn had to smile, too. He stroked his fingers through her hair, turned on despite Louie’s look of disgust. “You should wear your hair loose more often. It’s really pretty.”

The compliment killed her hilarity. “It’s a mousy-brown.”

“Says who?”

She shrugged.

“It’s long and thick and so damn soft.” He brought her hair forward over her shoulder, then deliberately stroked to the end so that the backs of his fingers moved over her breast. Voice going gruff, he whispered, “Very pretty.”

With a loud, “Meowrrr,” Louie high-stepped between them, turning so his tail hit Nadine in the face while he purred and pawed at Shohn’s abdomen.

“Ah, no, Louie, I don’t trust you.” Shohn moved the cat away from his abs and instead sat him on the sofa at his side.

Louie came right back.

Feeling a little helpless, Shohn looked at Nadine.

She winced. “I think he needs more reassurance.”

Yeah, he knew that. Poor Louie had come from a shelter, and now he wanted to know he was loved. Mind made up, Shohn asked, “Are you in a rush to go to bed?”

“No,” she assured him hastily.

On track so far. “Mind if I stay for a while?”

She shook her head. “I’d like that.”

“And once Louie is feeling more secure?” He traced a fingertip over her collarbone, slowly down to the top of each plump breast. His voice went gravelly with need. “Then I’d like to show you how sexy you are, okay?”

“I was sort of counting on it.”

Shohn stood, which wasn’t easy since Louie kept trying to climb him like a tree. “How about I go wash up before appeasing this demanding beast?”

She twisted to look up at him. “Wash up?”

“Yeah. I always carry a spare set of clothes, so you don’t have to worry about me hanging around naked.”

Eyes wide, she said in a faint whisper, “I wasn’t worried.”

Then again, Shohn thought, hearing how husky her voice got and the way her eyes darkened, maybe stripping down was the way to go.

Louie disabused him of that notion real quick by attempting to climb him again.

Yeah, being naked around the cat was not an option.

“Be right back.” He went out the door before Louie could follow. In his Jeep he grabbed his duffel bag with clean shorts, a fresh uniform and his survival kit. With his job, he never knew when he might get soaked with mud, creek water or poison ivy. It made sense to be prepared.

The survival kit was a small pack of necessities that he carried whenever he had to be in the woods for long. On top of basic medical supplies and a few granola bars, it held a toothbrush razor and soap.

The condoms he kept in his wallet.

With any luck, he’d get to spend the night with Nadine. It always paid to be prepared.

* * *

Nadine made a quick trip over to Animal House while Shohn showered in her small bathroom. She was such an animal lover that she felt positively evil for scrounging up the repellent spray and an old canister of catnip. Hopefully if one didn’t work, the other would.

She managed to sneak in and out without disturbing too many dogs, which wasn’t easy with so much anticipation making her clumsy.

At this very moment, Shohn was naked, wet and soapy in her bathroom.

It was enough to rattle any red-blooded woman.

Did he make himself at home with every woman he planned to sleep with? He carried all the necessities, even a change of clothes, so she had to assume...yes.

Having her status as “just one of many” reaffirmed so blatantly didn’t exactly thrill her. But neither did it put her off enough to want to send him packing. Yet.

Not until she got the payoff.

Rushing, Nadine got back in her cabin just as the water shut off. That’s when she heard the racket. Louie carried on something awful, and there was a terrible scratching sound.

Clutching her stash of cat-necessities, Nadine peered down the short hall and saw Louie stretched out on his belly, trying to peek under the door, one paw wedged under. At first she thought he’d gotten his paw caught and it nearly stopped her heart. But when he pulled away from the door, peered under it from a different angle and again tried to reach in, she realized he only wanted to get in to Shohn.

She could sympathize with that idea, but really, so much caterwauling was overkill. “For heaven’s sake,” she told Louie. “You won’t fit under the door, so you may as well give it up.”

Instead, the cat doubled his efforts.

She heard Shohn laugh.

From inside the bathroom, he said, “He’s feeling around, trying to get hold of me.”

Not a bad idea. If she could get Louie to rest, she wanted to feel around and try to get hold of him, too. She cleared her throat. “Are you dressed?”

There was a pause before he cracked the door open. “Not yet.”

