Animal Attraction

Fifteen

Dell was already back in Sunshine, a hundred miles away from Melinda’s ranch. At the bakery, to be exact, eating a half-dozen donuts, because for the third time in a row he hadn’t stayed for a date with Melinda.

Although he should make a date-with a shrink.

He wondered what Adam was teaching Jade right this very minute. And if she was wearing that look of intense concentration she got when he was showing her a new move, the one that said she was earnest and serious and focused on kicking ass.

God, he loved that expression.

Adam appeared at his side and plopped into the other chair at Dell’s little table. “You’re an idiot.”

“Aw, thanks.”

Adam reached out and snatched an old-fashioned glazed donut.

“Hey.”

Taking a huge bite out of it, Adam leaned back. “Don’t you want to know what makes you a fucking idiot?”

“No.”

“It didn’t go so well with Jade tonight.”

Dell straightened. “What do you mean? What happened?”

“She was nervous about tangling with me on the mat.”

“She tell you that?”

“No, she told me that she was exhausted, so we had to stop.”

Dell blew out a breath. “I don’t get it, she’s been doing so well.”

“Yes, and this is where the fucking idiot part comes in. She’s good with you touching her. She feels safe with you. What the hell is going on with you two?”

“Nothing. She’s leaving.”

“Yeah,” Adam said. “I got that. But she’s not gone yet. You’re just backing out of her life?”

“What part of leaving don’t you understand?” Dell asked.

“If it were me, I’d take every last second I had.”

“Yes, well, I always was smarter than you.”

“Come on,” Adam said, shaking head. “If this were any other woman, you wouldn’t give a shit that she was leaving. It wouldn’t matter.”

“We work together.”

Adam waved this away as inconsequential. “You know what my point is.”

“Not really.” But Dell did. Christ, he did.

“You going to tell her how you feel about her before she goes, or are you going to be a total pussy about it?”

“Telling Jade that his feelings for her had changed, deepened, felt like the dumbest of all the dumbass moves he’d ever made. He didn’t want Jade to consider him as her…

What?

Christ. “I have to go.”

“Shock.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’re so smart,” Adam said, stealing the very last donut as he rose. “You figure it out.”

Jade went to the animal center instead of home. She’d been running some accounting reports and wanted to check on them.

Or… she wanted to keep herself busy.

She decoded the alarm, flipped on the lights, and sat at her desk, immediately losing herself in the comfort and stability of accounting. Accounting didn’t require much. The numbers either added up or they didn’t, and the predictability of the work was soothing all in itself.

After an hour, she got thirsty and headed into the staff room for a bottle of water. She stepped into the room and as her hand reached out to flip the light switch on the wall, she heard it.

A loud exhale.

Male.

Panic. Her hand flailed and instead of getting the light switch, she hit the counter. Her fingers wrapped around something and without thinking, she held it out in front of her as a weapon just as a large shadow surged upright at the table in front of her.

“Holy shit,” she gasped.

“Holy shit,” someone else gasped, and then there was a beam of light that blinded her.

Jade stepped backward, out of the room, then whirled and ran down the hall to the front desk, where she groped for the panic button, which she hit five hundred times in a row.

“Jade?”

She was still hitting the button as she looked up. Keith stood in the doorway wearing nothing but his long hair standing straight up on one side and a pair of Big Dog flannel boxers that said BLOW THIS down the fly. She was so shocked, she just stood there, her finger still on the button.

“Dude,” Keith said, scrubbing his hands over his face. “You scared the shit out of me.”

Knees wobbling, Jade sank to her chair. “What are you doing here?”

“My roommate got lucky tonight and he made me leave so he could have the place to himself.”

“So you were sleeping here?”

He gave her a reproachful look. “Was sleeping. Jesus, you are one noisy chick. What were you going to do with that?”

Jade looked down and realized that she was gripping a plastic fork. It’d been what she’d grabbed off the counter. “I… I think I was going to stab you with it.”

“Dude.” He scratched his chest. “Gotta piss.” He vanished in the back.

The front door crashed open and Dell burst in. Jade stared at him. He stared right back, concern and anger and fear all over his face as he came to her. “Jade.” He sounded horrified as he reached her, hauling her up out of her chair and wrapping his arms around her tight. “You hit the alarm? What happened, are you hurt?”

“No, I-”

There was a scuffle of feet in the doorway to the back rooms, and in the same instant Dell whipped Jade behind him. There was a gun in his hand.

A gun.

Keith was in the doorway again, still in his BLOW THIS boxers, holding an opened soda. His eyes went wide at the sight of Dell standing there, gun drawn. “Holy shit,” he said in a repeat of what he’d said to Jade, jerking, spilling his soda down his bare chest. “Am I dreaming?”

“I came into work because I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep,” Jade started.

“Unlike some of us,” Keith muttered.

“And I came in on Keith sleeping in the back room, but before I realized it was him, I’d hit the alarm. I’m sorry, Dell.”

He swore and tucked the gun into his jeans waistband at the small of his back. Then turned and hugged Jade in close. “Don’t be sorry. You did the right thing.”

“It’s my fault,” she whispered, pressing her face into his chest. His bare chest because he was in jeans and an unzipped sweatshirt with nothing beneath it. His athletic shoes were unlaced and he didn’t appear to be wearing socks.