“Oh smooth, Crawford,” Piper crooned with a laugh. “Great first impression.”
Norah waved a dismissive hand. “It’s just fur. A perfectly reasonable price to pay for puppy kisses from this sweet baby.” She scratched Hush under the chin, sent her back leg kicking. “You’re just a big teddy bear, aren’t you, girl?”
Delighted, Hush began to speak in her half howl, half singing voice as she slumped in a happy, boneless heap against Norah’s legs.
Norah braced herself for the extra weight and laughed again. “I stand corrected. A Wookie in a dog suit.”
“Half Alaskan malamute, half Great Pyrenees.”
“And all fur.” Miranda scowled. “Cam, she’s shedding on everything.”
“She’s not hurting a thing. Are you, baby?” As if to illustrate the point, Norah slipped out of her shoes and dropped back to the floor, neatly tucking her legs so Hush could sprawl across her lap.
Miranda threw up her hands. “Fine. You two dog people have fun. I’m going to see if I need to put out more sausage balls.”
“I’ll come with.” Piper followed her toward the dining room.
“Cam, if she gets into my buffet, it’s your head.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted his cousin and watched her stalk toward the refreshments, where Liam was chatting with Tucker. Time to test his good fortune. “Is this floor taken?”
“Have a seat.”
He took up a position at the other end of his dog. “She’s pissed at me.”
“She’ll get over it. We’ll have to clean up the house again after the party anyway.”
“I suspect I may have just drafted myself for that job.”
“Well, you got points with me for bringing your dog to a people party.”
“Despite the mess to your dress?”
“Dresses can be cleaned. I don’t get to spend nearly enough time with dogs.” When Hush shifted in her lap, pawing her hand closer to the broad expanse of chest, Norah obliged, wringing a contented sigh from his pooch.
“Don’t have one yourself?”
“I live in an apartment and work long hours. It wouldn’t be fair to have a dog under those circumstances. I could have a cat but…why?”
“True enough. Did you have dogs growing up?”
“The only place we lived that would’ve been good for a dog was Hattiesburg, and we left there when I was eleven and my folks divorced. After that it was a string of big cities. Houston, Cincinnati, Philadelphia. A year in Boston before I left for school. My mom is a gifted pediatric surgeon, who’s always worked insane hours. My dad is a civil rights attorney who does the same, so a dog wasn’t really an option in either household.”
“That’s just tragic.”
“Little bit. But hard to argue when they’re both out there fighting for the greater good.”
There was something in her tone that made him wonder what else they’d done or, more likely, hadn’t done that she brushed off as being okay because they were doing good elsewhere.
“You never got one yourself?”
“I thought about it in college, but I knew I’d likely wind up back in the city for grad school. I promised myself if I ended up somewhere suitable after, then I’d get one. But I wound up staying in Chicago and—surprise, surprise—working as much as either of my parents.” She shrugged and focused hard on sussing out the rest of Hush’s favorite spots. “Sometimes I’ll stop by the dog park down from my apartment and just sit a while and watch them play. It’s relaxing.” A faint wash of color stained her cheeks as she glanced up at him, before turning back to the dog.
Christ, she was breaking his heart. Cam couldn’t imagine life without a dog. “Well, considering my dog appears to be completely besotted with you, seems like this trip should be a good opportunity for you to get your fill.”
“You don’t mind loaning her out?”
“She might come with her owner, when he can get free.”