Page 10 of Texas Scandal

LOKIMIGHTBEa tornado but his story softened Melody toward the hyped-up animal. When she really looked at him, she found the warmest pair of brown eyes. It would be impossible to be scared of the Lab after knowing what he’d been through in those formative months. Even after living with Tiernan for some time, Loki still inhaled his food. Was that because of his past? Was it something he could ever get over? Or would he always eat fast for fear the meal would be taken away?

Melody didn’t grow up with dogs, so she had no idea what they thought or needed. A couple of her friends had owned tiny dogs that could fit inside a purse. Loki had to be in the seventy-five-to one-hundred-pound range. He was definitely goofy, she decided as she watched him slop water all over the floor around his bowls. When she really thought about it, he did have more of a “big kid” energy than fierce beast.

With a sigh, she decided that she actually felt sorry enough for him to be brave the next time he came barreling toward her or bolting past so fast he accidently crashed into her legs.

Tiernan walked over to the fridge, and she forced her gaze away from his muscled backside. He had the kind of broad shoulders that were far too tempting to look at for long. Her body’s reaction reminded her just how long it had been since she’d had good sex...any sex. Her thoughts were bouncing all over the place. Anything to avoid thinking about the fact a person was dead and had been buried in a shallow grave on this man’s property. If that wasn’t horrific enough, her name was somehow connected.

It was awful.

“I have enough leftovers to feed us both,” Tiernan’s voice broke through. “If you don’t mind pasta.”

“Pasta’s good,” she said, figuring she wouldn’t be able to eat much anyway.

“Then, I have spaghetti from a restaurant and a mean lasagna that I made on my own,” he said without looking back.

“You cook?” The question came out faster and sounding more shocked than she meant it to. “Wait, that wasn’t what I intended to say.”

He spun around with a disgusted look on his face that almost made her laugh.

“You don’t think men can cook?” he asked with more of that disdain coming through.

She put her hands up in the air, palms out, in the surrender position. “I heard how it sounded the minute it came out of my mouth. I just didn’t think you would know how to make Italian food. Most guys are more on-the-grill types in my experience.”

“All I can say to that is maybe you’ve been around the wrong people,” he said as he cracked a smile. “You’re taking the lasagna because now I have something to prove.”

“I was going to ask for it anyway,” she teased, appreciating a precious few moments of levity. She had a feeling the lawyer from the phone call would be here soon and all lightness would be sucked out of the room when they went through the details of everything they knew so far about the case.

Loki stood at the pair of sliding glass doors, looking anxious.

“Should I let him out again while you heat up food?” she asked, surprising herself with the question.

“Never hurts,” he said with the kind of ease that made her feel at home.

Tiernan’s hospitality was most likely ingrained in him, given his background as a Hayes, but there was something special about his calm demeanor that she reminded herself not to get used to. Pretty soon, she would be walking right out the front door and heading back to her apartment. Alone.

The thought of being by herself tonight sent an icy chill racing up her spine. She stood up and then walked over to the glass doors, first unlocking and then sliding one side open. Loki glanced up at her with those brown eyes and her heart melted a little more.

“Go on,” she said for lack of anything better. She had no idea how to tell a dog to go outside.

Loki obeyed and a trill of satisfaction coursed through her. The biting incident happened when she was in kindergarten. Maybe it was time to let it go.

“Should I follow him outside?” she asked.

“He knows what to do,” he said as a buzzer dinged and the smell of Italian filled the air. “Leave the door cracked and he’ll come in when he’s ready.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said, turning around to the sight of Tiernan setting a plate down where she’d been sitting. “I doubt I can eat much.”

“Try. For me,” he said in a gentle way that caused her to sit down and pick up her fork. He had the kind of masculine voice that had a way of rolling over her and through her. “Besides, Prescott will be here soon and we’ll go over the details of everything that happened when he arrives. For now, we have a few more moments of peace and quiet.”

The dread in his voice connected on a soul level with the emotions running wild through her. It was next to impossible not to think about what had happened or who might be involved. And yet, the idea of getting a break even for a little while sounded too good to be true.

“Okay,” she said on a soft sigh. When did life become so complicated? Unsure she could get down one bite despite the amazing smell of the lasagna, she surprised herself in cleaning her plate.

“I take it you approve?” Tiernan said with a smirk that caused her heart to flip.

“It wasn’t awful,” she teased back.

He picked up her plate and stacked it on top of his. “Good to know that I rank right up there a notch above awful.” When he made eye contact, her heart skipped another beat. The man was good-looking, to say the least. The fact he could cook put him in a whole new category of great catch. So much so, she glanced around for signs of female companionship. There was no way this man was unattached. Melody bit down on her bottom lip rather than ask his relationship status. Besides, it was none of her business and she was clearly hanging on to topics that would help her avoid thinking about the tragic—and possibly dangerous—current circumstances she found herself in.

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