Collared (Going to the Dogs) (18 page)

It would take a more delicate touch. He’d have to figure that out as he went along, he supposed.

He leaned back and captured her chin to make her look at him. He sighed. Now she showed her distress quite clearly, and although he was gratified, he was also thinking he was being a little bit of a jerk. “Okay, I’ll let it go.”

“And, you’ll stay with me tonight? All night?”

“It’s why I brought Quinn with me, isn’t it? I’m not fooling myself, right?”

She shook her head. “No, you’re not fooling yourself. I want you to stay.”

That was progress, at least.

Harper took a moment to enjoy the heat of Caleb’s body wrapped around her and right then she couldn’t imagine anything more wonderful than waking up next to him. Opening her eyes, she had to bite back a laugh. He was on his back, one of his hands buried in Blue’s fur and the other trapped beneath and curled around Harper. The poodle was sprawled on top of him.

Harper met the dog’s gaze. She looked so besotted and content. “You hussy,” Harper whispered and Blue’s tail thumped. It was early, but they really didn’t have time to dawdle.

Then she saw the cut on his forehead and everything that had happened last night rushed back at her. She didn’t like glossing over the truth, but that’s what she did. Not about being interested in Jeffrey, that was one hundred percent true. It was more about the fact that she was withholding information—and trust—from Caleb.

He wanted her trust, and her barriers were weakening. She half trusted him now, but how could she trust him with Jeffrey’s freedom? He was a dedicated cop and Jeffrey’s past was his past. It was over, and she wasn’t going to allow anyone else to subject him to scrutiny now. Besides, she didn’t want to put Caleb in an awkward position, where he’d have to make a decision to go against her wishes or against his principles.

Her heart softened when she looked at Caleb again. How had it happened? She had been so sure it was just about the chemistry, but the look on his face last night when he’d stormed out of the bathroom had sent her into a blind panic. She couldn’t hold onto the blank, unemotional mask for one more second around him because he made her feel…so much, it scared her all over again.

She’d told him the truth then. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. Even when she’d been busy, he was always there in her mind. And those four days of separation had been harder than she’d expected. She was thankful for his phone calls, though, quick and hurried as they were. She’d been touched that he even thought to call.

But that was before she knew he wanted more.

Could this really be something special? It felt that way, that he was the man she’d waited her whole life for. But how could it possibly work? His job scared her, too. She wasn’t sure she could handle being with a cop. So far he’d taken her lifestyle in stride, as if it didn’t matter to him at all, but what were his thoughts about her money and her lifestyle? What did it all mean to him?

What if she was wrong about him?

He could really hurt her, devastate her. She knew that instinctively. But what would she be giving up if she didn’t try? Him? The resistance to that thought made her whole body and mind just seize. Not really an option.

“Either you’ve gotten much furrier overnight, and that’s terrifying, or I’m feeling up your poodle.”

He turned to look at her. “Oh, thank God, princess, it’s your poodle.”

She pushed the hussy off him and Blue made a protesting sound in her throat. Quinn lifted his head from the foot of the bed and yawned and stretched. Harper climbed right on top of Caleb. “You sly dog.”

“I was just making an observation.” He grinned.

Then she realized he had a full erection. “That better be either a morning hard-on or a result of my body on yours…”

“Wow, princess, you look amazing in the morning.”

“Okay, I’ll forgive your indiscretion with Blue, that wild wanton.”

He smoothed his hands through her hair. She looked down at him. Speaking of who looked amazing. His dark hair appeared even darker against her silk pillowcase, a tousled mess, his eyes a sleepy, sinful brown, his eyelashes so ridiculously long and thick. He was so different from the men she knew and socialized with. It made her giddy. He was unique and special. She couldn’t be wrong about that.

“So, this hard-on you’ve got between your very nice, muscular thighs. What are you planning to do with that?”

His breath hitched when she wiggled her hips against him. “Oh, you’re a naughty princess,” he said. “I’ve got a few…” he pressed up against her and she groaned…“ideas I thought I would run by you.”

