SADIE RAN THROUGH her morning routine in record-breaking time. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but she was half-afraid that if she took too long, Buck would leave. That he was in her apartment in the first place was nothing short of a miracle.
With ruthless determination, she brushed the tangles out of her hair and pulled it back into a quick twist. It wasn’t the neatest job she’d ever done, but then she’d never done her hair with a big handsome man waiting for her in his underwear.
Oh, Lord.
Hands shaking, she cleaned her teeth, even gargled for safe measure—not that she expected to be too close to Buck, but… Several times, he’d invaded her personal space.
She stared at herself in the mirror, breathing hard, unseeing. Every single time Buck had gotten near, she’d enjoyed it. It likely meant nothing; he was a big guy and just naturally took up more room than most. But it still thrilled her, even when she knew she had no business being thrilled. Buck was not the kind of man she could start dreaming about.
But he smelled so good. Hot and musky-male. The freshness of the brisk morning air had competed with his scent, creating an intoxicating mix.
She closed her eyes, took a calming breath and quickly washed her face. She never bothered with jewelry or makeup, so less than ten minutes later she was dressed in a crisp pink blouse, a brown skirt with matching cardigan, and her comfortable weekend loafers. She had a bath towel—the largest she owned—draped over one arm.
Still she hesitated. Buck Boswell was just so…much. So much male, so much muscle, so much appeal.
And he was sitting in her kitchen. In his underwear. With his impressive, hairy chest, wide hard shoulders and flat abdomen all on display.
Sadie shivered in sensual delight. She felt terribly excited and anxious and apprehensive, all at the same time.
Never in her twenty-five years had a man sat mostly naked in her kitchen. Never. She’d had men over, of course. She wasn’t a complete social misfit. But they were businessmen, guys from the shelter dropping off a pet for her to nurture, or the lawyer with papers for her to sign concerning her mother’s affairs.
In some ways this was very, very different.
In others, it wasn’t different at all.
Determined to face reality, Sadie reminded herself that Buck wasn’t here for a date any more than the other men had been. Despite his frequent attempts to be friendly, he wasn’t interested in her on a personal level; she’d seen the women Buck preferred, and they were nothing like her.
If she hadn’t locked him out of his apartment, he wouldn’t be here now. She’d ordered him outside to rescue her dog, then repaid him by locking him out in his underwear. She wanted to groan. He had reason to be furious with her.
She’d handled plenty of large male animals that’d been angry and fearful because of past treatment. She’d soothed them, petted them until they calmed down and eventually won them over. She only had a few scars to show for her efforts. Nothing dramatic. Nothing life-altering.
Besides, Buck didn’t seem all that angry, and she doubted he went around biting women. And she definitely wouldn’t be petting him.
Her heart gave a tiny little trip even as she formed the thought.
But no. He wasn’t interested in intimacy, even if she felt that daring. And she didn’t. Really. But the thought of stroking his powerful body made her flush, and then snicker at the absurdity of it.
Done being a coward, she forced herself to leave the room. When she rounded the corner of the hall, her eyes went immediately to the small kitchen table, and found it empty. Her heart sank before common sense took over. He wouldn’t have left, not in his underwear. Not when he’d be insistent that she let him in.
Curious, she moved a little more quickly into the family room—and almost tripped over him.
Sprawled on his stomach on the carpet, taking up most of her minuscule floor space, Buck was trying to coerce Tish into coming closer. Butch sat beside him, impatiently watching, whining a little, and barking every now and then.
Her heart almost melted. From the day she’d met Buck, she’d been amazed at his size. He clowned around a lot, and he loved to tease and laugh, but there was no denying his strength. His biceps were so big, even using both hands she wouldn’t be able to circle them. His shoulders looked like boulders and his thighs like tree trunks. He could intimidate most anyone just by standing there, and he’d certainly intimidated her.
Yet now he was trying his best to sweet-talk her little bald dog. Such an amazing contradiction.
