Sure, Rebekah had several girlfriends who lived in town, but most of them either volunteered at the animal shelter or were somehow connected to someone who worked there. So it wasn’t like she could talk to them about what was going on between herself and Grant. At least, not yet.
“So I finally bit the bullet and called my parents last night,” Rebekah continued after a few more cars passed. “They pretty much asked me every question that Grant and I had already practiced. But I felt like the biggest fraud on the planet when I told them that Grant and I had been seeing each other for a while. Anyone who knows me will realize that he’s totally not my type. He’s all laid-back and I’m more of a type A personality. He has all these big, bold pie-in-the-sky ideas and I’m a realist. Everyone’ll see through this whole stupid fake relationship idea that he thinks is foolproof. And you know who’s going to look like the biggest fool in all of this?”
Not that Rebekah expected the dog to answer, but the question gave her time to take a sip of her decaf latte. “Me. I’m going to get swept up in all his flirty banter and his sexy smiles, and before you know it, even I’ll start believing that our relationship is legit. Do you know what he told me when we were on the phone? He said he was in marketing and could make anything look believable. I mean, the guy might as well have said that he tells lies for a living. And this is the man I’m supposed to trust? Who I’m supposed to raise kids with?”
A rustling sound came from under the porch and Rebekah held herself perfectly still as her excitement spiked. She had to remain calm and keep talking if she wanted the dog to feel safe enough to come out from its hiding spot. Staring intently at the hole as though she could will the mutt to do her bidding, she dropped a small piece of the canine cookie. “You and I are a lot alike, you know. We both have trust issues, obviously, and prefer to keep to ourselves. We both like baked goods and bacon on our cheeseburgers and hanging around old front porches of houses that don’t belong to us.”
“You smell a whole helluva lot better than that dog, though,” Grant said as he walked up the rutted driveway.
Rebekah scrambled to her feet, heat radiating from her cheeks. “What are you doing here?”
“I always stop by here when I’m in town to check on our friend.” Grant held up a fast-food bag. “I was hoping a sausage biscuit might do the trick to lure him out today.”
Just when Rebekah had herself convinced that Grant was all kinds of wrong for her, he showed up out of nowhere, doing something sweet and thoughtful to make her completely rethink her entire opinion of the man. Like feeding a stray dog, or refereeing a schoolgirl argument about unicorns and dinosaurs, or asking a stranger on an airplane for tips on the best way to soothe a crying baby—her dad hadn’t stopped talking about Grant’s earnest commitment to being a good father.
She commanded her nerve endings to settle down and pushed a few curls behind her ear. “I meant why are you in town? I thought you weren’t coming until this weekend.”
Their plan had been to go out in public together a few times here and there, then maybe next month he could stop by her office and take her out to lunch. Once people were used to seeing them together, then they’d tell everyone about the babies. But his showing up out of the blue like this wasn’t sticking to the plan. Even if it was only a day ahead of schedule.
“Oh, Aunt Bunny has it her head that we should build some sort of aviary on the premises and wants me to go with her to check out this bird sanctuary near the Outer Banks. I’m going to use the drive to try to convince her that they’re not running an actual zoo here in Spring Forest.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, I guess I’d better get to the office.” She grabbed her bag and her decaf latte off the porch steps.
Grant’s gaze traveled the length of her body and every inch of her skin zapped with electricity as his eyes passed over her. Finally, he lifted his face to hers and asked, “What? No kiss hello for your boyfriend?”
Rebekah’s mouth went dry and her knees gave a little wobble. “Um...here? There’s no one around to even see us. It’d be like putting on a show with no audience.”
“Yeah, but when it’s curtain time, we’re going to want our performance to look as real as possible.” Grant lifted one of his broad shoulders in a shrug. “We can consider it a dress rehearsal.”
He moved in closer and Rebekah’s breath caught in her throat. Her tummy did a little cartwheel and she immediately moved her hand to her midsection. “Don’t you think we’ve already had enough practice?”
His head lowered to the slight rounding just below her waist. It was probably only noticeable to her, but she’d purposely worn an A-line skirt this morning to make it less apparent and to buy herself a little more time before everyone noticed.
Instead of looking suitably chastised, the man lifted one side of his mouth into a satisfied smile. He took another step closer. His fingers reached up to a curl that had blown into her face, gently toying with it before pushing it behind her ear to join the others. “In that case, I’ll follow you to the animal shelter and then we can actually get the show on the road.”
Rebekah’s knees gave more than a wobble as she hurried to her car. If he kept looking at her with those steamy blue eyes, nobody was going to think her physical reaction to Grant was just an act.
Chapter Eight
It wasn’t until Rebekah was a mile down the road that she realized she’d forgotten to leave the rest of the canine cookie for the gray dog.
“Our friend,” Grant had called it. She could turn around and go back, but that might make it seem to Grant as though she was stalling for time to avoid being seen with her pretend boyfriend, who was also the very real father of her children.
Seeing his rental car in her rearview mirror, she realized that she probably should’ve taken him up on his offer of a dress rehearsal. If they’d just kissed and gotten it over with, then she wouldn’t have all this awkward anticipation rioting around inside of her right this second.
