small stack of cards she’d given me and sorted through them until I found one of hers. I handed it to him, being very careful to make sure that our fingers didn’t accidentally brush, because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle the sensation.
“Thanks for the recommendation.” He slid the card into his own pocket.
That weird, awkward energy was back, and he was looking at me like . . . like he wanted to kiss me.
Panicky adrenaline flooded through me, and I cleared my throat loudly. “We should probably get started. Let me tell you a little about the services I provide.”
I ran through what I’d do with Magnus, the brushing and bathing, the organic products I used that were environmentally friendly and didn’t have any harsh chemicals, how I preferred towel drying and then stress-free toenail clipping. “I can also brush his teeth and clean out his ears, if you want.”
“He probably needs the works. Let me get his leash in case he makes a dash for it once we go outside.”
I nodded as he went into the kitchen. Talking about how I did my job had calmed me back down and made it so that I could appreciate Noah’s broad shoulders as he went through the door. I thought again about how strong he was and how easily he’d hefted his dog. Magnus looked up at me expectantly, and I said, “You’re the world’s luckiest dog, did you know that?”
“Did you say something?” Noah asked when he reentered the library and attached the leash to Magnus’s collar.
Other than a small part of me wishing I could switch places with Magnus? “No. I’m parked out front.”
He led the way, which allowed me to walk behind him and enjoy the fact that his jeans were very well fitted and he filled them out nicely.
I tried not to sigh. I did not have nearly as much willpower as I thought I did. I was crumbling like a sandcastle at high tide.
To distract myself I asked, “So, you said they’re doing a feature on you and Magnus?”
He glanced over his shoulder with a wry expression. “I know, it sounds pretentious. But yes.”
It didn’t sound the least bit pretentious to me. Because I was totally going to read that article and would probably even cut it out and put it in my old scrapbook. I’d started it back when he was starring on the teen show Late for Class as Felix Morrison. He played the mischievous ladies’ man who was always getting in and out of schemes, to his principal’s great frustration. The show was originally intended to be a showcase for the actress who played his homeroom teacher, but they quickly discovered that the teen girls were much more interested in Felix and he became the breakout star.
When I was younger, I used to clip magazine articles about Noah and the show, along with printing out stories and pictures of him from the internet, and put them all in my scrapbook. I wondered where it was. I hadn’t seen that thing in years. My mom would probably know.
Noah opened the front door, and I made my way over to the van. He read the name on the side. “Waggin’ Wheels. Clever.”
“Thanks.” I got out my keys to unlock the van.
He apparently had no concept of personal boundaries, as he stood close enough to me that if I moved even a fraction of an inch, my back would be pressed against his front. Flustered, I dropped my keys not once, but twice.
Shaking my head, I finally pushed the unlock and then the door open buttons to open the van. The lights popped on as I climbed in.
“Wow,” he said. “This wasn’t what I was expecting.”
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” The inside was a pristine white with different stainless steel stations for each part of the grooming process, along with white overhead cabinets to hold all of my supplies. It almost looked like the inside of a spaceship. “Come in,” I told him. “I call it my Hair Force One.”
His expression didn’t alter.
“Get it?” I said, just in case he didn’t realize it was a joke.
“Oh, I got it. It just wasn’t, you know, funny.” I realized that he was teasing me in that sardonic tone of his, and it both annoyed and thrilled me.
Although the van had a high ceiling, Noah still had to duck when he got in and stand with his head slightly tilted. Magnus was sniffing everything in sight, and