In silence Sadie tracked the long line of his powerful body, from his rumpled brown hair, down the deep furrow of his spine framed by bulging back muscles, across his tight buttocks, along his thick thighs, his hairy calves and finally to his enormous feet.
He was the biggest man she knew. He was the only man she’d ever seen in his underwear. And he had the gentlest, sweetest voice—
“Want me to roll over so you can check out the other side?”
Sweetness changed to amusement when he addressed her, and Sadie’s eyes nearly crossed. She glanced at his face, but he wasn’t looking at her. He watched Tish, his lopsided smile giving him an endearing look.
She cleared her throat, summoned up a credible lie and said, “I was just trying to decide if this towel is big enough.”
“Right.”
Time to change the subject, and fast. Sadie coughed. “It’s nice that you’re trying, but Tish’s really shy. She won’t come to me willingly, either, and she’s especially afraid of men.”
“I’ll win her over, eventually.” He winked, then rolled to his feet and stood in front of her, towering, imposing.
Sexy.
When Sadie just stared up at him, he held out a hand. Reflexively, she jumped back, thinking he meant to touch her. One of his eyebrows lifted, and she saw his hand was held out, palm up.
Oh. She gave him the towel. “You can hang your shorts over the back of a chair to dry if you want.”
He smiled, then started for the kitchen. “Sure. Give me one minute—and no peeking.”
As if she would! Well…she might. If she knew she wouldn’t be caught.
The dogs followed on his heels, and Sadie found herself alone in the tiny living room. She waited, peeked down the hall, and waited some more.
Incredible. A naked man was now in her kitchen. Her belly pulled tight as she pictured it all too clearly in her mind.
“Coast is clear,” Buck called.
Being the cautious sort and already flushed from her vivid imaginings, Sadie crept in until she saw that he was indeed covered. Phew. What a relief.
Sort of.
Not that his wearing a towel was that much better than his wearing boxers, but it hid more of him, from beneath his navel to just below his knees. Still, he sat in the stiff kitchen chair, thighs open, one long leg stretched out.
She’d always heard that men had no modesty. This pretty much proved it. Right now, if she bent over just a little, she’d be able to see—
“The coffee smells good.”
Sadie met his mocking gaze and had the horrible suspicion he’d read her thoughts. Mortified, she turned her back on him. “You could have helped yourself.” As she said it, she got two mugs down from the cabinet.
“I wouldn’t be so presumptuous.”
That had her smiling. He was by far the most outrageous human being she knew, and she doubted he could spell presumptuous. She peeked at him. He’d hung the silly monkey-covered boxers over the back of a chair. The bright yellow in her white kitchen seemed as out of place as Buck himself.
“After saving Tish, I owe you. Especially since I locked you out.”
He shrugged a massive shoulder as big and hard as a boulder. “I should have warned you that the door would lock. My fault.”
Generous, too. And kind. Why had she never noticed these attributes before?
But she knew the answer. She’d been hurting from the loss of her mother and the upheaval of moving from the only home she’d ever known. She hadn’t had the emotional strength to let anyone else into her life, especially not a man like Buck—so powerful and strong and…threatening.
At least to her peace of mind.
Besides, she’d known Buck wasn’t the type of man to pay her much attention. He was big and sexy and he almost always had a smile on his face. He’d never been lacking female company, either. Sadie often saw him grilling steaks in his backyard with a woman draped around him.
She’d hear them laughing, and be drawn to look, regardless of her own sense of decorum. Buck liked to kiss and tease. He was a toucher, always stroking the women he had around. Not in a sexual way, though she was sure he indulged in plenty of that in private. But anytime he had a woman near, he was either holding her hand, casually caressing her arm, or running the backs of his fingers across her cheek.
He liked to tickle, too, she’d discovered. More often than not, that game would end up with Buck hoisting the woman into his arms and carrying her inside. Sadie would watch with a sick sense of yearning.
