He looked perfectly at home measuring out the detergent. He even dumped the trash, which included, as she knew all too well, three used condoms.

It was only when he came to the two huge land mines in his front yard, left there by Sadie, that he hesitated. Still, he gamely found a shovel and took care of that, too, though he did shoot Sadie several dark looks that the dog freely and openly returned.

Then Nick tossed a duffel bag in the truck bed and backed them out of his driveway. Sadie had gotten into the vehicle docilely enough-probably because Danielle had as well-but now, as Nick drove, she whined.

Danielle felt like doing the same.

After about twenty minutes, Nick pulled up to a hotel. He turned off the truck and turned to her. Reaching for her hand, he gave her a careful once-over. “You okay?”

“Peachy.”

“I take it that’s a no.”

Danielle closed her eyes. “I just can’t believe how stupid I was. I would have let her walk me right into a trap.”

“Not stupid. You trusted her.”

“I keep forgetting trust isn’t an option.”

He slid his fingers beneath her hair, massaging the back of her neck until she looked at him. “You can trust me.”

“I-” The denial backed up in her throat at the open but fierce expression on his face. “I don’t want to trust anyone,” she whispered.

“I know,” he whispered back, and slowly pulled her against him.

He felt good, solid and warm, and for just a moment she let herself cling. And then somehow she sucked it up, found some desperately needed strength and pulled back. “What are we doing here?”

“Checking in. Then we’ll hunt down your Donald and make sure he’s on the up-and-up before you approach him.”

“Checking in?” She turned forward to face the hotel. “Here?”

“We can’t stay at my place.”

“We can’t, no. But you can.”

He waited until she looked at him, and his expression was light, neutral almost, but she knew him better now, and didn’t miss the determination. “I’m not leaving you alone to face this,” he said. “So just forget it.”

Why wouldn’t he just walk away? Why did he have to sit there looking so good, so right? So…hers? “I can’t let you do this, Nick. I don’t have enough money for the room, and-”

“It just so happens that I do. I know,” he said, putting his fingers over her lips when she would have spoken again. “You don’t like help, but you appear to be stuck with me for now.” Opening the door, he got out and held out his hand.

She followed, with Sadie in tow. “They might not appreciate Sadie as a guest,” she said as they entered the reception area.

“Given that I personally cleaned up after her this morning, I can see why,” he said dryly. “But this hotel takes dogs.” He pointed to the sign, Dogs Welcome. “Traveling with pets, especially dogs, is pretty common in this area. How many rooms do we need?”

He had the most amazing eyes, she thought inanely, her body tingling in reaction to his unspoken question.

How many rooms? Just one bed, her body cried. But her brain was in charge. “We shouldn’t get used to-”

“Yeah.” And hiding his reaction to that, he turned to the receptionist and reserved two rooms.


AFTER CHECKING IN, Nick drove Danielle to see Donald. When they got there, his office was boarded up, with a sign that announced, We’ve Moved!

Nick pulled out his cell phone, dialed the new number posted, and handed it over to Danielle, who spoke to the art director’s assistant.

When she clicked off the phone, she found Nick watching her very closely.

“Well?”

“I can’t see him until tomorrow,” she said.

“I heard. What I didn’t hear was how you’re holding up.”

“I’m holding.”

His mouth curved. “Good. Now you’ve got an entire day of vacation ahead of you.”

She gaped at him, then laughed. “Vacation?”

“You say that like it’s a bad word.”

“It’s just that I’ve never really taken one.”

“Well, then…” Nick took Sadie’s leash in one hand and slipped his other arm around her, starting a lazy walk back to his truck, ignoring the fact that he had to practically drag the reluctant Sadie, who didn’t want anyone holding her leash but Danielle. “Stick with me,” he said to both unnerved females. “I’ll show you how to relax.”

But that’s what Danielle was afraid of. If she relaxed, she had to let down her guard. And if she let down her guard, he was going to crawl into her heart and make himself right at home.


AT THE HOTEL, Nick waited outside Danielle’s door until she slid in the key card and opened her door. “Danielle,” he said, and when she turned to look at him, he pressed her against the jamb for a quick, hard, hot kiss.

“What was that for?” she asked a little breathlessly.

He smiled as he trailed a thumb over her bottom lip. “To remind you that even though I’m in another room, you’re not alone.”

All her life she’d been surrounded by someone or another, and all her life she’d fought a loneliness she never understood. Now, with just this man for company, she hadn’t felt alone once.

