Yeah, right. Nothing made Amber blush. “Baloney. You’re making that up.”
“Just the blushing part. Those two airheads were talking loud enough for even poor Fred to hear. He’s Nadine’s new groundskeeper in case you don’t know.”
“I heard all about Fred.”
“So anyway, they were talking about you like you were heaven’s gift to women and all, and I looked at Nadine, and she rolled her eyes.” Amber watched him expectantly, as if that should somehow be important.
“Sorry, hon, but if that’s the punch line, I don’t get it.”
Huffing, Amber clarified, “She was disgusted, Shohn.”
“Great. I disgust her.” Not when kissing her, but yeah, at other times, she had acted pretty put out over stuff. “How does that make her perfect?”
“Don’t be obtuse.” Amber shoved him, or at least she tried to.
Since she’d been doing that sort of thing forever, roughhousing as if she were one of the boys, Shohn stayed prepared around her. He didn’t budge a single inch. He lifted a brow and waited.
Grabbing his shirt, Amber pulled him down to her level and enunciated clearly. “She doesn’t buy into your awesome rep, cuz.”
Well, that sucked, because he made a lot of headway with that rep, a rep he’d carefully cultivated with the ladies.
“She’s above that nonsense,” Amber said. “Nadine doesn’t see you as a charming stud at all.”
“Lucky me.”
Amber laughed at his lack of enthusiasm. “No, it’s better than that. I asked her a few things about you—”
He groaned. “God help me.”
“—and you know what? She thinks you’re smart and considerate. She respects your job and she knows some of the more heroic crap you’ve done, which means she’s been paying attention, just not to the hype.”
Shohn scoffed, but he was intrigued enough to prompt Amber. “I haven’t done any heroic crap.”
“Puh-leeze.” Amber walked around him and opened the truck gate. “You went out on the frozen lake to save that dog last winter.”
“I had all the right equipment so it wasn’t—”
“And,” Amber said with emphasis, “you helped track that one dope dealer who was trying to hide in the hills.”
“We were all tracking him. I was just lucky to find him fir—”
“And,” she interrupted again, “you scaled down Culper’s Cliff to save that boy when his doofus dad let him fall over.”
“Yeah,” Shohn agreed. “That was a little harrowing.” But anyone would have done the same.
“You’ve done tons of awesome stuff and Nadine knew about all of it.” Amber hauled out a heavy box. “She even remembered that time back when you two were early teens and you stopped that loudmouth Bob from calling her names.”
Shohn nodded slowly. “I was fourteen, but she was only twelve.”
“Bob,” Amber said, “was fifteen, and still you beat him up.”
“Bob was a damned coward who enjoyed making fun of people.” Shohn recalled that day as if it had just happened. They were all at the lake, swimming and flirting and doing what kids did. Nadine hadn’t worn a suit, which he remembered thinking odd. During summer in Buckhorn, especially on the lake, everyone wore a suit.
But not Nadine. She’d been in shorts and a shirt.
Then Bob had pushed her in and she’d gotten soaked. Her T-shirt had glued itself to her chest in a way that had them all gawking. Even back then, Nadine had been chesty. He remembered being floored by his first shot of honest-to-God breasts.
It had left him curious as only a horny fourteen-year-old boy could be.
Then, out of the blue, Bob had called her a cow. Big tears had joined the lake water on Nadine’s face, and Shohn had suffered his very first bout of possessiveness.
Chapter Three
Fists curling, Shohn got furious all over again. If Bob hadn’t mellowed into a decent enough guy he’d be tempted to go whip his ass all over again.
Amber deliberately elbowed him as she walked past with the box, saying, “Nadine is the one.”
The one what? He snatched up a box and her suitcase and followed her to the porch. “So you like her?”
“A lot. She’s supersmart and really compassionate.” Using her foot, Amber got the door open, and then suddenly Morgan was there.
“Give me that.” He took the box from her, bent to kiss her forehead and said, “Your mom is waiting in the kitchen with pie and coffee.”
“Love you, Dad,” Amber said sweetly.
Shohn shook his head. Only with Morgan was Amber ever that sugary. “Move so I can set this stuff down.”
She did, but because Morgan had only gone as far as the living room, she leaned in again to whisper, “Go after her, Shohn. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”
“How?” he whispered back while keeping an eye on his uncle. “She wasn’t exactly receptive.”
“Well, duh. She knows your rep, whether she buys into it or not, and as I already said, she’s not a dummy.”
Done with being insulted, Shohn turned to go. “A lot of help you are.”
She followed him out. “Get a dog.”
He stopped midstep. That was...ingenious. “Yeah.” He nodded while thinking it through. “I could do that.” Hell, he loved animals. Most everyone in the family had pets. And he could use the excuse of having Nadine watch the dog for him when he worked. She wasn’t overly expensive, dogs loved her and then he’d have a reason to visit her.
Often.
“This is why you come to me,” Amber announced with great fanfare. “Go to the shelter. There are a lot of dogs there looking for a home.”
He saluted her, and now, with a plan in mind, he felt better. Less unsettled. Tomorrow, on his way to work, he’d get a dog. Something easy and friendly. A mature dog that wouldn’t need to be trained.
Then he’d have all the reason in the world to hang around Nadine, and maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to figure out what it was about her that suddenly pushed all the right buttons.
* * *
It was just after 9:00 a.m., but the sun blazed in a bright blue sky, promising a scorcher. Suffocating humidity left the air dense, but Fred had mowed the yard an hour earlier and the freshly cut grass smelled oh-so-sweet.
As she did every morning, Nadine faced the new day with a sense of promise, never mind the sleepless night spent mooning over Shohn Hudson.
For years, she’d done her best to block him from her thoughts. She was a realist, and she knew anything more than a shallow friendship wasn’t meant to be. Shohn seemed to see her as an asexual being.
Or at least, he used to.
Last night...what a difference. But she could probably chalk that up to boredom or a full moon or some other fleeting happenstance that would never again occur.
Still, that kiss had kept her awake long into the night, making her think about “what ifs” and keeping her too hot and achy and hungry.
As she came in from bathing a dog, she again shoved thoughts of Shohn and his awesome bod and well-deserved confidence from her mind. Because she’d been sluggish that morning,