Not that it did her any good to pine after men. For the most part, they ignored her.
Only Buck wasn’t ignoring her now.
“I really am grateful,” Sadie told him. “I know we haven’t always hit it off.” To cover that halfhearted apology for past transgressions, she set a steaming mug of coffee in front of him and quickly inquired, “Cream or sugar?”
“Neither, thanks.” He sipped, nodded. “Good. Maybe that’ll help wake me up.”
Tongue in cheek, Sadie asked, “Hard night?”
“Not in the way I would prefer.” He tipped his head toward Butch, who trailed behind Tish like a caboose on a train. “I’m not used to having the little guy spend the night. My friend, Riley—you’ve probably seen him at my place before…?”
“With the red-haired woman, yes.” She’d noticed Butch with him, too, of course. Not only was he smaller than most, but a red Chihuahua with black brindling stood out because of the unusual coloring.
“That’d be Regina. Or Red, as Riley calls her.”
Riley was one of Buck’s quieter, calmer friends. He oozed menace and confidence, but also gentle concern, especially with his wife. Still, even he took part in the boisterous laughing when three or more of the men got together.
“Riley’s had Butch over plenty of times,” Buck said, “but this is the first time I’m dog-sitting overnight. Butch keeps odd hours, which means I have to keep odd hours, too.”
Sadie turned to the refrigerator to rummage for food. They had two hours together and feeding him would help pass the time.
“If he’s the reason you were up so early this morning, I can only be grateful. Otherwise I’d have been dealing with that cicada on my own.” She leaned around the door to see Buck. “And I hate to admit it, but I’m not sure I could have.”
“Don’t blame you. Cicadas have to be the nastiest bugs around.”
That he’d agree with her made her feel less ridiculous. “Eggs and bacon okay?”
“Sounds great.”
She heard her delicate little parlor chair creak as Buck settled back. “Now. About what you said…”
“Hmm?” Sadie dug out her frying pan. Cooking for a man would be a unique experience. Her father had walked out when she was young, leaving her mother to raise her alone. As an only child, Sadie had no brothers, and her mother had never remarried. Because her mother’s health had always been frail, she’d never been a big eater. How many eggs would a man like Buck need?
She eyed his enormous form, decided on two, then changed her mind to three.
“About us not always hitting it off.”
She nearly dropped an egg. She didn’t want to discuss that, but apparently, she’d have to. She probably shouldn’t have said anything, but after his heroic rescue this morning, she felt she owed him an apology.
To keep from looking at him, she began laying bacon in the hot skillet. “I’m sure that was more my fault than yours.”
Buck leaned forward, bracing one elbow on the table. “Well, now, I don’t want to rile you, but until today, you have always seemed kind of cold.”
Sadie’s back stiffened. “Cold?”
“Unfriendly,” he said by way of explanation. “Standoffish. Maybe a little—”
“I get it.” She glared at Buck.
He grinned. “Okay. Don’t bite my face off.”
Blast. She turned back to the stove. Her words had been sharper than she’d meant them to be. But just because she hadn’t jumped all over him as most women did, he’d labeled her cold? She bit her lip, slapped two more slices of bacon into the pan, and said through her teeth, “Again, I apologize.”
A loud, masculine sigh accompanied the creaking of the chair, and suddenly he was behind her. He didn’t say a word, but the sensation of being cornered had her breath catching in her throat. Heat radiated off his big body, touching her all along her back. And she could smell him again, the delicious smell of warm male.
She couldn’t turn to face him.
“I riled you.”
“No.” Sadie denied that with a quick shake of her head.
“I’d like to get to know you better, Sadie.”
Oh, Lord. Her stomach dropped to her feet. She’d imagined this scenario many times, but the reality was a lot more nerve-racking.
His long hard fingers wrapped completely around her wrist, emphasizing the disparity in their sizes. He lifted her arm and his rough thumb coasted over a small scar, then another. “How’d you get these?”
