Good Guys Love Dogs (27 page)

do it.

She wouldn't ever make the mistakes
her mother had

made though. Not ever.

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40

t was almost one o'clock when the
last few kids left

Ithe dance. Strung tight as a banjo
string, Colby

should have been tired, but she
wasn't. She and Ian had

barely said two words to each other
since he'd left the table

earlier, returning a little while
later with a set look on his

face. She'd danced with the
principal and a couple of other

acquaintances, all of whom were
married. Each of them

teased her about the silent music
she and Ian had been

dancing to. Colby made light of
their joking, while inside

cringing at the thought of how it
must have looked.

Ian hadn't asked her to dance again.
In a way, she was

relieved. She didn't think her
nerves could handle being that

close to him. She wasn't a good
enough actress to pretend

indifference.

Lena came by the table earlier and
said she wanted to

spend the night with Mil ie. The gym
was so crowded that

Colby barely caught a glimpse of her
the entire evening.

Some of the other parents helped
them clean up and

put away the stereo equipment. Once
they'd finished, she

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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS

col ected her purse and coat and
deliberately avoided looking

at Ian. “I'm cal
ing it a night. 'Bye, everybody.

She'd just reached the parking lot
when a voice behind

her said, “Colby.
Wait up.

She turned around to find Ian
walking in her direction,

his hands shoved inside the pockets
of a long black wool coat

that made him look even more
appealing than he had earlier.

He held her gaze for a moment before
saying, “I'm sorry

for being such a jerk in there.

“You weren't.

“I was.

“Okay, so you
were.

That got a crooked smile out of him.

She looked away. “I
have to go. Good night, Ian.

“Would you like
to take a drive?

Tentative though the question was,
it surprised her. She

met his gaze and shivered in the
chil October air. “I real y

should get home, she said, stepping
back.

“Just to talk?
For a little while?

Common sense told her that going
anywhere with him at

this hour would be asking for
trouble. “It's not a good

idea.

“Probably not.

Put that way, with that particular
look on his good-

looking face, Colby ignored logic
and walked with him

through the parking lot. She climbed
inside the vehicle when

he opened the door, then sat waiting
for him to come

around to the other side.

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INGLATH COOPER

They left the high school and headed
out of town,

driving without saying anything. The
tension between them

all but hummed.

Blue Mountain Lake lay some ten
miles outside of town.

She recognized the turnoff to the
dam as soon as Ian

swung onto the narrow paved road
that led to the lookout.

It had been years since she'd been
out here. During the day,

the views were spectacular. She'd
never seen it in

moonlight. Until a couple of years
ago, it had been closed off

at night.

They pulled into the left-hand
corner of the lot. Ian

cut the engine, and everything went
black. He looped his

arms over the steering wheel and
stared out into the

darkness. “I have
no excuse for acting the way I did

tonight. I had a good time. Maybe
too good. And that was

the problem.

“You don't have
to apologize.

“Yeah, I do. He
hesitated and then said, “The only

excuse I have is that I wanted to
kiss you so much I

couldn't think straight.

She considered that, a little
shocked by his honesty.

“I still do, he
added, turning to look at her.

Colby's pulse began a slow, rhythmic
thud. It was cold

inside the vehicle, and yet she felt
suddenly warm, too

warm. She loosened her coat and
twisted the ring on her

right hand. “Ian.
. .you shouldn't be saying that.

“No, I shouldn't.

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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS

She felt the force of his gaze on
her in the darkness, the

heat of it, the directness that told
her she hadn't imagined

the chemistry building between them
throughout the night.

When he moved toward her, she leaned
across the seat

to meet him, barely conscious of
doing so, as if some

irresistible force were pul ing them
together.

His hand slid behind her neck, his
thumb caressing the

side of her throat.

“I've done my
best not to think about you. About this,

he said, his voice low and ragged.
“And it's been driving

me crazy.

They sat there, mere inches between
them, suspended

between “Should
we? or “Shouldn't we?

When he eased her against his chest,
she realized

they'd been headed toward this al
night. Pretensions of

anything else fel away, leaving
nothing between them but

raw, honest feelings. Al the
lectures she'd given herself these

past weeks about getting involved
with a man who wasn't

free collapsed beneath the reality
of being in his arms. They

kissed like two people who had been
thinking about it for far

too long, their mouths open and
seeking, their arms locked

tight around each other.

Colby had been kissed before. She
was a grown woman.

She had a teenage daughter. But in
Ian's arms, she
felt
like a

teenager. His touch made her forget
al else. Pure, undiluted

physical attraction caught her in
its grip, full and ripe, like a

peach ready to fal from the tree.

Ian had taken his coat off before
they'd left the school,

but he stil wore his suit jacket.
Her own coat suddenly felt

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INGLATH COOPER

too cumbersome, too confining. As if
reading her thoughts,

he reached for her belt and untied
it, slipping his hands

inside to curve around her waist.

All the while, they kissed and the
clock on the

dashboard ticked, ticked.

Colby's hands found their way inside
Ian's jacket,

around to his back, where she
smoothed her palms across

corded muscle, then up to his
shoulder blades.

His hands cupped her face, tilting
her head back while he

nuzzled the line of her jaw. “You
smel so good, he said,

his voice hoarse at the edges.

