The dogs are out of control. They were fine when I got back from class, but now, it’s pure mayhem. I assume that they’re acting like this because they’ve been cooped up all day. Taking them for a really long walk seems sensible, so I put them on their leashes, tuck my treat and baggie supply pouch, cell phone, and keys in my winter coat pocket, and open the front door to make our way to the elevator.

Except that’s not what they do.

Sheba, Daisy, and Bailey all burst through the door and drag me across the hall before I can even try to lock up. They’re going in the opposite direction from the elevators, and only come to a stop in front of Jackson’s door.

“What on God’s green earth is going on with the three of you?” I ask, looking down at them.

Of course, I don’t expect an answer, but Daisy begins to whimper and cry, Bailey starts howling, and Sheba joins in with his insufferably loud, high-pitched barking. At the angle that Daisy stands to the wall, her tail slaps wildly against Jackson’s door. I pull on their leashes with a bit of force. Not enough to hurt them, but just enough to remind them of their training.

They don’t budge from their spots.

“Come here, doggies,” I plead, as this is the last place I want to be right now.

They don’t move. I call, I whistle, I try to bribe them with doggie treats. Nothing works. I don’t understand. This behavior is completely unlike them. Hoping for something to work, I let go of their leashes, return to Vivian’s door, and push it open, calling them back inside. No dice. They’re not moving. In fact, they’re louder now. Returning to their sides again, I scoop up Sheba in my arms, hoping I can bring them back to Vivian’s one by one at least.

Anything to get them the hell away from Jackson’s front door.

But Sheba’s growls at me, acting like he’ll bite me any minute now for tearing him away from Jackson’s door. What the hell?

“It’s going to be okay,” I tell him as though he can understand me. “I don’t know what’s got into you, but I’ll take you all to your doggie beds, and get you nice and fed, and you’ll all calm right down, okay? Everything’s going to be all right.”

He more or less calms down, so I hold on to Bailey’s collar and try to coax her to come with me.

Bailey’s not moving.

Bailey’s not moving?

Very strange. She’s the calm one, the one that goes with the flow, but all of a sudden, she seems to have developed an affinity for Jackson’s condo too?

I am stumped as to what to do next, but fate appears to make that decision for me. Jackson opens the door a little too widely. He doesn’t get to open his mouth and shout at me, because Sheba pries himself forcefully from my arms and jumps to the ground. Then all three dogs run to him. Daisy lifts up on her hind legs and props her front paws on Jackson’s chest, licking his face while Bailey sits at his side. And Sheba, well he’s a bouncing ball right now, trying to launch himself into Jackson’s arms.

If Jackson wanted to tie me down for what Sheba did last week, I can’t imagine how he’ll make me pay for this.

“I’m sorry,” I say to him tersely, although as sorry as I am, there’s no sign of contrition that my voice used to have before. “You know I would never bring them here if I had the choice. I don’t know what’s gotten into them. They started acting up about half an hour ago, and won’t stop. I was about to take them out for a walk, but they came this way instead, and refused to leave your front door. Then you opened it.”

He just stands there looking stern. It’s more than just serious, and although I can’t put my finger on why, I know that something’s wrong.

“Is everything okay?”

“Get your dogs out of here,” he mutters, but Sheba scampers off into his foyer and disappears somewhere in his condo unit, followed closely by Bailey, then Daisy.

Have they all lost their ever-loving minds?

“I’ll get them. It’ll take me a while, but I’ll start with Sheba and get them out of your hair one by one. Again, I’m sorry, Jackson.”

I follow him as he goes from room to room, and he stops short at his study. “They’re in here.”

He waits at the door with his arms folded over his chest as I slip past him and go to the side of the leather sofa where they’ve taken up residence, it would appear. I reach for Sheba, and he actually bares his teeth at me. This is a clear message. He wants me to back off, and is warning me before he gets more aggressive.

“What in the world?” I glance over at Jackson and stretch my arm out to grab the end of Sheba’s leash. “He has never done anything like this.”

Jackson has probably had his fill of us by now. He enters the room and takes a seat on the sofa, leaning to the side to grab Bailey’s collar. That’s when Sheba jumps into his lap, and Daisy comes to his other side. Bailey rests her head on Jackson’s knee, and Daisy licks the side of his face.

