He extended his hand. “I’m sorry. Chase Foster. Nice to meet you.”
Serena snuggled Sadie closer to her breast and took the man’s hand.
When his calloused palm slid into hers, a jolt shot through her. His grip was gentle and he held her hand like she was precious. Not like many of the men she met who thought there were better careers for women than running an animal shelter.
He stared at her with that intense gaze of his.
Right, she was supposed to introduce herself. “Serena Harper.”
His eyes widened and he opened his mouth, but then snapped it closed again, not letting go of her hand. She stared at him for a moment longer as he tilted his head like he was studying her. Then her gaze dropped to where their hands were still connected. It was a light touch, but it felt like his entire body was pressed against her, firing every nerve ending.
“Oh, sorry.” He withdrew his hand and she was surprised that she missed his touch. She was definitely working too much if the prospect of a man, any man, got her this excited for human contact. But she had to admit that even though he wasn’t Edward, this man was certainly everything she’d built him up to be in her mind… and more.
* * *
Chase couldn’t stop staring at Serena. When she’d first turned around with the puppy in her arms, he’d immediately been intrigued. He hadn’t been told any details about the shoot except for the fact that he’d be photographing animals at the shelter for a benefit calendar. Easy enough, he could do it in his sleep. This assignment certainly wasn’t up to the level of the challenges that he’d faced in the past few years. But he was tired. Worn out, exhausted, spent… physically and emotionally… and this job was the perfect remedy.
And then the woman raised her head and his eyes met hers. He immediately felt the connection to her, but his travels had taken him around the world, and he met all sorts of people. She could be another one of many.
Until she said her name.
He’d tried to mask his surprise. There was no way this was the same Serena Harper, was it? The name wasn’t that common, and the girl he’d met all those years ago had told him she was from Pennsylvania. It had to be her. But the image seared in his mind was so different, one of a young girl, her hair blowing in the wind as she laughed with her sister. That picture he’d taken had been the one that helped him land his first job. He carried a tattered copy of it in his wallet even now. Right beside the necklace that the younger Serena had given him. Right before she’d run off.
In a million years, he never would have expected to see her again. His publisher had assigned him this gig as a favor when Chase asked for some down time. Mitchell Bradlee’s daughter lived in Cedar Hill and she’d raved about the shelter where she’d adopted her dog. She’d talked about how desperately the shelter needed funds. Mitchell was never one to sit back when he saw something that needed fixing. And he never hesitated to leverage his success to help others. In his mind, publishing a charity calendar would help the shelter.
And for Chase, it was a chance to recharge his batteries. At first, his overseas travel was exciting—seeing parts of the world so different from his pampered upbringing. But he had grown weary and jaded as the years went by. And the difference between the excesses of the United States and the other western countries compared to the third world famine and starvation he’d witnessed was shocking. He needed a break from the despair that had a way of digging deep into his soul and grabbing hold.
Taking pictures of dogs should have fit the bill.
That was before he realized that along with the dogs came Serena. The girl from all those years ago. The one he’d never forgotten.
Not a girl, a woman. And she was looking at him right now, waiting for him to say something.
She smiled at him. “How do you want to do this?”
“Do what?”
She gestured to the dog in her arms. “The photos. I mean, I know today is a test shoot for you to get a feel for how you want to do the calendar, but I want everything to be perfect. The dogs are all excited and ready to go. Sorry, I’m rambling. I’ve never met a famous photographer before.”
He swung his head around and analyzed the shelter, but thoughts of Serena lingered in his mind. He saw little bits of the girl he’d met ten years ago, but they hid behind shadows in her eyes that hadn’t been there when he met her back then. And how did she end up out here, in the middle of nowhere, running an animal shelter practically by herself? At least that’s how it appeared. Get yourself together, Chase. Get the shots you need and get out of here before you do something stupid. “I think a tour of the facility and an introduction to the dogs will give me a good idea of what will work. But why don’t you start by introducing me to this one?”
She snuggled the dog in her arms. “This is Sadie. She’s one of our newer arrivals and she’s a little shy, so I’m not sure we’ll include her. Are you shy, sweetie? Yes, I know you are. Don’t you worry, I’ll protect you from the mean photographer man.”
It took him a second to realize that she’d switched from speaking to him, to talking to the dog mid-conversation. “Hey, I’m not mean.”
“You snuck up on her and scared her. As far as she’s concerned, you’re mean.”
Chase extended his hand, palm up, and held it under the dog’s nose. He’d encountered hundreds of animals, some wild, some not, in his travels around the world. Many were in much more dire circumstances that the animals in this shelter, wary of anyone who extended a hand. But he had a knack of calming even the most skittish of animals. “Hey sweetie. Take a sniff. I won’t hurt you.”
Sadie hesitated a moment and then complied, extending her nose and sniffing his hand. A minute later, her tongue darted out and she licked him. He scratched her muzzle and then up between her ears. See, he had this. If every dog was as even tempered as Sadie, this would be an easy gig.
