“Good friends,” she said.
He hesitated before clinking his bottle to hers. “Friends.”
Was that a flicker of disappointment she glimpsed in his eyes?
She raised the Dr Pepper to her lips and took several deep gulps. When she lowered it, she caught him watching her, his own bottle paused halfway to his mouth.
Such heat in his gaze.
Her heart rate kicked up. She licked her lips. He took three long pulls of his beer. It was her turn to watch him. His Adam’s apple bobbed with each swallow. Two buttons were undone at the top of his shirt, and Jannie had an urge to trace her fingers along the hollow at the base of his throat.
He lowered the bottle, met her gaze, and there was nothing friendly about the fire flickering in his eyes.
Before she could begin to squirm under his intense scrutiny, he turned and gestured toward the glider.
“Shall we?”
Jannie nodded, her heart still pounding. She took a seat and braced her feet to halt the motion.
Nick swiped up Jannie’s beer and dragged the table closer before setting the bottle back down and sitting beside her.
The moment he was seated, she had to swallow back a gasp. The glider was small, but she had misjudged just how small; her leg touched his,and there was nothing she could do about it. God, but his thigh was hard.
“What can I give you?”
“Hmm?” She realized she was staring at his crotch and yanked her gaze away.
He picked up a skewer and pointed to the food. “Anything you don’t like?”
Being this close to you.
“I’m good with anything.”
A little smile. “OK.”
Rolf returned from inspecting the yard’s perimeter, his wet black nose twitching as he got a whiff of food.
He licked his lips. Frowning, Jannie snapped her fingers and pointed. “Go rest.”
Ears flattening a bit, he cast her a woeful glance before slowly slinking away, finding a sheltered spot under the awning and settling down on the grass.
“Mean.” Nick chuckled, loading a skewer with cheddar, tomatoes, and ham. “Poor dog can smell it.”
“And that’s all he’ll get to do. Trust me, you don’t want to see what happens if you give in and let him eat this kind of food.”
“Not even cheese?”
“Especially cheese. A German Shepherd in the house with loose bowels isnotpretty.”
“Good to know,” Nick said. “Is that why his suitcase is the heaviest one? I thought you packed bricks in there.”
“That’s his raw food. It needs to go in the freezer.”
She expected the usual shocked reaction and lecture about how canines should eat dry dog food and how raw meat was dangerous and full of bacteria, but Nick only nodded.
He handed her a skewer. “I wondered why his coat looked so good. I’ve heard about raw-feeding dogs. Makes sense to me; look at those teeth.”
Rolf rested with his head on his paws, occasionally giving Jannie a sorrowful look, his tan eyebrows shifting in a way that always looked funny to her.
