Taken With You (14 page)

“Nine to five. That’s funny.” He took a sip of his coffee, then shrugged. “I love being outside and always spent every minute I could in the woods. I love animals. I always wanted to be a police officer. It sounds trite, but I think I was born to be a game warden.”

“It must be hard, sometimes. The hours and not knowing what’s going to happen each day. I mean, barring something huge happening, I can tell you what my schedule will be three years from now. And usually a broken binding or a paperback that reeks of cigarette smoke or—God help me—cat pee is my biggest emergency.”

He wrinkled his nose. “Cat pee should be a chemical weapon.”

“Tell me about it. And the book was in the night drop.” She laughed at the face he made. “Yeah, it was like that. But we’re talking about you, not me.”

“The hours don’t really bother me unless they affect Bear. Obviously you know that’s occasionally a problem, but I’ve always had a good support system. It’s been hard on relationships in the past, though.”

“A friend of mine from college is married to a police officer in Boston. It’s hard on her, but she believes in what he does and tries to support him.”

He nodded. “One of the hardest things is the wildlife sometimes. Caring about them sometimes means putting them down and that sucks. My first week out we had to track down a deer that had been hit by a truck and, when we found her, there was no saving her. Even when done in mercy, putting an animal down hits me pretty hard.”

She reached across the island and squeezed his hand. “They’re lucky to have people who care out there watching out for them and advocating for them. It matters.”

He smiled and squeezed her fingers. “Except when they’re hurt, dealing with animals is a more enjoyable part of the job than dealing with drunks, idiots and walking around in the woods looking for marijuana plants, I can tell you that.”

“Pot? Really?”

“You’d be surprised. It’s a thriving backyard industry.” When he laughed, she guessed her expression was disbelieving. “It is. I haven’t found Whitford’s yet, but there’s a grow somewhere. I can almost guarantee it.”

“No way. In Whitford?” She shook her head. “The police would have found it. We’re not good at secrets.”

“No disrespect to the Whitford PD, but town cops tend to stick to the roads unless they have cause to do otherwise. If I spend enough time out in the woods, I’ll find one eventually.”

“I hope it’s not Fran or Butch. Or anybody at the diner.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Any reason you mention them in particular?”

“No!” She jerked her hand back, hoping she hadn’t gotten anybody in trouble. “But that’s our only grocery store, our only gas pumps and our only restaurant. It would really suck if one of them went to prison.”

He laughed. “I don’t think Fran, Butch or anybody at the diner will be going to prison. The food and gas supply in Whitford is safe for now.”

Bear pushed his way back into the kitchen and fell upon his food bowl as though he hadn’t eaten in days, even though Hailey knew there had still been food in the dish when she came in.

“He always eats like that in the morning,” Matt said. “I guess he really works up an appetite sleeping all night.”

Since her cup was empty, Hailey stood. “I should go and let you either take a nap or get dressed. And, obviously, I need to get dressed, too. What time do you want to get your truck?”

“Any time. Like I said, I’m up now. Later on today, I’ll probably put on a game or the news channel and take a nap, but I won’t be able to go back to sleep now.”

“You shouldn’t have had that coffee.”

He smiled at her over the rim of his cup. “It was worth it.”

There he went again, sending her
interested
signals when they both knew he wasn’t. Or shouldn’t be, anyway. “I’m going to shower and get dressed, so give me an hour and then any time you want to go, just come over.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She unlocked the back door so she could exit properly instead of going through the doggy door again, and went back to her own house.

Sometimes she could be such an idiot. Breaking into a man’s house through a damn dog door had to be one of the more ridiculous things she’d ever done. Of course Bear would have access to food and water. The guy worked weird hours quite often and obviously loved his dog. He wouldn’t let him starve.

It was as if something about the man short-circuited her brain and made her act like an idiot. He’d been very gracious about it, she had to admit. He’d even thanked her for breaking into his house at six-thirty in the morning when he’d only been asleep for three and a half hours.

She tried to not to think about the way he’d touched her neck. It wasn’t a
first aid is part of my job description
touch. It was a touch that let her know without a doubt that he knew how to wind her up. It was deliberate, but she didn’t know if it was just to mess with her or if he liked the idea of turning her on for a different reason.