The words were intoxicating. Colby
sighed, and

something inside her went warm and
liquid. His lips trailed

the curve of her neck, paused at the
hol ow of her throat

while his thumb stroked her pounding
pulse point.

No one had ever held her with such
appreciation, such

heat, such wanting. It was heady and
gratifying and

unbelievably empowering.

His kiss deepened, and the world
tilted on its axis. She

should stop him. Real y. But it had
been so long since a man

touched her this way. Since she had
wanted a man to touch

her this way. “Ian—

“I know, he said.
“I know.

She loosened his tie and marveled
that her fingers stil

functioned when her insides were
shaking. With the tie out

of the way, she undid the buttons of
his shirt. Surely she

would die if she didn't touch him.
Now. Now. Her hands

found him. Ah. Hair-roughened skin
over contoured muscle.

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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS

He felt as wonderful as he looked.
She tugged the sides of

his shirt free from his pants.

“Colby—
Her name on his lips was low and tortured,

his breathing as uneven as her own.
She couldn't think for

wanting him. Al the reasons why they
shouldn't be doing

this slipped out of her grasp.
Nothing seemed more

important than following the road
before them, finding out

where it led. Their movements became
frantic, as if neither

of them could get close enough,
touch enough.

Headlights suddenly flooded the car.
The sound of

crunching gravel hit Colby like a
blast of cold air, jolting her

back to reality. “Oh,
no, she said. “Who is that?

“I don't know. He
adjusted her dress and pul ed her

coat around her shoulders.

He quickly buttoned his shirt just
before a flashlight

shone in through the driver's-side
window. She looked up,

completely blinded by the glare.

“Jefferson County
Sheriff's Department. Step out of

the car, please, the voice behind
the light said.

Ian opened the vehicle door and slid
out. “Is

something wrong, Officer?

Fear should have been Colby's
overriding emotion. But

mortification left it in its dust.
She recognized the deputy's

voice. Joe Middleton. They'd gone to
high school together.

He bent over and directed the beam
inside, once again

blinding her. “Is
that you, Colby?

“Hi, Joe. I
apologize if we were trespassing. We were,

ah, just looking for a quiet place
to talk.

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INGLATH COOPER

Joe chuckled, diverting the beam
toward the other end of

the darkened lot. “Yeah,
you and the rest of the

homecoming dance.

In the arc of light, she caught a
glimpse of a few other

cars, teenage boys standing outside
the doors while two

deputies questioned them. She closed
her eyes and pictured

the headlines in Monday's paper.
“Local Vet Arrested for

Parking at Blue Mountain Dam. A
second later, she added,

“With Engaged
Man.

Ian had stepped away from the car
with Joe. They talked

for a couple of minutes, but she
couldn't make out what they

were saying. When Ian got back in,
Joe leaned down and

said, “Night,
Colby. See you around.

Joe got into his car, following the
other vehicles from

the lot.

“I told him we
would head out in a few minutes, Ian

said.

Colby pushed her hair away from her
face. “I've

already written the article in
Monday's paper. I'd just gotten

to the part where I was trying to
explain this to Lena.

Ian dropped his head back on the
seat, a low chuckle

rumbling from his chest.

She laughed, too.

He sobered first, and even in the
dimness she saw the

light in his eyes. He shoved a hand
through his hair. “I'm

sorry about this. But I'm glad
you're the kind of woman

who can see the humor in it. He held
her gaze for several

long moments. “You
know, I think I've laughed more with

you in the past couple of months
than I have in years.

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GOOD GUYS LOVE DOGS

The words pleased her. A lot. “We
both got caught up

in things tonight, she said,
striving for reason. “The

dancing. Being al dressed up—

“I wish it were
that simple, he interrupted, his voice

serious now. Not knowing what to
say, she sat there, fighting

a feeling as easy to ignore as a
tidal wave coming in from

the ocean.

Still looking at her, his eyes dark
and intent, he said,

“My life's done a
one-eighty, and I don't know what to

make of it, anymore.

The admission took her by surprise.
“What do you

mean?

With the engine stil running, he
slid sideways to face

her, his left elbow propped on the
steering wheel, his right

knee on the emergency brake. “I
came here with my life all

mapped out for the next year. Since
I met you, not one

thing has gone the way I planned it.
When I'm around you, I

find myself doing things I never
intended to do. Like asking

you to come out here tonight.

“I shouldn't have
agreed. You're not entirely to

blame.

“I can't think
when I'm around you. And when I'm

not around you, you're all I think
about.

“I. . .I don't
know what to say to that, Ian. I

conveniently let myself forget that
there's another woman

in your life. That was wrong. I
can't be part of messing up

someone else's future. I'm a
practical woman. Practical

women don't have affairs with
unavailable men.

“Colby, I wasn't
asking you to—

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INGLATH COOPER

“Then what were
you asking me? We've agreed to be

friends, but friends don't do what
we just did. And they

don't want to do what we wanted to
do but didn't get around

to doing. If she hadn't been so
frustrated, she would have

laughed at herself. But she
was
frustrated and a little angry

now because he wasn't hers to want.
She
did
want him.

If she let this play out any
further, she would lose her

heart in a big way. She couldn't
afford to do that. She'd

tasted rejection once. Hopeless
situations were hopeless.

“I'd like to go
back now, she said.

He didn't say anything, merely
watched her a few

moments longer. “Okay,
he said final y, shifting in his seat