Oh, whoa. No, he wasn’t dressed, and the snowy-white towel he had around his hips did little to cover him. She had no words. She could barely swallow. She did manage to stare just fine, though.

Louie used the opportunity to squeeze into the bathroom. Shohn looked alarmed until Louie jumped up to the sink.

Cautiously Shohn took his gaze off the cat. “You want to join us? I’m only going to shave.”

Squeeze into the small bathroom next to Shohn while he wore no more than his irresistible scent, a wicked smile and a small towel? Of course she did. “I...ah...”

“C’mon.” He reached out for her, took her arm and pulled her in. “What do you have there?”

Guilt flushed her face. Or maybe it was his mostly naked body, still damp and hot and heart-stoppingly bare. “Catnip and repellent.”

“Kinky.”

“What? No. It’s to hopefully entice Louie into chilling a little. I mean, you can’t...we can’t...” She wasn’t about to spell it out like that. “It’s for Louie,” she said again.

“Ah, I think I get it.” He crossed his arms and leaned on the sink.

The towel parted over one muscular thigh. She stared, stared some more, but everything vital stayed covered. Walking along the edge of the sink, Louie brushed against his arm and left behind clumpy white hair sticking to Shohn’s still-damp skin.

Lip curled, he brushed at the hair. “I need to get him a brush.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Mesmerized, paying little attention to what she said, Nadine watched the flex of muscle in Shohn’s chest and arms, how his abs pulled tighter.

Louie made the attempt to climb up Shohn’s back, but he told the cat, “No.” Big yellow eyes defiant, the cat put a paw on his arm. Shohn lifted him away. Louie tried again and again. One paw here, testing, a paw there testing... Shohn laughed and stepped away. “You are determined, aren’t you? But sorry, my man, it isn’t happening. I value my hide too much.”

It was a really nice hide, Nadine thought.

Temporarily thwarted, Louie leaped into the bathtub, licked up a few drops of water here and there, then got out and pawed through Shohn’s discarded clothes on the floor.

“Nadine?”

Seeing those clothes drove home yet again that he’d come prepared. “Hmm?”

“The catnip is to give him something else to think about. Cats love that stuff, right?”

“Right. I thought I’d put some by the bed I made for him.” She nodded toward his dirty uniform. “We could maybe put your shirt by his bed, too. It’ll get cat hair on it, but I don’t think he’d tear it up or anything. And that way your scent might soothe him.” Even though it had the opposite reaction on her. Breathing in his scent made her nearly frantic with need.

Shohn picked up a razor. “And the repellent? You’re not planning to spray me with it, are you?”

Nadine shook her head. Would Shohn lose interest once he appeased his curiosity? No way to know unless she did some appeasing.

As he put the razor to his jaw, she drew in a breath, tried not to blush and said, “I was going to spray it outside my door.”

He went still, then slowly lowered the razor. “Your door?”

With him looking at her, it was even more difficult to say it. More difficult to breathe, too. And it was almost impossible not to look at his body. “My bedroom door.”

He put the razor back in the sink. In a low growl, he asked, “Mind if I don’t shave?”

She took a step toward him. “Not at all.”

“Then let’s go try out the catnip so I can get you alone.”

* * *

Shohn watched as Louie rolled to his back, purring like a kitten, then back to his belly, flattened out like a rug so he could rub his body in the catnip. At first Louie hadn’t been that interested, but once Nadine put the catnip on his uniform shirt, the combo worked.

“You’re a genius. Hopefully he doesn’t become an addict.”

A little breathlessly, Nadine whispered, “I had selfish incentive.”

Shohn glanced at her. The whole half hour that he’d been watching the cat, he’d felt Nadine watching him. Thank God he’d pulled on his clean shorts and slacks otherwise his boner would be all the more obvious. Not that Nadine hadn’t already noticed.

That’s where she stared.

Her intent focus wasn’t helping him to keep it together. Her big dark eyes were so expressive that she made him feel her thoughts. Hot, hungry thoughts.

Added to the stiffened nipples outlined by the soft cotton of her T-shirt and he was a goner.

Please, Louie, Shohn thought, give me at least an hour. He took a cautious step back, but Louie paid him no mind.

Another step and Louie noticed, but didn’t care enough to give up wallowing in kitty bliss.

Touching his fingertips to Nadine’s chin, Shohn lifted her face. “Should we try escaping to your room now?”

