Chapter 18

Okay. This wasn’t good.

Nathan Hero was so much better in the sunlight, close up, than he’d been as she watched him through the shrubbery. So much better. The man had muscles. And when he moved, they were handsomely delineated.

But she didn’t know who he was, and he thought she was insane. Probably functionally insane, but still.

“Fine. I’ll go. But you…” she jabbed her finger at the puppy, “…you take care of that little one.”

Her voice dropped low. Silly, her wild, over-the-top emotions about this puppy. But there they were. She was helpless; she couldn’t compress them.

The puppy tilted its head at her voice, then abruptly, broke rank with Nathan, and scampered toward her.

She forgot everything. She fell to her knees, opened her arms. The puppy practically climbed up on her, so overjoyed was he at finding another human he could like.

She didn’t know what it was. Had she suddenly given off ‘safe’ pheromones, doggy ones?

Whatever it was, she didn’t care. She gathered him into her arms, and held him close, his tiny tongue kissing her face.

She loved every moment of it.