Read Online Home Is Where the Bark Is by Kandy Shepherd - Free Book Online

idea to talk about his personal life to a possible perp.
    He shrugged. “Different times of life have different needs. We lived on a farm. My family still does. There’s plenty of room for big dogs. We always have them.”
    “Lucky you,” she said. “I wasn’t allowed to have a dog when I was little. My parents were vegans. No carnivores permitted in their household.”
    “That was tough.”
    “Yeah, especially to a kid who loved steak and hamburger.” She pulled a face that made Nick smile. “We moved around a lot, too, which they gave as an additional excuse not to have a dog. Or cat for that matter.”
    “You moved around a lot?” Itinerant parents. A background common to many criminals.
    “I lost count of how many schools I went to.”
    Oakley or St. James? He’d have to check out those dubious-sounding parents.
    “I guilted them into a pet eventually,” Serena continued. “I was an only child and I played the lonely card. But they never felt comfortable around my dogs.”
    “What do they make of all this?” Nick gestured around him.
    She smiled. “Shall I say they’re philosophically opposed to it? But they’re cool about anything I do. Even at the time when I wa—”
    She stopped mid-word. Met his scrutiny with wide eyes. The air seemed heavy with her unspoken words.
    He held her gaze for a long moment. Then finally he uttered the question he had been burning to ask her.
    “Why?”
    He found he was holding his breath for her answer.
     
     
    Serena tilted her chin upward. “Why what?” she asked. “Why did I pose naked in a bath of chocolate for the whole of America to see?”
    Nick started to growl a response, but she put up her hand to stop him.
    “Not naked, by the way. It just looked that way. I was wearing panties.” She hated the defensiveness that always weakened her voice when she spoke about it. “Or do you want to know why I look like this now?” She swept her hands down the sides of her shapeless shirt.
    “All of that.” He folded his arms across his chest and rocked back on his heels.
    So far, no sleaze. Just interest. Above-the-neck-type interest.
    Serena knew she had good instincts when it came to animals—that was why she understood dogs so well. But she wasn’t so attuned to men. She was wary of making yet another mistake.
    She didn’t have to tell him. He had no right to ask. But there was something about this man that made her want to answer his question.
    With the shorthand version, that was.
    He was attractive. She liked his concern for Mack. She liked the way he hadn’t turned into a number one sleazebag when he’d discovered her past. But she still felt on edge around him.
    She noticed a soft plastic ball that had rolled under the dog bed. To gain a few seconds, she bent down to pick it up. When she straightened she realized Nick hadn’t taken his eyes off of her for a second. In a moment of pure female contrariness, she wished she were wearing something more attractive than the Paws-A-While uniform she had designed specifically to deflect male interest.
    “Posing for Maddy’s chocolate feature was fun,” she began. “ Annie is my favorite magazine and Maddy is my best friend. The pose wasn’t any more revealing than a swimsuit.” Despite her best efforts, she faltered. “I . . . I never dreamed what it would lead to.”
    “Yes?” Nick nodded in encouragement.
    “For one thing, as soon as the campaign started, no one took me seriously anymore. It was like they thought my brain had been smothered by chocolate. I realized pretty soon that I would never live it down.”
    “You became famous.”
    “Infamous, you mean.” Fight it as she did, she couldn’t keep the betraying tremor from her voice. She tossed the ball from hand to hand.
    He leaned closer. “What do you mean?”
    She took a deep, steadying breath. Struggled to sound unaffected, unconcerned. “I attracted some weirdos. One in particular . . .”
    Her voice cracked. She wasn’t as