With her heart ramming into her chest wall, speech was nearly impossible. “Dog.” She cleared her throat. “Make that plural. Sometimes the dogs are…nervous with me.”
“You let them bite you?”
“I don’t exactly invite them to, no. But it happens.” He was being so casual about touching her that she regained some—but not all—of her aplomb. “Most of the dogs I take in have been mistreated, abandoned, starved. Naturally, they don’t trust humans, with good reason. Anything can startle them.”
His thumb continued to caress her wrist, sending her senses rioting. “Hmm. Like what?”
He expected her to indulge in this conversation with him so close, his hands touching her, his expression intent? For most women, it’d be nothing out of the ordinary. For Sadie, it was unheard of.
She cleared her throat and tried to keep her voice steady. “Noise really bothers them. And when they’re scared, they lash out. A dog might bite, a cat might scratch. They don’t want to hurt me, but they’re so afraid.”
He frowned.
“It’s not their fault. When I first bring them home, I try to give them security and quiet, lots of love and comfort. If they hear a loud noise while I’m trying to get them used to me—”
“A loud noise, like a laugh?”
He caught on all too quickly. She ducked her head. “Sometimes.”
Carefully, Buck tugged on her wrist until she turned completely toward him. The top of her head reached his bristled chin. His mouth had gone flat and hard, his jaw tight.
She stared at his chest. He was just so…so large. And hard. And sexy.
What would it be like to run her fingers through that dark, curling chest hair? She knew it was soft because she’d already touched him there, earlier when she’d demanded his help. At the time she’d been too worried about Tish to really appreciate the feel of him. If she nestled her cheek—
He lifted her other arm and examined it, too. “I’m a jerk.”
She had to quit daydreaming. “No, you’re not.”
“That’s why you don’t like it when I have friends over and we make so much noise. That’s why you won’t ever join us.”
After all his help that morning, she had to be entirely honest with him. It was horrible to admit, but she had to be fair. “The noise can upset the animals, yes. But I don’t join in because I’m not very good in social settings.”
He bent his knees, lowering himself to look her in the eyes. “Yeah? How come?”
He was so close that she breathed in the heat of his skin. She felt tight from her toes to her eyebrows, and everywhere in between was jumpy. But the big goof probably had no idea what he did to her, how his nearness turned her inside out. He wasn’t flirting.
No man ever flirted with her.
Sadie stared at his right nipple and whispered, “Since moving here, I’ve been really busy.”
Skeptical, he said, “Busy, huh?”
She nodded. “Between work and caring for animals, I don’t have time to socialize.”
“But I’m right next door.”
He lifted her free hand and pressed it to his chest—right over the nipple she’d been ogling. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord. To not contract her fingers required all her concentration. She wanted to test his strength, knead him like a cat.
“You could bring your animals with you if you want.”
For a moment, Sadie wondered if she was dreaming. Buck couldn’t be serious. Not only was a man in her apartment, but now he was offering to let her visit, and with animals in tow?
Why would he make such a generous offer? “I’m…I’m usually not good company. Sometimes the dogs keep me up too late. They have nightmares just like anyone else and I get cranky without enough sleep.”
She sneaked a glance at him and saw she’d amused him again. Forging on, she added, “When I don’t make as much progress as I like, it gets to me. That makes me crabby, too.”
With Buck holding one hand, and her other braced on his rock-hard chest, she had to blow away the lock of hair that had fallen in her eyes. She should have taken more time when pinning it up.
Buck was silent for a moment, watching her so intently, her knees felt ready to buckle.
In a voice that sounded remarkably seductive, he said, “You’re a real sweetheart, you know that?”
Her gaze shot up to his face. “What?” Had he just complimented her?
He tucked her hair behind her ear for her, smiled and said, “I’ll help cook while you tell me about Tish.”
