Anything for Her - By Janice Kay Johnson Page 0,29

brought it back each time and dropped it at Nolan’s feet. He didn’t mind a little slobber, he had to wash his hands anyway.

Tuba, the brown tabby male cat, crouched on the workshop roof and watched with slit-eyed suspicion. Juparana, the girl, was staying out of sight; she’d probably sent her brother on a reconnaissance mission.

Nolan had named both for types of granite—Uba Tuba could be a speckled brownish, like the cat’s coat, and some variations of Juparana Champagne were the perfect mix of gray and peach that was, Nolan had learned, a diluted tortoiseshell coloration. Both granites were mined in Brazil, which fit since the cats were, he guessed, littermates.

Tuba vanished before Nolan decided he’d had enough.

Cassie wasn’t happy about being abandoned again, but he thought that, even if she didn’t know it, she’d be better off in the house than locked in the truck. At least she had water and food there.

He was dismayed when he got to Allie’s to find her car not there. He drove down to her shop, parked, peered into the darkened interior and even went around to the alley and knocked, in case she was in the back room. No response.

She could be anywhere. Grocery shopping, going to the bank, visiting a friend... Sitting in his truck, Nolan tried to decide what to do next. Drive around town looking for her car? That smacked of stalking. Grab a bite to eat and then go back to her apartment?

He could do that.

One burger and serving of fries later, he returned to find Allie still hadn’t come home. Leave her a note? He didn’t have paper in the car, and that was stupid anyway when he could call her cell phone.

Sitting there brooding, his mood was crappy. He couldn’t even pin down why he felt such urgency. Sure, she’d been annoyed yesterday, and she should be. He hadn’t listened to her caution, and as a result she’d been put in an embarrassing and maybe hurtful position. But she’d understand if they had to slow it down a little, wouldn’t she?

He didn’t know. Nolan didn’t have the slightest damn idea what had been going through her head yesterday, and he didn’t like the feeling. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel, flexed. He looked down at them and deliberately loosened them.

Shit, he thought, I’m in over my head. He knew better than to dive headfirst like this. He couldn’t begin to understand what he’d been thinking. He didn’t know this woman, and he was already all tangled up over her. And it wasn’t all because he wanted her, either. If it had been that simple, he could shrug and figure she wasn’t worth the effort. There were a lot of pretty women around.

Not many so graceful, they looked as if in the next step they might become airborne. Not many intrigued by what he did, either, rather than disappointed because he didn’t don suit and tie every morning. Not many with the gift of creating beauty, or of displaying delight so transparently.

“Damn it,” he muttered, knowing he should go home and get his ass back to work. He’d killed an hour and a half already. He only had a few hours before Sean got home and wondered where he was.

At the sound of a car engine he turned his head and saw a white Corolla coming down the street. Relief, way out of proportion, filled his chest. He watched as the car noticeably hesitated, then turned into the driveway and Allie parked in her customary spot beside the steps.

He got out and went to meet her.

She climbed out, too, and faced him, her eyes wide and wary. “Nolan. I didn’t expect to see you today.”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Is this about yesterday? I did understand why Sean acted the way he did, if that’s what you meant to talk about.”

“No.” He frowned. “Yes. Oh, hell. I didn’t like things ending the way they did.”

Aggravatingly enough, he still couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

“Um...you can come up if you’d like,” she finally said. “Let me grab my groceries.”

“I’ll help.” She popped her trunk, and he loaded himself down with bags, leaving her to carry only her purse and a small watermelon.

“Thank you,” she said over her shoulder.

He stood aside to let her go ahead of him. “You talk to the owners about these steps?”

“Yes, they’ve had a man come out and take a look. He agreed with you and they’re to be replaced, although I don’t