Good Guys Love Dogs (23 page)

leafed through the financial section
while he drank his

coffee. A little while later, he
left the store with a fresh cup

of coffee in his hand.

The morning felt crisp and cool, the
sky cloudless

above him. He climbed into his car,
thinking of how

different his Sundays had been in
New York. Trying to get

ahead on his work, never catching up
from one week to the

next, but continuing the race until
the days and months ran

together, and he had forgotten how
to stop and smel the

roses altogether. He was relearning
how to do that here. He

hoped he never forgot again.

On his way out of town, he spotted
the tail end of

Colby's truck behind her clinic.
Common sense told him to

keep on driving, but given that he
hadn't been listening to

that a lot lately where she was
concerned, he swung the

Mercedes into the parking lot and
sat there, debating

whether or not to go in.

Since the moment she'd left his
house on Friday, he'd

been comparing her to Rachel in ways
he shouldn't have.

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INGLATH COOPER

The two of them couldn't have been
more different. Not in

a mil ion years would he have
imagined doing with Rachel

what he'd done with Colby. Rachel
would have been

horrified at the thought of helping
him bathe Smidge in

tomato juice. She'd have thought
he'd lost his mind for

buying Matilda. And she didn't eat
pizza. Under any

circumstances.

The mere fact that he compared the
two of them should

have made him turn the car around
and drive away as fast as

he could get the thing in gear.
Instead, he got out and

crossed the parking lot to the back
door.

It had been left open an inch or
two. He knocked.

“Colby?

No answer. He went inside and cal ed
her name again.

“I'm back here.

He fol owed her voice. Several dogs
barked in unison,

aware now that they had company on
an otherwise quiet

morning. He found her at the back of
the building, sitting

on a crate in the middle of what
looked like a supply room.

A bunch of smal er boxes surrounded
her. A clipboard lay

across her lap.

“Putting in some
overtime? he asked, leaning against

the doorjamb.

She kept her face averted, running a
thumb beneath

each eye and not quite meeting his
gaze. “I. . .not really.

Just doing some inventory.

Her voice sounded funny, raspy and
uneven. “Thought

you'd be in church, he said.

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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS

“I asked Him for
a rain check, she said with a bad

attempt at a smile.

There was something wrong. He saw it
in the

tenseness of her expression. “Are
you okay?

She nodded, focusing on the
clipboard in her left hand.

But he could see she wasn't. He went
over and sat

down on the crate beside her,
careful not to touch her. “You

want to talk about it?

Her shoulders lifted in a shrug.
“There's nothing to

talk about—

“Why don't I
believe you?

Tears wel ed in her eyes. She tossed
the clipboard on the

floor and wiped the back of her hand
across her cheeks.

“Oh, shoot!

“What is it,
Colby? He put a hand on her arm and tried

to ignore the shock of awareness
that touching her sent

through him.

She didn't answer for several
moments, visibly

struggling for composure. “It's
a long story. You don't

really want to hear it.

“Hey, I don't
have anywhere else to be.

She sat there, not saying anything
for a while. He just

waited, knowing she would get around
to it when she felt

ready. She let out a heavy sigh and
then said, “I found out

why Lena's been hating me the past
couple of months.

“And?

She dabbed at her eyes with her
shirtsleeve and sighed,

her shoulders slumping. “I
had her when I was in col ege. I

wasn't married.

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INGLATH COOPER

She looked up at him as though she
expected him to be

shocked or disgusted. He was
neither. He knew she must

have been young when Lena was born.
But he'd assumed

she'd married and divorced.

“That was a long
time ago, she said before he could

respond. “Lena
never knew her father. I told her he was

dead.

Surprised, Ian didn't know what to
say. “Why?

She got up from the crate and moved
to the window

that looked out on the back parking
lot, arms folded across

her chest as if she were physically
holding herself together.

“We were young,
and when I first found out, I had no idea

what to do. Doug wanted me. . .he
wanted me not to have

the baby. I almost let him convince
me it was the right

thing to do. . . .

“But you didn't
let him.

She shook her head, pain clear in
her face.

Colby Williams was the strongest
woman Ian had ever

known, and the unfamiliar fragility
he sensed in her now

bothered him in ways he couldn't
explain. He wanted to

pul her into his arms and give her
the comfort she so

clearly needed. He subdued the
impulse with hard-won

restraint. “And
that's why you two didn't stay together?

“That pretty much
ended things.

Ian didn't know what to say, amazed
at the guy's

heartlessness. “He
didn't want to be in her life?

“No. And I could
never bring myself to tell her that.

“So how did she
find out about him?

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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS

“She found a
letter from him to me in my old room at

my parents' house. That's why she's
been so different

lately. Not that I blame her. I
can't believe I was stupid

enough to keep that letter. I've cal
ed him, asking him to

speak to her, but I haven't told her
in case he stil doesn't

want anything to do with her.

“Hey, he said,
tilting her chin up and forcing her to

look at him. “Don't
blame yourself. She's lucky to have you

for a mother.

He felt her distress as if it were
his own. They stood

there, staring at each other, caught
up in something Ian

didn't want to name but couldn't
deny. Consoling her

wasn't his right or his place. But
she needed comfort. And

he was here. He told himself that
was al there was to it as he

pul ed her against him. He actual y
believed it until the

reality of her breasts against his
chest shot that theory all to

pieces.

