Free Sexy/Dangerous by Beverly Jenkins

still didn’t like them, and he certainly didn’t trust them, no matter how well trained she claimed them to be. The terror associated with his own vicious attack still lived inside as raw and real as the day it happened.
    Ten minutes passed and still no Max Blake. He didn’t know what to do about the dogs in her absence, but he was wet and in need of a hot shower himself, so he decided not to make it his problem and started toward the stairs. The dogs got up and slowly followed. He felt a frissom of panic but took a deep breath, stopped and told them, “Stay.”
    They stopped, looked up at him and sat.
    Pleased, Adam walked away. The dogs got up and trotted behind him.
    Adam said firmly, “You are not going with me. Stay here. She’ll be back.”
    This time they didn’t sit. Instead they gave him the impression that they were waiting for him to climb the stairs and that he was just wasting his breath trying to convince them to do otherwise.
    Sighing his surrender, he gestured toward the staircase. “Go on, then.”
    As if that was all they’d been waiting to hear, they bounded up the steps. Adam shook his head and followed.
    To his displeasure, the dogs were now walking up the hallway that led to his room. The workers had left all manner of items stacked up against the wall, and plaster dust was everywhere. When the dogs began to climb his short stairway, he asked testily, “Where the hell do you think you two are going? Go find your mama.”
    Adam hadn’t seen or heard anything that indicated Blake’s whereabouts, but the scent of vanilla lingered fragrantly in the air. The dogs were now sitting by the open door of his bedroom. Since he still hadn’t seen Blake, the idea that she might be in his room tightened his jaw. He walked in, the dogs with him, and the canines went straight to the bed where she lay.
    “That you, Doc?” she asked groggily. She was lying on her stomach on top of the indigo quilt his mother had given him for his birthday last year. She was wearing a lightweight gray sweatsuit. The top was loose fitting and had short sleeves. “Can you unhook my bra? Arms won’t bend back there. Had to shower in it.”
    Adam went still.
    The dogs were as close to her as they could get without jumping onto the bed. “Hi guys,” she said softly without moving. “I’ll be better in the morning.” Then she called again. “Doc?”
    Adam approached the bed. “Let me go get Kaitlin.”
    “Just unhook the damn thing. Please? If the dogs could do it, I’d ask them.”
    Adam stood there for a moment and met the eyes ofthe dog Ossie. Adam swore the dog shrugged. Taking a deep breath, he walked to the edge of the bed. For a moment he hesitated like a man contemplating a lit stick of dynamite. He ran his eyes over her tall body with its fine behind, and in the end decided to get it over with. He sat down on the bed. Reaching over, he found the clasp through the soft fabric of her top, and the heat of her skin seemed to run up his arms. The vanilla scent he’d noticed in the hall wafted temptingly across his nose. He undid the placard, and the sigh of pleasure she gave in response put a big-time crack in his celibacy vow.
    “Thanks,” she said softly, and a blink later she was asleep.
    “Hey!” Adam said, alarmed. “You can’t sleep here.”
    But she was out. He looked down at the dogs. They made themselves comfortable on the plush rug, rested their heads on their paws, then closed their eyes.
    Adam threw up his hands. Mad and outdone, he stomped into the room’s connecting bathroom to take a shower.
    When Max heard the water turn on, she smiled sleepily, then drifted off to sleep for real.
    Inside the shower stall, Adam washed and simmered. Where the hell was he supposed to sleep now? Truthfully, he hadn’t used the bed in weeks. He’d been crashing on the old sofa in the basement because it was closer to his lab, but that wasn’t the point. The point was: The bed was his, and the only women