by Ash Harlow
“I think so.”
She hasn’t been in the lake. “I’d love a swim.” He saw her alarm. “It’s okay. I’ll keep my underwear on if that’s a concern.” He shot her a quick smile. “Join me.”
She shook her head. “I don’t swim.”
He waited for her to elaborate but she added nothing, as if silence would give her declaration more power. “Why is that?” he asked gently.
She shrugged. “I never learned.”
“Why not let me teach you?”
She leaned back a little and laughed.
“Give it a try. Come on.”
“Maybe some other day. You go ahead.”
He searched her face for some sort of clue. The mercury must be knocking ninety degrees—how could anyone resist the lake in this heat? They headed down the track to the platform. He kept his eye on Marlo as she removed her shoes and socks. Perhaps he could get her in the water after all. The rock was heated by the sun and hot beneath his feet. As he pulled off his shirt he watched her sit, legs stretched in front of her, leaning back on her elbows.
He slipped out of his cargo shorts and held out his hand to her. “Come on, I’ll take care of you.”
She looked down at the rock and shook her head.
Okaaay. Bad move to stand in front of her in your underwear, idiot. Totally spooked her on that front. “Sorry, Marlo. I’m not trying to be creepy.”
She glanced up, her cheeks pink, eyes focused on the bushes to his left. “It’s fine. Go swim. I’ll watch the dogs.”
Adam walked to the rim of the ledge and took a long look over. Roughly ten feet down was the water’s surface. He’d picked up a small rock that he dropped over the edge and watched sink into the lake. “Looks reasonably deep,” he called to her.
“Yeah, the others come and swim and dive off here.”
He had the classic V body shape of a swimmer. She’d never paid much notice to the bodies of swimmers until Lulah spent a year with an Olympic-sized crush on Michael Phelps. Many coffee breaks were littered with her analysis of Phelps’ body, in a purely lust-filled way. The only thing Lulah knew about elite swimming was that it involved water, but she had analyzed that guy’s body to its very core. Or, should that be very strong core.
Adam walked back to the middle of the rock, turned, hesitated and took three running steps. When he reached the edge he jumped and dove, making scarcely a splash as he penetrated the water. Impressive and clearly not the first time he’d done that, Marlo thought once he finally surfaced about thirty feet away.
He shook the water from his face and grinned. “This is wonderful,” he called. You really need to try it some time.”
Yeah, sure, I’ll add it to the list. She leaned back on her arms and enjoyed the break in the sun. Yup, she might have to join Lulah’s camp on the swimmer thing. Watching Adam swim across the lake using a languid yet surprisingly efficient stroke was very easy on the eyes.
And those shoulders? Before, when he stood in front of her, she’d closed one eye and looked up at him and Halo Peak had disappeared. The guy could probably block out the sun.
She had to get a grip. Since when had a man’s shoulders ever been of interest to her?
And how far was he going to swim? Because that lake was about a mile across. Again she recognized the little stir in her core, a fresh spark that settled as an ember, waiting to rekindle the next flash of attraction…for Adam. No matter what she told herself emotionally, her physical self was very curious about him and this little rush of happy hormones she was feeling could almost be addictive.
My mother…this is what she liked. She enjoyed it so much her life ran on high-rotate so she could repeat the feeling every time she failed, then fell, for another man.
Marlo was certain about one thing. Those happy hormones that flooded her system might be addictive, but they had no staying power.
She stood and brushed grit from her shorts before replacing her shoes. Gathering Adam’s clothes, she set off down the last piece of track to the shore. On seeing her, the dogs gave up investigating the terrain and ran to her side, shouldering each other out of the way in an attempt to be the closest. She’d picked up some sticks on her way, which she set in a pile by Adam’s clothes, and spent the time waiting for his return by throwing sticks into the lake for the dogs.
Both animals swam strongly as they raced to be first to the prize. Looks like I’m the only non-swimmer around here. She scanned the lake again and could barely make out Adam. If that dot in the distance was him, she couldn’t tell if he was returning to her or still swimming away. “Hope the dude knows his limits,” she said to the dogs, “because if anything goes wrong out there, you guys are the total rescue package.”
They wagged their rear ends and drooled a bit because their ‘goddess’ had spoken to them and that was better than awesome. Within seconds, Shiloh set up a staccato fire of barking to let her know that the stick she had in her hand would be better off sailing through the air.
“Shouting at me won’t get you anywhere, Shiloh.” She dropped eye contact and waited for the dogs to work it out. Basically, it was doggie Zen: to make me throw the stick you must first ignore the stick. Keller was an old hand at this, but Shiloh was the young, new, belligerent kid on the block and inclined to be a little bit in your face. He tried everything. Barking, jumping, play bows, harassing Keller, and suddenly, bingo! Shiloh sat.
Marlo smiled. “Every guy gets it in the end.” She tossed the stick and the two dogs launched themselves back into the lake.
Finally she could see that the figure in the water was appearing larger and closer. She kept herself preoccupied with the dogs, because when he emerged from the water he would be wet.
Dripping wet.
