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“So youdidleave her at home,” she said accusingly.
“No, not the bed in my home, the bed on myjet.” Something occurred to him, and he caught a breath. “Oh, you thought I flew commercial, and that I put her in cargo.”
“I’m sorry,” Abbe said, shrinking.
All the anger left him in a moment and a smile started to tug at the corners of his mouth. “I would never do that to her. Trust me, she was comfortable the whole flight. While in London we were at my brother’s place, where she wasextremelycomfortable.”
“I feel like such a jerk.” Abbe looked down at her hands. She was twisting them together, feeling like an idiot. “Well, how was I supposed to know you have a jet?” she asked sheepishly.
He shrugged. “I guess you wouldn’t. Who are you?” he asked, turning to Henry.
“He’s my vet,” Abbe said, answering for him. “He fixed Daisy’s hip.”
Rafe’s attitude towards Henry immediately went from stony to polite. “Thank you for that. She’s doing great, by the way.”
Henry looked between Rafe and Abbe and nodded when understanding dawned on him. “I should go,” he said.
As he collected his equipment, Abbe pulled Henry aside. “I really appreciate this,” she said.
He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Just be careful,” he said, shooting Rafe a look as he pulled on his coat.
“What do you mean?” Abbe asked innocently, but she knew exactly what he meant.
Henry looked at her with a tinge of regret. “I’ll send you the info for the ugly dog competition,” he promised. “You should bring Jinx. If he won, it would be great publicity for the shelter.”
He nodded at Rafe as he walked out, but he didn’t stop to give his name or shake Rafe’s hand. Abbe could tell he was disappointed.
After he left, Rafe looked at her. “Is that a rat or a toad?” he asked.
Abbe realized she was still carrying Jinx and chuckled. Jinx did sort of look like a cross between a rat and a toad. “Let me put him in his kennel.”
She rushed into the back, settled Jinx inside his kennel with his favorite chewy, and got her stuff, glad for this moment away from Rafe to pull herself together. All her anger was gone but her heart was still thrumming, and her skin felt alternately cold and hot as adrenaline flooded her system. It wasn’t fair that all he had to do was stand there to make her biology go haywire.
As she put on her coat, she realized she was covered with cat hair, dog drool, and whatever else handling three dozen animals had left all over her. Her hair was coming out of her ponytail, she wasn’t wearing any makeup, and for some reason, she opted to wear Uggs that morning—comfortable, but certainly some kind of fashion crime.
“So, are you ready?” Rafe asked when she joined him in the reception area.
“For what?” she replied.
“Our date,” he said.
Abbe gestured to herself. “I can’t go out on a date.”
She saw his mouth tighten. “We madeplans.”
“Yeah, but then you didn’t call me all week,” she retorted, flustered.
He moved Daisy’s lead from one hand to the other in irritation. “Abbe. When I make plans, I keep them.”
She stared at him, her mouth hanging open, as she tried to put another piece of the Rafe puzzle together. “Okayusually, when people make plans, they touch base with each other at some point or it can be assumed that it’s off.”
Rafe shook his head. “When you make plans with me, it’s happening, unless you hear otherwise.”
Abbe huffed and threw up her hands. For some reason, she felt like she was the one who had done something wrong, but that was ridiculous. He was looking at her like she was welching on a bet, and she was not an irresponsible person. At all.
“But I can’t go out with you tonight… you didn’tcall!” she blathered.
“I see now that I should have. But I was giving you space,” he explained. “Sunday night after we,” he broke off, repressing a self-satisfied smile, obviously pleased with his performance, “you drove off, looking like you were going to run away from me like you did at the park. I gave you a few days to let it settle.”