“Oh, start running and make it quick. You have to go home and change, then go suit-shopping…”

He kissed her and rolled her onto her back, giving her every indication that he wasn’t going to make this quick at all.

“I thought I’d pick you up at nine in the limo to save time…”

“Well, then, I don’t have a whole helluva lot of time. Stop talking, more kissing.”

There went her whole crazy schedule today. She’d have to cut out yoga, and her massage…and…oh…who the hell cared!

#

Caleb hesitated as he slid into Harper’s limo. Four pretty faces looked back at him along with a pair of adoring canine eyes. He smiled. All the females in his life. “I don’t know how I warrant four beautiful babes and one saucy poodle for one fancy-pants suit. Can I sit in the middle?”

“Oh, he is smooth,” Callie said, returning his smile.

Harper and Brooke scooted over and he sat between them.

“I thought you said you were rough around the edges?” Harper gave him a skeptical look.

He shrugged. “My mother still made sure I had some manners or she would box my ears.”

“I’m sure you had your ears boxed plenty of times,” Callie said.

He chuckled. “Plenty.” He met each of their interested gazes. He bet they’d never seen Harper with a guy like him. “So, how many suits are you going to torture me with until I can get this over with?”

“Oh, hundreds,” Brooke said. “Although, armor would be a better choice.”

“Amor?”

“She’s kidding,” Callie said.

“You all do know that I’m a detective, right?”

Brooke chuckled. “Okay, in that case, I would suggest you come dressed in full raid gear.”

Harper laughed. “That might not even save him.”

“Do I need SWAT as backup for this?”

“Don’t you worry,” Brooke patted his face, “Harper is amazing backup.”

He glanced over. “You did say this was a children’s tea party, right?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I said.” Harper didn’t elaborate and that made him very suspicious. Being a detective and all.

“What’s with Blue?”

“I always take her shopping with me when it’s something fun.”

“And the store owners are okay with this?”

Brooke laughed. “Are you kidding, Harper could bring a whole zoo with her and store owners would fall all over her.”

It was a whirlwind trip with these women, and by the time he’d had his ass grabbed and molded by Brooke to make sure the pants fit him to perfection, his measurements taken by Poe to double-check the fit, and had Callie pick out about a million ties—he argued vehemently against a bow tie—he was completely in stitches, his usually gruff manner overshadowed by four beautiful woman who simply loved each other like sisters.

He understood now why she loved her friends so much. He fell in love with them, too.

They talked him into a white linen-blend suit that they said would be perfect, one that he would probably never wear again, but this was all about the challenge and not about the clothes. They insisted he had to have a white panama hat as well.

Except, he kept losing track of it. When he tried it on, Blue had jumped up, putting her paws on his chest and licked his face as a distraction, then she sneakily plucked it off his head and ran off with it. Then she kept snatching it off the counter, digging it out of the bag. One of them would take it from her and before they knew it, she had it again, racing away from them inside the store like it was a game.

“Shopping isn’t for the faint of heart,” he said as they dropped off the last dog park babe, Poe.

Poe smiled, giving him a soft look. “You are a good sport for putting up with us and Blue. See you later.”

As soon as the door closed, Harper wrapped her arms around him and pressed her mouth to his, and, like that, he went from zero to one hundred miles an hour. She worked him over, took his bottom lip into her mouth, gently biting, then sucking it until he was groaning and pushing her deeper into the seat.

“My place isn’t far from here,” he whispered.

“I can’t,” she said reluctantly. “I have an early lunch with my father and his new protégé.” She pushed the intercom. “Jeffrey, we’re taking Detective Shaw home now.”

He was disappointed. Not only because he wanted her naked and all over him. He had to admit. They definitely had chemistry together, but spending time one-on-one, he expected that to be a total disaster. It wasn’t. “You don’t sound too happy about that.”

She didn’t respond to his statement, but she didn’t have to. Her posture and her body language did the talking. He couldn’t help it. He was a cop and he picked up on cues other people didn’t even notice. And, he got an itchy, twitchy feeling that there was more going on with Harper than she was showing him…again. He’d thought they were making progress last night. He wanted all of her. That core of her. She often frustrated him by keeping him at arm’s length with either her sexuality or her cynical humor.

