Collared (Going to the Dogs)

by Dawson, Zoe

  “Shane?”

  “Yeah, man.”

  “What would you do if you had this gut hunch about someone, but if you investigated this gut hunch, it would be like a betrayal of a trust?”

  “We’re cops, man. We can’t help that we’re suspicious of everyone and everything. Half the freaking time we’re right. Why don’t you spell it out for me?”

  For a minute Caleb sat there rubbing at his beard. Shane was his partner and really his best friend. He trusted him with his life. “I had a run-in with Harper’s chauffeur, a Jeffrey Stevens. He attacked me in the dark because he thought I might be an intruder.”

  “What the hell?” Shane sat upright. “You pressing charges?”

  “No, it was a mistake, and after what they’ve been through, totally understandable. He didn’t know I was there.”

  “Sleeping with the Lady of the Manor?”

  “Focus, man.”

  “Right. Continue.”

  “I confronted Harper about it and she got defensive and evasive.”

  Shane looked at him for a few minutes and then turned to his computer. He started typing. Caleb pushed away from his desk. “What are you doing?”

  “Looking the fucker up.”

  “What?”

  “You care for this woman, right?”

  “Yes, more than I should.”

  “You’re a goner, stop fighting it. I say if you got a gut instinct, run with it.”

  Up popped Jeffery Stevens on the screen. They went back through a few years of records, then there was nothing.

  “Damn, this guy didn’t exist three years ago.”

  Something stirred in Caleb. “Run him through face recognition.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. It’s admirable, but Harper is very loyal to the people she cares about. That includes her employees. It was like prying gold out of Midas’s hand to get her to agree to give me a list of her employees and friends.”

  “All right. It might take some time, though.”

  “That’s all right. I can only hope that she decides to trust me before I have to do anything unpleasant.”

  “We’re cops, man. Most of what we do is unpleasant.” Shane leaned back in his chair. “So am I going to get to see you in a monkey suit?”

  “No,” Caleb said.

  “Aw, c’mon. I bet you’ll look really dapper.” He scrunched up his shoulders and his face. “And sooooo pretty.”

  “No.”

  “Damn, man. You are no damn fun,” he groused.

  #

  “Oh, hell, no, Harper.”

  She turned to look at him as they approached the Met. Giving him a sly smile, she said, “What are you saying? You can’t last five minutes in my world?”

  He closed his eyes and turned towards her. “I’m begging you. Give me a pass on this one.”

  She shook her head. “We have a rivalry. If you don’t hold up your side of the bargain, that means you forfeit.”

  “I don’t like forfeiting,” he growled.

  She turned back to look at the glittering building. Harper laughed softly.

  “You’re enjoying this.”

  “It’s payback for making me sweat.”

  “You enjoyed your time in the gym. Admit it.”

  “I’ll answer that after you attend the opera with me.”

  He groaned and she slipped her arm through his. “I can’t let all this gorgeousness go to waste. You look scrumptious in that tux, like a movie star. I can hardly wait to unbutton and unzip you out of it.”

  He stopped and cupped her face, “Let’s go right now. I’m already hard for you.”

  “Nice try, copper. No dice.”

  “You are a cruel woman.”

  She dragged him forward, and into the lobby. Harper loved the Metropolitan Opera House, part of the larger complex of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The beauty of it lit up at night was breathtaking. She was hoping once the performance started and Caleb had a chance to experience it first-hand he would fall in love with it.

  As they headed towards the sweeping crimson staircase below two crystal chandeliers that looked like starbursts of light against a gold leaf ceiling, Caleb leaned toward her and whispered in her ear, “I will say this is a grand sight.” She smiled at his attempt to have a good time.

  “Harper, is that you?”

  Harper closed her eyes at the voice. Damn. Mary Jane Simpson.” She so didn’t want to subject Caleb to that she-cat.

  She tried to move a little faster and pretend she hadn’t heard Mary Jane, but it was too late. The woman grabbed her shoulder, and they had to turn around. Caleb gave her a quizzical look. Harper plastered a fake smile on her face.

