pretty.”
The compliment killed her hilarity. “It’s a mousy-brown.”
“Says who?”
She shrugged.
“It’s long and thick and so damn soft.” He brought her hair forward over her shoulder, then deliberately stroked to the end so that the backs of his fingers moved over her breast. Voice going gruff, he whispered, “Very pretty.”
With a loud, “Meowrrr,” Louie high-stepped between them, turning so his tail hit Nadine in the face while he purred and pawed at Shohn’s abdomen.
“Ah, no, Louie, I don’t trust you.” Shohn moved the cat away from his abs and instead sat him on the sofa at his side.
Louie came right back.
Feeling a little helpless, Shohn looked at Nadine.
She winced. “I think he needs more reassurance.”
Yeah, he knew that. Poor Louie had come from a shelter, and now he wanted to know he was loved. Mind made up, Shohn asked, “Are you in a rush to go to bed?”
“No,” she assured him hastily.
On track so far. “Mind if I stay for a while?”
She shook her head. “I’d like that.”
“And once Louie is feeling more secure?” He traced a fingertip over her collarbone, slowly down to the top of each plump breast. His voice went gravelly with need. “Then I’d like to show you how sexy you are, okay?”
“I was sort of counting on it.”
Shohn stood, which wasn’t easy since Louie kept trying to climb him like a tree. “How about I go wash up before appeasing this demanding beast?”
She twisted to look up at him. “Wash up?”
“Yeah. I always carry a spare set of clothes, so you don’t have to worry about me hanging around naked.”
Eyes wide, she said in a faint whisper, “I wasn’t worried.”
Then again, Shohn thought, hearing how husky her voice got and the way her eyes darkened, maybe stripping down was the way to go.
Louie disabused him of that notion real quick by attempting to climb him again.
Yeah, being naked around the cat was not an option.
“Be right back.” He went out the door before Louie could follow. In his Jeep he grabbed his duffel bag with clean shorts, a fresh uniform and his survival kit. With his job, he never knew when he might get soaked with mud, creek water or poison ivy. It made sense to be prepared.
The survival kit was a small pack of necessities that he carried whenever he had to be in the woods for long. On top of basic medical supplies and a few granola bars, it held a toothbrush razor and soap.
The condoms he kept in his wallet.
With any luck, he’d get to spend the night with Nadine. It always paid to be prepared.
* * *
Nadine made a quick trip over to Animal House while Shohn showered in her small bathroom. She was such an animal lover that she felt positively evil for scrounging up the repellent spray and an old canister of catnip. Hopefully if one didn’t work, the other would.
She managed to sneak in and out without disturbing too many dogs, which wasn’t easy with so much anticipation making her clumsy.
At this very moment, Shohn was naked, wet and soapy in her bathroom.
It was enough to rattle any red-blooded woman.
Did he make himself at home with every woman he planned to sleep with? He carried all the necessities, even a change of clothes, so she had to assume...yes.
Having her status as “just one of many” reaffirmed so blatantly didn’t exactly thrill her. But neither did it put her off enough to want to send him packing. Yet.
Not until she got the payoff.
Rushing, Nadine got back in her cabin just as the water shut off. That’s when she heard the racket. Louie carried on something awful, and there was a terrible scratching sound.
Clutching her stash of cat-necessities, Nadine peered down the short hall and saw Louie stretched out on his belly, trying to peek under the door, one paw wedged under. At first she thought he’d gotten his paw caught and it nearly stopped her heart. But when he pulled away from the door, peered under it from a different angle and again tried to reach in, she realized he only wanted to get in to Shohn.
She could sympathize with that idea, but really, so much caterwauling was overkill. “For heaven’s sake,” she told Louie. “You won’t fit under the door, so you may as well give it up.”
Instead, the cat doubled his efforts.
She heard Shohn laugh.
From inside the bathroom, he said, “He’s feeling around, trying to get hold of me.”
Not a bad idea. If she could get Louie to rest, she wanted to feel around and try to get hold of him, too. She cleared her throat. “Are you dressed?”
There was a pause before he cracked the door open. “Not yet.”
Oh, whoa. No, he wasn’t dressed, and the snowy-white towel he had around his hips did little to cover him. She had no words. She could barely swallow. She did manage to stare just fine, though.
Louie used the opportunity to squeeze into the bathroom. Shohn looked alarmed until Louie jumped up to the sink.
Cautiously Shohn took his gaze off the cat. “You want to join us? I’m only going to shave.”
Squeeze into the small bathroom next to Shohn while he wore no more than his irresistible scent, a wicked smile and a small towel? Of course she did. “I...ah...”
“C’mon.” He reached out for her, took her arm and pulled her in. “What do you have there?”
Guilt flushed her face. Or maybe it was his mostly naked body, still damp and hot and heart-stoppingly bare. “Catnip and repellent.”
“Kinky.”
“What? No. It’s to hopefully entice Louie into chilling a little. I mean, you can’t...we can’t...” She wasn’t about to spell it out like that. “It’s for Louie,” she said again.
“Ah, I think I get it.” He crossed his arms and leaned on the sink.
The towel parted over one muscular thigh. She stared, stared some more, but everything vital stayed covered. Walking along the edge of the sink, Louie brushed against his arm and left behind clumpy white hair sticking to Shohn’s still-damp skin.
Lip curled, he brushed at the hair. “I need to get him a brush.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Mesmerized, paying little attention to what she said, Nadine watched the flex of muscle in Shohn’s chest and arms, how his abs pulled tighter.
Louie made the attempt to climb up Shohn’s back, but he told the cat, “No.” Big yellow eyes defiant, the cat put a paw on his arm. Shohn lifted him away. Louie tried again and again. One paw here, testing, a paw there testing... Shohn laughed and stepped away. “You are determined, aren’t you? But sorry, my man, it isn’t happening. I value my hide too much.”
It was a really nice hide, Nadine thought.
Temporarily thwarted, Louie leaped into the bathtub, licked up a few drops of water here and there, then got out and pawed through Shohn’s discarded clothes on the floor.
“Nadine?”
Seeing those clothes drove home yet again that he’d come prepared. “Hmm?”
“The catnip is to give him something else to think about. Cats love that stuff, right?”
“Right.