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A snicking sound caught my attention, and I looked to my left to see the wolf-dog coming in through a large doggie door in the kitchen door. He trotted first to Dallas to press his nose against Dallas’s leg, which earned the large animal a friendly pat, and then he came to me and sat down, his yellow eyes somber.
“Is he all wolf?” I found myself asking as I let my fingers trail over the animal’s head. A glance up showed that Dallas was watching me.
He shook his head and then took another sip of his beer. Despite the bandana, I could still see some of the muscles in his throat working as he swallowed. But when Dallas caught me watching him, his eyes darkened and his jaw tightened and I realized why.
He thought I’d been staring at the bandana and thinking about the scars beneath.
As he turned away, I started to correct his thinking, but realized if I told him the truth, he’d kick my ass for sure. But as soon as I saw the tension begin to leech into his movements, I forced myself off the chair and went around the island. As I stood behind him, I sucked in a breath for courage and then grabbed his arm.
He was stiff as a board as he turned to face me, and I could see the anger glittering in his eyes. Then I did something I knew could very well end up either outing me or earning me a beatdown.
Likely both.
I reached up to remove the bandana.
Chapter Six
Dallas
I clenched my fists so I wouldn’t be tempted to shove Nolan away.
Or grab him and pull him closer.
I knew what he was planning as soon as he lifted his hands, but it wasn’t until his fingers touched the cloth of the bandana that I grabbed both his wrists. He let out a soft gasp of air, but didn’t struggle in my hold at all.
Nor did he say anything.
No, we stood there like that, both waiting for the other to make the next move.
I was waiting for Nolan to tug his hands free and step back.
Nolan was…hell, I didn’t know what the hell Nolan was doing. What I did know was that he wasn’t doing anything I’d expected. He hadn’t from the moment he’d pulled into the driveway this morning.
As soon as Nolan had driven away the day before after I’d offered him the job and he’d quietly accepted, I’d cursed myself for my stupidity. Not only did I not need the help, I didn’t want it, either. The center might be a sanctuary for all the animals who lived there, but it was my sanctuary, too, and inviting someone to invade my world went against every instinct I had. But every time I’d been tempted to try and figure out a way to contact Nolan to tell him the deal was off, I’d remembered his broken voice as he’d swallowed his pride and asked if I needed any help.
Since getting rid of Nolan before he’d even started hadn’t been an option, I’d decided to do what I’d been doing from the moment I’d woken up in the hospital, a tube down my mangled throat to help me breathe.
I’d acclimated.
Just because Nolan was working for me didn’t mean things had to change. It wasn’t like we’d be bonding over lunch breaks or anything. All I had to do was keep Nolan busy enough that our paths would rarely cross. And eventually he’d tire of the physically demanding work or my silence – or both – and he’d find himself something else.
That had been the plan, anyway – ignoring him.
But ignoring Nolan was like trying to ignore the ever-present pain in my hip…the harder I worked to pretend it wasn’t there, the more I noticed it.
Such had been the case with Nolan.
I’d ended up spending more time checking on my new employee than I had getting my own work done. I’d purposely given Nolan the easiest jobs, but I’d still been worried he’d push himself too hard, especially after his distress over the salary issue. Not to mention the fact that Nolan was so slight that a stiff wind could have blown him over.
So once he’d started doing the outside work, I’d watched from a distance.
And discovered a Nolan Grainger I hadn’t expected.
I’d figured he had to be pretty determined to have made it into a school like Juilliard, but I hadn’t been prepared for the unbreakable spirit I’d seen front and center as he’d tackled physical exhaustion and conditions that could only be considered grueling to someone whose life had revolved around a violin and music stand.
Then Jerry had been added to the mix and I’d seen something in Nolan that was very rare indeed.
A good heart.
Because despite all the havoc Jerry had wreaked on Nolan, the man had never once lashed out at the zebra in annoyance or frustration. Yes, he’d most definitely been frustrated, but I hadn’t once seen him take it out on the innocent animal. In fact, he’d been kind to the hooved hooligan. I’d seen him petting the zebra on more than one occasion, even after having been forced to clean up additional messes, and he’d spent quite a bit of time talking to all the animals in the livestock area.