She hugged herself, nodded and turned in a fast walk to precede him down the hall and into the bedroom. Nice that she was in such a hurry.

Not exactly the romantic segue he’d planned, but it’d do.

Nadine had already secured the front door, so Shohn glanced over to make sure Louie had food and water in his dish, then he snatched up the repellent spray, just in case, and went after Nadine.

He found her pacing on the opposite side of the bed, her dark eyes huge and her beautiful breasts rising with her fast breaths.

Shohn quietly closed her bedroom door. Her bed was only full-size, made up with a fluffy comforter and half a dozen pillows. She’d drawn blinds over the only window. A lamp on the nightstand illuminated the room, leaving soft shadows.

He set the repellent on the nightstand. It was by far the weirdest accoutrement he’d ever brought to the bedroom.

With some anomalous emotion leaving her dark eyes mysterious, Nadine tracked his every move.

She’d been anxious for him, yet now the span of the mattress separated them. “Are you nervous, honey?”

“A little, yes, sure.” Suddenly she flung out her arms and blurted like an accusation, “You spent years not wanting me and now all of a sudden you do and I do, too, of course, but it’s a surprise and it might take me a little time to get used to it.”

Wow. Well, he wasn’t sure how much time they’d get. Louie could be at the door any minute and Nadine would no more ignore the needy cat than he would.

She dropped her arms, bit her lip and waited.

“I was an idiot,” Shohn said. “For not making a move, I mean. But Nadine, I’ve fantasized about you ever since I saw you in that wet T-shirt back when we were just kids. I know I talked a good game back then, but I hadn’t done any more than kissing.”

“You were only fourteen!”

“With a one-track mind. I’m told my uncle Gabe was the same.”

“The rumors abound, I know.” She snatched up a pillow off the bed and hugged it to her breasts.

“You’re denying me a great view there, babe.”

She gave him the same defiant look he’d gotten from Louie then tossed the pillow aside.

Nice. “Thank you.” Since it appeared they’d have this conversation before the fun got started, Shohn began tossing away the rest of the pillows. “What I’m saying is that until you came out of that lake, I had no clue just how much I loved breasts.”

She shifted her stance. “All men like boobs.”

“Yeah, maybe. But some of us more than others.” He pulled the comforter to the foot of the bed. “The thing is, with you, it’s more than just your awesome rack. It’s your great ass, too. And your shapely legs.”

She snorted. “Such a smooth talker.”

“I’m on the ragged edge here, honey. How smooth did you expect me to be?” He started around the bed toward her. “How about I get this shirt off you and I can just show you how much I appreciate every inch of your body?”

Her lips parted, her eyes went heavy and, right before he reached her, she grabbed the hem of the shirt and pulled it up and over her head.

Shohn thought his knees would give out. “Damn, girl, way to stop my heart.” If he’d ever seen a more enticing sight, he sure as hell didn’t remember.

Unsure where to put her hands, Nadine shifted. She settled on lacing her fingers together.

The shorts fit low on her hips and without the T-shirt, hid very little. Hell, his towel had done a more adequate job of preserving his modesty.

Now, with her standing there like that, it really was impossible for him to talk. His hands reached her before his feet caught up and he was already cuddling her big breasts as he stepped close and put his forehead to hers.

She inhaled deeply, saying with uncertainty, “Shohn?”

“You are so fucking gorgeous.”

She smiled. “Never mind.”

Shohn couldn’t concentrate on what she said; he was too busy touching her. Over her shoulders, down her back to her full hips, over her firm backside. Her waist nipped in, her belly a soft curve and those amazing breasts.

He brushed his thumbs over her pink nipples, now drawn tight, and couldn’t resist bending down for a taste.

When she said his name this time, it was an exclamation, not a question.

Shohn drew on her, curling his tongue around her nipple, pulling in a soft suction. Heat pulsed under his skin, made his muscles feel too tight. So many times he’d imagined this with Nadine. Years upon years of fantasies.

Now, finally, she’d be his.

Knowing that ramped up his need even more and Shohn lowered her to the bed, moving over her, releasing her breasts so he could savage her mouth instead. The kiss was hungry and out of control, consuming and so damned hot.

Nadine’s fingers tunneled into his hair and she held on while arching up against him.

Nice.