Which meant his underwear, masquerading as swimming trunks, would be wet, too. And clinging. And there would never be a good place to look because not looking would be as troublesome as blatantly staring and, oh hell, why did he have to go for a swim anyway? Her heart was skittish and unreliable.
Search for sticks.
She called the dogs and wandered along the water’s edge, discovering exactly how few sticks there were. It became difficult to convincingly remain fascinated by the small rocks that littered the shore.
In her periphery, she could see Adam walk up from the lake. The dogs abandoned her and went to greet him, leaping and pawing at him because their temporary little pack was complete again and all sorts of ancient and mysterious canine rituals had to be observed.
He shook himself in a similar way the dogs had, and droplets of water flew about. “Sorry, no towel.” He pushed his fingers through his wet hair. “That was fantastic. After a week of sitting cooped up in planes, cars and meeting rooms, I needed that swim more than anything. Thanks for bringing me out here.”
Marlo kept her study on the shoreline. “Oh, you’re welcome. I’m pleased you enjoyed it.”
“Have you lost something?”
Only my sanity. Now, please put some clothes on. “No, I’m looking for sticks.”
“There are some over here. A small pile, actually.”
Of course, the police officer finds the pile of sticks. “Uh-huh.”
“Are you avoiding me because I’m stripping my wet pants off now?”
Her cheeks grew hot again. Why did he have to nail the issue like that and state it so obviously? Did he have a direct link to everything that made her uncomfortable?
“Okay, I’m doing that naked bit.”
Oh, for heaven’s sake, that’s ramming it down…no, not ramming anything anywhere.
“Dressed now. It’s safe to look.”
She glanced up in time to see him stuffing his underwear into the side pocket of his cargo shorts.
He shrugged, watching her discomfort and grinned. “Wet pants chafe, so I’m commando for the trip home.”
“Yes, I’m sure they do. Chafe, I mean.” Double-flustered now. “We should head back.”
“What about the sticks? Shall I
bring them?”
“Forget the sticks. I don’t need sticks.” She tried to keep her voice light.
“Are you sure? Because a moment ago you were looking for them and you don’t seem to have any, but I have this little stack here.”
He was winding her up and if her face got any hotter, it would burst into flames. “Don’t need sticks, okay?”
His grin remained as he turned and walked ahead of her to the track that took them up to the bluff. He climbed the steep part and waited, holding out his hand to help her up.
“I’m fine,” she told him, looking around for something to grasp. The root of a bush, a handhold in the rock, anything, but in seconds she could see that his hand was the best option.
“You’re better than fine—” he gestured with his fingers for her to take hold, “—but you’re not going to lose your Girl Guide proficiency badge if you let me help you up here. Come on.”
“It’s Girl Scouts. In America we say Scouts,” she muttered, flustered as she lifted her hand to his.
He reached beyond her hand and gripped her wrist. “Up you come, Scout.” He hoisted her with ease, her feet skimming the rock face, the momentum causing her to bump into him as he helped her over the top. He kept hold of her arm, drawing it tight against his side. Leaning into her, he asked in a low voice. “Was that so bad?”
Yes, this is so bad. She could feel the heat of him and smell him, they were that close now, trapped on the small space of rock. Her breath hitched and she shook her head. “No.”
“No,” he repeated. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly so that she thought he would laugh. But he didn’t and when he looked at her again his eyes were serious. He released his grip an instant later and continued to watch her. “That was difficult for you, yeah?” His voice was still immeasurable.
She wanted to tell him he was wrong, that whatever his instincts about her were, well, they were wrong too. Instead she turned away as her eyes start to burn. Nailed it again. Get me out of here.
“Let people help you, Marlo. You’re not alone in this.”
She’d always been alone. Brushing past him to the path, she came to a halt when she realized he had taken hold of the hem of her shirt. Facing him, she simply shook her head and he let her free.
“Let me help you.”
Worse, that’s actually worse. “The dogs need your help, Adam.” She watched his smile fade. “You’ve got a chance to change things. I really hope you can.”
She called Shiloh to her. After reminding Adam his dog was deaf, she set a quick pace back to the Sanctuary.
Chapter Four
“It’s been days now, and I’m still trying to rehabilitate a pancake.” They were standing outside the kennel enclosure. Justice was flattened on the grass with his back to them.
Adam leaned on the fence. “He’s pathetic.”
She looked at the dog again. Pathetic. Broken. Taking that bit longer than usual to trust me. She wasn’t unrealistically optimistic, but she knew about damage and she knew about repair. This bit of damage she was sure she could fix.
At the start, there had been outrage for each abused dog sent to her. She would play the dog’s history in her mind like a horror film on a perpetual loop, using it to drive her.
She touched Adam’s arm. “If we get stuck in the negative stuff we can’t do our job properly. As a cop, you know that, huh?”
“Some use anger as motivation.”
Marlo shrugged. “Short term, that might be okay…”
His cool hand covered hers. “You’re right. I know that.” His face had softened and his fingers squeezed quickly before he released her hand. “Is he walking yet?”
“Not while I’m about. I still carry him in and out of the kennel. Lulah’s bringing her dog over and we’re going to see if Joker can make a connection with him.”
