Linx woke early the next morning after staying up late the night before. Cait had called to let her know that she was okay and staying at The Over Easy Bed & Breakfast near Joe’s Diner. Her contractions had subsided and had been caused by exhaustion and dehydration.

She hadn’t heard from Grady, so she put Sam back in the kennel out back. She should get him ready and deliver him back to Grady before he came over to claim him.

The phone was ringing downstairs, so Linx pulled a robe over her naked body and bounded down the stairs, followed by Cedar.

Linx rushed to pick up the phone, but whoever was calling hung up without speaking. Who bothered with landlines these days?

Oh, right. She still had one with a vintage nineteen-eighties answering machine. Maybe the person had only wanted to check if she was in.

Cedar barked and jumped near the door, wanting to go outside for her morning bathroom break.

Linx opened the door and almost tripped over her own feet as she skidded to a stop in front of a monstrous pile of metallic art sprawled on her porch.

Rusty patches of scrap metal were welded in a rough shape of a grinning skull. A railroad spike pierced one of the eye sockets, and a beckoning hand protruded from the other eye. In the hand was a heart made of rusty wires and scrap twisted together complete with arteries and veins made from ridged toilet connector tubes.

Her absentee mother had left another calling card.

“Minx!” Linx swirled around and shouted at the empty space in front of the center. “Get this crap off my property.”

No wonder the dogs had been restless in the wee hours before dawn.

“Belongs in a junkyard!” Linx shook her fist and yelled, in case Minx lurked to see her reaction.

Beside her, Cedar sniffed at the heap of scrap and emitted a low growl, as if she also found it offensive.

“You’re darn right.” Linx petted her dog, glaring at the skull which was embellished by a ring of flame-like shapes. “What’s this thing supposed to mean anyway?”

Cedar’s ears perked up at the sound of tires on the gravel driveway. Linx grabbed her before she bolted toward the approaching vehicle.

“Sorry, girl, can’t let you bite her.” Linx yanked Cedar back into the cabin and slammed the door. Her heart pounded and sweat erupted over her forehead. Whatever words they’d have would be bad and nasty—hurtful, and right now, with the fire and Grady in town, she couldn’t deal with another all-out emotional assault.

Minx Colson was the polar opposite of Grady and Cait’s mother. Where Mrs. Hart was warm and cuddly, like an overeager golden retriever, her mother had the demeanor of a Rottweiler ready to attack.

And she sure knew how to bare her fangs.

Linx lowered the shades and peeked out the corner of the window while Cedar barked.

The person getting out of the truck wasn’t her mother.

It was Grady, and Grady and Cedar didn’t mix, at least without fallout raining all over Linx.

“Oh, crap!” Linx dragged Cedar back. “I need to get Sam ready. You’re going to have to stay out of sight in the bathroom.”

She shoved her dog, whining and complaining, into the bathroom.

Before Grady could knock, Linx bounded onto the porch and slammed the door behind her.

“Hi! Sam’s out back. How’s Cait? Is she going back to San Francisco?”

Grady raised one eyebrow sky-high. “What’s gotten into you? A squirrel crawl up your ass?”

What kind of greeting was that after the hot, searing kiss they’d shared last night?

“I, uh, well, let me get Sam for you.” The wind picked up the edge of her robe.

“Dressed in nothing but a flimsy robe?” Grady’s leer spread across his wide mouth. “And what the heck is that?”

He tilted his too-sexy chin at the pile of metal on her porch.

“Nothing. A skull. Art.”

“Nice.” He advanced on her, smooth and knowing, as he lowered the shoulders of her robe. His heated gaze drew sparks up and down her body.

Linx swallowed hard, as he lowered his slick wet lips onto her neck, melting all the panic from her body and replacing it with dreaded desire.

“I can’t, I mean, the dog, Sam.” Her words were useless against the press of his hard, hot body, and the suckling of his mouth as he trailed kisses down the column of her neck to her bare shoulders.

All he had to do was drop the robe, and she’d be exposed to the entire world—including her mother, if she were lurking around with a pair of binoculars.