  When they turned around and slipped to the side and out of the crowd moving toward the performance hall, Harper had to endure watching Mary Jane hone right in on Caleb. Her eyes warmed and she stared at him like he was a juicy piece of red meat and she was the tiger.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce us?” she said, not even looking at Harper. Harper tightened her arm through his and he glanced at her again.

  “Detective Caleb Shaw,” he said, holding out his hand.

  She took it in both of hers, and when he tried to pull away, she held onto him.

  “Detective? Really. As in police…?”

  “Oh, sure, I got a shield and a gun. I chase bad guys and swill coffee…”

  “And eat doughnuts,” Harper said.

  Caleb laughed.

  “Oh, no. I don’t think Detective Shaw—may I call you Caleb?—eats any doughnuts. I’m sure you’re sporting a six-pack under that shirt, mister.”

  When Mary Jane reached out to find out for herself, Harper grabbed her hand and patted it. “Let’s not maul my guest, Mary Jane. Shall we?”

  “You’re no fun, Harper. So proprietary.”

  “Caleb’s not an object, Mary Jane.”

  “Ooh that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you be snippy. Always wondered what it would take to reveal that tough side of you I’ve heard about. Well, I guess you saw him first,” she said with a tight smile.

  “In the debutante handbook, what’s that? Finders keepers?”

  Both women looked at him and then Mary Jane laughed, but Harper didn’t find it funny. Once they said their goodbyes to that hussy, Harper and Caleb settled into the exclusive Center Parterre.

  “These are great seats, smack dab in the middle.”

  “Yes, VIP seating.”

  He slipped his arm along the back of her seat. “I love the privacy.”

  “Don’t get any ideas, Caleb.” Harper was still fuming over the way Mary Jane had treated Caleb. She wanted to punch her right in the face. Really, was there anyone in her circle who was genuine and considerate? She was so glad to have Brooke, Poe and Callie. So glad.

  “I wasn’t,” he said. He turned to look at her. She felt his gaze on her face. “Harper?”

  “Yes,” she said, glancing at him as the constant, colorful stream of people in the hall below them looked for their seats.

  “We’re you embarrassed by me out there with Mary Jane?”

  She turned to look at him, her heart lurching in her chest. “What? No! Why would you say that?”

  “You tried to give her the bum’s rush pretty fast, and you didn’t laugh at my debutante handbook joke.”

  She smiled then, because he looked so pensive, and it wasn’t often she saw him look anything but confident. She cursed Mary Jane. She reached over and stroked her gloved hand along his cheek. Then with a huff, she pulled off the glove and touched him again. “She made me angry, treating you like you were some kind of gigolo instead of giving you the respect that’s due one of New York’s finest.”

  He smiled, and that look in his eyes evaporated. “I’m used to women coming on to me. Like I said, I don’t need a girl to fight my battles.”

  “I don’t care. I defend the people I love.”

  “What did you say?”

  Wi
th a lurch, she realized what she’d just said. “You know what I mean. People I care about,” she backpedaled.

  His eyes softened and she got lost in the sexy brown depths. “Yeah,” he said softly, “I know what you mean.”

  The house lights finally dimmed and the opera began. Caught up in the beauty of the music, Harper didn’t immediately pay attention to Caleb. When she looked at him as the soprano began singing, he was looking at his watch.

  “Your five minutes are up. I’m out of here.”

  He rose and exited the box. Harper laughed softly to herself and rose to follow him. She saw his retreating back as he descended the stairs. That man looked good both coming and going. She followed after him.

  “Caleb,” she called out to him and he turned. Underneath the lights his hair gleamed—ack, he was so damn beautiful!

  “I’d rather face all those little girls again than sit through hours of that.”

  “All right. What do you want to do instead?”

  He raised his brows.

  “I’ve got an idea.”

  “What?” he asked as she slipped her arm through his and they walked out of the Met together.

  “I have a house in the Hamptons. We could pick up the dogs and have a picnic on the beach. I know this great B&B, and the owners would be able to put something delicious together by the time we get there.”