No! He couldn’t say something like that and then act like nothing important had happened.
She wanted to know what he meant, but didn’t have the nerve to push him. “You can cook?” She no sooner asked it than she felt like a dolt. He certainly didn’t look malnourished.
“Yeah, I can cook.” He lifted her hand from his chest, kissed her palm and then nudged her out of his way so he could reach the stove. “Nothing too complicated, but breakfast is a must.” He turned the bacon with a fork before dropping butter in another skillet for the eggs. “You can make the toast. I’ll take four slices.”
Like a zombie, Sadie got out the loaf of bread and headed to the toaster.
“So why is Tish bald?”
That brought her around. Sadie glared at his broad back. At least he hadn’t said “ugly” again. She glanced at the little dog, now curled in a ray of sunshine with Butch snuggled up to her back. If Tish moved, Butch jumped up in expectation, only to lie back down when Tish failed to do anything astounding. Too cute. Both of them.
“Her previous owner let her breed with a dog that was too big. She had a really hard pregnancy and couldn’t deliver the puppies on her own. The vet had to do a cesarean section.”
“They do that to dogs?” He dropped eggs, two at a time, into the sizzling skillet. “Cesareans, I mean.”
“When they need to. It wasn’t just the size of the pups that gave her problems. She was undernourished, physically stressed in her labor, and someone had just left her on the shelter stoop.”
Buck turned from the stove to stare at her with an unreadable expression. “The puppies?”
“Were fine. All five of them.” Anger tightened her voice and left her stomach in knots. “Poor Tish didn’t know what was going on. She was so afraid and in painful labor. The trauma of surgery, especially the anesthesia, can make the fur fall out. But it’ll come back.”
Buck paused, then he, too, looked at the dog. “Poor little baby.”
At the sound of his voice, Tish lifted her head and stared at him.
Sadie’s throat ached, and her heart hurt. “Whoever had her also hit her.”
Without looking away from the dog, Buck stiffened. “How do you know?”
“The way she flinches if I lift a hand around her, as if she’s expecting a blow. She’s so afraid, she fights me every time I put her collar on her, and more often than not, she struggles until she can get out of it. I can’t put it on her any tighter without hurting her, and that I won’t do.” She glanced at Buck. “That’s how she got loose this morning.”
Buck looked as disturbed by the truth as she felt. “So don’t put a collar on her.”
“If I don’t, she might get away. I can’t bear the thought of her getting lost and being alone again.”
Buck turned away from the stove, a contemplative look on his face. Then he walked to her patio doors. Tish quickly darted out of his path, which meant Butch followed. Both dogs watched him from several feet away.
Sadie’s apartment wasn’t as upscale as Buck’s. Where he had French doors, she had sliders. He looked out, rubbing his chin in thought. “I could build you a little fence for her. Nothing permanent, so it wouldn’t get in the way when the maintenance guys cut the grass. But she’s so small, it wouldn’t take much to contain her. That way, you could wait to put the collar on her until she starts to like you.”
Offended, Sadie said, “She already likes me. That’s why she keeps bringing me gifts.”
“Gifts?”
“The…bugs and stuff.”
“She brings you a cicada because she likes you?” He grunted. “Good thing she doesn’t hate you, then.”
Ignoring that, Sadie explained, “We’re getting along. Tish’s just cautious.”
“Like you?”
Sadie went still. She was cautious, but she had thought she hid it well. “What do you mean?”
Buck returned to the stove and expertly flipped the eggs. “Anytime I get too close to you, you poker up like you think I’m going to bludgeon you or something.”
No, she pokered up like she thought she might jump his gorgeous bones. It didn’t matter that she was plain and inexperienced. She was as curious as any woman, with all the same desires. But because of her natural shyness, the overwhelming responsibility she’d held for a sick parent, and her own high standards, she’d had very little chance to indulge those desires.