It felt as if she melted against
him; she wrapped her

arms around his waist, her hands
splayed across his back.

Ian closed his eyes. His hands hung
suspended behind

her until the need to touch her
overrode al the reasons why

he should not. He let one hand rest
in the center of her

back while the other stroked the
length of her hair. Soft and

straight, it felt like silk against
his palm.

Something shifted inside him,
cutting him adrift from

everything he had felt certain about
just moments ago.

His first thought? They fit somehow.
Like two

interlocking pieces of a puzzle.
Colby was a woman able to

take care of herself. A woman who
didn't need a man to

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INGLATH COOPER

complete her. But with her in his
arms, he himself felt a

sense of completeness that was
distinctly unnerving, if

equally welcome.

For long, uncountable moments, they
stood, simply

holding each other. When she looked
up at him, her eyes

were questioning and needy in a way
that he could not

ignore. He felt the shift inside him
again, and of its own

volition, his hand moved to smooth a
strand of hair from her

face. He was sure the uncertainty in
her expression reflected

his own. Kissing her suddenly seemed
like something he had

to do. He leaned down and brushed
his mouth against hers.

She made a soft sound somewhere
between protest and

acquiescence.

He deepened the kiss, cupping his
hand around the

back of her neck, holding her
closer. He was aware of the

curves and lines of her, surprised
by how right that felt, too.

It was the first time he had held
her this way, and yet there

was nothing strange or unfamiliar
about it.

The kiss grew more hurried, more
greedy, Colby as

insistent as he. What began as
consolation became something

else entirely. Yet, he didn't want
to stop. Didn't want to.

Reason and logic deserted him, and
he wanted more of

everything. Her mouth. Her skin. The
soft sounds of

pleasure coming from her throat.

The phone rang, the answering
machine out front

picking up the cal . The noise
sufficient to bring some

semblance of sanity to what was
happening between them.

Colby pulled away and touched the
back of her hand

to her mouth.

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“Colby, are you
there? We didn't see you at church,

and I got a little concerned. No one
answered at your

house, so I thought I'd check here.
If you get this message,

give me a call.

“My mom. Colby
pressed her lips together and

avoided his gaze.

Ian nodded and stepped back, shoving
a hand through

his hair. Colby moved to the window,
looking out, her

breathing stil erratic. He wondered
what he was supposed to

say about what just happened when he
had no idea why or

how it had.

“We shouldn't
have done that, she said, her voice

oddly uneven.

She was right. They shouldn't have.
He had no right to

kiss her. But if anyone should be
blamed for this, he

should. “It
wasn't your fault. I—

She turned to face him and raised a
hand to interrupt.

“Please. You were
just being nice. I took advantage of

that.

“You didn't take
advantage of anything, Colby.

Confusion settled over him like fog
over San Francisco. He

should feel guilty, but of al the
other emotions churning

inside him, that one was absent. In
al honesty, he had

wanted to kiss her for a long time
now—on the day she'd

brought him home from the hospital
and then again on

Friday night when she'd left his
house. From the first day

he'd met her, something had been
simmering beneath the

surface between them. He couldn't
deny that. But he'd

never expected the kind of heat
their kiss generated.

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INGLATH COOPER

“Okay, let's be
rational about this, she said, one hand

in stop sign mode. “You
and I both know what just

happened wouldn't have happened if I
hadn't been upset.

You were only—

“Colby.

“—trying
to make me feel—

“Colby.

She stopped, meeting his gaze with
what looked like a

sincere attempt to convince them
both that this whole thing

had been nothing more than a fluke
brought on by need

on her part and martyrdom on his. As
much as he would

have liked to believe that, his gut
didn't buy it. “Let's put

this on rewind. Stay right there.

He backed out of the room while she
watched him, a

curious expression on her face. He
retraced his steps to the

door that opened into the parking
lot and called out,

“Colby?

“In the back, she
answered, sounding puzzled.

He wound his way down the hall,
across the room to

the window, where she stood looking
at him as if she

thought he'd lost his mind. “So
this Doug, he said. “He's

a real jerk, right? Well, I think
you're doing the right thing

in waiting to tell Lena that you
spoke with him. That kind of

thing might do a lot of damage to a
fifteen-year-old's self-

image. And if you ever need anyone
to talk to about this,

just pick up the phone and call,
okay? After al , that's what

friends are for.

Colby's face broke into a smile, her
eyes stil moist

from the earlier tears.

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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS

“All right? he
prompted.

“All right, she
said.

“I'm going to go
now. He backed away from her,

slowly, their gazes snagged, until
he turned abruptly and

left before he changed his mind.

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33

he smile lingered on Colby's lips
long after Ian

Thad gone.

An hour ago, she'd thought she might
never smile

again.

She sank back down on the crate and
sighed. No matter

how they colored it, what happened
here had been a

mistake. Of the
screwing-up-your-life-in-a-big-way variety.

Logical y, she knew that to be true.
So why hadn't she

wanted it to stop? Why had she been
sorry to see him go

even as she'd been tel ing him he
should?

Being friends with Ian McKinley
might not work out

exactly as she'd thought it would.
Maybe she'd been crazy to