Page 45 of Operation Rescue
“Problem?”
“No,” Blaine said quickly. “He’s great, I just figured he’d want to stick with you.”
Rafe nodded toward where the dog was sitting. “That’s his ‘staying here’ position.”
Erin blinked. “He decides that?”
“He does.” One corner of Rafe’s mouth quirked upward. “He knows where he needs to be. And who needs him,” he added as he dug his keys out of his pocket.
She didn’t know what to think of that. Or to think of a dog who had seemingly convinced his humans that where he went and what he did was up to him. Or a dog apparently smart enough to see that it all worked out.
All of which kept her from thinking about the one thing that was hammering at her brain demanding to be let in.
She was going to be spending tonight alone with Blaine.
Chapter 23
It had happened so fast the ramifications were only hitting him now. And suddenly Blaine was very glad Rafe had left Cutter behind, because he was a buffer of sorts, something to focus on beside the fact that he was here alone with the only woman who had ever been able to tie him into knots.
Erin was up on her feet, pacing, as if with Rafe gone she couldn’t bear to sit anywhere close to him. He watched her for a minute or two, but realized as he focused on the way she moved and how good she looked in those snug jeans and that silky top that flowed over her, that he’d better find something else to look at.
“I can’t stand this!” she suddenly exclaimed.
And there it was. The reminder he needed. With a long sigh he stood up. “I’ll get out of your way. Unless you want me to leave altogether.”
She stopped midstride and turn to look at him, a strangely puzzled expression on her face. “What?”
“Is it okay if I just go back to his room, or do you want me to get out from under your roof?”
Understanding dawned on her face. She let out an annoyed-sounding breath. “I didn’t mean you. I meant what we talked about before, just hanging around here again, and not doing anything to find Ethan.”
Well, that was what he got for assuming she was thinking about him. He should have known better.
“We’ll find him, Erin.”
“But what if they quit just shoplifting and start robbing stores? He could be hurt, or in worse trouble, and what if… What if he’s starting to use drugs or something, and—”
“Hold on,” he said, and despite his better judgment he walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders. She was shaking. He could feel the small tremors going through her, and his gut knotted. He remembered the days when he would have done anything to keep her from ever feeling like this.
He wasn’t sure he wouldn’t do the same now.
“Don’t make it worse than it already is,” he said.
“How can you be so—” She cut herself off. “Never mind. I know how you can. You fly into combat zones, so a missing kid is nothing.”
Nothing. She thought Ethan being missing was nothing to him.
Anger flared, triggering already stressed nerves. He tightened his grip on her shoulders. He wanted to—
A short, sharp bark cut off the thought. He looked down to see Cutter had edged his way between them and was looking from one to the other as if to say, “Knock it off, you two.”
Peacekeeper.
“Thanks, dog,” he muttered. He let go of her shoulders. Then he sucked in a deep breath. And managed to take his voice down a notch or two from the yell he’d been about to let out. “This ismyson we’re talking about. There is nothing bigger or more important to me than that.”
She looked up at him then. He saw moisture pooling in her eyes as she took her own deep breath and said, “I’m sorry. I know that. I’m just so scared.”
“I know.”
