Page 41 of Nora
“Believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen and my furry friends, I do have a life outside of being your vet.” As she spoke, Craig released Miles, who’d been his constant companion since their talk a few days ago, and the dog came trotting up to her.
“Your dress!” Sophie exclaimed as Nora squatted to give the shepherd a good rub behind his ears and a kiss on the forehead. If dogs were as petty as humans, she was pretty sure Miles would have stuck his tongue out at Raum. Raum would have just rolled his eyes.
“It’s just a dress,” Nora said, nuzzling Miles’s soft fur. “And besides, if my date can’t take a little dog hair, he’s definitely not worth my time.”
“Hear hear,” both Willa and Marie said.
“You know I don’t mind a little dog hair,” Jonah said.
“Your bed would get a little crowded with both me and Lena,” Nora countered as the group laughed.
“I’d invite you into mine, but Miles would force me to sleep on the floor,” Craig said.
“And I bet you’d be an excellent cuddler, wouldn’t you?” she asked Miles, who smiled at her, then butted his head against her chin. Balanced on her heels, the move almost knocked her over, but a hand wrapped around her bicep and pulled her up. “Oh, Lucian, you’re here. Ready?” she asked. He was dressed in a pair of black slacks, dress shoes, and a soft white button-down. In the hand not wrapped around her arm, he held his jacket.
“You clean up good, too,” she blurted out. He looked good in jeans, boots, and his winter gear when he was out working with the dogs. But in his business attire, as casual as it was, Nora had the uncharacteristic urge to muss him up.
He didn’t quite grin, but amusement flickered in his eyes. “Thank you. You as well. Shall we?”
“Why doesn’t he get any ribbing?” Nora teased the group as she slipped into her jacket.
“Not my type, love,” Collin said.
“I’ve already offered, but he won’t take me up on it,” Ingrid threw in, making everyone laugh. Nora glanced at Lucian to see just a hint of pink. Ha, Ingrid wasn’t kidding.
“Have fun tonight, Nora,” Willa said. “Hike tomorrow morning?”
“Definitely. And have fun tonight, you all. Don’t go too crazy.” It was a Saturday night, and the Sunday session didn’t start until noon. The handlers would be up early with their dogs, but a slow morning would give the partiers of the group a chance to recover from any debauchery. “Are you joining them?” she asked Willa as Lucian started inching toward the door.
Willa shook her head. “Angelo and Cencio are going to teach me, Sophie, Jean, James, and Jurgen how to make gnocchi from scratch.”
That almost made her want to stay. But Lucian cleared his throat behind her. She was dragging her heels. No surprise there. Her brother had told her Emil was a good man. But as Lucian had pointed out, he lived in Jordan, and her entire life was in the US. With an internal sigh, she waved goodbye to everyone and followed Lucian out into the cold. If nothing else, it would be a good meal and a chance to reminisce about her home country.
* * *
“Do you want to drive or shall I?” Lucian asked as they passed through the main doors of the residence hall.
“You can. That way you can drop me at the restaurant and go from there.”
Lucian nodded, not trusting himself to speak much more. Nora was always beautiful, but tonight, she was fucking gorgeous. Her dress hugged her curves, her hair was half pinned up with the rest cascading down her back, and her spiked heels made her legs look miles long. Recognizing she was an attractive woman was one thing, but it was the sense of possessiveness that had sunk into him at the sight of her that made him twitchy. It had taken everything he had not to snap at Jonah, then Craig, when they’d invited her to bed with them. It was best if he held his tongue. He didn’t want to say something he shouldn’t.
Of course, it didn’t help matters knowing what she had on underneath her dress.
Keeping his eyes on the asphalt of the parking lot, he walked to the passenger door and opened it for her. As she stepped in front of him, he couldn’t stop inhaling. She smelled damn good, too. It was still the vanilla spice with a hint of musk, but it was a clean and subtly seductive scent.
She murmured a thank-you, and he closed the door, then circled to the driver’s side. By the time he climbed in and started the car, she had the map to the restaurant up on her in-dash screen. Without a word, he guided them along several miles of country roads before merging onto Interstate 91.
“Are you really considering doing business with these breeders in Boston?” Nora asked. It was dark already and in the dim light of the car, he felt, more than saw, her eyes on him.
He lifted a shoulder. “They have an excellent program. Their dogs are top-notch. Not just military and law enforcement. They also breed and train them for medical purposes, including assisting the blind and sniffing sugar levels in diabetics. They are the only operation I know of with such a spectrum. At the very least, it will be an interesting meeting.”
What he didn’t tell her is that he’d already bred and trained a litter of Labs to help diabetics. Three years ago, a good friend’s ten-year-old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and Lucian had wanted to help. Pax, the dog, had already prevented two close calls. Two others of the litter had also gone on to families with diabetic children. The last two hadn’t been cut out for that job but had turned out to be excellent explosive sniffers and now both worked at Fiumicino Airport in Rome. Lucian understood the value of breeding and training military and law enforcement dogs, but there was something extremely gratifying about being able to help his friend and his son.
As he navigated Nora’s car along the interstate an odd thought occurred to him. He hadn’t spent time with a woman who didn’t want anything from him in a very, very long time. It wasn’t just women—he ran a business, people wanted things from him all the time. But on the rare occasions he’d been on dates in the past few years, the women wanted a Salvitto and everything that came with that. They didn’t necessarily wanthim. They wanted the fancy dinners, the access to the second, third, and eighth homes, and the private jet. He didn’t judge them, but he judged himself. How, and why, had he picked such women?
Ruefully, he realized that even as he asked the question, it wasn’t hard to answer. Although the answer didn’t reflect well on him. He knew the kind of people the women were when he asked them out. They wouldn’t dig into his psyche, nor were they interested in anything overly emotional. The truth was, he picked women who wouldn’t ask anything of him other than what his family’s name and money could give them. But he wasn’t much interested in the society life many of his family members participated in. And dating women who wanted what he had no interest in gave him an easy out. He intentionally picked women who weren’t his type.
But Nora was different. She didn’t want his money. Her family had plenty of its own—probably more than his. Nor did she appear interested in digging into his psyche. At least no more so than casual chitchat between two people who’d known each other a long time. Despite some moments of discomfort, he realized that being with her was…relaxing. That was the word. For the first time in a long time, he felt like he wasn’t letting someone down. She didn’t allow him to walk all over her, but she also didn’t judge or push him. Nor did she cling or hover. She was justNora.
