Home Is Where the Bark Is (19 page)

She still shivered, her whole body shaking uncontrollably. But heat radiated from him, and she was greedy for his warmth. Nick tightened his hug so her body pressed hard against the steel of his muscles, her head burrowed against his shoulder. In a slow, soothing rhythm he patted her on her back, stroked her hair, uttered a wordless murmur that resonated in his chest.

She didn’t know for how long she stood there. But as his heat pulsed through her, her teeth stopped chattering and the shivers started to subside. He ceased the patting of her back and the soothing litany of words and just held her close within the circle of his arms until all she was aware of was her own breathing as it calmed, the steady rise and fall of his chest, the solid thud-thud-thud of his heartbeat, the soft cotton of his shirt against her cheek. With one final tremor that shuddered right through her, she took a deep, steadying breath and knew he had pulled her out of that cold place.

Reluctantly, she pulled away from him. Leaned back against the circle of his arms. Looked up to his face. Wanted to thank him. But what she saw in his eyes stilled the words. Her heart tripped into double time and the color rushed back to her face.

She should shrug off his arms and step back. Open the door and run right back into the playroom with Kylie and Heather and Adele and the dogs she loved and felt so safe with.

But she stayed right where she was. Didn’t even marvel that at a time when everything she’d worked for was at risk and her world about to collapse, all she could think of was that Nick Whalen was about to kiss her and she wanted to kiss him back.

No
way could Serena fake this level of distress. She was a victim, not a crook. As much a victim as the Godfreys with Freya or the Landers with the Cavalier spaniel or any of the other people on the insurance company’s report.

Nick was as certain of that as he had ever been of anything. As he held her close and felt the violent trembling of her body gradually subside, a tempest of emotion raged through him. Foremost was fury at the criminal scum who had stolen her identity. Closely followed by the overwhelming urge to protect her and avenge her.

But to fight on her side meant switching sides mid-battle, crossing the line and acknowledging her as victim, not perpetrator. That meant a significant turnaround. Both for him personally and for S&W Investigations.

Serena gave a final little sob that reverberated through her slender body and willowy limbs and stood still, leaning against him. Instinctively, he tightened the protective circle of his arms. But she pulled back, then gazed up at him for a long, wordless moment.

Her face seemed crumpled with the aftermath of shock, her eyes unfocused and bewildered, her mouth trembling and uncertain. Her mouth. Her lush, generous mouth. She wore no makeup, but her lips were warm and flushed a delectable pink. How could he look so closely at that beautiful mouth and not ache to kiss her?

But kissing Serena Oakley—alias Serena St. James—would be so much worse than a miscalculation. It could spell disaster.

Then, as her eyes connected with his, they widened, and warm color flushed the skin on her high, elegant cheekbones. Her lips parted. Just a fraction, just the tiniest space between top and bottom, but it was enough.

He was undone.

No matter what it cost him in terms of future or career or what the hell else, he had to kiss her. And kiss her now.

He groaned her name as he bent his head and she tilted hers back to meet him. He claimed that lovely mouth and kissed her. Her warmth and softness enveloped him. This was not Serena St. James, chocolate-coated fantasy woman, but Serena Oakley, warm, funny, generous doggy day-care director with her snarky sense of humor and the secrets that still shadowed her eyes.

Her mouth fulfilled every promise—moist and soft and luscious as it yielded beneath his. He felt intoxicated by the scent of her—a heady blend of sweet floral, vanilla, and warm, beautiful woman. His hands slid down her back to pull her closer so he could feel her warm, supple curves molded to the length of his body. A slight tremor rippled through her body and reminded him that it wasn’t so long since she had cringed from his nearness.

He remembered her issues with trust and stalkers and heaven knew what other demons she had hinted at but not shared with him. He held back, reined in his hunger for her, made it an undemanding kiss of comfort and reassurance and respect. Somehow he wanted his body to transmit without words what he was feeling.