When they did pull into the parking lot at Furever Paws, there was so much activity going on Rebekah wanted to keep driving. But everyone had probably already seen her unmistakable car and Grant’s plain white rental sedan.
The sign guys were back and installing the newly reworded sign with the shelter’s full name. Bobby Doyle, the mechanic who’d built the small bleachers for what was now being called the Learning Center, was under the hood of the older van they used to transport animals. Plus, there was a small bus from the Senior Center unloading volunteers who called themselves the Snuggle Crew.
The only blessing was that Bunny and Birdie were nowhere in sight when Grant exited his car and walked over to her driver’s-side door. Rebekah knew that this might be her only chance to have the upper hand and so she rose to her full five feet nine inches and tried to sound as casual as possible when she said, “Oh, hey, Grant. What a surprise to see you here.”
Without checking to see if their audience was even paying attention, Rebekah gave him a quick peck on his cheek. He must not have been anticipating it, because he stood there rooted to the spot, despite the fact that her tote bag accidentally bounced off his hip as she tried to hustle past, pretending her lips weren’t still tingling from where they’d pressed against his golden stubble.
When he caught up to her near the front entrance, he pulled open one of the glass doors and said under his breath, “I think our kisses hello could definitely use more practice, Taylor.”
With the way he’d used her last name, as if they were some sort of teammates, she was half expecting him to give her a smack on the butt like they were coming out of a football huddle. Instead of being offended, though, a tiny thrill shot through her. They were on the same team and, for the first time, it wasn’t based solely on their mutual attraction. She and Grant were actually partners in something that was bigger than both of them.
Her eyes dropped to his lips and her heartbeat
pounded in her chest. “I guess a little more practice wouldn’t hurt.”
“There you are,” Nancy said from behind the reception desk and Rebekah felt the heat rise to her cheeks. She’d been about to kiss Grant, right here in front of everyone at work. What had she been thinking?
Walking on unsteady legs, Rebekah realized Claire Asher was also standing near the reception desk.
“Hey, Claire,” Rebekah greeted her friend, hoping the woman didn’t notice that her voice was still a bit breathless. “Isn’t it a school day?”
“It is, but most of my English students are on a field trip with their eighth-grade science teachers.” Claire smiled and pointed to her fiancé, Matt Fielding, who was standing nearby in the lobby and talking to one of the senior citizen volunteers. This particular man was wearing a blue cap embroidered with the words Vietnam Veteran. “Matt convinced me to call in a substitute so we could get a jump start on the wedding planning.”
“Have you guys set a date yet?” Rebekah was happy for the engaged couple who were also renovating a fixer-upper they’d recently purchased, but she wasn’t sure why they’d come to an animal rescue when they should be out sampling cake flavors.
“We’re thinking around Christmastime. In fact, I was talking to Nancy the other day about taking on a couple more fosters now that we’ve got our yard finished and she mentioned that Furever Paws was going to be throwing some sort of fund-raiser gala soon. She said we should come by and check out the new party pavilion you guys were working on. So here we are.”
“What party pavilion?” Rebekah tilted her head as she looked at Nancy.
“Isn’t that what you called it in your brochures, Grant?” the middle-aged foster coordinator asked, reminding Rebekah that her supposed boyfriend was right behind her.
“Everyone kept referring to it as the picnic area,” he said, placing his hand on Rebekah’s lower back. The heat from his palm was immediately noticeable and caused an unexpected shiver as he slid it to the opposite side of her waist. “But I figured that once we get the freestanding roof built, it’ll be well suited to hosting parties and should have a catchier name. It’s also technically on Whitaker Acres, which is private land, so it shouldn’t affect the nonprofit’s tax exemption status.”
Of course Grant had come up with yet another solution to an issue Rebekah had tried not to think about. She should be grateful, but instead she saw the boundaries between them growing even fuzzier.
A phone rang down the hall and she shifted her tote bag to her other shoulder, thereby dislodging Grant’s arm from around her waist. “I really need to get to my office and take that call. Grant, why don’t you show Matt and Claire your so-called party pavilion for their upcoming wedding?”
Let her friend Claire be the one to point out to the guy from Florida that it often snowed in Spring Forest during December. How practical would his fancified outdoor picnic area be then?
“Well, I’m not exactly a wedding planner...” he started and Rebekah raised one eyebrow as though to say, you’re not exactly my boyfriend, either, but you have no problem using your marketing skills to play pretend when it suits you. He must’ve understood her look because he finished with, “But I’m happy to show you guys around.”
She rolled her eyes and was halfway down the hall when Grant’s voice stopped her. “Hey, Rebekah, let me know what time you want to go grab lunch.”
* * *
Grant had never wanted to kiss a woman more than he had when he’d seen Rebekah sitting outside that old mansion this morning, talking to a stray animal that refused to come out of its hiding spot.