As if on cue, Lulah and the dog appeared around the corner. Joker was a white bull terrier mix who looked like a comic book dog. He had a large black splotch on one side of his body that matched the black patch over his left eye.
“We call Joker the extractor because he can pull any dog out of his shell…any person, too.” Lulah rubbed his chest. “You could charm a basket of mad snakes.” She slipped him a treat. “What’s the plan, boss?”
Marlo explained what they would do. Lulah took Joker into the fenced run alongside the one Justice was in and started to walk him up and down. Justice moved his head.
“Okay, he’s showing interest. Release Joker and leave him in the run to do his thing. He’ll ‘speak dog’ better if you’re not part of the scene.”
Lulah unclipped the leash and left the run.
“I must have blinked because I didn’t notice anything.” Adam looked from the dog back to Marlo.
“His head moved. Justice looked at Joker.” She smiled at Adam. “It’s one little thing that’s kind of a big deal.”
Lulah joined them and whispered, “Who’s praying here?”
“All of us,” Adam whispered back. “And I’m making bargains with the universe, if that helps.”
Lulah stared directly at Adam. “It helps if we all hold our breath.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Lulah managed to stay silent for three whole seconds before bursting into laughter.
“All right, funny girl, you got the rookie.”
Marlo’s gaze fixed on the dogs as she tried not to laugh. “Mainly it helps if we relax and observe. Don’t be shy about pointing out anything you notice because sometimes we see different things.”
Joker trotted up and down the enclosure a couple of times before stopping at the fence close to Justice. His stance was side-on and non-threatening. Justice lifted his head completely from where it had rested on the ground and he made small movements with his nose as if he was nudging the air to get access to Joker’s scent.
“This is good.”
Justice began to rise to his feet and Joker turned to face him.
“Watch now,” said Marlo. “We should get lots of signals from Joker that will tell Justice everything is safe.”
Joker was turning his head to the side, his tongue flicking out of his mouth.
“If we were closer, we would probably see him making sideways glances, rapid blinking, things like that. I wish we could see what Justice is doing.”
Although slightly crouched, this was the tallest they had seen Justice stand. He held his tail curved tightly under his body, but so far he showed no sign of aggression. Then it happened, a sort of crouched-walk to the fence to check Joker. When he reached the fence Justice took a moment, then shuffled himself as close to the barrier as possible and sniffed the muzzle of the other dog. Joker wagged his tail like crazy and slowly Justice’s tail straightened and began to wag. The arc his tail travelled in was a small promise of what was to come if he completely relaxed.
The next switch fired, and suddenly Justice sat side-on to the fence, pressing himself against the wire as if trying to make contact with the dog on the other side. He lifted and replaced his forefeet on the ground, the front-end dance swaying his body like a distance runner shuffling on the race start line. He pushed his nose through the fence and started to lick Joker’s muzzle as if it would sustain life itself.
“Everyone exhale.”
Adam grinned. “So, holding our breath was the key after all?”
“I told you,” said Lulah.
The dogs continued to keep their attention as Justice’s body language changed so that he stood tall, his tail wagging enthusiastically. When he tried to spin a circle in response to a play bow from Joker, Justice collapsed in a tangle of legs.
“Poor thing,” said Marlo, “no condition and no co-ordination. At least those things we can fix.”
Adam was looking at her as if he’d found Waldo.
“What?” Marlo asked.
“I get the feeling you can fix anything.”
“I can fix some stuff…” With one fingernail she picked at a
raised flake of paint on the fence. She could smell him, all sun-warmed, and his male scent solicited a primitive sense of security. It unnerved her.
She cleared her throat. “Lulah, can you grab Joker and bring him around here? I want to see if Justice will follow once we have a person involved.”
Adam shifted slightly toward her. “Is that a habit?”
“What?”
“The way you brush off a compliment by changing the subject?”
Marlo huffed a short laugh. “That wasn’t a compliment. Telling someone they have great hair is a compliment. That was—”
A smile spread across his face. “You have great hair.”
Her stomach gave a little flip. Ignore him, he’s teasing. She looked at his hair and wondered what it would be like to touch it, quite gently. Maybe curl a finger behind that little piece that sat tucked inside his collar at the back of his neck. Flick it out, because although she couldn’t fix everything, she could fix that for him.
His smile had remained as he watched her and she gave a small shiver as if someone had touched the back of her neck.
“Looking at…?”
Oh, God. Caught. She checked to see if he was still teasing but the smile had shifted to curiosity. She moved her feet a little. “Sorry, I was miles away.”
He tilted his head. “Really, because you were so…present…a moment ago.”
“That was the dogs.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
She made a small noise, like the start of a laugh. Was she that easy to read? A rush of warmth flooded her body as he pushed on with a look so filled with kindness that she could imagine she was the most special person in his world.
Leaning into her a bit more, he spoke with a voice low and textured. “Let go and enjoy that feeling.”
How could he know what she was feeling when she struggled to work that out herself? He was flirting with her. She might not have a lot of relationship experience with men but hell, she’d seen a lot of flirting.
Growing up, it had seemed her mother flirted with every man who came her way. Eventually the flirting was cobbled with an air of desperation that wore her down until finally, it had become a business transaction.