Sometimes she felt ready to explode with frustration. And putting her next to a guy like Buck, a guy who oozed confidence and sex appeal, was like waving a flame around a keg of gasoline. She didn’t want to do anything to embarrass herself, so she tried very hard to contain her interest.
Naturally, she couldn’t tell him any of that. “I, uh, that is…”
“You don’t date much, do you?”
If by “not much” he meant never, then…
“Sorry,” he said, not sounding the least bit sorry. “I don’t mean to be nosy. Well, I guess I do. But I don’t mean for it to embarrass you.”
Sadie fell back against the counter. Her thoughts went this way and that, trying to figure him out. What possible reason could he have for wanting to know about her lack of a social life?
The wall clock ticked loudly while she considered it. The dogs stared at her in expectation. Sadie straightened. She had a man in her kitchen. And not just any man, but Buck Boswell. He was showing interest. He was more naked than not. Shyness be damned, she had a right to ask.
She cleared her throat. “Why do you want to know?” Her voice emerged as a hesitant squeak.
He carried both plates to the table. “A guy needs to find out these things.”
She looked at the dogs, and they looked back. No help there. They wore identical expressions of confusion. She turned back to Buck. “But…why?”
He moseyed over to the toaster and stared at it as if willing the bread to pop up. “We’re neighbors. We’re both single. Close to the same age.” He looked up at her. “I’m thirty-one.”
He seemed to expect some reply, so Sadie said, “I’m twenty-five,” and he nodded.
“We both have Chihuahuas, too. That’s a lot of stuff to have in common.”
He had to be kidding. In truth, they had nothing in common.
“I was hoping to visit more,” he said. “Hang out a little with you and Tish. But I don’t want to intrude if you’re going to be busy.”
“Visit more? Hang out?” Real intelligent, Sadie. Soon he’d consider her a blithering idiot, as well as a wallflower.
Buck shrugged away her stammers. “Yeah. Nothing formal.” He looked down at her, his green eyes warm and speculative. “For now.”
For now? Was he saying that, later, he’d want to get more formal?
“I mean, we have two dogs to deal with, right? Butch isn’t nervous like Tish, but he doesn’t much like to be left alone. No matter what I do, he’s on my heels.”
Sadie pointed out the obvious. “He’s not on your heels now.”
That made him grin. “No, he’s busy trying to woo Tish, but I’m still in his sights. He might not like it if I left. So maybe we could hang out together at my place or yours. Maybe watch a few movies or something.”
“Oh.”
He smiled down at her. “You like movies?”
“Yes.” She loved movies. They were a form of entertainment she could enjoy in her own home, with her pets nearby.
“Great. Seems like Tish would get used to you quicker if you were around more, right?”
Sadie bit her lip. “I didn’t intend to leave her alone, except when I go to work.”
“But see, that’s the good part. I’m on vacation, so I don’t have to go to work. I could be here while you’re gone, and maybe she’d get used to me that much quicker, too.”
His sincerity held her in place as surely as if her feet were nailed to the floor. “I suppose.” She couldn’t believe this. Buck Boswell, a hulking bachelor with a score of women at his beck and call, was trying to sell her on the idea of him spending more time with her.
Or was it that he wanted to spend time with Tish? Sadie frowned, more than a little confused.
“If I’m here enough,” Buck continued, “she’ll start to trust me. And if she trusts one human, she’ll trust another, right?”
Sadie nodded. “That sounds, uh, reasonable.”
“And then maybe…” He smoothed his big hand over her hair, once again tucking it into place. “You’ll start to trust me a little, too.”
No one, except her mother, had ever felt free to touch her so casually. To keep from falling over, Sadie took two deep breaths. She had no idea what was going on.
His voice dropped when he murmured, “Your hair is really soft.” His thumb grazed her jawline. “Your skin, too.”
Sadie’s insides started a slow burn. She was about to melt when the toast popped up, making her jump a foot.