If only he could keep his mind focused on his job and off Serena.
She nodded and then lowered Sadie into a kennel. “As you can see, these are our kennels. Probably not the best area for photos. We try to minimize the amount of time the animals spend in here. It’s too easy for them to spiral into depression, being isolated in their cages.”
He’d never considered that, but it didn’t surprise him that Serena wasn’t only worried about their physical well-being, but their emotional state as well. He nodded as he followed along after her, through a door, into a smaller room.
“This is our greeting area. This is where families get to meet their potential pet, spend some time together. It’s important that the animals and their people, especially kids, are compatible. We have a very low rehoming rate.”
“Rehoming?”
“If an animal is adopted and he or she isn’t a fit with the family, we offer to rehome them. At no charge. We don’t want an animal abandoned or destroyed because their personalities didn’t mesh. We hope that with careful screening and the greeting room, we can cut down on those situations.”
Serena was doing a great thing here, and it was clear that she poured her heart and soul into the animals that she cared for. She had been so energetic and alive when he first met her yet something had changed her since then.
And he wanted to explore that further.
But he was here to do a job and that’s what he needed to focus on right now. Not the sexy woman who waved her hands as she spoke lovingly about a recent animal adoption.
Serena led him out of the greeting room and through an outside door to a path beside a fenced in yard.
“This is our play area. We let the dogs out in groups. It allows them to run out a lot of their energy and socializes them. We want to be able to adopt our animals into homes with other dogs and cats and small children, and that requires a certain temperament.” She stepped up to the split-rail fence and propped her foot on the bottom rail.
He did the same, resting his arms on the top. “Why aren’t there any dogs out here now?”
“I didn’t know whe
re you wanted to shoot, and I didn’t want them too excited, so they’re all inside.”
“Are you in a hurry?”
She turned a confused look his way. “What?”
“I mean, what else do you have planned for today? Because I have all day. Why don’t we let some of them out to run, get some energy out, and that will give me a chance to see which ones might be the easiest to photograph? The play yard is a great setting.”
She stared at him for a moment and then blinked, like she was brushing away a memory. “That sounds great. I’ll let some of the most social animals out in the yard right now. The ones I thought would be best for the shoot. But you should stay on this side of the fence right now. They get a little excited when I first open the doors, and I can’t guarantee a couple of them won’t barrel right over you.”
She had a sparkle in her eye as she said those last words. Almost like she was teasing him. As she hurried back into the shelter, he studied the rest of the property. There was another smaller play yard like this one on the other side of the building. And there were long cages lining the wall of the building. She had invested a lot of time in creating a wonderful space for the animals that made a pit stop here on the way to a new home.
All of a sudden, happy, excited barks filled the air. He spun around in time to see dogs bursting out of their cages through the large panel Serena had opened in the side of the building. Two of them ran up the ramp on the structure that looked like it belonged in a kids’ playground. Three others grabbed at tennis balls that were laying around the yard and another handful rolled in the grass, feet in the air, tongues lolling out of their mouths like they didn’t have a care in the world.
For a few minutes, Serena ran around with the dogs, rolling and tumbling like she was one of them. Her laughter filled the air. He could listen to that beautiful sound all day. A few minutes later, she hopped up and flung a tennis ball for one of the dogs as she walked back to Chase.
If it were possible, the smile on her face was even bigger than before. It was clear she really loved working with the animals.
She stopped in front of him, on the other side of the fence.
“They really enjoy being outside, don’t they?”
“Oh yeah. See Charlie over there, the one that looks a bit like a golden retriever?” She motioned toward a dog frolicking in the corner.
“Yeah?”
“He had been chained in someone’s back yard. Full time. His only shelter was a bench that he could climb under when it rained or when it was cold. He could run about ten feet in any direction, and that was about it. When he was brought to the shelter, he hadn’t been groomed in months.”
“How long has he been here?”
“About thirty days.”
“What’s the average time to adopt out an animal that comes to the shelter?”
“That varies. Puppies and Kittens are obviously the most popular and some of our older animals are hard to adopt out. And then there are the disabled dogs. See Daisy over there?”
She gestured to an animal that looked like a beagle, but not quite.
“She’s got some medical problems that require a high level of attention. She may not ever get adopted out.”
“What happens to the animals that don’t get adopted?”
“I have a big family.” She chuckled. “But seriously, we do what we can to come up with a solution for every animal. We have some families that are willing to do short-term fostering. My mom adopted a diabetic ten-year-old cat last year and she loves having the company. My older sister Izzy and her husband Tanner have a Jack Russell named Freddie. He lost a leg and vision in one of his eyes after being hit by a car. Izzy said that she would only temporarily take him, but it’s been two years. And I fostered Bandit with my sister Alexis yesterday.”
