Page 88 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

“Isn’t she smart?” she asked.

“Not bad for a sissy dog,” he agreed.

“Sissy dog?” Lucy protested.

“Well, she is a poodle,” he said.

“A Standard Poodle,” she corrected. “They’re special.”

“Hmm,” Jared grunted and handed her an ice-cold pop and a fat turkey sandwich. Cat peeked into the contents of the cooler. Julia was a wonder. There was enough food in there to last them three days.

“My brother has excellent taste in wives, don’t you think?” she asked.

“No doubt about it, he’s a lucky man,” Jared agreed, taking a healthy bite out of his sandwich.

“How come you aren’t married?” she asked, curiosity beating out good sense.

“How do you know I’m not married?”

“No ring.”

“So?” he challenged her.

“What kind of wife would let her husband hitchhike across the country?” Cat asked in exasperation. “Or, for that matter, let him drive three thousand miles with another woman?”

“Are you planning on eating sometime today?” Jared eyed the sandwich in her hand.

“I was just asking.” She shrugged. “You’re not very open about yourself, are you?”

“No,” he answered between mouthfuls.

“Why?” she persisted.

“Eat,” he ordered and nudged her sandwich up against her lips.

Cat frowned, bewildered by his reticence and more curious than ever. She couldn’t help it. His silence intrigued her. She’d noticed he kept everyone at arm’s length – even Cameron.

She bit into her sandwich and continued to ponder her traveling companion. During the past twenty-four hours, she hadn’t learned one tangible fact about him. She didn’t know anything about him, really, except that he was an old friend of Cameron’s and he lived in Arizona.

Cat watched Jared take up Lucy’s leash and walk her toward a copse of trees on the other side of the rest stop. She smiled at the unlikely pair as they were accosted by a group of children. Lucy was in her glory. Flopping onto the ground, with her belly in the air, she couldn’t get enough of the small hands eager to pet her. To Cat’s surprise, she saw Jared doing the high five-trick with Lucy. The kids were amazed and took turns trying it as well.

The quiet giant soon had a gaggle of children tugging on his arms and clinging to his legs. He looked like a big, blond tree that had spouted children. She chuckled as he tried, to no avail, to disentangle himself from his fan club. It wasn’t until their mothers called them that the children reluctantly left their new friends. Cat tried to hide her laughter by repacking the cooler as Jared and Lucy returned.

“What are you laughing at?” a deep voice growled in her ear.

“Me? Laughing?” Cat turned to find her face just inches from his. She felt her smile collapse as her pulse pounded in her ears. Those dimples of his were surely lethal.

“Yes, you.” His voice dropped to a whisper as if he, too, was disturbed by their close proximity.

A cold nose and slurping tongue was thrust between them, and they both reared back when a wiggling Lucy tried to kiss them at the same time.

“Yuck! Dog germs,” Jared teased, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

“My dog does not have germs,” Cat retorted with mock pique. “Come along, Lucy. Let’s wait for him in the van.”

Jared watched as she strode back to the van with her nose turned up in the air. The curve of her lips gave her away, and he found it difficult not to laugh. Except this was no laughing matter, he’d actually thought about kissing her and this was just their first day out.

She was his best friend’s sister. He wasn’t supposed to want to kiss her. He tried to think of what he’d done recently to deserve this sort of torture, but nothing of this magnitude came to mind. He watched her settle the puppy into the backseat of the van.