Buck reached for the toast before she could. “So tell me, you seriously involved with anyone right now?”
She was seriously involved in a fantasy. “No.”
He took a second to absorb her fast reply. “Casually dating anyone?”
Sadie shook her head.
He stared at her, brows slightly drawn, expression probing. “Dating at all?”
Why did she have to be so fair-skinned? Her blushes didn’t make her look pretty. They just made her look scalded. “No.”
“Why not?” Buck slathered an obscene amount of butter onto the toast while awaiting her answer.
What to tell him? The truth? She actually shuddered. No, some humiliations should be kept private forever. Like being stood up on prom night. Her blush intensified with the awful memory of standing there in her fancy dress with her fancy hairdo, feeling so giddy and anxious—and two hours later, finally accepting the reality that her date wouldn’t show. Being the sophomore joke had been enough to last her through the rest of high school.
She locked her knees. “There hasn’t been much time.” Her eyes sank shut at that awful fabrication. She had all the time in the world and he probably knew it.
“So you used to date, but don’t much anymore?”
She refused to bare her soul, to totally expose herself and her lacks. She was a grown woman, not a wounded child. Her chin lifted. “Are we going to eat this morning, or keep talking?”
“Let’s do both.” He turned to carry the toast to the table, and almost tripped over the dogs. Butch knew better than to think he’d get table food, but Tish apparently had no manners. She jumped, barked, begged.
“So now you like me?” Buck inquired of the little dog with a smile.
“Sorry.” Sadie hurried to the cabinet and got out the box of doggie treats. “When we first got her, she was so thin that everyone hand-fed her, just to make sure she’d eat. Now she thinks any food near a hand is hers for the taking.”
“It fattened her up, so I’d say it worked.”
Sadie couldn’t take offense at that comment; Tish was as plump as a little penguin. She dug out a small bone-shaped treat, then thought to ask, “Is it okay if I give Butch one, too?”
“Sure.” Buck set the food on the table and again crouched down to pet Tish. She lurched away with a yelp, making him sigh. “That’s okay, baby. I understand.”
The way he knelt left his towel wide open over his spread knees. Sadie leaned forward to peek, but could only see his upper thighs. Nice, muscular thighs.
Buck turned to smile up at her. Either he didn’t notice what she was doing, or he chose to ignore it.
“I really want to hold that little dog.”
“I know. Me, too. Eventually she’ll let us.”
He turned back to the dog. “I’m always patient when I want something.”
His tone of voice was sweet and gentle. Tish watched him, creeping closer, inching toward the table.
“Good girl,” Buck crooned softly.
Slowly, he reached out to her. He was almost touching her when Tish snatched his colorful boxers off the back of the chair and ran off.
Startled, Buck shot back to his feet. “Hey!”
Sadie watched her run around the corner and into the living room. “Uh…”
Butch ran after Tish, and Buck was next in line. Sadie followed. The dogs had gone under her couch. When Buck knelt down to look underneath, both dogs barked at him, trying to warn him off.
“What the hell is she doing with my underwear?”
Sadie stared at the picture he made, on his knees peering under her furniture. “I don’t know.” And as Buck stood to face her, she said, “I can get them for you later, when she comes back out.”
Buck hesitated, then, amazingly enough, stood, slung his thick arm around her shoulders and led her back to the kitchen.
“I suppose that’ll be okay.”
Awareness made Sadie so stiff she could barely walk. Buck’s arm was heavy and warm, his embrace casual. He kept her tucked in close to his side. When they reached the kitchen, he pulled her chair out for her, waited until she got seated, then joined her at the table.
“So tell me what you do. I know you work at the shelter, but what’s your job there?”
He began eating, not paying her much mind, and that made it easier to converse with him. “I work as a vet’s assistant.”
He nodded. “I sort of figured it’d be something like that.”
“I’ve always loved animals.”
“It shows.”
He was so open and friendly, he made it easy to talk. “I’d always wanted to be a vet, but I never got my schooling finished for it.”
