“I know. I just, um, hate for him to get all dirty again,” she prevaricated.
“I see.”
She glanced up at him. “I know he’ll be okay. And he’ll probably be back tomorrow for more food.”
He toyed with the ends of her hair around her face. “Very likely.”
Her gaze locking with his, she bit her lower lip.
He touched her mouth with one finger, teasing her lips apart. “It would be a shame to leave marks here,” he murmured, tracing her lower lip with his fingertip.
Her breath was warm and moist against his skin. A faint flush tinged her fair cheeks. He felt his own pulse beating in his temples as his body reacted to the nearness of hers. He wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, but he couldn’t think of a way to do so without sounding trite or clichéd. He hoped she could see the sentiment in his eyes as he lowered his mouth toward hers.
A scratching on the door caught their attention just as their lips touched. A sharp bark followed the scratching, and both Natalie and Casey turned toward the door.
Buddy stood on his hind legs, his front paws propped on the glass as he barked at them again.
Casey glanced at Natalie with a faint smile. “I think you have your answer about where he wants to spend the night. And whether he’s housebroken. That dog’s been a house pet more recently than we thought.”
She was already opening the door to let the dog in. “Don’t think you’re getting into my bed tonight,” she said, and for a moment Casey blinked, then smiled sheepishly when he realized she was talking to the dog.
As for whether he, himself, would be getting into her bed—that remained to be seen.
Chapter Nine
N atalie found an old cotton blanket in the back of the linen closet and crumpled it into an inviting-looking pile in the laundry room beside the food and water bowls. Maybe Buddy would be content to sleep in there if she left the door open, though at the moment he was back on the hearth rug again, snoring gently.
Casey had returned to the couch. Like the dog, he seemed in no hurry to leave.She could send him on his way. All it would take was a word from her and he would go. But she knew, as well, that one word was all it would take to convince him to stay. Whatever reservations he’d had last night seemed to be gone.
She took a moment to consider whether she had changed her own mind since last night. She pictured herself sending him away, closing the door behind him, spending another night thinking about him—or trying not to. And then she imagined what it might be like if he stayed.
The latter scenario was much more appealing.
“I made a bed for him, though it seems he prefers to
stay right where he is,” she said, sitting on the couch beside Casey.
“He does look content, doesn’t he?”
“He must have just gotten lost. Who would have abandoned such a nice dog?”
“You’d be surprised at the stupid reasons I’ve heard. My mom’s on the board of directors for an animal protection society in Dallas. She’s become sort of a crusader during the past few years. While Buddy might have just wandered off and gotten lost, it’s just as possible that he simply got bigger than his owners expected. He’s a largish dog for an inside pet. I couldn’t even keep him at my place in Dallas. Pets there have to be under twenty-five pounds, and Buddy’s probably more like forty. Maybe someone had to move and didn’t want to bother taking him along. Or got tired of feeding him and walking him and paying for his care…there are a lot of people who should never be trusted with animals.”
It sounded as though he’d listened to more than a few speeches from his animal-activist mother.
“I guess we’ll find out in the next few days if anyone’s been looking for him.”
“Maybe we will.”
Something about the way Casey was looking at her told her he’d lost interest in talking about the dog for now. For that matter, so had she.
He reached out to toy with the ends of her hair, a habit he seemed to be getting into. Oddly enough, she rather liked it.
“I believe we were interrupted earlier,” he murmured.
She smiled and leaned closer to him. “I think I remember where we left off.”
“I was hoping you would.”