Rescue My Heart (26 page)

H
olly knew damn well that Adam had tried to scare her off. But she was no young girl, and she was not easily scared off. In fact, nothing much scared her at all anymore.

Except hiding her feelings.

She watched Adam stride to the porch where Jade stood waiting for him. Gertie was lying at his feet in an exhausted heap on the front steps. Obedience class was hard work. At Adam’s approach, she rolled onto her back, her tail beating the ground, dust rising. He crouched down, ruffling her fur, giving her a smacking kiss right between her eyes.

Gertie writhed in ecstasy, giving him as much emotion as a dog could possibly give.

Adam gave it back, honest and uninhibited, and from across the yard Holly melted a little, even as she sighed.

A hand settled on her shoulder. Dell’s. “It’s not you,” he assured her.

“No?” She was pretty sure it
was
her.

“No,” Dell said. “It’s because Brady here dropped him on his head when we were teenagers.”

Brady smiled fondly at the memory. “That’s not why he’s an idiot. It’s because she’s his cave.”

“Huh?” Holly said, but Dell was nodding.

“Yeah,” Dell said. “That’s it exactly.” He looked at Holly. “You’re his cave. The thing he fears yet wants the most. You’re going to have to make it safe for him to come inside.”

Well, gee, if that was all. “And how do you propose I do that?” she asked.

“Turn on all the lights and send him invitation?” Brady suggested.

Dell shook his head. “Too subtle. You need to set a trap and drag the big lug inside.”

Holly let out a low laugh. They loved Adam. That was beautifully clear. But they didn’t have a clue. She just hoped she did.

She walked to her Jeep and then took a call from her office about some billing mishap. By the time she disconnected, she was the last one from the class left in the lot. Dusk was falling but she had no trouble seeing across the yard to the very serious basketball game going on. Three-on-three and she knew the players on the skins team.

Dell.

Brady.

And Adam.

The three of them looking so hot that she was momentarily frozen, unable to look away. Dell passed the ball to Brady, who flung it to Adam. Adam caught it and flew toward the basket, where he was rudely and harshly fouled, his opponent’s hand chopping through the air, making an audible smack against his arm and hand. As if he didn’t feel a thing, Adam executed a layup with panther grace. Clearly his shoulder wasn’t bothering him in the slightest.

His opponent, one of Dell’s vet techs, swore viciously.

Adam gave him a steely-eyed look but didn’t retaliate for the foul or call him on it. “Game point,” he said, and
passed the ball to Brady, who swished in a sweet three-pointer.
Game
.

Sweating, filthy, the brothers grinned and high-fived each other in triumph.

And from inside the chilly interior of the Jeep, Holly got a hot flash. She shoved the vehicle in gear and drove off into the night.

Holly was a half hour late to book club. By the time she got there, the food had been devoured, dessert included. Dessert was the whole reason for going to book club, dammit.

Kate was sitting next to Lilah and Jade. There were at least ten other women there as well, all of them discussing the chosen book with an intensity that matched the death and gloom of the plot.

Holly hadn’t enjoyed the book. She liked books with happy endings, and this one hadn’t had anything close to an HEA. She sat in the chair next to Kate and pulled the book from her purse.

“You’re glowing,” Kate whispered. “Why are you glowing?”

“It’s sweat,” she whispered back. “Thing One and Thing Two are a pain in my ass.”

“Sure it’s not the instructor making you sweat?”

Holly hid her face behind the book.

Kate pushed the book down and took in Holly’s expression, her smile fading. “Okay, now you’re scaring me,” she whispered. “This isn’t just fun and games for you.
He’s
not just fun and games for you.”

Holly glanced around and found Lilah and Jade listening in unabashedly. Great. Holly flipped through the book, pretending to listen to the discussion going on around her. They were talking about the characters.

“It’s all about the characters for me,” Jade said, and looked at Holly.

Lilah nodded her agreement. “Character growth is everything.”

“How about compassion?” Kate asked. “Loyalty? Heart? Because this…this
book
that we let into our lives”—she sent Holly a long glance—“needs to be compassionate. It needs to be loyal to a fault and have heart. Flawed is okay as long as it has heart.”

“That’s a big order,” Lilah said. “But in this case, the…
book
,” she said meaningfully, “flawed as it may be, can absolutely live up to expectations—if given a chance.”

