Maisey Yates - Animal Attraction

“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.