  “It’s three hours to the Hamptons, and I have to work tomorrow.”

  “Not if we fly,” she smiled. “It’s about 35 minutes.”

  “I keep forgetting you don’t live like us normal people.”

  “I’m normal.”

  “Like hell you are. Well, for our next outing, all you’re going need is an outrageous cup, a bathing suit and an empty belly.”

  “The way you’re telling me makes me think I’m not going to enjoy your turn. Is this payback?”

  “It’s a bitch, babe,” he laughed.

  She rolled her eyes. “I guess I deserve that. So how about the Hamptons? How about you ask Shane to cover for you?”

  He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed.

  “Shane, I need you to cover for me in the morning. I’ll be in around noon.” He listened, then growled. “None of your damn business, Bowsky.” Then he hung up.

  “What did he say?”

  “He said I was no fun. And he’s always got my back.”

  #

  Why Caleb had her wear a bathing suit under her clothes, and carry this crazy clown cup when she was not a fan of clowns—clowns were scary—was a mystery to her. But he didn’t let her ask any questions, and she had to wonder how much payback she was going to have to pony up for making him wear a tux and sit through five minutes of the opera.

  The Hamptons trip had been so much fun, with the dogs scampering in and out of the waves as she and Caleb ate. The scrumptious lobster salad Missy Scott had prepared for her in the gourmet kitchen of her and her husband’s prestigious Hamptons B&B, The Seawind Inn, was accompanied by a very good vintage bottle of wine and fresh-baked crusty rolls.

  After wiping down the dogs and settling them down in the house with their dinners, they’d made love in the surf under the moon, something Harper had never done. Caleb had freed something inside her, and she beginning to believe that it was a good, good thing.

  But she still struggled daily with whether or not she should trust Caleb with the information about Jeffrey. Also, he should really know about her past, but she couldn’t seem to let go of that last wisp of doubt. She wasn’t absolutely sure about the wisdom of leaning on anyone. What if she got used to it and then it was gone? No, better to keep herself safe and not give up too much control.

  Her steps slowed when she saw where he was dragging her. Skeeter’s BBQ Shack. She turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. “What is this, exactly?”

  The music from inside was pumping, people were spilling out of the place, and the cheering was so loud she could hear it from where she was standing.

  “Barbecue. Don’t you like barbecue?”

  “I like barbecue, but what else is going on here?”

  He grinned. “You’ll love it. Come on.”

  Her stomach jumped when Caleb paid the cover and they pushed their way inside.

  As soon as they cleared most of the crowd and got closer to the bar, she saw it. It was a mud pit…and suddenly two and two made four. “Oh, hell, no!”

  But Caleb signaled to someone as he grasped her arm and dragged her forward. Someone spoke over the loudspeaker and people stopped talking.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen and I use that term loosely! Welcome to Skeeter’s. We have a slippin’, slidin’, slingin’ and flingin’ night of madness and mayhem in store tonight, with some special guests. Four lovely ladies to get down and dirty!”

  People cheered so loudly it hurt Harper’s ears.

  “We will hose ‘em off when they’re done. Then, after we have the main attraction, we’ll take any comers ready to get flingin’…or be a prissy, and we will pinky promise to not get you dirty.”

  “Up first is Princess! She’s got attitude to spare, and I have it from an authority who knows, she’s a scrapper! Up against her is Goth Girl. Let’s not underestimate her. She’s ready for the Zombie Apocalypse!”

  “You ass! You got Poe involved! I can’t believe this!”

  “After their match we have a tough, competitive woman who doesn’t like to lose, Dog Whisperer, and her opponent The Nurturer, who has assured me all she wants is to nurture her opponent face-first into the mud.”

  She looked down and saw Poe slip her feet into the mud, dressed in her bright blue Gonzo suit. Harper couldn’t help but smile. God, she loved that girl. She looked up at Harper and stuck out her hand with her palm up and gave Harper a “bring it” gesture, her face fierce.