After showering, she threw on some jeans and a summer-weight sweater. Instead of pulling her hair into a ponytail, she took the time to blow it out so it was soft and full around her face. Not because of Matt, of course. She was sure she’d read somewhere that it wasn’t good for hair to be in a ponytail all the time.

By the time Matt knocked on her door, Hailey had regained her equilibrium. He had undoubtedly touched her neck in an effort to be funny, probably as payback for her breaking in. It meant nothing and therefore there was no need to feel awkward about it.

After grabbing her wallet and keys, she opened the door to find him trying to convince Bear to go back in the house. But the Lab had apparently decided to forget that command.

“He’s welcome to go along,” she said. “Unless there’s a reason you don’t want him to.”

“Are you sure? He’ll shed on your seat.”

“We have these awesome inventions called vacuums now. And, yes, I’m sure. He missed you. You can’t turn around and leave already.”

“Thanks. He loves going for rides.” He opened the back door of her car and, when he waved him in, Bear hopped up onto the seat.

When she tried to back out of the driveway, Hailey looked in the rearview mirror and saw nothing but happy black Lab. “I think he’s grinning at me.”

“I can’t remember the last time he rode in the backseat of a car. He probably thinks you’re his new chauffeur.”

“I had worse jobs in college.”

“Tell me about them.”

She sighed. “Well, I can tell you I might make a mean shepherd’s pie, but I suck at making pizzas. I was so bad, they decided to have me do the deliveries, instead. You might not know this about me, but I don’t have a keen sense of direction.”

“No.” He laughed, and they swapped funny college stories while Bear used copious amounts of slobber to lick her back windows clean.

* * *

M
ATT
WAS
SURPRISED
Bear rode back with him in the truck. The dog was so infatuated with Hailey, he half expected him to stay in her car and refuse to get out. But when it came time to leave the lot where he’d left his truck, Bear remembered who his best friend was.

“I don’t blame you, though,” he told the dog. “She’s really pretty. She always smells good. And she’s funny, too. I like her.”

Bear cocked his head, as if confused by what his man was saying. Matt didn’t blame him. He was confused by what he was saying, too. Of all the women in the world he could be attracted to, the blonde from the woods was not the one he would have picked.

When they got home, he waved his thanks to Hailey, who pulled into her driveway just a minute after he pulled into his. “Let’s go have some lunch and then we’ll see about a nap.”

Bear ran to the backyard first, so Matt went inside and poked through his fridge for sandwich fixings. He had ham and cheese, but no mustard, which sucked. There was good old peanut butter and jelly, but he wasn’t in the mood for that.

Bear barked once and it sounded like he was at the back door, which was odd. Obviously the doggy door wasn’t locked, since it had been used that morning. A second later there was a knock on the door. “Come in.”

Instead of using the doggy door, Bear entered with Hailey. He was obviously happy to have his two favorite people back in the same place and was wagging his tail so hard his butt was in on it, too.

“I found this in my car when I dragged the vacuum out,” she said, holding up the pocketknife his dad had given him when he turned thirteen.

“Thanks. I had it in my pocket, but it must have slipped out. I don’t usually carry it, but I found it in a box I was unpacking and I meant to put it in my drawer.” He pulled a loaf of bread out of the bread box. “You want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?”

“No thanks. I should get back to what I was doing.”

“You’re vacuuming the car already? The dog hair’s been there how long?”

She rolled her eyes. “I had planned to vacuum the car today anyway, for your information.”

“Right.” When she reached for the door handle, he felt an urge to stop her. “You should go on a date with me. My kind of date.”

That definitely stopped her. She turned back to him, frowning. “Why should I do that?”

“Because it would be fun.”

“We have nothing in common.” But she stepped closer to lean against the island.

“We both like to have fun.”

“But I think we have very different ideas of fun. And your kind of date is probably not my kind of date.”

There was one activity he was sure they’d both find fun, but he tried to stay focused. “You don’t think you’d have a good time with me?”

