Free Home Is Where the Bark Is by Kandy Shepherd

forehead wrinkled in a frown.
    Mortified, Serena glared at both man and dog. But with the sound of her own silly utterance seeming to echo around the room, she found, in spite of herself, she was unable to stop a shaky, answering smile. “Dammit, I think you know what I mean.”
    Nick gave full leash to his grin. “That’s a first. I’ve never heard of anyone bragging about their own personal stalker.” He sobered. “But seriously, it might help to share. To talk about what happened.”
    He was too darn perceptive. Already, just hours after first meeting him, she was aware of the different nuances reflected in his pale blue eyes. Suspicion. Humor. Wariness. Now they were lit by a glow of something that made her bite her bottom lip to stop it from trembling.
    Compassion.
    The temptation to confide in him was almost unbearable.
    Of course she would feel better if she talked some more about what had happened with her crazy fan. She’d always talked to Maddy when something bothered her. But now her best friend was married to Tom, and Serena tried not to intrude on their time together. There was Jenna, of course. She’d known Jenna briefly at one of the numerous high schools she’d attended. They’d only reconnected a few years ago. But while Jenna was nice—really nice—she wasn’t yet in the top rank of friends.
    Whereas she and Maddy had clicked the moment they’d met over a plated entrée of Atlantic salmon with artichoke and almonds and a dangerously dribbly brown butter sauce. She’d been a new waitress almost paralytic with nervousness that she wouldn’t remember people’s orders; Maddy the sous chef desperate to take over the number one place in the kitchen. They’d talked ambition. They’d talked men. They’d talked more men.
    But now Maddy was part of a couple and Serena was aware that although Maddy would always occupy that space in her heart labeled “best girlfriend,” her buddy had moved on to a different stage of life.
    It would be so easy to cry on Nick Whalen’s rock-solid shoulder about the incident that still sometimes made her wake bolt upright in her bed as she relived the scariness—and stupidity—of it.
    But, sincere as he sounded, she still sensed that Nick had a different agenda that somehow involved her and the fledgling business she was so determined to make succeed. That feeling niggled at her. She could not risk getting too friendly with him. Not when she’d worked so hard to establish both her business and her emotional equilibrium. She had only enough money left from the fee for the girl-in-the-bath-of-chocolate shoot to keep her afloat for another six months. It hadn’t been as much as people thought—the photographer had gotten way more than she had—but enough to set up the business and give her a safety net until she got established.
    She made a big show of checking her watch. “No time for stalker sharing tonight. Not if you want to inspect that potty facility. You did say you were interested in seeing how it worked?” she said, knowing full well he had not.
    His grin dimmed into something that fought not to be a grimace. “Right. I . . . uh . . . of course I want to know that. Fascinated, in fact.”
    Serena would have no problem keeping a real Rottweiler out of Paws-A-While. She would simply tell the owner she had reached her quota of big dogs. But Nick Whalen was a different story. She suspected he would be as tough and tenacious as the breed of dog he so suited.
    “C’mon,” she said. “If we’re in luck, you might get to see Mack demonstrating how the potty works,” she said. She couldn’t resist a sly, sideways glance at him.
    Did Nick Whalen’s face go a pale tint of green under his tan?
     
     
    Nick cursed long and hard without uttering a word of it out loud. He’d lost her. Slipped out of doggy-daddy mode for just a second too long. Pushed her too soon, too hard.
    He didn’t know what made him most angry with himself—that he’d taken a step