Then she made a throaty little moan, wound her arms around his neck, and pulled his head tighter as her mouth demanded more. What had started as a tender kiss flamed into something altogether more urgent, taking him by surprise. For a fraction of a second he hesitated. Cross that line or retreat. Commit to her side or stay neutral. What the hell. He just wanted to kiss Serena. Lips demanded, tongues responded, bodies strained to get closer as pent-up passion erupted. Her hands fisted in his hair; his slid down her back to pull her closer.

Nick could feel the pounding of their heartbeats, hear their ragged breathing in the otherwise silent room. He eyed Serena’s desk. How easy would it be to sweep her papers off onto the floor, to lower her back onto its surface, to—

A loud knocking on the door intruded. Kylie’s voice called through. “Nick. Serena. You’ve got twenty minutes to get Mack to his appointment.”

Nick groaned against Serena’s mouth. Tightened his grip on her.

Damn Kylie. Damn the world outside this door. Damn everything that came between him and this woman.

He did not want to let Serena go.

 

 

Serena
stood stock-still for a long second. Then broke away from the kiss and wrenched herself from Nick’s arms. Her heart was pounding, her nipples hard and aroused; her breath came in short, painful gasps. She felt like a guilty teenager caught making out in her bedroom while her mom stood outside the closed door.

Panting, she smoothed her hair, tugged at her shirt. Thank heaven Kylie had not pushed open the door and caught them. At least this way she and Nick could pretend they had been talking about Mack. Or Bessie. Or how to paint a poodle’s claws bright pink in three easy steps.

Anything other than kissing.

She gave herself a mental shake. Oh, what the heck, so they were kissing! Was there anything wrong with that? She was twenty-eight years old and single, for heaven’s sake. She could kiss whom-ever she wanted, wherever she wanted.

Except she liked to keep her private life to herself. And walking in on her boss making out with the sexy new client would be a doozy of a story for Kylie to relay to the other staff.

Serena looked up at Nick to see the same deer-in-the-headlights expression she imagined she had on her own face. His breathing was none too easy, either. He raised his eyebrows, looked at the closed door, and quirked that sexy mouth. Perhaps he, too, was feeling the adolescent-like awkwardness of the moment.

She smiled at him in shared camaraderie, then fought an irrational urge to giggle.

Which was insane. Someone had stolen her identity and all her money. Everything she’d worked toward was gurgling down the puppy potty. And yet she felt like giggling at the thought of being caught by her staff member kissing a client. The same client who, if truth be told, she had been fantasizing about kissing from the moment she’d met him.

She found it impossible to believe that Nick had anything to do with the identity fraud that had stripped her of everything. For one thing, would he be here, kissing her in her office, if he’d taken off with all her funds? But still, there was still something about him and his Yorki-poo that did not seem right.

Suddenly she didn’t feel like giggling anymore. She forced air into her lungs in a deep, steadying breath. Took a step right back from him and wrapped her arms tightly around herself.

“Maybe . . . maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.” Her mind was trying to make sense of it. But her body was just clamoring for more. More kisses. More caresses. More Nick.

She didn’t dare look at him in case she threw herself back in his arms. Rather she concentrated on her vet tech diploma that was framed and hanging on the wall behind him.

He put one finger under her chin and tilted her face up so she had no choice but to look up into his face. “But it happened, and it was amazing,” he said in that deep, husky voice that sent shivers of desire up her spine.

How could she ever have thought his eyes cold? And his mouth. His sexy, sexy mouth
.
She loved the way the top lip was narrower than the lower one and the way it curled up so sensuously at the corners. It made her want to run the tip of her tongue along it, to taste it again, to—

“Amazing . . .” she repeated, still stunned by the kiss, dazed by the feelings it had aroused. It was amazing all right. Quite possibly the most amazing kiss she’d ever had. After all those months in the self-exiled celibacy zone those unleashed hormones had gone crazy.

“But . . . it . . . it still sh-shouldn’t have happened,” she stuttered. Heavens above, she couldn’t even speak properly!