“We can’t.” She summoned all her strength and pushed from his embrace. “Someone might see. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Then let’s move inside.” Grady’s low voice electrified every sensual nerve on her body.

Woof. Woof. Thud.

Linx froze. Cedar had gotten out of the bathroom and was lunging against the front door.

“Oh no! My dog got loose.” Linx scrambled to tie her robe and turned to the door.

“Then let her out.” Grady laughed and reached for the doorknob.

“No, you can’t!” Linx grabbed his hand, but he was too quick.

He jiggled the doorknob.

Locked.

Whatever relief she felt quickly fanned into a firestorm of panic. She was locked out in nothing but her light summer robe, buck naked underneath, and Cedar was on the other side of the door.

“Hey little doggy,” Grady said. “Your mommy’s locked out with big bad me.”

“Stop teasing her. Can’t you tell she’s scared?” Linx yanked Grady by his arm. “Let’s go get Sam, and you can be on your way. I know that veteran really wants him, and we can’t keep her waiting. How’s Cait, by the way?”

“You’re popping like a busted sack of popcorn in a microwave.” Grady tapped his fingers on the door, eliciting heavier barking and whining from Cedar. “Hey, little doggy. I bet you want to play.”

“Let’s go.” Linx gritted her teeth, but he wouldn’t move from the door.

The barking grew more frantic.

Linx’s pulse panicked when the curtains moved against the window and Cedar’s paws showed underneath, digging at the window sill.

“Look, she’s trying to get out,” Grady hooted. “Maybe she has to pee. You do have a key somewhere out here, don’t you?”

She did—under a potted plant, which was thankfully hidden by her mother’s huge metallic spike in the eye.

She couldn’t expose Cedar to Grady—not right now. She wasn’t ready. Not yet.

There was only one thing to do. She had to get Grady’s attention off the dog and onto her and get him away from the window.

Slowly, she untied her robe and pulled it aside, flashing her boob. Giving him a come-hither wink, she wiggled her behind and sashayed around the wraparound porch to the back of the property where the rest of the dogs stayed.

* * *

Linx was acting strange, but after the last twenty-four hours, who wouldn’t?

Grady turned away from her hysterical dog who would hurt herself if she broke through the window and chased Linx around the cabin.

The fire at his parents’ cabin hadn’t left it completely in ruins, but there was still substantial damage to the porch and front entrance. Fortunately, they had caught it in time and the propane tank hadn’t blown, but for now, his sister and brother-in-law were holed up at a bed and breakfast.

Grady caught up with Linx in the barn housing kennels of dogs. The barking was deafening and drove every bit of lust from his bloodstream. Oh, she’d cast a sexy image, and he could undress her and have his way with her in a minute flat—but in front of all these canine witnesses?

No way.

Grady tucked his shirt in and met up with Linx in front of Sam’s pen. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s a good boy. Kept Cait safe.”

Grady tugged Linx into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Hey, I’d like to play, but I have to deliver this guy to the therapist and pick up clothes for Cait and Brian. Knowing my parents, they’re going to swarm into town, so I’ll be busy the next few days. Raincheck?”

“We can’t meet here anyway.” She backed away from him. “And we’re not in a relationship, in case you’re getting any ideas.”

The pupils of her eyes tightened, and she now looked decidedly hostile.

What was it with this woman?

Oh, right, she was hard as nails, and he hated her. All this sweet gooey stuff was hormonal—the aftereffects of fighting a witch of a fire.

Nothing more, nothing less.

“Thanks for the dog. We have some new requests come in. The therapist I work with mentioned a husband and a wife who want a pair of retrievers for companionship.” He craned his neck at the other kennels. “Can I have a look around?”

The din of barking hadn’t let up the entire time they were in the barn, and he was really getting a headache, but he’d promised he’d look.

“No.” Linx clamped her arms over her breasts. “I can’t let you have them without an application. Please, don’t come to the center again. If you want a dog, I’ll bring him to you.”

So, she was back to game playing again—her version of pump and dump.

He took Sam by the leash and left her standing there.