hole in my life, even to myself. My sister and my best friend have both nagged me about it.’
‘Maybe you just needed time to work it out for yourself,’ he said softly. ‘I’m sorry. Looking after Baloo was the worst thing I could’ve asked you to do.’
‘And the best.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Looking after her, training her—it’s made me think, maybe I can go back. Not to the police. I can’t handle the idea of training someone who’s going to go out and get hurt, maybe killed. I just can’t do it. But I could work with people like you. People who’ve just got their first dogs. Or maybe working with animals on film sets—all the risk assessments will be done to minimise the risk of an accident, and nobody’s going to come in and hurt someone deliberately.’ Her voice dropped to a raspy whisper. ‘Nobody’s going to die .’
*
Not only that, every job would have a different crew, Luke thought. Every job would have different animals. If she set up training classes for new owners, every course would have a different set of people. Which meant she wouldn’t get involved, the way you would with a permanent set of colleagues. At heart, she was just like him, scared to get involved again.
Though she had much more reason to be scared. She’d lost everything through circumstances out of her control. He’d lost everything because he hadn’t tried hard enough.
‘I’m sorry you had to go through that,’ he said again. ‘And I get that I’m maybe asking you too much. If you know someone else who can help me...?’
‘You don’t want me to do it?’
‘Not if it’s going to be too hard for you. If it’s going to rip everything open.’
‘I’m always going to miss Matt and Comet. That’ll never change. But they say that time heals. Every day it gets that tiny bit easier to handle.’ She stroked Baloo’s head. ‘And Baloo here—I never expected that, but she’s helped so much.’
‘I’m glad,’ he said softly, and reached over to squeeze her hand. And funny how it made his skin tingle all over. The lightest, gentlest contact. Crazy. It was almost like being a teenager again—that sense of expectation, of possibilities blooming, of everything being one step further into the exciting unknown.
Was it like this for her, too?
Not that he dared ask. Especially given what she’d just told him. And now he understood what she was struggling to get over: the death of the love of her life. His murder.
Maybe she wasn’t ready for another relationship right now. Or maybe she felt the same pull that he did—despite not wanting to get involved, he found he couldn’t help it.
Slowly. They needed to take this slowly. Not push too fast outside their comfort zones. And, right then, he just wanted to savour the moment and enjoy the kind of feeling he hadn’t had for a very, very long time.
*
At the end of the evening, Luke insisted on driving Jess home, with Baloo in her crate in the back, and walked her to her front door. ‘Goodnight, Jess,’ he said. ‘Have a good weekend.’
‘You, too. Thank you for tonight.’
Her eyes were huge in the light from the street lamp, and he couldn’t resist dipping his head to kiss her goodnight. He brushed his lips against hers. But once wasn’t enough, and all his good intentions of taking it slowly just vanished as if they’d never been. He kissed her again. And again, until she kissed him back.
When he finally broke the kiss, they were both shaking.
‘I’d better go. Baloo,’ he said, gesturing to his car.
‘Yeah.’ Her voice sounded slightly rusty. Sexy as hell.
It almost made him yank her back into his arms. But his common sense prevailed.
Just.
‘See you later,’ he said, and fled back to the car, waiting until she’d closed the door behind her before driving away.
CHAPTER SIX
I S L UKE LACKING ?
Luke caught his breath as he saw the headline on Saturday morning.
No. Surely not. Fleur wouldn’t have told the press about
‘Maybe you just needed time to work it out for yourself,’ he said softly. ‘I’m sorry. Looking after Baloo was the worst thing I could’ve asked you to do.’
‘And the best.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Looking after her, training her—it’s made me think, maybe I can go back. Not to the police. I can’t handle the idea of training someone who’s going to go out and get hurt, maybe killed. I just can’t do it. But I could work with people like you. People who’ve just got their first dogs. Or maybe working with animals on film sets—all the risk assessments will be done to minimise the risk of an accident, and nobody’s going to come in and hurt someone deliberately.’ Her voice dropped to a raspy whisper. ‘Nobody’s going to die .’
*
Not only that, every job would have a different crew, Luke thought. Every job would have different animals. If she set up training classes for new owners, every course would have a different set of people. Which meant she wouldn’t get involved, the way you would with a permanent set of colleagues. At heart, she was just like him, scared to get involved again.
Though she had much more reason to be scared. She’d lost everything through circumstances out of her control. He’d lost everything because he hadn’t tried hard enough.
‘I’m sorry you had to go through that,’ he said again. ‘And I get that I’m maybe asking you too much. If you know someone else who can help me...?’
‘You don’t want me to do it?’
‘Not if it’s going to be too hard for you. If it’s going to rip everything open.’
‘I’m always going to miss Matt and Comet. That’ll never change. But they say that time heals. Every day it gets that tiny bit easier to handle.’ She stroked Baloo’s head. ‘And Baloo here—I never expected that, but she’s helped so much.’
‘I’m glad,’ he said softly, and reached over to squeeze her hand. And funny how it made his skin tingle all over. The lightest, gentlest contact. Crazy. It was almost like being a teenager again—that sense of expectation, of possibilities blooming, of everything being one step further into the exciting unknown.
Was it like this for her, too?
Not that he dared ask. Especially given what she’d just told him. And now he understood what she was struggling to get over: the death of the love of her life. His murder.
Maybe she wasn’t ready for another relationship right now. Or maybe she felt the same pull that he did—despite not wanting to get involved, he found he couldn’t help it.
Slowly. They needed to take this slowly. Not push too fast outside their comfort zones. And, right then, he just wanted to savour the moment and enjoy the kind of feeling he hadn’t had for a very, very long time.
*
At the end of the evening, Luke insisted on driving Jess home, with Baloo in her crate in the back, and walked her to her front door. ‘Goodnight, Jess,’ he said. ‘Have a good weekend.’
‘You, too. Thank you for tonight.’
Her eyes were huge in the light from the street lamp, and he couldn’t resist dipping his head to kiss her goodnight. He brushed his lips against hers. But once wasn’t enough, and all his good intentions of taking it slowly just vanished as if they’d never been. He kissed her again. And again, until she kissed him back.
When he finally broke the kiss, they were both shaking.
‘I’d better go. Baloo,’ he said, gesturing to his car.
‘Yeah.’ Her voice sounded slightly rusty. Sexy as hell.
It almost made him yank her back into his arms. But his common sense prevailed.
Just.
‘See you later,’ he said, and fled back to the car, waiting until she’d closed the door behind her before driving away.
CHAPTER SIX
I S L UKE LACKING ?
Luke caught his breath as he saw the headline on Saturday morning.
No. Surely not. Fleur wouldn’t have told the press about
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