The door shuts with a click behind her.
“Oh, that dog!” I give an apologetic smile at Fred and Greta. “I better run and catch her. Happy anniversary!”
“Thank you,” Greta says to my back. I’ve already swung the door back open and am hurrying through.
Damn it. I stand briefly on the landing, looking at the two flights of stairs. One goes up and one goes down. Powder Puff is already out of sight, and I have no idea which way she went.
“I’ll go up, and you go down,” Rafe says.
I didn’t even realize he followed me in here, but I recognize a good idea when I hear it. “Okay. Thanks. She can’t have gone far. The hallway doors should all be closed.”
Rafe starts off, taking the stairs two at a time as he climbs, so I follow the other stairs down, moving as fast as I can without risking a stumble.
I really don’t need to fall down the stairs in pursuit of a willful dog.
The door to the ground floor is closed as it always is. To be safe, I step into the lobby and see someone checking his mail.
“Did you see a dog run by?” I ask him.
His eyes widen in surprise. “Nope. No dog here.”
“Okay, thanks!”
That’s good then. At least Powder Puff didn’t manage to luck out and make an escape onto the street.
I go back to the stairs and head even farther down. There’s still the basement level to go. Residents aren’t supposed to go down there, but Powder Puff, of course, would ignore the rules and go exactly where she wanted.
Still, the door into the basement should be closed. Hopefully she’s just down on the bottom landing, pouting over being trapped.
She’s not. Instead, I see the door propped open with a doorstop.
“Shit,” I mutter. A maintenance worker must have been down there today and then didn’t close the door.
Which gives Powder Puff free rein of the basement.
“You’ve got to be kidding me with this.” I’m complaining to myself as I step into the dimly lit basement. It’s not nice in there. Filled with equipment and stored supplies and a lot of messy odds and ends.
I assume there aren’t actually bats or rats or something totally disgusting though. It’s a well-kept building. “Powder Puff? Powder Puff, come!”
I don’t see a hint of white floof, and naturally the dog doesn’t respond to my command.
Rafe must be running down the stairs because I hear hard, fast footsteps and then he suddenly appears behind me. “Damn it! They left it open down here?”
“Yes.”
“She’s not upstairs, and I don’t think she could have gotten out. Best guess is she’s investigating down here.” He’s breathless, and his cheeks are flushed. He must have really been booking it.
I’m oddly touched but try not to dwell on it since it’s a ridiculous reaction. “Okay. Well, let’s look. She won’t come when I call.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” He gestures toward his right and takes off in that direction, so I go to the left.
I pass what I’m pretty sure is the enormous heating-and-cooling system for the building and then find shelves full of paint and cleaning supplies and other maintenance stuff.
No Powder Puff.
“Where are you, you ridiculous dog?”
“She’s here!” Rafe calls out.
Groaning in relief, I pick up my speed to a jog, following the sound of his voice.
“Damn it, girl! Why are you running away from me? This isn’t a game!”
I can’t help but chuckle at the frustration in his voice. He sounds exactly the way I feel.
When I reach the other side of the basement, I move around another huge piece of equipment in time to see Rafe trapping Powder Puff in a corner and leaning over to scoop her up.
“Gotcha, you little rascal. What did you think you were doing, running away that way?” He’s got his back to me, and I have to assume he doesn’t know I’m watching or listening. “Typical really. You’re way too pretty for your own good. Pretty and stubborn and infuriating and always doing exactly the opposite of what I want you to do, trying to run away anytime I get close. It’s enough to make a man lose his mind!”
I giggle helplessly at this list of grievances, and he turns around with a slight twitch. “I’m sorry about the hassle,” I tell him, since losing track of Powder Puff was definitely my own fault. “Thanks for helping.”
“No worries.” He shrugs and gives me his normal, laid-back smile. He’s got the dog hooked under one arm as he walks toward me. “She wouldn’t have made the getaway if I hadn’t knocked on your door.”
“That’s true. But still. Thanks for the assistance. I would have cried my eyes out if anything happened to her, and my boss would never forgive me.”
“Yeah. I can just imagine.”
Something about his expression distracts me. I’m looking at him and not where I’m walking, and I end up running into a tall ladder that’s leaning against the wall. It startles me, and I squeal.
“Are you okay?” Rafe sounds urgent as he reaches out with his free arm to stabilize the ladder. Fortunately, he doesn’t drop Powder Puff in the process.
“I’m fine.” My cheeks are burning now. I’m so flustered I can’t meet his eyes. I stare down at the floor. “Thanks.”
“Julianna.”
I look up. My breath hitches. He’s really close. Only inches away from me. And I suddenly want him to kiss me.
So badly I feel myself swaying toward him.
His blue eyes are suddenly hot and soft and intoxicating, and I want to drown in them.
In him.
I catch myself just in time. I’m not going to do anything as self-destructive as kiss Rafe. There’s no way in the world I’ll do that. He’d probably go along with it. He likes women, and I’m probably a challenge to him. But he doesn’t take relationships seriously.
He doesn’t take anything seriously.
And I’ll never be merely one in an endless string of casual, monthlong hookups.
After all, I don’t even like this man.
I jerk my head to the side and give it a little shake. “Okay. Thanks again.”
I reach for the dog, and he hands her to me. He doesn’t say anything as we walk back upstairs, and neither do I.
I escape into my own apartment as quickly as I can, mumbling out my thanks.
This is bad.
It’s very, very bad.
I was about to kiss Rafe Archibald just now, and that’s something I can never do. I shouldn’t even want it.
The only reasonable response to this near catastrophe is to avoid Rafe for the next week.
I’ll have to work at it, but it’s possible. I can leave for work early and come home late. I can stay away from Millhouse and the coffee shop.
All it will take is a reprieve from seeing him so much, and I should be able to return to the safety of annoyed exasperation toward him.
The timing at least is good. If I can avoid him for a little more than a week, I’ll get a long break from him at my grandmother’s for the holidays.
That break is exactly what I need.
4
My grandfather worked on Wall Street for ten years and made so much money that he bought a horse farm in North Carolina and spent the rest of his life moving his money around in wise investments and devoting himself to his only true passion.