Ben stared into Emma’s eyes and could see the indecision raging within. There was a battle going on inside her but she wasn’t willing to open up to him. Andrew’s words circled in his mind, like vipers, striking out, reminding him that he was falling for Emma, hard and fast, and that he just didn’t have it in him to not get involved.

He closed his eyes, trying to figure out how Andrew could be with a woman like Emma and not care what was going on behind the eyes that had suddenly taken on the appearance of the ocean in a storm. It was impossible.

But he also knew Andrew was right, Emma didn’t want a relationship. She wanted something without strings, no commitments. As much as he wanted to ask what was going on in her head, he didn’t. He would stick to letting her set their pace, somehow.

Ben drew her closer and Emma leaned in willingly, sighing as his mouth covered hers. Desire surged through him, hot and bold, but he kept their kiss gentle, sweet, almost languorous. Emma’s hands slid from his chest to the nape of his neck as his tongue swept against hers, dancing with eager strokes. His hands slid down her back, pulling her against him and sending his body straining against the tight rein he kept on his self-control.

She moved over him, trying to get even closer, but there were too many clothes separating them. Emma’s hands moved down the front of his chest, tugging his Henley from the waistband of his jeans when he stopped her. She whimpered a protest but he laughed quietly.

“This isn’t exactly the most comfortable place to . . .” Ben let his words trail off and gave her a slight shrug. “You know.”

“Get busy?” she offered, flashing him a brilliant smile. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“I can be far more adventurous when I’m not worried about you leaning back on the horn and waking your neighbors.”

Emma pressed her lips to the edge of his jaw. “My neighbors are almost two miles away on either side. I could sit on this horn and they wouldn’t hear it.” She gave him a flirty smile, letting her lips brush over his. “But now you have me intrigued to see this adventurous side you claim to have.”

Before he could say anything, Emma opened the door. He groaned as she seductively slid off his lap and stood at the door, waiting for him. Ben dropped his head against the back window, closing his eyes for a moment, trying to calm the ravenous hunger raging through him. Whenever Emma was involved, all of his good intentions and control seemed to disappear.

He opened his eyes and reached for her hand when two small flashes of light behind her caught his attention. Ben narrowed his eyes, trying to see it again, but now it was gone.

“What’s over there?” He reached for her shoulder and pointed toward the front of her house. “I saw light that way.”

“What light? Where?”

A faint low growl carried to where they stood. Ben instinctively moved to Emma’s left side, protecting the only vulnerable side of her, when he saw the faint yellow light again. Only it wasn’t light. It was the reflection of light from the eyes of an animal, walking straight toward them. From the loud snarl, it didn’t sound friendly.

“Shit,” he muttered, staring ahead in the darkness, unable to make out anything but a large shape and immediately wondered if Buster hadn’t somehow gotten out again. “Can you tell what that is?”

“No.” Emma leaned into the truck and flipped the headlights on. The front of the house was bathed in yellow light as what appeared to be a wolf froze, midstep, as if confused how to react.

Emma pushed her way past him much to his dismay. “Get back here,” he called, reaching for her arm.

He’d just missed her as she moved toward the front of the truck. “Cana?”

Ben moved to flank her and the animal immediately sank on its haunches, teeth bared again. It snapped once, taking a step backward. Emma took a step forward, away from the protection of the truck and squatted on the balls of her feet.

“Cana, it’s okay. It’s me.”

“Emma?” Ben reached for her, determined to pull her back to safety but she shook him off. “Emma, get back here. That wolf is going to kill you.”

The wolf’s amber eyes flicked at him and the snarls turned more violent as the animal lashed out.

“No, he won’t.” Her gaze never left the animal as she waited, looking far more relaxed than she should. “This is a wolf-dog, but a very high concentration.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because I know him. Do me a favor and sit in the truck. Just leave the parking lights on.”

“No way.” Ben was not about to leave her vulnerable, in the dark, with this wild animal while he sat and watched her get attacked.

“Ben,” she repeated, her voice more adamant, “he’s not growling at me. He’s growling at you. Now, get in the truck.”

Ben realized she was right as the animal met his gaze, each growl louder than the last, before the beast’s gaze looked at Emma warily. He took a hesitant step back and the hair on the scruff of the wolf’s neck seemed to lie flatter.

“Are you sure?” If she was wrong, the consequences could be disastrous. However, he wasn’t doing her much good right now, aggravating the beast. He was going to have to trust that she could take care of herself with the animal.

“Yes.”

Ben took a few steps back, never taking his eyes off Emma, prepared to rush back to her side, even if it meant putting himself between her and the wolf. Instead, the wolf looked back at her, his lip dropping back over his teeth and his entire demeanor taking on a more relaxed stance.

“Cana, sit.” Emma stood slowly, watching the animal for any signs of attack, but he responded the way any well-trained dog would, by plopping his rear to the ground. “Just stay there for a minute, Ben.”

“Cana, come on.”

The wolf jumped up, trotting toward her as she walked to the porch, but not before shooting a wary glance back at the truck.

“I’m going to get him settled into a kennel. Head inside after I get Cana to the barn.”

She opened the back gate and Ben felt his pulse race as she disappeared from sight. There wasn’t a muscle in his body that wasn’t tensed, ready to charge into the barn, to jump between her and that animal but he could hear her talking to him the entire way, even though he couldn’t quite make out her words. He relaxed slightly. As long as he could hear her voice, he knew she was okay.