Holly looked at both Jade and Lilah, two very sharp women. Two very sharp women who loved Adam like a brother. “I don’t mind flaws,” she said carefully. “What book doesn’t have flaws?”

“You’re sure?” Kate asked. “
Sure
sure?”

Holly hugged the book to her chest and nodded, hoping like hell that was true, and that she knew what she was doing.

The next day Dell walked into Adam’s office and deposited a ten-week-old black Lab puppy on his desk. A female, who lifted her head and blinked at Adam with sleepy dark eyes.

“You look familiar,” he told her, scooping her up. “You’re one of the Moorelands’ puppies.”

The Moorelands raised Labs and were clients of Dell’s. And Adam’s as well, since he’d trained nearly all their dogs.

“She’s going to make a great watchdog,” Dell said.

“Yeah?” Adam cuddled her close. She stuck out her pink tongue and licked his nose. “Looks like maybe she’s more of a lover than a fighter.”

“Well, she has to be trained, of course,” Dell said.

Adam lifted his gaze to his brother, who was, for once,
giving nothing away. “You taking on another dog? Gert’s gonna be jealous.”

“Not me.”

Ah. He saw where this was going now. “I’ve already got Milo.”

“Not you, either.” Dell dropped into a chair and slouched back, making himself comfortable. He smiled. His I’ve-been-meddling smile.

“Shit,” Adam said, eyes narrowing. “What are you up to?”

“Nila’s place was broken into last night.”

Their mom lived in an unsecured trailer on acreage that yielded no crops or anything else of value. She had nothing to steal. “Was she hurt?”

“No. Pissed off but not hurt. Probably just some stupid teenagers, bored and looking for trouble.” A touch of a smile crossed Dell’s mouth at that.

They’d both been there.

“So you’re giving her this killer to watch over the property?” Adam asked, laughing softly because the “killer” was already fast asleep, her head on his chest.

“Not me,” Dell said. “I’m booked today.”

Adam’s laughed faded. “No.”

“Why not?”

“For starters, Nila hasn’t spoken to me in months.”

“Yeah, not since she came here and threw your money back in your face. I know. Does it really matter, Adam? This has to be done.” Dell stood up. “Oh, and bring your toolbox. She’s got a lock that needs fixing and a leaky sink.”

“Shit. She’s not going to let me fix anything for her.”

“Yeah, she will, because it doesn’t require you putting out any money.” Dell moved to the door. “I loaded some supplies for the puppy into your truck.”

“I didn’t say yes.”

“You didn’t say no, either.”

“You’re the one who goes out there and provides actual services,” Adam said. “I have nothing to offer her, we have nothing to talk about.”

“You know damn well what you have to offer. You can fix what needs fixing, and she won’t have to pay for it. Bring her the damn dog, Adam. See your mother. Help her out. I’ll give you a Boy Scout badge for it.”

Adam flipped him off. Dell returned the gesture and left.

Adam looked at the sleeping puppy. “Well? You going to be a watchdog or what?”

She opened her eyes and licked his chin again and then set her head back on his chest. Trusting. Sweet. A real badass.

Adam shook his head and walked out to his truck, puppy in tow. Just outside of town, he came upon Holly on the side of the highway, kicking her tire.

Adam spent a moment wrestling with his conscience and then pulled over. “Stay,” he said to the puppy, and got out.

Holly watched him come toward her. She’d stopped kicking her tire and was now leaning against the Jeep as if she was just out for a little sunbathe.

“Problem?” he asked.

“Nope.”

He eyed her very flat tire and, unbelievably, the pair of pliers sticking out of it. “So that’s what, a figment of my imagination?”

“Ran over the stupid thing. I mean, who does that?”

“You, apparently.” Adam crouched down and studied the tire.

“It’s dead.”

“Yes,” he said. “Very dead.” He rose. “Spare?”

She shook her head. “It’s flat, too. I’ve called Red. He’s coming out, but he’s going to be an hour or so.”

Adam nodded. “I’ll give you a ride.”

She looked at him for a long moment. “I can tell you’re
on a mission, and it’s not a happy one. I can wait for Red, Adam.”

He met her gaze. How the hell she managed to read him like she did, when no one else could, he hadn’t the foggiest idea. “I’m not leaving you out here on the road like this.”

