A Fair to Remember

His gaze dropped to her lips.

Her heart thudded faster. She tilted her head and gave him the best teasing smile she could muster with her heart beating a hundred miles per hour. “Are you a fool, Wes?”

Chapter 8

A thousand times over.

Wes stepped back from the temptation of Tara, gripping the cloth in his fist. “No.”

Disappointment flashed in her eyes, but her smile remained. “So, basically, that leaves me with Sugar.”

Wes couldn’t help but laugh then. Every once in awhile, she threw one out there that caught him off guard. At the sound of her name, the dog scrambled to her feet from where she’d been laying on the doormat and came over to beg for attention.

Wes rubbed her head, and to take his mind off kissing Tara, he asked, “So, are we going to go for that ride now, or what?”

“Sure, unless you want some lunch first?”

“I had a late breakfast.”

“Me too.” She headed for the house. “Let me change into jeans and then…shoot.” She sighed as she looked down at the dog from the steps. “I can’t leave Sugar.”

“Didn’t you say she’s your brother’s dog?” Wes asked. “How is it you seem to have her more than him?”

“Just on the weekends—he takes her to a sitter during the week while he’s working.”

Now he’d heard it all. “Doggie day care?”

She laughed. “Believe it or not, it’s a good business. You know what, give me a few minutes—I’ll see what I can come up with.”

He watched her go inside, appreciating the view, yet thinking that he should give her an hour, the whole afternoon, her entire life even.

He never should’ve stayed, especially when he hadn’t been able to control his emotions from the moment he set eyes on her an hour ago. Her long expanse of smooth, bare leg and that leather top had incinerated all his good intentions to take his suit and leave. When she’d mentioned changing into a pair of jeans, he’d been relieved and disappointed at the same time.

Yet it wasn’t only about his intense physical reactions. Something about her drew him, an invisible thread that seemed to wind tighter with every moment he spent in her presence. He was drawn to her in a way that was completely foreign. He’d told her about his mom and dad less than twenty-four hours after meeting her, and he never talked about them to anyone. What was so different about Tara that he’d opened up to her?

As much as he tried to tell himself she didn’t fit his plan, he was having a hell of a time fighting his attraction to her. A wry smile lifted his lips. Who was he trying to kid? He wasn’t fighting anything—not very hard, at least. He pretty much forgot the plan around Tara.

Exactly the reason he should stay away from her. Take his suit and leave.

Sugar nudged his hand. When he looked down, she dropped a tennis ball at his feet, backed up, and barked. Wes bent to pick it up and motioned outside. “All right, let’s go.”

Even the dog was beginning to grow on him.

They were out on the front lawn when the sound of a motorcycle reached Wes’s ears from down the block. Sugar switched from running after Wes’s last throw to make a beeline for the road. Afraid she wouldn’t stop at the sidewalk, Wes called, “Sugar, get the ball!”

She spun toward Wes, then the road.

“Get the ball, girl.”

The Gread Dane tore after the ball, her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth. Once she had it though, she started back for the road.

“Bring it here,” Wes called. “Come on, Sugar…good girl.”

Wes smiled as she bounded back and forth, clearly torn between the approaching motorcycle and his praise. He bent down, patting his knees until finally, she raced to him and he could catch her collar as she dropped the ball. She almost pulled him off his feet when the bike slowed its approach to Tara’s house.

Wes braced himself as the dog went wild—whining, pulling, turning to lick him, then straining harder against his grip. He didn’t let go until the motorcycle stopped in the driveway and the rider removed his helmet, not that there was any doubt in his mind who it was.

Charlie swung a leg over the bike to greet his dog, then strutted toward Wes. Instinctively, Wes straightened and met the guy’s gaze dead on. Tara’s brother didn’t scare him, but judging by the look on his face, Wes needed to be prepared.