Home Is Where the Bark Is Read Online Free PDF Page B

attention of her touch. As she fondled behind the dog’s pointed ears in exactly the right spot, it grinned a doggy grin of bliss.
    Lucky dog. Nick would be grinning, too, if she were stroking him like that. How would it feel if she—
    He wrenched his gaze away from her. Right now, he was Nick Whalen the investigator. Not Nick Whalen the man, stirred by the laughter of a beautiful stranger.
    This insanity was a first for him. He lived by the motto He who travels fastest, travels alone. That meant respectful, mutually pleasurable relationships that ended at the first sign of possessiveness. Not this feeling of something already out of his control.
    He switched to doting-doggy-daddy mode and observed the other end of the playroom. But even then, out of the corner of his eye, he was way too aware of Serena Oakley.
    Three girls were supervising different groups of animals. One group was chasing after balls that they retrieved and dropped back at the feet of the attendant. Another group was jumping over hurdles, leaping through hoops, and crawling through a long flexible tunnel.
    Quantico had nothing on this. It was combat training canine style, and the recruits were having a ball.
    Whatever scam might be going on here it wasn’t to the detriment of the dogs. The enthusiastic yipping and barking that echoed around the room testified to that. Paws-A-While advertised premium pet care; from what he’d seen so far that was just what they gave.
    Serena Oakley, as proprietor, was his prime suspect in the identity theft scam. But there were staff to consider, too. Any one of them could be involved. And then there were the dog owners—around forty of them if he didn’t include the identity fraud victims.
    Bessie was in for a quite a spell of day care.
    He looked across to see the Yorki-poo, now scampering about with a group of other small dogs. She didn’t look like she had any objection at all to her induction to Paws-A-While. In fact he couldn’t help but feel a tad affronted at how quickly she’d trotted away from him.
    As he watched, Serena made her way through the gates toward him with her graceful, long-legged stride. He couldn’t help a feeling of anticipation. Although there were four other women in the room, he had no idea what they looked like. She eclipsed every other female.
    She closed the gate securely behind her. Hit him with that smile again. He suppressed an inner groan. Didn’t she realize that dowdy clothes and downplayed looks did nothing to disguise her seductive beauty? The woman was hot.
    And he had to throw cold water on his attraction to her.
    He cleared his throat. “So Bessie is in?”
    Serena nodded. “I’d be happy to welcome her to day care.”
    “She seems to like it.”
    She smiled again. “Dogs are sociable animals. Not designed to stay at home alone while their owners are out.”
    Her shirt had loosened at the top, revealing a hint of cleavage, a tantalizing swell of breast. That strand of hair had fallen across her face again. He had to stop himself from reaching out and tucking it behind her ear.
    “These guys are here all day, every day?” he said, nodding to indicate the playroom.
    “Some of the apartment dwellers. But most of our clients come just a few days a week. The basset hound is here while her owner is in hospital. Others visit for the day spa side of things. They spend most of their time in the treatment rooms.”
    “Treatment rooms?”
    She indicated with a wave of her hand a door at the end of the room. “I’ll go through the treatments we offer once we get Bessie completely settled.”
    Nick had already checked out the menu on the Paws-A-While website. Had reeled back from the screen in disbelief. Pawdicure. Fur Coloring. Clay Body Wrap. And other total-waste-of-money indulgences. But if he wanted to see how that side of the operation worked, he’d have to sign Bessie up for something. He’d check out his cheapest option.
    He sure as hell hoped his business partner