“But—”

Jesus. “Just get in the damn truck, Holly.”

Unbelievably, she smiled. “And you think you’re not sweet.” She sashayed toward his truck and hopped up into the shotgun position. He stood where he was for a moment, taking a deep breath. Then he ambled over and got in behind the wheel.

Holly was snuggling the puppy, who was practically beside herself in ecstasy. “She’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Holly said. “Where did you get her?”

“She’s not mine. I’m delivering her.” He put the truck in gear and looked over his shoulder to make a U-turn.

“Oh, please don’t,” Holly said.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t go out of your way to take me home. I’ll come with you to deliver her.”

“No,” he said.

Holly blinked, and he cursed himself for making the reveal. She was sharp as hell, and the wheels in her brain were whirling so fast there was almost smoke. There was no way he’d get rid of her now. “It’s a forty-five-minute drive,” he said.

“I don’t mind.”

She didn’t mind. Perfect. Jaw tight, he drove. And drove. Out of town. Into the hills. Past the hills to a tiny dirt road to Nowhere, USA.

And stopped at the double-wide trailer that Nila called home.

The puppy was asleep in Holly’s lap. Holly had gifted Adam with silence on the ride, but he could tell it was costing her. He gestured to the trailer. In the open doorway
stood a tall, willowy woman in jeans and a long sweater. No shoes. In spite of it being winter, Nila rarely ever wore shoes, even though he’d made sure that she had some. “Nila,” he said. “My mother.”

“I thought she was mad at you.”

“She is.”

“The puppy’s for her? You’re bringing your mother a puppy to make up with her?”

Because that thought clearly had her going all soft in the eyes, he shook his head. “The puppy’s from Dell, not me.” He took the puppy from her hands, wrapped her inside his jacket, and opened the door. “Stay here.”

“But—”

“Holly.” Christ, this was hard enough. He couldn’t do this with her here. “Please.”

She stared at him for a long beat, and then nodded. “I’ll stay,” she said quietly, and reached out and squeezed his arm. Soothing him. “I promise.”

Nodding, he shut the truck door and walked to the back and grabbed his toolbox before heading toward the trailer.

Nila watched his approach with dark eyes that gave nothing away. Like mother, like son.

“Adam,” she said.

“Dell said you need some stuff fixed.” He showed her the toolbox.

She nodded but continued to block him. Great. He met her gaze. “You still mad at me?”

“You going to try to give me money again?” she asked.

“Not today.”

A very small smile curved her mouth, and she moved aside for him but then stopped him with a hand on his arm, gesturing to the wriggling mass beneath his jacket.

Adam pulled out the puppy and handed it to her.

The breath left her lungs in a soft “awww,” and her gaze flew to his face. “Homeless?”

Adam lied without compulsion. “Yes. She needs a good home.”

Nila hugged the thing in close, and Adam knew the puppy would be completely accepted.

In a way he never had been.

Shaking that off, he fixed her lock and sink in five minutes flat and then headed to the door. The puppy supplies had been moved from the back of his truck to the top step.

Holly, of course.

“Here’s everything you’ll need,” he said to Nila. “She’ll have to get her shots in a few weeks. Dell will take care of that. If there are any problems, call one of us. When she’s a little older, I’ll train her for you.”

Nila gestured to the truck. “Who’s that?”

Adam looked through the windshield at Holly, who smiled. His chest had been tight for the past two hours, too fucking tight, but her smile eased it somehow. “A client’s daughter.”

Nila looked at Holly for another moment and then at Adam. “She’s more.”

Adam didn’t bother to ask how she knew. “You have enough supplies for several weeks. I’ll send Dell with more.”

“I’d like you to bring them to me.”

Adam looked at her, seeing a warmth in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. “Okay.”

Nila nodded and turned to go inside. “Bring the woman with you. She makes you smile. You have a good one.”

And then she shut the door.

Adam was still shaking his head when he slid into the truck.

“What?” Holly asked.

“She likes you.”

“How about her son?”

“He likes you, too.”

She smiled and then let him drive back in peace. When they got back to her Jeep, the tire was repaired. Holly leaned in and gave Adam a kiss. “Thanks,” she said.

“For?”

“For letting me in. Did it hurt?”

He stared into her smiling eyes. “Only a little.”