Page 63 of Angel In Armani

“This isn’t how he usually reacts,” Sara said, staring at Dougal. No, this was how he acted with people he liked.

“Told you I was charming,” Lucas said. He took a few steps closer to Sara. “Hey, buddy,” he said to Dougal. Dougal tilted his head and panted before barking once. His tail still thumped the floor.

“Stay,” Sara said warningly.

“Hold the pizza,” Lucas said. He held out the box. Sara took it. Lucas walked halfway between her and Dougal. Dougal whined a little and looked at Sara.

“So far so good,” Lucas said. He took another couple of steps, bringing him within arm’s length of Dougal. He crouched down and held out the back of his hand. He was obviously used to dogs. “Hey there, Dougal,” he repeated. “What’s happening?”

Dougal, after a quick look at Sara, stretched his head forward and sniffed Lucas’s hand. And then he whuffed happily and shoved his head under Lucas’s palm, clearly angling for an ear rub.

“Yeah, this one’s a killer,” Lucas said as he obliged.

Sara still couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Of all the men in the world that Dougal could choose not to hate, he was picking Lucas?

Why? It wasn’t like Dougal could tell Lucas was gorgeous. That, Sara kept telling herself, was the reason she had let him back into her bed last night. “He’s never done that with any strange man before. What are you, an orthopedic dog whisperer?”

Lucas twisted back to her, looking smug as he continued to pet Dougal. Dougal looked kind of smug, too. Smug and blissful. “He’s no dummy, he can recognize a guardian angel when he sees one.”

Chapter Fourteen

Sara still wasn’t sure how she felt about Dougal adoring Lucas when she set the helo down at the Vero Beach stadium two days later. It was kind of ridiculous. Each night when Lucas arrived at her apartment, Dougal’s wriggling, yipping welcome became even more ecstatic.

True, she did kind of feel like wriggling in ecstasy every time Lucas put his hands on her too, but she was trying to keep hold of some degree of sanity. She and Lucas were temporary. She knew that deep down.

Dougal was not going to be happy when Lucas finally bailed. Neither was Sara.

“Thanks, Sara.” Maggie’s voice came through the headset and Sara turned to smile at her. Maggie had taken her under her wing and, as a result, she now knew almost everyone who worked for the Saints who wasn’t in Florida. She suspected she would know the rest of them by the end of this trip.

In between introductions, Maggie had found her a job helping Shonda, Alex’s PA, with various tasks. In the spare moments when Sara wasn’t doing that or ferrying Alex, Mal, or Lucas between Staten Island and Manhattan, Maggie kept giving her the potted history of the Saints with enough juicy gossip interspersed with the facts and figures to make it interesting.

She watched Lucas climb out of the helo and then hold out a hand to help Maggie out. Maggie grinned down at him, and Sara felt a wholly unreasonable twinge of envy. She wasn’t going to be able to touch Lucas for two days while they were here in Florida. That thought already made her skin itch. So it hardly seemed fair that Maggie got to.

Which was ridiculous. For one thing, Maggie was madly in love with Alex—that was blindingly obvious to anyone who saw them together. And for another, Sara had had orgasms aplenty in the last few days. She didn’t have any excuse to be as horny as she felt now watching Lucas walk away.

As he and Maggie headed toward the stadium buildings, Sara looked back down at her instrument panel, just in case Maggie turned around.

She didn’t want to be caught staring at Lucas. Maggie hadn’t done any more outright probing about Sara and Lucas, but Sara wasn’t stupid. She knew Maggie had her suspicions. Sara had caught Maggie looking at Lucas when he spoke to Sara a time or two. Which meant she had to keep her nose clean.

Maybe she should find Ollie Shields and flirt with him shamelessly in front of Maggie or something.

Though that might backfire if Lucas thought she was serious.

She sighed as she settled back in her seat. She had to deliver the helo to the airfield where it belonged. Then she’d come back and worry about fooling Maggie Jameson when she had to.

Lucas heard the chopper’s now familiar takeoff behind him but made sure he didn’t look back to watch Sara fly away. Sara had warned him that Maggie had asked questions and, as much as he’d be happy to tell Maggie about Sara, he had to respect what Sara wanted. He wasn’t going to keep them a secret forever but a little time for Sara to get comfortable with the situation was reasonable enough.

He hid a yawn as they walked toward the stadium entrance.

Beside him, Maggie turned her face up to the sun. “Sunshine! I’d forgotten how nice this is.”

“Are you wearing sunblock?”

She laughed. “Yes, Dr. Gorgeous. I am enjoying my UV rays responsibly. I have no desire to fry. Just to be warm and not have to wear seven layers of clothing.”

Lucas couldn’t argue with that. The New York winter had been long and cold so far, and there was no sign of it letting up. It was almost March. There should at least be some hints by now that spring might happen eventually.

Of course, with his current workload, he wouldn’t have much time to enjoy nice weather in New York even if there was any.

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