“I...I haven’t really thought about it.”

“I think maybe you have.” He took a step closer to her. “I can tell by the way your face flushes when I get too close to you.”

“Personal space issues.”

“Really?” He reached out and ran his fingertip down the side of her neck. “Is that why, when I touch you, you shiver?”

She didn’t break eye contact, so he saw the humor lurking there along with the heat. “That’s the story I’m going with.”

Wondering what she’d do if he kissed her, he smiled and shifted his gaze to her mouth. “Why do you need a story?”

“I’ve already told you you’re not my type.”

“And, again, we’ve already established you’re not mine. I generally like my women to be more sturdy.”

“Sturdy?” She stepped back and he realized he’d made a critical mistake. “What the hell kind of word is that? We’re not furniture.”

Maybe sturdy wasn’t the best word, but he couldn’t think of a better one. “You know, women who like being outdoors and don’t worry about breaking a nail.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sorry to be wicker in your rock maple fantasy world.”

He leaned against the counter, one eyebrow arched. “How come it’s perfectly okay for you to tell me I’m not the kind of man you’d date, but when I say it about you, you get offended?”

“It’s a character flaw. I have a lot of them, so you don’t want to be around me.”

“I don’t, huh?”

“You don’t. And you should stop touching my neck, too.”

“I see.” And he did. “You want me to go away because you don’t trust yourself to resist me.”

“I can almost feel your ego sucking the air out of the room.”

“Let me ask you a question. If the first time you ever met me was the day I did the safety class, would that have changed things?” When she hesitated, he smiled. “Be honest.”

“Okay, yes. If that was the first time I ever met you, I probably would have already gotten you to ask me out while making you think it was your idea.” She held up her hand to signal she wasn’t finished. “
But
, I can’t forget the version of you I met in the woods.”

“You do realize that was the tail end of a two-week vacation, right? Just me, my dog and my dad in a cabin in the woods?”

“I get that. It’s not so much the appearance that’s the issue. It’s the fact you obviously love being outside and doing all that outdoorsy stuff. Hunting and fishing and playing in the mud and all that.”

He laughed. “Playing in the mud?”

“You know what I mean. The four-wheeling and all that.”

“I love being outside, yes. I didn’t become a game warden accidentally. As a matter of fact, I really don’t like being inside at all. The only good reason to be in a house is indoor plumbing, heat and not having mosquitoes attacking your ass while you’re having sex.”

“You couldn’t pay me to have sex outside.” She paused, then cleared her throat. “Of course, you can’t pay me to have sex anywhere because I’m not a hooker. It would be awkward if I was since you’re a law enforcement officer. Trust me, the new game warden citing the town librarian for prostitution would probably be the biggest scandal in Whitford history.”

“I love the way you babble when you’re nervous. It’s cute.”

“Cute?” She made a sour face. “If I agree, can this conversation be over?”

“Yup.”

“Fine. I’ll go on a date with you.
Your
kind of date.”

Oh, the sweet thrill of victory. “Awesome. Be ready to go about four-thirty.”

“That’s a little early for supper, isn’t it? And the library’s open until five.”

“In the morning. Tomorrow morning. Four-thirty a.m.” The way her eyes widened made him chuckle. He knew she was going to balk, but he was counting on her pride to keep her from backing out entirely.

“I have to work.”

“I have tomorrow off and you’ll be back in plenty of time to get ready, especially since you don’t have to work until ten. Which must be nice, by the way.”

She laughed on her way out the door. “You’re probably going to want to take that nap if you’re getting up before four-thirty.”

“I’ll be ready. Don’t be late.”

When she was gone, he looked down at Bear. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s just one date.”

ELEVEN

T
HE
LAST
TIME
Hailey remembered being awake—deliberately and fully clothed—at four-thirty in the morning, she’d been in college. And it had been a case of still up rather than got up.

It wasn’t her best time, that was for sure. And Matt hadn’t given her any clues as to where they were going, so she’d spent ten minutes glaring at her closet over the rim of her coffee mug. They probably weren’t going dancing or to a movie before dawn. Knowing Matt, it involved being outside, so she settled for jeans.