Maisey Yates - Animal Attraction

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.”