Nyght's Eve (6 page)

Evie bit her lip as she held back a laugh
thinking about the way Dare had started running away from the little girl as if
the hounds of hell were chasing him. He might not be comfortable around
children, but he had gained four admirers today whether he liked it or not.

He was something she hadn’t expected.

Dare bent over and took his time greeting all
four of Evie’s big dogs while trying to will down his unruly erection that had
popped up out of nowhere. All Evie had to do was smile at him and his body
reacted. He’d never experienced such a strong case of lust at first sight.

And it made her dangerous to his self-control.

Her sunny hair was pulled back in a ponytail,
allowing him a clear view of her beautiful face, and she was wearing jeans and
a simple white shirt that clung to her curves. And her scent...man, she smelled
like fresh peaches again. A spark of anger swept through him. She shouldn’t be
able to affect him like this. He told himself there was nothing special about
her, but knew instantly that was a lie. There was something about her that drew
his interest, and made him want to know more about her.

Trying to distract himself, he focused on her
four dogs. They really were beautiful animals. Two of the dogs were German
Shepherds, but Dare recognized that the other two as Belgian Malinois, a variety
of shepherd dog he was very familiar with from his time overseas. Because of
their acute sense of smell, the Belgian Malinois were often used by the United
States Armed Forces as work dogs that helped detect odors of explosives,
accelerants and even narcotics in the field. He could see why Evie would have
two of them as her personal pets, considering the search and rescue work she
did.

 
A
laugh escaped Dare as all four animals pushed against him in their plea for
attention, their tails wagging wildly. “These are some good looking dogs you’ve
got here.”

“Thanks. That’s Lancelot, Gawain, Percival
and Galahad.”

“You named your dogs after Knights of the
Round Table?”

Evie shrugged. “Why not? It suits them.”

“Four dogs is a lot of work.”

She laughed. “I think of all the dogs at the
center as mine. But these four are my friends and a joy to have in my life.”

Dare took a few more minutes rubbing each of
the dogs before he straightened. “So, about that pie...”

Shaking her head, Evie chuckled. “Come on.
It’s up at my house.”

She and Dare walked towards her stone and
glass house with the dogs milling happily by their sides. Her house was
interesting. The center structure of the building was two stories and had a
tiered roof, with two ranch-style wings spanning from the main structure. The
large “U” shaped structure was modern in design, but all the buildings on
Evie’s property worked well with the landscape.

He knew he should probably put his shirt back
on, but he liked how she had looked at him. He’d seen that same expression on
other women before, but for some reason Evie’s blue eyes seemed to pierce
straight through him. It ignited a fire of need that left him slightly uncomfortable,
and yet strangely liking it. For some reason he enjoyed being around her.
Simply being in her presence seemed to settle some of the sharp edges inside of
him. But he couldn’t deny he wanted her, and that made things complicated.

He was damaged and had no business getting
involved with anyone.

“This is a pretty impressive house,” he said,
struggling to find something to fill the void between them.

“Thank you. We’re pretty proud of it. I live
in the main part of the house, and my cousins live in the wings. To the right
is my cousin Francesca, and the left is Beckett’s home. You’ve met them,
haven’t you?”

“Yep, last time I came to visit.”

“That’s right. I heard about it after I got
back from my trip. Someone in Baton Rouge had adopted one of my dogs, and I
went to make the delivery.”

“Do you always do that? Check out the homes?”

“We try to, unless we know the people. Since
most of our dogs are pit bulls, we try and make sure that their new homes are
safe, for the animals as well as the people around them.”

“Hunter mentioned that you have to make sure
the dogs can’t get out of yards and that the dogs get along with any other pets
that the adopters may have before you leave them,” Dare said. “I knew some
people feared pit bulls, but I never realized how misunderstood the breed
really was.”

“It’s a shame, because they truly are
wonderful dogs.”

“But you don’t own one personally?”

She smiled at him and held out her palm
facedown by her side without looking down. Dare was impressed when one of her
dogs immediately pushed its head under her hand. “I do love pit bulls, but my
guys are the best. Since we do search and rescue I needed dogs that were more
suited to that kind of work.”

She led the way up to the front of her house
and the dogs ran inside ahead of them as soon as she opened the door. Practically
hearing his mama’s scolding voice in his head, he took a moment to put his
shirt back on before entering her home. He may have liked the way she looked at
him, but he had a feeling being almost naked in private with her was not a good
idea.

Once they were inside, Dare was surprised as
he looked around. For some reason he thought she would have had one of those
feminine places where a man felt out of place, but that wasn’t the case. He
should have known better. With four large dogs having the run of the place,
Evie had decorated with style tinged with practicability. Like the boarding
house, her furniture was large and looked exceedingly comfortable. There was a
feeling of warmth that came from being in her living space, that was similar to
how he felt being in her presence.

He remained quiet as he followed her into a
large, open kitchen that was almost identical to the set up at the boarding
house, except for a different color scheme. The room was decorated in warm,
earthy tones, and the cabinets had frosted glass fronts that added a modern
touch to the deep gold of the marble countertops. Dare’s gaze narrowed onto the
pie sitting on the center island, and he had to stop himself from sticking his
hand into it.

As if she knew what he was thinking, Evie
pulled out a fork and picked up the pie, carrying it over to the breakfast bar.
“So you can have a taste,” she said with an impish grin.

