“We should get him somewhere warm.”
“Agreed.” She pulled at the leashes. “Come on, guys, let’s go.”
5
The first minute walking back to the cars was spent in silence except for the intermittent yapping of one of the dogs in Coffee Shop Girl’s care. The bundle in his arms didn’t squirm or struggle, apparently accepting of Reid’s firm hold. But Reid watched him closely anyway, looking for changes in his demeanor. He seemed content to snuggle in Reid’s arms.
No weight had ever felt better.
“You shouldn’t have jumped in,” Reid said after a moment. “I had it under control.”
“Did you? Because from where I was standing it looked like you were having a hard time wrangling this little guy.”
“He was scared, that was all. You didn’t need to get wet.” Or save Reid, which is what she had claimed she was doing. How ridiculous.
“Admit it, you were starting to panic.”
“I was not.” He stared at her, and she laughed. Ah, she had been teasing him. “I was not,” he repeated in a lower voice, so they were clear, teasing or not.
“I’m a good swimmer. I don’t know how strong you are but I know how strong I am. It was a no-brainer.”
So foolish. No decision like that should ever be a no-brainer.
“I’m Kennedy, since you haven’t asked.”
“Reid.”
“Yeah, I know. Reid D.”
So she recognized him—he hadn’t been sure before. But now he recalled something else. Something from their time in the lake.
She had called him Hot Jerk.
Maybe he was mistaken. He couldn’t exactly ask if that was her nickname for him. Neither was he sure he wanted to know.
He took a furtive look at her. The clothes she wore clung to her body—a long-sleeved T-shirt over amazing breasts and leggings hugging nicely-shaped thighs. She was short, maybe five feet two inches, but she didn’t seem fragile. She seemed strong.
What an incredibly brave woman. A hot, tempting, incredibly brave woman.
“What you did back there—jumping in like that—it was courageous. Foolish, but courageous.”
Two spots of color appeared high on her cheekbones. “Anyone would have done it.”
“Not anyone. You did it. And this little guy is here because of it.”
“You would have been fine.”
“A minute ago you said I was starting to panic.”
“Yeah, I did, didn’t I?” One of the dogs strained at the leash, trying to get ahead of the others. She reined him in gently.
“Who are your friends?”
“My friends?” She looked down at the dogs. “Oh, these beauties! Meet Tiger, Dylan, and Smoky.”
“Hallo, boys.” He nodded at the dogs who paid him no heed.
“Dylan’s a lady.”
“Ma’am.”
Kennedy smiled, and it was only the most gorgeous smile he had ever seen. How had he not noticed it before?
Oh yeah. Because she never smiled at you in the coffee shop.
They reached the parking lot and Reid switched the dog to one arm while he fished his keys out.
“I have a blanket in my car,” Kennedy said. Adroitly while still holding the dogs, she opened the door of a battered-looking, older model Ford Focus and funneled the dogs into the back seat. Then she popped the trunk and took out a plaid blanket. As she closed the trunk, he could have sworn he saw a suitcase.
With great efficiency, she placed the blanket in the back seat of Reid’s car and stood back while he transferred the puppy to the new blanket and wrapped him up. The dog nuzzled his nose against Reid’s hand, a gesture that pleased him to no end. He was an affectionate little thing.
Reid shook out Kennedy’s coat, letting the sand fall to the icy ground, and draped it over the passenger seat.
“Your car is warm. Even the back seats.” She pressed her palm to the leather.
“I did it remotely when we started walking back. Get in.”
“Excuse me?”
He opened the car door. “Just for a second to warm up.”
With a quick glance toward her car, she shivered, and that seemed to decide it. She climbed in, he shut the door, then skirted the car to the driver’s side. The combination of wet dog, soaked humans, and frigid temperatures quickly turned the SUV’s interior into a steamy cave.
“This is pretty nice,” she murmured, her hand smoothing over the hand-stitched leather arm rest.
“Feeling a little better?”
“Could be worse. I could still be in that lake.” She chuckled, and the tone of it—sort of naughty—mixed with the sauna-like cocoon put his body on lust-alert. Of all the times …
“So tell me the truth,” he said.
“About?” Mon Dieu, there was something about those silver eyes that sent a pulse of desire through him. When he really should be feeling nothing of the sort after that unplanned dip.
“Should I take our friend to the vet?”
She twisted to take another look at the dog. “I think he just needs to get warm and fed. When you drop him off at the shelter, they’ll figure out what kind of care he needs.”
“The shelter?”
“You said you travel too much to care for a dog.”
He had said that. It seemed like a long time ago, but that was only … a couple of days?
“I’ll think of something.”
Suddenly her hand was on his jaw. “You’re injured! Did you hit a rock out there?”
He placed his hand over hers, only now remembering his ice-dance with Foreman. “No, this was something else. I got into a fight with someone.”
“I see.” She hesitated, then asked, “Did you deserve to get hit?”
There was that feeling he’d had back at the coffee shop, the sense that she knew something about him. But it wasn’t because she had witnessed his abruptness in pressers or heard some coach bawl him out. This was something more innate.
“Definitely.”
She grinned, and it made him want to smile back. He fought that impulse, but not the one to keep his hand covering hers. Sentimental, perhaps, but it was nice to have this connection. He usually forewent most human contact during the season.
Not just the season.
“Why do you think you deserved it?”
“I have a habit of provoking people.” They remained still, staring at each other, provoking, if you will. That chill he felt vanished in the heat of her touch.
“Now why doesn’t that surprise me?”
The grin he had fought finally found residence on his face, his muscles straining slightly at the unusual call to action. Good aim, this girl, calling him out on his emo posturing. Removing her hand from his jaw, he wrapped it in his to keep it warm.
“Are you busy right now?”
“Busy?” Her gaze dropped to his lips.
“I could do with some help.” He squeezed her hand, and instantly regretted it because until then she seemed to have forgotten he was holding it. She looked down at their joined hands, almost confused that they’d come so far, then back at his face.
“I have to take care of my charges. Get them back to their humans.”