Jannie worried her hands, then caught herself and stopped. She had such pretty fingers, long, graceful, and delicate. He pictured her reaching inside the robe and wrapping them around him and had to avert his gaze.
Rolf sprinted toward them, completely bypassing Nick now, bringing the toy to Jannie and waiting at her feet.
“Stinker,” he muttered in amusement.
She held her hand out. “Give.”
The shepherd promptly came forward and let her take the toy, which she flicked straight across the yard with practiced ease.
“You let him out of his crate,” she said accusingly, but he also detected a trace of surprise in her voice.
“Guilty.”
“You weren’t afraid of him after your meet-cute?”
Nick grinned. “I’m not afraid of big dogs. He was doing his job out there.”
“I should be pissed.”
“Yeah,” he said, “but look at him.”
He thought he saw guilt flash briefly in her eyes. “He needs more exercise than he’s been getting.”
“How come he was friendly in the house after he acted like he’d take my throat out here?”
“I let you in. He knows.”
She turned and threw the toy again, her gaze across the lake, where a row of houses was barely visible in the distance.
Nick eyed a blue-and-white boat on a lift in a small boathouse at the end of the long dock. A large Jet Ski dangled beside it, swaying gently in the breeze.
“Nice property you have here.”
She nodded. “Thanks. It’s peaceful.”
“What kind of boat is that?”
“The kind that never goes out,” she said dryly.
“Oh?”
“It’s a Chaparral. Probably full of bird crap and cobwebs by now.” A pause. “I never learned to pilot it.”
“You can pilot a plane but not a boat?”
She shrugged. “Not my thing. That was …” She closed her mouth and shook her head.
Her ex’s thing.
Well, that had gone in an unintended direction.
The dog’s tongue now lolled out the side of his mouth, looking twice as long as it had a little while ago. He wasn’t running as fast, but he showed no sign that he was done.
He brought the toy again, but this time Jannie put it on a microwave that sat on the counter in the outdoor kitchen. “That’s enough.”
The dog looked disappointed, panting, his long pink tongue tipped with a drop of slobber.
“He’ll go until he collapses if I don’t stop him.”