Without a word, Dare slid onto one of the
stools and stuck the fork in the pie. Evie shook her head as she set aside the
plate she’d picked up and went to the fridge to get two bottles of water. Today
was peach pie and Dare’s mouth watered at the first sight of the rich, golden
fruit surrounded by flakey pastry. The first bite hit is taste buds like
ambrosia. He closed his eyes, savoring the treat, then dug back into the pie
for some more. When he looked up, he found Evie watching him with an amused
expression.

“You really do like your pie.”

He grunted. “I do. Normally, I would share,
but I’ve been pushed beyond my limits.”

She laughed. “No need to share. I also got
you some more soup and a few muffins. You can take those back with you with the
rest of the pie.”

“The rest? Honey, I’m eating this all right
here.”

Her eyes widened. “You can’t eat a whole
pie.”

“Watch me.”

“That isn’t good for you.”

“I’ll run it off later,” he replied around
another mouthful. “I don’t have my wallet with me, but I’ll pay you back for
all the food you’ve been supplying me with.”

She waved that away as she moved to a large
jar on the opposite end of the counter. She took out a few dog bones and
one-by-one handed them out to her dogs, who took them and trotted off to lay
sprawled out on the floor with their treats. “Consider it a welcome gift and
thanks for helping out around the center today. But now that you are back on
your feet, you are on your own for your meals.”

“Fair enough. I was surprised how many
animals you’re housing, but everything is so clean and well organized that you
don’t notice it until you do a walk through the place.”

She beamed a smile at him that made him
almost choke on his pie. “Thank you. We try really hard to keep the place in
excellent condition. The animals deserve it after all they’ve been through.”

Dare’s mood darkened as he thought back to
all that he’d learned that day. “Hunter and some of the staff told me a few
stories. After all I’ve seen, I shouldn’t be surprised at the cruelty of some
people, but I am.”

“Well, thanks again for helping out today. We
really appreciate any extra hands.”

“I had fun,” he said, and was surprised that
it was true.

“You’re welcome to come by anytime,” she
offered as she packed up the soup and muffins in a bag for him. He felt the
dismissal, but something made him push for more time with her, even if just for
a few minutes.

“So, what made you open the rescue center?”

Evie seemed pleased by his interest. They
spent the next few minutes discussing her love of animals and how she wanted to
help them recover in a safe environment while she sought to find them good
homes. Everything she said had the ring of truth to it, but Dare sensed there
was something she wasn’t telling him...something more to the story. Still, the
conversation wasn’t strained or stilted, and Dare found himself enjoying her
company as much as the pie. He drained the bottle of water after he ate the
last bite and felt a little queasy having eaten the entire thing.

“I cannot believe you ate it all. That’s
just...”

“I don’t mess around when it comes to pie.”

“So you said. Well, then...” She pushed the
bag of goodies toward him and their fingers brushed as he reached for it. Her
head came up and their gazes locked.

Damn
.

Dare felt a visceral connection with her that
made him want to yank her across the counter and seal his lips over hers. He
bet she’d taste just as sweet as the pie. That thought made him frown. “Nope.
Not going to do it.”

She blinked. “What?”

“This—” He pointed a finger back and forth
between her and his own chest. “We have a problem.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Oh, I think you do. It’s not good. For
either of us. I’m not looking for a relationship right now.” Dare slowly got up
from his seat. He saw the way her blue eyes iced over and one of her eyebrows
lifted, making her disdainful glare almost regal. She had the
fuck you
stare down perfectly. He had to
admire that even if he was the focus of that nonverbal bitch-slap.

“I don’t recall asking you for one. Take your
food, Dr. Nyght. Thank you for your help today. I’ll see you out.”

She moved with economical grace, and Dare could
tell that he had fucked up. Again.

Big time.

He’d only wanted to be honest, but perhaps
saying that to a woman hadn’t been the best move. Shit, was he really that out
of practice when it came to women?

Apparently, he was.

Chapter Four

The next day Dare considered avoiding Evie
and the rescue center completely, but the idea made him feel like a coward.

After she had all but shoved him out the door
of her home yesterday, Dare had fought the urge to slam his head against
something hard on his walk back to the boarding house. What the hell had been
wrong with him? He knew better than to blurt something like that
out...especially to a woman. It was a surefire way to get her back up, telling
her that he didn’t want a relationship, like it was a foregone conclusion that
she wanted one.

And with a woman like Evie, of course she had
felt insulted.

Hell, he would have been offended, too.

Dare wondered about his unusual reaction to
Evie all last night, trying not to feel guilty as he ate the food she had given
him. It was as if he lost his mind every time he was around her. He was usually
good with women. In the past, he had never had a problem getting any woman that
had caught his eye. He could be charming, courteous. But with Evie, he turned
into a brooding Neanderthal with a raging hard-on. It’s like he stopped being
able to think clearly around her.

It was getting damned annoying.

He steeled himself for another round of her
censured looks when he showed up at the rescue center, only to feel something
he tried to convince himself wasn’t disappointment when he was told she was out
on a search and rescue with Hunter and a few other team members. He should have
been relieved that she was gone, but he only felt bereft at not being able to
see her spectacular face, even if she was shooting daggers at him.

Dare spent most of the day helping out around
the center again, feeding the dogs and cleaning the kennels. He liked the work.
It felt good using his muscles, and he also liked not having to speak to anyone
while doing the jobs he was given.

Or so he had hoped.