Her shoulders relaxed the smallest amount, and she lifted her chin in defiant confidence.
The lady had gumption. I wouldn’t have believed it was thesame person from earlier if I hadn’t heard her firsthand.
I slid out my driver’s license and pressed it against the window. She stood, carefully setting Ripley on the chair before pulling off her glasses. The blanket fell to reveal a form-fitting henley and a grip of shining chestnut hair in a high knot on her head. I quickly averted my gaze as she leaned forward over the desk, shining her phone’s flashlight on the ID.
I hadn’t gotten a good look at her earlier, distracted as I was by her crisis. I only took in her large brown eyes, bloodshot and glistening with tears, the rapid intake of short breaths that warned of an anxiety attack, and the trembling of her full lips on a face so colorless she looked seconds from passing out. This was an entirely different woman, assured and not taking any chances. To her, I was a total stranger.
Too soft and too hard for this world.
It wasn’t like I felt the loss of a connection that I didn’t even want. I cleared my throat and looked to the side, waiting.
“That’s you?” she asked.
Okay, so it wasn’t the most recent picture, but in my defense, it had been a long and intense year.
“That’s me,” I confirmed.
The beam of her light moved to me again. I winced, blinking back, but tried to be still as she looked between me and the ID. Through the bright light, her face was just a few inches from mine, separated by the pane of glass. I swallowed with unexpected trepidation under her intense gaze. Would she recognize me?
“What was the first rule on your listing?” she asked, loweringher phone.
I huffed a small laugh but kept my face neutral lest she think I was laughing at her. I had to admit that even though it was currently keeping me from my dog, I appreciated her thoroughness.
I thought for only a second. “It was the one about this being private property and how there shouldn’t be a need to interact.” As I spoke, I realized the trap I’d inadvertently stepped in.
She raised one pointed eyebrow and crossed her arms. When I made that rule, I hadn’t expected my dog to go rogue and betray me. At least not so fast.
Her arms fell to her sides as, once again, she looked at Ripley for feedback. Seeing whatever she finally needed to see, she tilted her head, nudging it in the direction of the front door. She scooped up the dog, stepped out of the light on her laptop, and melted into the darkness.
I walked to the front side of the house as the flood light flicked to life. Several inside illuminated at the same time.
She was just opening the front door as I came to a stop at the bottom of the steps, not getting any closer. I figured it best to give us both a wide berth for the time being. Also, seeing this new side of her, I realized that she might be more embarrassed by the earlier interaction than I initially thought.
“Hi.” She waved. “I’m Claire.”
Claire.
My heart thumped once, almost audible, at least to me. The light of the now bright cabin illuminated her from behind and her luscious figure was once again confirmed, even though I wasnot paying attention to that.
“I’m Levi. That’s Ripley.” I pointed at the dog, who shivered atherlegs and did not run directly to me.
“We’ve gotten well acquainted,” she said and smiled down at Ripley. I had a mini-surge of jealousy forsomethingbut quickly quelled it. When she lifted her face back to me, she was still smiling, and I almost gasped at the magnitude of it. Her deep-set dimples perfectly balanced a wide grin and shining straight white teeth. With a quick gesture, she tugged the pen that had been holding her hair in the ball on her head, and it unfurled in shining waves down her shoulders.
She was stunning. How could I have possibly missed that before?
“Sorry, I accidentally dognapped her. I lost track of time.” She thumbed behind her and shook her head.
Maybe it was being this close to the guesthouse, the betrayal of man’s supposed best friend, or the fact that I had seen Claire at her most vulnerable and wanted to level the playing field, so to speak, but whatever the reason, I found myself talking.
“It’s not your fault. She used to hang out in there a lot.” A brief sadness gripped my chest. I was talking too much, sayingtoomuch. Where were those boundaries I came to set? I needed to get back to the house.
“She did seem very at home.” Claire leaned against the doorjamb and nodded. “I didn’t even notice we were snuggling until you scared the crapola out of me.” The slightest hint of a Midwest accent I noticed earlier was stronger when she had beenupset, but I could still hear hints of it in some of her words.
I winced. “Sorry about that. Ripley’s a cuddle junkie. If she can’t get them from me, she gets them from the streets.”
Claire chuckled, her dark eyes gleaming as she looked me up and down for the first time.
We stood in silence for a beat. Her arms wrapped around her as she shivered.