“Maybe another kiss would help me remember,” she said very softly. “You know, just to be sure.”

With a quick, sexy grin, he leaned in, but she put a hand to his chest. “And maybe…” She trailed off.

“Maybe?” he repeated.

“Maybe not so quick this time.”

His eyes heated. “Got it.” His lips came within a fraction of an inch of hers, then stopped, making her nearly moan out loud. “Is there anything else?” he whispered, his breath mingling with hers. “You know, while I’m here?”

“Well…” He could make her forget anything, including the fact her life had fallen apart. He could make her feel warm and fuzzy and safe by just looking at her. And shameless. He made her shameless. “Maybe just one more thing…”

“Anything.” He pulled her against him, letting her feel how hard he was. “You want what you wanted last night? The blinding kisses? The touches that had you trembling?” His voice went rough and low. “How about when I put my tongue-”

“That,” she whispered shakily. “That’s the one.”

“Ah.” Eyes gleaming, he dipped his head for a long, messy, glorious kiss that did indeed numb more than half of her brain cells. When he came up for air, he backed her into the room. Kicking it closed, he moved with her until the backs of her legs hit the bed. “I live to provide pleasure,” he said wickedly, and pushed her down to the mattress, following her with his long, hard body.

Looping her arms around his neck, she surged up for a kiss, but Nick suddenly went still, then craned his neck to first one side, then the other, looking for something.

“Nick?” She wanted him to take her to oblivion, if only for a little while. “What are you-”

“Sadie?”

Now he wanted to talk to her dog? “Nick, I think she can wait-”

“Sadie!” He pushed to his feet, looking around with a startled look on his face. “Where did she go?”

Danielle came up to her elbows. The room was small enough for her to see in one sweeping glance there was no giant dog anywhere. “Oh my God.” She leapt to her feet. “She must have walked off when we were in the doorway.”

Nick had already hauled open the door again. “Not in the hallway,” he said. “I’ll go right, you go left.”

Danielle ran out the door and turned left, coming to a flight of stairs. Up or down, she wondered frantically, then decided down. Sadie would have gone down, it was easier and she was, after all, an incredibly lazy dog.

At the bottom, she pushed open the already ajar door, which led into a courtyard. Bright sunshine had her lifting her hand to block it from her squinting eyes.

Flowers in every color and hue covered every corner. Benches lined the paths, where quite a few people milled around. It looked as if the hotel had hosted a late lunch of some sort, as plenty of well-dressed, important people milled around holding champagne and plates filled with food.

And in the center of the courtyard, in a bed of flowers she’d completely flattened, lay Sadie, her tongue hanging out of her mouth, her coat covered in fresh dirt from the plants, her tail making lazy swipes in that dirt.

Danielle sagged in relief even as she cringed at the damage the dog had done to the flowers, but her relief was short-lived. Because right next to Sadie, tongue also hanging out, tail also swiping lazily in the dirt, lay…another dog.

An even bigger dog, who with long, shaggy, dark hair and sheer hugeness had to be none other than a Newfoundland.

When Danielle stopped short at the sight of them, the Newfoundland came to full alert and stood up in front of Sadie.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that he was male, and that he’d clearly just claimed Sadie as his own.

In more ways than one.

Nick caught up with her, also stopping short at the sight of Sadie with her new beau, both of whom wore a sleepy, happy, sated expression.

“Well.” Nick glanced at Danielle. “I had no idea dogs could look so utterly…laid.”

“Oh, no,” she groaned. “This can’t be happening.”

“I take it she’s not…er, fixed.”

“I was going to eventually breed her! With a purebred!”

Sadie’s boyfriend sat regally, his tongue hanging out as he panted.

Nick rubbed his jaw, looking like he was fighting a grin. “He looks like a decent enough sort of dog.”

Poised and ever so elegant, the male dog lifted his leg and began to lick himself.

Nick laughed.

Danielle groaned, refusing to acknowledge the way the sound of Nick’s laugh had the most devastating power to make her want to return it. “This is all your fault!”

“My fault!” Now he blinked, looking comically shocked. “How do you figure?”

“You distracted me with that kiss, otherwise I would never have forgotten about Sadie, not even for a second.” She stepped into the flowers and grabbed the loose leash at Sadie’s side. Then, in a cosmic timing that could only be described as very bad luck, the sprinklers came on.