Leashed (Going to the Dogs) Read Online Free PDF

oxford with a contemporary blue sole. He looked sharp and successful.
    “This is a crazy color for a Jeep, but it suits you.”
    “What? Its sportiness?”
    “Yes, you have that fresh, girl-next-door, tomboy thing going.” His voice dropped an octave and his eyes traveled over her from the baseball cap on her head to the tight denim encasing her thighs, to the brown cowboy boots on her feet.  
    Her pulse kicked up a notch. Coming from any other man, the tomboy remark might have offended her, but from Owen it sounded like he found her sexy just the way she was. “I hope that was a compliment.”
    Owen’s smile came slowly. “It was meant as one. I can’t say I’ve met anyone like you before.”
    That gave her a big boost. “I’m one of a kind,” she quipped to lessen the escalating tension.
    “That’s the problem,” he said softly as he sat back in his seat. She pondered that for a moment, decided it was a powder keg that was best left unlit, and put the Sahara in drive.

 
    Chapter Three
     
    He tried to focus on the city as they passed through, but no matter how hard he tried, Callie stole his attention. Unfortunately, both dogs had fallen asleep on the back seat, so he couldn’t be distracted with making sure they behaved. As they approached the I-95 North exit, he said, “Tell me about Lassiter Run.” His voice came out sounding a little desperate, demanding. He shifted in his seat and inwardly groaned.
    She glanced at him before she merged onto I-87 and smiled. “Next to the City, it’s the best place on earth.”
    All of his childhood had been spent in the City and some of those years were with his dysfunctional mother. When she left one day and didn’t return, he was a lost boy, wandering mean streets as he tried to survive. But his great aunt had never stopped looking for him and rescued him. Even with all his travels as an adult, he hadn’t seen much of the rest of New York State.
    “Lassiter Run sits on about thirty acres. We have twelve kennels and nine dog yards, along with puppy runs we use to segregate the older dogs from the little ones. We exclusively breed Danes of all colors. But I, of course, have a soft spot for Harlequins.”
    She wasn’t his type. In spite of reminding himself over and over, the attraction between them pulled so hard he swore he’d be leaving a trail scored by his heels on the lawns of Lassiter Run.
    “Does your family show the dogs?”
    “My mother does. She’s even been to Westminster with Jack’s sire.”
    “Did she win?”
    “A couple of times. Did your great aunt ever show Jill?”
    “No, she didn’t get the chance. She grew too ill to leave the house.”
    “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
    He nodded and looked away. He still couldn’t seem to stop the well of emotion each time his great aunt was mentioned. The deep grief he felt for her passing had been compartmentalized, like everything else in his life. It was as if his hip, cool persona took everything he had in him to maintain. Letting emotion show, any emotion, would set off a feeding frenzy among his fellow sharks.
    He felt her touch on his arm. When he looked at her, he saw that genuine concern deep in her dark green eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s so hard to lose a loved one. When we lost my grandpa, the grief would sneak up on me when I least expected it for more than a year. It was as if the memories were all bundled up inside with nowhere to go. With no outlet, it just feels as if those memories sit on your heart and shred it.”
    His breath caught and moisture pricked at his eyes. No one. Not one person of his acquaintance had offered him the tiniest bit of comfort when his great aunt had passed, and yet this authentic, goodhearted woman had already seen through his façade and offered him not only comfort, but sympathy, in a wise and touching way.
    It threw him off his game. Usually with a woman he wanted it was all heat and seduction. There was never any substance