This kiss had made her already-complicated life that much more complicated. Because it wasn’t just about hormones. It wasn’t just about awakened sexual hunger. It was about him. Nick. She liked him. Really liked him. Heck, she had even thought she might learn how to cook to impress him. That was a first.

But what was it about him that still didn’t quite strike the right note? Why had he left so abruptly that day after lunch? She remembered how upset she’d felt. She hadn’t liked that feeling one little bit. Wasn’t sure she could cope with being plunged right back into the maelstrom of emotion that being with a man involved, the angsting if he didn’t call, the constant wondering was it something she’d said, something she’d done. After it ended, the devastation of squeezing a squeak toy just to hear the words “I love you.”

“I don’t know that this is . . . is the time for kissing,” she said. “Not with everything else that’s happening.” She looked up to him, wordlessly imploring him to understand.

Compassion. There it was in his eyes again. Somewhere behind the heat that was banked down now but still glowing.

“Serena, let me help you,” he said. “Tell me what you need me to do, and I’ll do it.”

Now she gripped her hands together to control the trembling. “I . . . I don’t know what you can do to help me. I don’t know what anyone could do. I’m only just getting my head around what’s happened.”

Her voice threatened to tip into hysteria, but with a great effort of will she forced it to stay level. She forced herself not to throw herself into his arms and take every bit of help this gorgeous hunk of man could offer. It was really important to her that she stood on her own two feet and fought her own battles. Not take the easy route as she had done so many times before. Paws-A-While had to be
her
success.

Kylie rapped on the door again. “Hey, guys, hurry up in there!”

Nick placed his hands on her shoulders to anchor her. “Trust me. I
can
help, if you’ll let me. We have to talk.”

Why was it when people said that, she always felt like running a mile? Why should she trust him? She scarcely knew him.

Serena stepped back so he was forced to lift his hands from her shoulders. Freed from his touch she felt more clearheaded, more able to think. She could not let herself be distracted by the feel of his hands on her body. Even their light touch on her shoulders sent her senses zinging.

She kept her voice low, wary of Kylie on the other side of the door. “Nick, tell me straight out—have you ever lied to me?”

He hesitated for just a microsecond. But she noticed it. Pounced on it like a puppy on a chew toy. “No. But there are things I need to explain—” he said.

Another knock on the door. Now Kylie’s voice was edged with impatience. “Shall I ring the vet hospital? Tell them you’re not coming?”

Serena cleared her throat, called back to Kylie. “No. Wait. Nick is on his way. And I—”

He put his hand over her mouth. Just long enough for her to be shocked into silence. “Don’t say anything about the identity fraud. It’s vital you keep it to yourself.” His voice came in a harsh, urgent whisper.

She felt suddenly very unsure. Even a bit frightened. “You’re losing me, Nick. I don’t get it. What does what’s happened to me have to do with you?”

“You have to trust me.”

“I really don’t—”

“Just until I get back. I’ll tell you everything then.”

Everything? What hadn’t he been telling her? How much was there to tell?

Kylie called through the door again. “If Nick can’t make it, I’ll go with Adam to the vet,” Kylie called.

“Adam?” said Serena.

“No need for that. I’m coming out,” Nick called through the door. Then to Serena: “Adam is my business partner. Here to give me a hand with Mack.”

“But I—”

He had his hand on the door handle. “Remember. Don’t tell anyone—and I mean anyone—what happened with the bank.”

She shook her head from side to side. “I don’t know why I’m agreeing to this, but okay.”

Nick opened the door and pushed it wide. She followed him out. Then fought the impulse to snatch her hand to her mouth.

There seemed to be a cast of thousands outside the door. But closer focus showed it to be just an indignant Kylie, a tall, dark-haired man wearing frameless glasses immediately behind her, and beyond that the rest of the staff, who quickly dispersed and pretended to be working.

“About time,” Kylie huffed. “If you miss the appointment, Mack might have to wait for days.”