Dang, he could sit here and listen to Serena talk about these animals that she loved so much all day, but he did have a job to do. If he were smart, he’d snap the test shots and beat a path back to the city before he got caught up in Serena. In the peace that she offered him. But no one ever accused him of being smart. “I was thinking… how about I come into the yard and take some candid shots of the animals? It’ll give me a chance to see how I like the lighting out here and help us decide which animals will work best for the calendar.”
“Sounds good.”
He handed his bag over the fence and then easily hopped to the other side. He pulled his favorite camera out of the case and slung it around his neck. It wasn’t a newer model, probably about five or six years old, but he’d taken his most memorable photo with this camera. His first Pulitzer Prize winning image. And one of the ones that meant the most to him.
The proceeds from that picture were currently helping the village featured in the image build a well. It wasn’t like he needed the money. The trust fund from his great-grandfather, the first Edward Foster, earned him enough interest that he rarely had to touch the principal. Not that he would. He’d told himself from the day he stepped out on his own that he would do so without his family’s support.
“Chase?”
“Oh, yeah, what?”
Serena tilted her head and quirked her mouth. Confusion flooded the deep blue of her eyes and her gaze was locked on his hands. Holding his camera.
He’d encountered enough people that were uncomfortable in front of the camera. Shoot, he was one of them. He was much happier behind the lens than in front of it. But he also knew that Serena wasn’t one of them. At least he thought so. She hadn’t known he was taking her picture that day on the boardwalk. Maybe that’s why she looked so naturally beautiful. At least she had to him.
She shook her head. “Sorry about that. It’s just that… you reminded me… Oh, nothing. I was saying that the dogs are calmer now, so it’s probably a good time for you to get some shots.”
At that moment, it was clear that she didn’t recognize him as the Edward she’d met. He debated telling her right then, to put them on even footing. But what good would that do? She probably didn’t even remember him, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to have his perfect image of the girl from the beach a decade ago shattered. Best to leave the past in the past and to put a bit of separation between him and Serena.
He spent a few minutes among the dogs, allowing them to become comfortable with him in their space. He was surprised at how well they were behaved—a testament to Serena’s socialization plans. Then he raised his camera, observing the animals through the lens. He did his best to blend in to the background, enabling the dogs to act normally. He always felt the best way to capture a subject as natural as possible was for them to not even notice he was there. The same proved true for the dogs. Before long, they frolicked around, chasing after their tails, and each other.
He began shooting.
Serena stood off to the side, throwing a ball for a dog when one would drop the slobbery mess at her feet, but she made a point of staying out of his frame. That didn’t stop him from including a few shots of her with the animals. He’d always wondered what she’d looked like when she grew up. Now he knew and he’d have a new image to carry with him when he jetted off to his next assignment. Because that’s what he always did.
The thought of leaving again exhausted him. He was considering extending his time in the U.S. and taking a real break from the travel and the despair and the gut-wrenching tragedy that he’d witnessed over the last ten years.
“Chase?”
Serena’s voice startled him. He’d almost forgotten she was there. Almost. He couldn’t completely, not with the charged air that arced between them. She had to feel it, too, didn’t she? He took a couple more shots and then finally lowered his camera. “Yeah. I’m about finished.”
“So, what happens next?”
“I’ll develop these shots and send them to you then we’ll finalize the details. That will probably happen in about ten days.” Which meant he would definitely see her again soon, if not before then.
“Are you headed off for
another assignment in the meantime? From the looks of your website, it seems you’re always on the road.”
She’d checked out his website? That thought made him ridiculously happy. “I don’t think so. Often I don’t know about the opportunities until the last minute, other times, it’s a location I happen upon in my own personal travels.”
“But you’ll be back to do the shoot here?”
Was she as anxious to see him again as he was her? He typically spent days, if not weeks, getting to know the people that he eventually captured in photos, living among them, working with them. This wasn’t that kind of shoot, but he found himself hoping that it was. “I will.”
Chapter Three
Serena burst through Alexis’s door, not even taking the time to knock. She was too excited. It was all she could do not to break the speed limit once she pulled the huge envelope of photos from her mailbox.
She didn’t want to open the package alone.
“Alexis?”
Serena’s voice echoed across the empty living room and kitchen that occupied the main part of Alexis’s cottage. She had to be here somewhere—her car was in the parking lot.
Bandit yipped and his nails clicked on the hardwood floor as he hurried down the hall. Serena dropped to her knees. “Hey, sweetie. How are you, honey? Where’s your person, huh? Was she down the hall with you?”
Bandit flopped down and showed Serena his belly. Yep, this little cutie was doing so much better now than when she’d brought him here. She loved on Bandit for a few minutes and then stood.
“Alexis?”
“Sorry. I was in the middle of something. Hey, Serena.” Her sister hurried down the hall from the direction of the bedrooms. She must have been working. At least her eyes were clear and she looked somewhat put together. A lot better than the last time Serena had been here, when she had dragged Alexis out of bed at nearly noon.
Chasing Trust: A Small Town Steamy Romance (Harper Family series Book 3) Page 3