“How far did you get?” In two large bites, he finished off a piece of toast.
Watching him eat amazed Sadie. Without looking like a glutton, he polished off the food in short order. She pulled her gaze away from him to taste her own eggs. Delicious.
“I got accepted to a veterinary college,” she admitted, and hoped she didn’t sound boastful.
“Yeah? You have to have a really high GPA for that, right?”
She remembered how thrilled and proud her mother had been. Buck sounded almost as admiring. “Yes. Admission was selective, but I’d already completed a pre-veterinary curriculum with a strong focus on the sciences. Anatomy, physiology, chemistry, microbiology and some clinical sciences.”
“Wow. Heavy subjects. So what happened?”
Sadie toyed with her fork. “My mother needed me at home.” So that he wouldn’t misunderstand and think her mother selfish, she rushed through the rest of the explanation. “She’d raised me on her own. For as long as I can remember, it was just the two of us. She did a great job, but she was sick for years.”
“Sick how?”
“Cancer.” Just saying the word made Sadie relive the hurt. “She’d go into remission, feel a little better, then go downhill again. Each time it got worse and worse, and her recovery from treatment took longer. The cancer began to spread.” Her voice started to shake. It hadn’t been that long since she lost her mother, and talking about it still hurt. “I didn’t want her to be alone.”
Buck pushed his empty plate away. His brows were drawn with concern and sympathy. “You took care of her?”
“Me and a nurse who visited three times a week.”
“How old were you when she first got diagnosed with cancer?”
Looking back, it seemed her mother had always been ill, but Sadie knew that wasn’t true. It was just that when most young women were breaking away from home, striving for independence, she’d had to stay close to her mom. “We first found out she had breast cancer when I was almost fifteen. She had surgery, and things seemed okay for a year or so. Then they found more cancer. Lung. Bone.” She swallowed and pushed her plate away. She couldn’t eat another bite. “Eventually brain cancer.”
Buck reached across the table and took her hand. “Must’ve been really rough.”
Watching her mother weaken over time had been a living hell. But she’d borne it all alone. There’d been no one, other than peripheral strangers—doctors, nurses and a variety of legal people—to offer her any support or assistance.
For years, she’d been hungry for human contact, and to compensate for that lack, she’d turned to the animals she’d understood best. But now Buck held her hand as if he really cared. Sadie was amazed, and very grateful.
“Toward the end, she had very few good days.”
Buck turned her hand over and rubbed her palm with his thumb while looking into her eyes. Sadie felt touched everywhere. Not just on her skin, but in her heart, too. For once, the icy memories didn’t linger. They got soothed away by the intrusion of other, warmer emotions.
It was the oddest feeling, like falling into a deep, heated pool. Silence stretched out between them. She saw Buck’s eyes narrow marginally, saw his shoulders tense.
He said, “Finish your breakfast, okay?”
“I am finished.” Her upset was over, but now she was too excited and anxious to eat.
The dogs came back into the kitchen, distracting them both. Tish crept, keeping her eyes on the humans. Butch just pranced beside her, waiting as Tish dragged the colorful cotton boxers to a sunny spot in front of the sliding doors. She laid them down, used her nose to push them this way and that, digging, tugging with her teeth, before circling three times and dropping into the middle of the material with a grunt.
Butch, openly confused but unwilling to be left out, glanced at Sadie and Buck, back at Tish, then curled into her side.
A slow grin came over Buck’s face. “I think she likes me.”
Sadie actually giggled. “If she’s willing to sleep in your underwear, then she must.”
He turned to face her, still holding her hand captive. “And what about you?”
“I don’t want to sleep in your underwear.”
Buck accepted the joke with a laugh. He tugged her closer, leaning toward her at the same time. “But do you like me, Sadie? Because I like you. A lot.”
And to Sadie’s utter shock and excitement, he kissed her.