“You don’t have to answer. It was just an observation.”

“I don’t normally lean on people.”

“Never?” He knew what it was like to worry about someone you loved. Worse, he knew what it was like to do everything you possibly could, and still feel helpless to do what needed to be done. He’d spent what felt like three lifetimes watching his mother and father work hard for his benefit, and his brothers’. It was because they wanted something more for their sons. He remembered how frustrated he’d felt, not being old enough, or smart enough, to do anything to help. He’d vowed that the moment he could, he would. And he had.

He’d done the best he could until he was old enough to help them. Then he worked hard, so that all their hard work would pay off.

They were proud that he’d become a cop. His father’s brother was one, and Caleb and his siblings had gotten a goodly dose of honor and integrity from their uncle.

He’d helped a lot of people when he’d become a cop, but despite the burnout and the frustrations over not being able to solve every problem, as an adult he’d never felt that deep well of helplessness creep over him, like it had when he was young.

Until now. Today he felt the raw edges of that again.

Harper’s walls were formidable. Maybe she had shown him a vulnerable side last night, but was she still convinced that all she wanted from him was a physical relationship? She was a problem that he wanted to solve. Had to solve. And he was far from helpless now. He’d had years of successfully solving some pretty intricate, and at times harrowing, problems. The resulting confidence was sometimes an opponent in and of itself.

“No.”

He jerked back to the present, and his all-important question: did she never allow herself to lean on people? “Why?”

“I learned from a young age that when you let yourself be vulnerable and needy, it makes you a target.”

“What kind of target?”

Her eyes went hard. “A rich one.”

“Ahhh, so you
have
to be careful who you trust?”

“Very.”

“You got lucky with those three women, then?”

“So damn lucky. They are the sisters I never had.”

“Well, I’m just throwing this out, see what you think. You’ve already cried on my shoulder, and we both know how that ended up. But, if you ever need my broad shoulder to cry on or lean on, or any damn thing you want to do with it, it’s yours.”

Her eyes softened. “Caleb…I don’t how to handle you.”

“You don’t have to handle me.”

“What about all this, the limo, the ridiculously overpriced water, and my bank account? What about all of this?”

“What about it?”

“We can’t just ignore it.”

“Why, because I’m just a damn cop?”

“Don’t get mad, and, no, it’s not about that. But I do come with all this and when I…end up falling in love and marrying, he will have to deal with it.”

“Maybe we should worry about that when it happens. And, just for the record, I don’t give a damn about your money.” He wondered if Tripp, that bastard, had made her sink deeper into her mistrust of men.

“You just want to get into my pants.”

He chuckled.
There she goes, deflecting.
He let her. “Guilty.”

They glanced at each other, connecting gazes for a long moment. She sighed. “I don’t usually discuss my family problems with people I don’t know.”

“Why, because they sell it to the tabloids?”

She blinked a couple of times. “Actually, yes.”

“Has that ever happened to you?”

“Yes, once. I trusted someone, someone I thought was my friend, and that person blabbed to the media for money.”

“The must have hurt you a lot.”

“We’ve arrived, Miss Sinclair.”

“Thank you, Jeffrey.” She took a breath. “It did. I was blindsided, actually. But I learned to get past it and move on.”

“What was it about? The thing she blabbed.”

“You really are a nosy cop.”

“This isn’t about me being a cop or nosy. I just…want to know something about you, find out what hurt you like that.”

“Why? Do you find me cold? Do you need evidence that I’m not?”

“What? Fuck, no. Why would you ask me that?”

She shrugged as if that was something that was weighing heavily on her. Now that he was getting to know her a little bit better, he was seeing more.

“Callie said that she found me cold when we first met. I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. And, there was a time when I thought that I could just marry Tripp and live a life without ever knowing if he truly loved me or if it was my money and my connections that he wanted. How barren would that be?”