It was the only thread of hope he could grasp onto since she’d insisted he head into the house, like a child being put in time-out. Ben moved one of the curtains aside in time to see her walking the wolf on a leash out to the building housing her kennels. He’d seen them during his brief volunteer stint, although they’d been empty at the time and he’d wondered at their purpose.

This woman floored him, intriguing him with the few moments of vulnerability he saw, only to be awed by the courage she displayed. She was an open book in so many ways, yet a complete mystery in others. He dropped the curtain and waited for her to return, wandering into the living room.

She hadn’t moved many of her father’s things from here since her arrival. His tastes still permeated the room with leather furniture, animal portraits and hundreds of books along a case that took up an entire wall, but there were a few new pictures. Ben picked one up off a shelf and studied it. It was easy to recognize a much younger Emma standing beside Conrad with a red-tailed hawk held on her arm. She was staring at the bird but her father was staring at her, pride beaming clearly from his face. He set it down and picked up one that was much more recent, showing Emma with her father again, but this time, he held the chain of a tiger and Emma was wearing a polo shirt for the animal park she’d worked at. While Conrad looked awed by the experience, Ben couldn’t help but notice the sadness in his expression.

“He didn’t actually want me working there, but insisted I needed more experience than what vet school or growing up here had given me. However, he said he felt like he’d convinced me to sell my soul to a glorified zoo.” She sighed as she looked around his shoulder at the picture. “It’s a fine line between sanctuaries and zoos, really. In truth, I guess it comes down to how the money comes in.”

“What do you mean?” He settled the frame back on the bookshelf and turned toward her, wanting to reach for her but seeing a hesitancy in her eyes.

Emma shrugged. “A lot of zoos breed and sell offspring which, while maintaining the population of some species, can hurt it as well and can promote black market sales. Some sanctuaries do the same. A true sanctuary will rescue animals, keeping and caring for them until they can be released, or for their lifetime if they can’t be returned to their habitat. This particular animal park fell into the middle. They did both but Dad was against the breeding program as well as the training and performance aspect.”

“But he trained some of the animals here,” Ben pointed out.

“He didn’t see it that way. He believed there was a big difference between training an animal to perform for a show, even using methods that mimicked their natural tendencies, and training them to tolerate human contact.”

“You disagree.”

She shrugged again. “Whether I agreed or not didn’t really matter. This was Dad’s place and his rules.”

“Yet, he walked wolves on a leash?”

She arched a brow at him and he realized he may have just crossed a line with her. He hadn’t meant to sound judgmental when he was actually curious what crossed her father’s imaginary line.

“Like I said, Cana is a wolf-dog, just a very high concentration of wolf, and he never liked men, not even my father. But he bonded with me, which is why, when I left, he was sent to a wolf-dog rescue in Nevada. He’s not supposed to be here and I have no idea why he is.” A frown furrowed her brow. “I was there when he was shipped out.”

“You need to call the rescue and find out what happened.”

“I will,” she agreed. “In the morning.”

“So, is this how all of our dates are going to end? With some sort of wild animal attack? At least I didn’t almost shoot you this time.”

He’d intended to put a smile on her face by pointing out the irony of their situation, that this was the second time this had happened, but when she looked at him, there was no humor in her expression. In fact, it was the first time since he’d met her that she actually seemed afraid.

“This isn’t a date.” Her voice was tight, as if even saying the words distressed her.

She had just stood in front of a wolf that was ready to attack them, without even flinching, but calling this a date had her backing away from him. He’d didn’t miss the look of panic in her eyes. It was the same one he’d seen in Buster’s, just before he’d run for the woods.

Emma felt her heart drop to her toes. As much as she enjoyed being with Ben, and there wasn’t a part of her that didn’t relish being near him, this couldn’t turn into a relationship. It would take away too much time she needed to give to the sanctuary. Who was she kidding? She was more afraid of getting hurt again. She hadn’t forgotten how she felt when her relationship had crumbled because of her job. And she’d watched her father pine for years, missing her mother. She swore she’d never do that again. “Dating” was the first step heading down that forbidden road.

His eyes gleamed with mischief as he shot her a grin that made the dimple in his cheek appear. “I don’t know, Emma. I drove you someplace where we had drinks and food. Then I drove you home. That sounds like a date to me.”

He was joking, teasing her, but knowing that didn’t stop the dread from welling within her. She had to stop this or, at the very least, set some boundaries.

“We didn’t arrange that meeting and neither of us paid for the food. That means it was really nothing more than a chance encounter that turned into a game of cards.”

Ben took a step toward her, his hands circling her waist and drawing her close. He smiled down at her, brushing back a strand of her hair that caught in the corner of her mouth. “There’s nothing wrong with us having a date, you know.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with us not having a date,” she countered. Her hands had come to rest against his broad chest and she could feel his heart pounding beneath her fingers, strong and steady. Just like the man, himself. “This doesn’t have to be more than it is. Can’t we just have fun?”

She looked up at him, hoping he would agree with her. His gaze was dark, unreadable, as if he was trying to figure out a way to answer her. As if he wasn’t sure of the answer he wanted to give.

“Yes, we can.” His hand slid down her back to cup her rear, pressing her fully against him, and Emma gasped as her own body surged in response. “So long as you promise me one thing.”

Emma felt a chill shiver down her spine in spite of the heat Ben had sparked within her.

“We make what this is clear and decide what we each want. That way, either of us can call it quits and no one gets hurt.”

“You mean, set some ground rules?”

“I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”

He sounded unsure, as if he wished he could take his words back but she wasn’t about to let him backtrack. It was a brilliant idea.