Going up to his elbows, Shohn looked at her hair spread out around her face, at her dark and heavy eyes, her lips puffy and damp from his kisses. So many emotions bombarded him that he didn’t know where to start. Wanting to fuck her but also wanting to...cherish her, he kissed her again, gently this time.

Nadine touched a hand to his chest. “Everything okay?”

No, not really. For the first time that he could ever remember, life felt amazingly...right. And, damn it, he hadn’t even known anything was wrong until it all got aligned so perfectly with Nadine.

“What are you doing to me?” he asked.

Her eyes flared. “Did you want me to do something?”

Shohn laughed. Yeah, he wanted her to do all kinds of stuff, but most of all, he wanted her to accept him.

She pushed at his chest. “What’s funny?”

“Nothing. I just feel good, that’s all.”

She stared at his mouth and sighed. “Me, too.”

Taking the hint, Shohn kissed her again, her mouth, her jaw, the fragrant skin of her throat. Near her ear he murmured, “I’ll feel even better if you lose the shorts, too. What do you say?”

“I say we should both get naked.”

Sounded like a perfect plan. He rolled to the side of her, but instead of taking off her shorts, Nadine sat up beside him and went after the snap of his jeans. It was a unique pleasure to see Nadine working over his fly. Her long hair hung down to tease his abdomen, her breasts swaying with her movements, her expression concentrated.

He held his breath as she eased his zipper down.

“Lift up.”

He did, and Nadine skimmed his jeans and boxers down to his knees. Sitting back on her heels, her small hands on her thighs, she stared at him.

What a beautiful picture she made, part innocence and a larger part seductress. She licked her lips, and he throbbed, he was so hard. “Nadine?”

“Hmm?”

Reaching out, he caught a long hank of her hair and gave a gentle tug. “Come here.”

She looked up at his face. “No, not yet.” Standing, she finished stripping off his jeans, then, without an ounce of fanfare, pushed her shorts down and off.

She seemed so focused on his nudity that she discounted her own.

Shohn couldn’t do the same.

When she reached for him, or more specifically, his erection, he tumbled her onto the bed and moved over her. “I need to get inside you, babe. Afterward, you can play touchy-feely if you want. Okay?”

Her body squirming against his, she said in a whisper, “Okay,” while lifting up to take his mouth.

He’d never last. Shohn knew it, but he couldn’t rush things, not with Nadine. She didn’t make it easy on him, not with the way she kissed him, how she looked and her scent and the excited little sounds she gave as he touched her.

He trailed a hand down to her hipbone, her voluptuous thigh, then inward, where he found her hot and wet and so damn ready.

She groaned, her whole body trembling, as he teased his fingertips over her sensitive lips, spreading her moisture, opening her. Lifting up to see her face, Shohn watched her while slowly pressing two fingers into her.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she clenched around him.

“You have the prettiest eyes, honey. Open up and let me see them.”

Instead, she turned her face in against his chest.

“Nadine, come on, baby. Look at me.” He moved his fingers deeper, pressing until he heard her gasp, then slowly pulling out only to sink in again. Amazingly he felt her getting wetter, hotter, tighter. So close. In a barely there whisper, he urged again, “Let me see you.”

After a second she obliged him, and it leveled him, seeing her like this. For him. He kissed her bottom lip, her chin, the top of her breasts. Using his tongue, he trailed a damp path to one nipple then suckled while still fingering her.

Her hands gripped his shoulders, her nails biting into his muscles as she groaned. “Shohn.”

Carefully closing his teeth around her nipple, he tugged. Given the catch of her breath and the new moisture that bathed his fingers, she liked that.

Using his thumb and her own slick excitement, he teased her clitoris in a slow rhythm that soon had her moving with him. He forgot his own need while enjoying hers. She tightened more, her body stiffening...

“Shohn.”

He rose up again to watch her, loving her dazed and smoky expression.

She gave a raw cry, arching up to him, her head back as she rode out a powerful climax that went on and on.

Shohn stayed with her, waiting until the pleasure faded and her body sank back, boneless, to the mattress.

Sitting up in a rush, he found his wallet, donned a condom and was back over her, settling between her thighs, before Nadine had even gotten her eyes open.

She came about as he used his fingertips to open her.

As soon as he started pressing into her, she was with him again.

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