He’d surprised her by showing up today instead of tomorrow like they’d planned. He’d also surprised her by putting his arm around her when she was standing in the middle of the lobby for all the shelter volunteers to see. The thin, silky material of her top wasn’t much of a barrier between his palm and her heated skin underneath, and he’d ended up being the one surprised by his physical reaction to her.
Which was why he’d made that parting shot in front of everyone about taking her out to lunch. He’d needed to feel as though he hadn’t totally lost control where she was concerned. In fact, when the poised and proper Rebekah Taylor was thrown off her game, it provided Grant the opportunity to come in and save the day.
And he’d always been good at saving the day.
“You ready?” he asked as he walked into Rebekah’s office at noon.
She kept her eyes on her computer screen and her fingers on her keyboard as she spoke. “Ready for what?”
“For lunch. I was thinking Main Street Grille, but we can go somewhere more romantic if you really want to put on a show.”
Her head slowly swiveled toward where he stood, and despite the fact that she was still in her desk chair, she appeared to be looking down at him. “Fine. Main Street Grille, but for lunch only. No show.”
He lifted his right palm as though he was taking an oath. “I promise to keep my hands to myself. Unless you beg me to put them on you. Like you did that night—”
“Grant!” she yelped, which made him laugh. The only thing better than surprising Rebekah was shocking her.
Several heads turned in their direction as Grant kept pace with her long-legged stride toward the exit. After their near kiss on the way in earlier, everyone would be talking about them before they even made it out of the parking lot. His chest instinctively expanded as he held the door for her.
Yep, their fake relationship was off and running.
Speaking of running, they were halfway to his rental car when he saw a gray flash in the distance.
“Hold on.” He grabbed her elbow and she shot him a frown before giving a pointed look at where he was touching her.
“Is this your way of keeping your hands to yourself?” she asked.
“No, look over there.” The gray dog was under one of the bushes near her little blue Fiat, its beady black eyes watching them. He felt Rebekah’s muscles tense under his fingers.
“I have a treat for him in my car,” she whispered to him. “I’m going to slowly walk over there and open the passenger door. Stay here and don’t make eye contact.”
The Furever Paws van was still in its parking spot where Bobby had been working on it, which meant Grant could turn his head in the other direction and watch Rebekah in the reflection of the rear window. His pulse thrummed in his ears as her high heels crunched against the gravel. After at least a million seconds, the door handle finally made a clicking sound.
As Rebekah slowly retreated from the car, her eyes met his in the reflection from the van window and she paused a few feet away from her Fiat, her back to the dog.
They held their positions for what felt like forever but was probably only a few minutes. Grant could smell the dog well before he saw it approach the car. The scruffy mutt hopped up on the passenger seat and, when its nose was buried in the white paper bakery bag, Rebekah ran the few feet and slammed the door closed.
Without a backward glance, she raced toward the front entrance of the building.
She was already inside when the gray dog pressed its paws against her passenger window and began barking for all it was worth. The animal’s frightened eyes narrowed as Grant walked closer to the car, trying to murmur words that would calm the poor thing down.
“You’re okay, buddy. We just want to help, that’s all.”
The dog’s barking subsided for a second and Grant thought he was making progress, but then Davis McIntyre, the on-duty vet tech, came outside with a lead pole and a small metal kennel. Lauren Jackson, the veterinarian who had taken over her father’s veterinary practice, followed. Judging by the way the small dog was growling and baring its teeth, Grant wanted to call out the suggestion that they bring a tranquilizer gun, too.
One of the volunteer dog handlers emerged from the shelter’s doors wearing long, thick gloves made ou
t of suede and it was then that he caught a glimpse of Rebekah standing behind the door of the building. Was she afraid of the dog? Or maybe she was worried about getting bitten by a feral animal and she wanted to protect the babies.
There was lots of barking and growling and whoa theres but they finally got the poor little beast out of the car and into the crate. That was when Rebekah flew through the doors and grabbed Grant’s arm. “Is he okay?”
“Judging by all the commotion he’s making, I’d say he’s mad as hell. But they’ve got him.”
Rebekah’s palm slid down his arm and into his hand, her fingers lacing with his as they followed everyone inside to the exam area in the rear of the building. When they set the crate on a stainless steel table, the dog’s barking picked up speed, a scared animal who knew there was no getting away but wasn’t going down without a fight.
“I’m going to have to sedate him so I can perform the examination,” Dr. Lauren said, opening a package that contained a syringe. There was more growling and the crate shuddered but the vet and vet tech blocked their view.
Gradually the barking grew intermittent and that’s when Rebekah finally approached. “It’s okay, buddy. You’re going to be okay.”
She held out her fingers and the overgrown gray muzzle nuzzled against the metal bars as though it wanted to rub up against her hand. “That’s a good boy.” Rebekah looked toward Dr. Lauren. “He’s a boy, right?”
“I only got a quick glance, but it looked that way to me,” the vet said as she laid out supplies on the tray near the table.
“You remember me, don’t you?” Rebekah asked the animal who was now lying on his side, his barking subdued but his eyes still very wary. “I’m the one bringing you all those good treats all the time.”
It Started with a Pregnancy Page 9