Chapter Two
Icy air whispered across her body, jerking Sera from deep slumber. She lay naked in her bed on top of the covers. Beside her, Connor’s even breaths told her he’d fallen into one of his typical deep sleeps. Even if she’d wanted to awaken him — and she didn’t — she’d never be able to. It was as if making love to her took such effort on his part that he needed to rejuvenate somehow.
The clock on the nightstand read 10:12, so she hadn't really been asleep all that long.
She stood and grabbed her robe from the settee at the foot of the bed. No sense in salvaging her clothing. She’d heard the tears as Connor had relieved her of it. Pity… she’d really liked that simple white, silk blouse. Connor had liked it too. She smiled. It was only the third, no the fourth one he’d destroyed. And no doubt he’d present her with another one in the near future.
Padding to the door, she slipped out of their bedroom and along the hallway to Jazz’s room. Soft snores came through the cracked door. Smiling, Sera pushed it open and peeked inside then suppressed a gasp.
Jazz had indeed been nearly swallowed by the big bed, but she wasn’t snoring. The snorts and rumbles emerged from the brindle and white dog lying on his back, all four legs sticking in the air like pillars, head lolling off the edge.
Jazz must have rescued him from the garage.
As Sera rubbed the sleep from her eyes and considered what she could do, Hank opened his eyes and focused on her. In one lazy roll, he was upright and blinking at her.
“You can’t stay,” whispered Sera. “If Connor finds out…”
Hank lowered his chin to his paws and regarded her with sad brown eyes.
“Fine.” She shouldn’t cave. Should just take the dog and put him back in the garage. But even as the thought built in her mind, she knew she wouldn’t. “Come here.”
The dog stood and stretched then hopped to the floor and trotted to the door.
“Maybe if I bathe you and make sure you don’t have fleas, Connor will change his mind.”
Hank stopped short and sent her a doggie glare. He opened his mouth and a God-awful sound emerged, kind of a cross between a howl and a yodel. Sera could have sworn the word “no” was being repeated over and over in the midst of it.
“Shush!” Sera glanced at the bed, but Jazz slept on. Poor kid. She really had been exhausted. She pointed at the dog and with her other hand drew her finger across her throat. “Shut up!”
Silence fell. Well, the mongrel knew that command anyway. Maybe he knew others. She pointed into the hallway and hissed. “Out!”
Sending her a big brown stare, the dog trotted over. As he reached her, he paused and sniffed the air. His lip curled back, showing a row of bright white teeth. Then he walked past her and into the hall.
He was a big thing. She’d never be able to muscle him into the stationery tub in the laundry room, but she could conceivably get him into the bathtub in the main bath down the hall. As they entered what she had once thought of as a sizeable bathroom, the walls instantly seemed to shrink inward. Hank balked in the doorway, but she grabbed him by his leather collar and hauled him in, grabbing the door and shoving it closed before the brute could race back through it.
“Sit.” She pointed to the floor.
Hank cocked his head to the side, the motion oddly reminiscent of a shrug. Then he dropped to his haunches.
Then he seemed to smile as he slumped to his belly.
Then he rolled onto his side and squirmed into the plush white bathroom rug. He heaved a sigh and finally lay still.
“Showoff.” Sera leaned over the tub and closed the drain then turned on the tap. Water splashed and bubbled into the pink porcelain. The next problem presented itself fairly quickly. What on earth would she wash him with? She had a nice assortment of floral scents and some fruity cherry and strawberry. Her eyes fell on a cream and brown bottle with a picture of a sprig of lavender across the label.
“Perfect. Vanilla lavender. A little bit floral but nice and calming.” She turned off the water and tapped the edge of the tub. “Okay, come on. Bath time.”
Hank whined and stayed right where he was.
“Oh, come on. I’m trying very hard here to spruce you up so Connor will let you stay.”
Almost as though he understood her words, the dog sighed and stood. Before she could maneuver out of the way, he bounded across the tile floor and leaped into the tub, sending a glorious splash of water arcing through the air. Sera dodged to the side. Too late. In seconds, face, hair, and robe were soaked.
“Oh! For the love of—” She grabbed a towel and mopped her face. “I swear you did that on purpose.” She unbelted her robe and started to shrug out of it.
Hank whined and threw a paw over his nose, covering his eyes.
Sera froze. Sure, he was just a dog. But he was a weird dog. Did she really want to strip down in front of him? Besides, the robe was wet and she’d only get wetter bathing the damn mongrel anyway. Sighing, she tightened the belt and kneeled in front of the tub.
“First things first, let’s get your collar off.” She unbuckled the brown leather strap, half surprised when he didn’t fight her.
A brass plate across the back of the collar read “Hank.”
So, his name really was Hank. Sera had half wondered if Jazz had made that up just trying to get her way. She set the collar on the back of the toilet.
The sweet scent of lavender-laced vanilla rose as she dumped a measure of body wash into her hand. The second she started lathering the dog’s fur, he started with the weird yodeling.
“Will you shut up!” She picked up the hand-held shower spray and turned on the water to rinse off the soap. “This room is too small for you to make that noise in here.”
Hank shook, sending more droplets to slide down her cheeks and chin. At the rate they were going, she was getting more of a bath than the dog. She picked up the bottle of soap again and poured some more into her palm.
“Okay, buddy, time to do the undercarriage.”
Hank shook his head and sat.
“That is not helping,” she grumbled. “Stand up so I can get all your nooks and — crannies… down… there.”
The yodeling got louder. “No!”
They echoed off the walls and reverberated through Sera’s brain.
She rocked backward. “What the hell?” Had she really heard that? She gave a nervous laugh. “For a minute there, you sounded so… human.”
“I am human.”
The noise came out of the dog’s mouth in the weird yodel-howl-growl he’d been doing, but somehow her brain processed it like it was speech.
“I am so… tired.” She stood and rinsed off her hand in the sink. “Screw your undercarriage. You can lick your own hairy balls.”
Hank sighed. “Thank you.”
“You’re wel— Ugh! I can’t believe I’m talking to a freakin’ dog.”
Hank’s jaw moved, but thankfully the yodeling came out quieter than before. “I’ve been trying since you picked us up to tell you. I’m Hank.”
Being tired was doing weird-assed things to her head. Humming under her breath, she gave the dog one last rinse then released the drain.
“You always do that when you’re trying not to think of something.”
“And just how would you know that, Mr. Hank?” she muttered under her breath. “Get out so I can dry you off.” She picked up one of the fluffy pink guest towels and grimaced. Thank goodness for washing machines.
“Not Mr. Hank. Just Hank.” He squirmed into the towel as she rubbed it over his body. “I’m Hank. Your brother.”
Inner Flame Page 3