  Harper shook her head, stepping back, right into Caleb. “Poe’s pregnant. I can’t fight her.” Then she saw Drew, Owen and Jared standing at the edge of the ring. “Oh, I see. They’re in on it.”

  “Sure, you can. She cleared it with her doctor.”

  “Dammit!”

  Caleb had such a smug grin on his face she wanted to smack him. “This isn’t for the opera, babe. I didn’t get my mom helper at my table at the tea party.”

  “Crap. Who snitched?”

  “You keep forgetting, sweetheart, I’m a freaking detective.”

  Harper gave the laughing men a narrowed-eyed look and she turned around and shoved the clown cup into Caleb’s hands. Right there she stripped off her Donna Karan silk T and her stylish cropped jeans. Slipping out of her Jimmy Choo sandals, she threw them at him, but he was too fast and caught them.

  She marched over to the pit and stepped inside. “Poe. You. Are. Going. Down. Hard!!” She whispered, “Not really. That was for the crowd.”

  Poe’s eyes twinkling, she played along. “We’ll see about that, princess!”

  Twenty really dirty, gross minutes later, two pins out of three, Harper won and stepped out of the pit. She had mud in places that she didn’t want to talk about. When Brooke passed her with a high-five, Harper said, “Good luck with Callie. That girl scares me.”

  Brooke laughed. “I got this. My curves are going to help. I got twenty pounds on her. She’s only a hundred pounds soaking wet.”

  Really, getting hosed off in a public place wasn’t exactly Harper’s idea of a good time, but when she saw Caleb bonding with the dog park’s babes’ menfolk, she smiled.

  Brooke did prevail, and after they finished their match, Harper drank beer out of her damn scary clown cup and ate so many ribs her stomach bulged.

  As they walked out, still talking about how much fun they’d had, Caleb bent down and whispered in her ear. “You really are a good sport. Shane bet me you wouldn’t do it. I won twenty bucks thanks to you.”

  She punched him hard in the ribs and felt great satisfaction when he sucked in his breath. He threw back his head and laughed. She couldn’t help it. She laughed with him.

&nb
sp; It was definitely a night she would never forget.

  Back at her penthouse, Caleb wrapped a towel around her from behind and pulled her back against him, nipping the side of her neck.

  “I think I finally got all the mud off me.”

  He chuckled against her neck.

  “I’m glad you’re so amused.”

  “You were a totally kick-ass warrior princess!”

  She whipped a towel at him, which he neatly caught and used it to pull her against him again. He grabbed another towel off the rack and stepped up behind her to gently rub her hair.

  “What are you doing tomorrow afternoon? Do you have it off?”

  He gave her a wry smile. “Yes, I have Saturdays off. Is this a surprise like mine?”

  “No, just a surprise. You game?”

  He pushed her head to one side and dropped a warm, damp kiss on her neck. “Yes, I’m game.”

  All of a sudden, her heart contracted. It was there, right on the tip of her tongue, the truth. And the desire to tell him, to reveal that truth, was so strong it actually made her insides ache. She knew he couldn’t possibly guess at what she had hidden.

  She wanted to grab his shoulders and hang onto him, spill her guts to him. Tell him everything about Aiden, about Jeffrey. About how she was feeling. Her heart skipped a beat. Oh, God. There was so much more at stake here, so much. She squeezed her eyes closed as his mouth trailed kisses across her shoulder.

  When they slipped into bed, he pulled her close, snuggled his face into her neck and fell asleep.

  Sleepless from all the pressure drawn into the tight ball of energy lodged in her chest, she extricated herself and pulled open the door to the balcony. Blue slipped out with her and Harper sat down in one of the chaise lounges. Blue nudged against her, as if feeling her tension. “Why aren’t you all over your boyfriend? Hmmm? I don’t blame you, sweetie. He’s pretty wonderful.”

  Blue nudged her again and Harper petted her, trying to soothe her. She lay her head on Harper’s lap.

  She looked out over the city that never slept, thinking about her so-called charmed life. She’d spent most of it isolating herself from people, keeping them at arm’s length.