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Abbe didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t angry anymore, and anger was all that was holding her together. She was hurt—much more hurt than she should have been this early on. She felt her eyes sting and looked away.
“I think you and I might be in different places,” she began.
“Nope,” he said immediately and definitively. “We are not in different places.”
Abbe was thrown by his response. “But… you didn’t call—”
“Iwantedto call you all day yesterday. Shit, I wanted to show up here at lunch and take you home with me.” He stopped, took a deep breath, and started over. “Look. I know I’m intense. I know I tend to walk into situations and take over. And I’ve been told, mostly by my little brother and sister, that I am too controlling and too overwhelming and that is not healthy in a relationship. I’m trying really hard not to be that guy with you. That’s why I waited an excruciating day and a half to text. I won’t do it again.” He chuckled. “And I won’t take relationship advice from my little sister again, either.”
Abbe laughed uncertainly. “Well, I didn’t saythat.”
“Yes, you did. That’s what I’m going to tell her, anyway,” he said, smiling. The levity fell away and they stared at each other for a few moments, weighing where they stood. “Come here,” he said, beckoning. Abbe stepped right into his arms. “Much better,” he sighed as they both relaxed into the hug.
“Much,” Abbe agreed. Though they had spent the majority of the time they had known each other fighting, Abbe realized that it didn’t suit them. This suited them. She tilted her head back so she could look at him. “I still have to work, though.”
He groaned, squeezing her tighter. “You need to hire more people so you’re free whenever I want you to be free.”
“That’s usually how your life goes, isn’t it?” she said.
“Of course! I’m so much more important than everyone else,” he said, his eyes glinting. “What are you doing here, anyway? Changing people’s lives for the better and improving your community?”
“Pointless, right? And my bosses are, actually, animals. Ishouldquit.”
While they laughed at their joke, it occurred to her that she wouldn’t need to quit because pretty soon she might not have a job at all. Rather than bring that up with Rafe and try to extend their banter, her mind flew to the next step in that process. The one that she had been avoiding thinking about, which was that if her shelter was closed down, the animals would be seized and relocated by the state authorities. Not all shelters were no-kill, and she would have no control over where her animals went. A wave of anxiety swept over her.
“I really need to go back to work,” she said, pulling fully out of Rafe’s arms.
He looked troubled, sensing the shift in her, but reluctantly let her go. “When can I see you again?” he asked.
She knew Maria and Steven would be at the shelter after school the next day. They would probably be thrilled to be left alone from then until closing. “Tomorrow,” she said. “I can get out of here by three.”
“Okay,” Rafe agreed.
His eyes dropped down to her lips, but he held himself back from kissing her, forcing himself to give her space. She appreciated that, considering they were still standing on the lawn in front of her place of business and Charles had been watching them shamelessly from behind the curtains the whole time.
“Tomorrow,” he said, looking at her in a way that made goosebumps stand up on her arms.
Ten
The photography equipment came the next day, and although Abbe knew that she should return it without even unboxing it, she couldn’t help herself.
After doing her rounds of feeding, cleaning, and exercising the animals, she called Charles to help get the black dogs ready for their big photo shoot. He groomed them while she converted a part of her office into a studio. She hung the lights and the light-toned backdrop paper, placed the lowlights at an angle, and artfully arranged the toys.
Charles was an excellent dog trainer and after years of experience in the show dog circuit, he knew how to get any animal to strike a pose. By the fourth dog, Abbe lost track of time, but she knew it was still early when she heard Charles greet a familiar voice out in the reception area.
She felt a thrill snake through her at the sound of Rafe’s deep laughter as he and Charles exchanged pleasantries. She kept taking pictures of her subject as he came back into the office.
“Wow,” Rafe said, taking in her nearly professional studio.
“You’re early. It’s barely two yet,” she said, still focused on the dog, as he came up behind her.
She felt his hands on her hips. “I couldn’t wait,” he said, his lips brushing against her ear as he pulled her bottom against him.
She could feel him stirring through the layers of clothes and couldn’t stop herself from arching back into him. One of his hands left her hip to tuck under her shirt, brushing upward, to cup a breast. Her head fell back to rest on his shoulder, a breathy gasp escaping her. She nearly dropped her camera.
“Rafe, I just haveone more dogto go,” she pleaded. “Charles made them look so pretty and I have to return this equipment tomorrow.”
He let her wriggle out of his grasp, but he wasn’t happy about it. “Fine,” he said. “Wait, why do you have to return the equipment?”
