Page 62 of Angel In Armani

Sara wondered if she was talking about baseball or the men involved in it. But she refused to take the bait. “I’ll keep that in mind, too,” she said. “But why don’t you tell me about it anyway?”

By the time Sara got home, Dougal in tow and bouncing all over the place with delight at being back with Sara, she was beginning to feel the lack of sleep.

Maggie’s tour of Deacon had been both comprehensive and informative. It had even included a tour of the tunnels in the depths of the stadium, where Maggie had introduced Sara to Malachi Coulter, who like his partners was startlingly attractive. In Mal it was more a tawny, rangy, slightly-too-long-hair-and-tattoos sort of way. He was unmistakably ex-military, though; his bearing and the way he scanned any space they entered gave that away. She’d ferried him to Manhattan and back later in the afternoon, and his ease and familiarity with the helo—not to mention the fact that he called it a helo—were further proof.

But she didn’t ask him where or whom he’d served with. He didn’t offer, which meant she’d judged right and he was the doesn’t-want-to-talk-about-it type. Instead they’d talked a little more about the stadium and the security upgrades Mal was making. Fascinating, even if it was over Sara’s head.

And now she was back home and waiting for Lucas to arrive. She fed Dougal then showered and changed into jeans and a deep raspberry V-neck sweater and her favorite black boots. It was, at least, more female than her uniform. She had no idea if Lucas would want to go out for dinner or something so anything dressier felt like overkill. There was very nice red lace underwear underneath, so that should distract him if she’d judged the outer layers wrongly.

Her stomach was rumbling by the time the intercom buzzed, which sent Dougal padding toward the door, with a woof of alert.

Damn. Dougal. She hadn’t thought about Dougal when she’d agreed to have Lucas come over again. Or how Lucas might feel about a large dog who was going to be expressing his displeasure at Lucas’s presence any second now.

Too late now. She ordered Dougal back onto his spot on the rug in front of the TV and pressed the intercom to let Lucas up.

The sound of his footsteps in the hall outside made Dougal bark and raise himself into a sit. Sara hushed him with a signal, sending him back into a downstay.

She was rigorous with his training and made sure her parents were, too. That way, while he still might bark his head off when they encountered men, he usually didn’t do anything more if they told him not to.

Dougal made a grumbling growl, and Sara kept half an eye on him when she went to open the door.

Lucas had a bouquet of hot pink lilies in one hand and a pizza box in the other. “Hello,” he said.

“Hi.” Sara said, but she didn’t step back to let him in. “Look, I forgot to mention my dog isn’t a big fan of men.”

Lucas’s brows drew together. “Dog? Oh right, you mentioned him. Where was he last night?”

“With my parents. But he’s here now. And he’s going to start barking his fool head off once you step over the threshold. He won’t do anything more than that, I won’t let him, but I wanted to warn you.”

“What kind of dog did you say he was again?” Lucas asked. To his credit, he didn’t look overly concerned with what she’d just told him.

“He’s a black Lab.” From behind her she heard Dougal bark, and she turned to hush him again.

“Big guy, huh? I thought Labs were marshmallows.”

“He is. Just not if you’re tall and male. Don’t ask me why, I’ve had him since he was a puppy, but at some point before I got him, a guy did him wrong. And he hasn’t forgotten.”

“Does he like any guys?”

“He’s okay with my dad. Now.”

“And how long did that take?”

“About six months until he didn’t growl at him every time he saw him. Maybe a year until he would let Dad pat him for more than a second or two.”

“Does he like pizza?” Lucas said.

“Yes. But bribes won’t work. We’ve tried that.”

“Oh well,” Lucas said. “He’s just going to have to get used to me, too.”

She liked his optimism. Even if it was misplaced. “Come on in then.” She stepped back and then turned to face Dougal. He was, as usual, watching the door intently, making little growling noises in the back of his throat.

Lucas moved into the apartment behind her. She braced herself for Dougal to go nuts.

Instead he gave a single short bark and then sat there, ears pricked, eyes on Lucas. His tail started to thump against the floor.

“Am I missing the savage-beast part?” Lucas said. “He doesn’t look so scary to me.”

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