They’re guarding Jackson?

What’s more strange is Jackson isn’t pushing them away.

“Sit,” he says, and I start to wonder if he’s addressing the dogs, or me.

“What?” I ask him without looking his way.

“Have a seat. They’ll leave when they’re ready.”

I’m about to write off this last twenty-four-hour period, because hell, I must have stepped into an alternate reality.

* * *

“What happened to you today?” I ask after we’ve been sitting silently on the sofa for what feels like forever. His expression is dark, deadly serious. The look he gives me sends a sharp, sudden chill down my spine. If I can just focus long enough to get through the next little while, I won’t have to feel his gaze on me again.

“Nothing. Everything. It’s fucking complicated.”

“Try me.”

He scoffs out a weak laugh. “You don’t want to know.”

“It must be bad. I mean, it’s affected you to the point that the dogs must be sensing you need comforting.”

He raises his eyebrows and shakes his head as if I’m wrong. “Dogs aren’t that smart.”

“They’re smarter than you think. Why else would they come to you?”

Jackson cocks his head to one side, brows furrowed with confusion. But it’s mildly entertaining for him to be skeptical right now, with a Great Dane, a Shih Tzu and a Bull Terrier all nuzzling into him like they’re his pets. Jackson leans back and rests his head on the chair back again, crossing his arms above the dogs’ heads. Those muscular arms that have always been hidden under suit jackets, long-sleeved shirts and tuxedos.

Until today.

I can’t keep my eyes from staring at his sleeve of tattoos on each arm, or the outline of his massive chest as he sizes me up, putting distance between us with his almost unreadable eyes. His silent gazes are too intense. I can’t handle much more of this, so I slap my palm against my knee to see if the dogs are ready to listen to me again. Jeez. They’re not even interested in looking my way.

Then Jackson unfolds his arms and places his hand over mine.

“You don’t owe me anything,” he says out of the blue.

What? This again?

“You’re kidding me, right?” I say through gritted teeth.

“No. That’s why I let you go.”

I’m seeing red. The heat rises up my neck into my face. My chest is pounding hard, blood drumming that much harder in my ears, and my stomach does a flip from nausea—or something else. He’s the rudest, most obnoxious, arrogant, sexy man I’ve ever met in my life. I have no idea why the dogs have taken such a liking to him. For a moment, the question of why he has this effect on me overtakes my mind. I should be much more offended too. And I am, but I’m also... drawn to him. I have to shake my head at the thought. Drawing in a deep breath, I remind myself that I don’t need this. Mind you, he just confirmed that he’ll let the whole trespassing thing slide.

Damn. I wish Sheba hadn’t stepped foot on his terrace.

My trembling hand shoves his away from my lap. My legs work, so I get to my feet to leave. As long as he doesn’t send the dogs to the pound, they can stay with him for a few hours.

“You have my number. Phone me when you’re ready for me to pick them up.”

“Wait. This isn’t easy for me.”

He motions for me to sit. I don’t return to his side, but take a seat on the creamy button back armchair a few feet away.

Then he takes a breath, and tells me everything. From the few weeks that he’s had at work, to details about his childhood, to the way he keeps everyone at an emotional distance. Which is why he sent me packing when he found out I’m a virgin. He actually thought I’d get attached to him. Okay, maybe I would have.

Anyway, it’s touching to see him in this new light, but my heart breaks when he tells me about this acquisition deal they’re working to close, and on what Jace has just learned about their mother. One part makes me want to bawl my eyes out. That the experimental drug that led to their mother going into remission from breast cancer is also the cause of the side effects that killed her two years later. The company illegally buried the data and removed her results from the trials so they could push through FDA approvals. And it’s this same company that’s in the group of subsidiaries they’re negotiating to acquire.

Looking over at him right now, I can’t even fathom how he’s able to cope with both the tragedy and the irony of it all. I’m not just sad for him. I’m angry. His family deserves justice. Someone needs to pay.

I search for something to say, but the words don’t come. Nothing feels fitting.

Jackson slides the dogs off of him, getting to his feet. He steps up to me in a few ground-eating steps, and next thing I know, he’s pulled me to my feet, and his hands are on both sides of my face, his intense eyes staring down at me.