He immediately stopped and sat, but let out a whimper, his blue eyes glued to the woman who’d just turned around to face them. A huge smile broke out on her face the moment she saw the wolf dog. “Hey there, gorgeous,” she told him softly.
The whimper turned into a full-blown whine.
“You’re gonna give him a bigger head than he already has talking to him like that,” Adam said with a hint of amusement.
Her eyes flew to his face, then back to the wolf dog.
“Don’t worry about him,” Adam tried to reassure her. “Unless my life is in danger, he won’t move until I tell him to.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” she said. “He can come and say hello.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” she told him, still smiling. “Absolutely.”
Adam hesitated for a moment, and then gave Rocky the command to move freely about the room. “At ease, Rocky.”
Immediately, he stood and closed the distance between himself and Faye. She held still as he gave her a good sniff, then his large head ducked under her hand so she could pet him. Faye laughed and did as he asked. Adam didn’t worry that he would hurt her. The only people that got on Rocky’s shit list were assholes. And Faye wasn’t an asshole. He was just so large and reserved that he tended to scare people who didn’t know him. But it didn’t look like he had anything to worry about with Faye. “Looks like he likes you.”
“What’s his name?”
“Rocky.”
“That’s a good name for such a sweet boy,” she cooed.
Adam raised an eyebrow, but his ferocious guard dog practically arched like a cat under the touch of her hands as she rubbed them over his head and down his back. He was so big next to her—his back nearly hit her waist—she didn’t even need to lean over. All Adam could do was shake his head and change the subject. “So, I hear that we’re engaged now.” He assumed that’s why she was there.
Her smile froze, then fell from her face as she straightened, her fingers curling into Rocky’s white and gray fur, and gave Adam an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry, Adam. That’s what I came here to talk to you about.” She glanced over at Lex behind the counter, ringing out a customer. “Do you have a minute?”
Rocky stared at him, waiting patiently for his answer so he could get back to his petting. “If you give me about ten minutes, I’ll be done for the day. We can grab dinner and talk.”
Her shoulders relaxed, and she gave him a grateful look. “That would be great. I just need to stop by the museum first, if that’s okay?”
Adam racked his brain, trying to remember seeing a building in this town that could possibly house priceless artwork and came up blank. “Museum?”
“Yeah, I work there in the summer when it’s open. I just need to grab some boxes to take home.”
He still had no idea where the museum was, but he nodded. “Sure. Give me a few minutes to finish up.”
“Can Rocky stay with me?” she asked.
“I don’t think I’d be able to convince him to leave,” he told her honestly. “I’ll be right back. There’s water and coffee over there if you want some.” He pointed to the other side of the waiting room.
“I’m good, thanks,” she told him, taking a seat in the chair behind her. Rocky followed her, sitting beside her and laying his head on her lap.
Adam shook his head at the picture they made, and went back into the garage to finish putting the Chevy back together for his customer so it would be all ready to pick up in the morning. Then he went to the break room and stripped off the coveralls that protected his clothes and washed his hands and face, getting as much of the grease smell off of him as he could.
He wasn’t sure what had possessed him to invite her out to dinner. This whole fake boyfriend thing was fine if it was the only way to discourage somebody who just wouldn’t take the hint that she wasn’t interested, but that was about as far as he was willing to take it. And as soon as that dude backed off and turned his attention to someone else, which hopefully would be this Saturday, this fake relationship bullshit was over. Other than that, there was no reason for him to spend time and money on this woman.
Except that, whether he should or not, he fucking wanted to.
When he returned to the waiting room, everyone was gone except for Faye and Rocky, who were exactly as he’d left them. “Ready to go?”
Faye gave Rocky a pat on the head and stood, trying and failing to brush the fur from her black pants. “Yup.”
“I have a thing in the truck that’ll get that off.” He started to take her hand, because holding her hand just seemed like the most natural thing in the world to do, but pulled back before their fingers touched, frowning at himself. “So where’s this museum?” he asked as he held the door open for her and Rocky.
“Just down the street from the coffee shop. And I have my car. I can run by there and meet you at the restaurant. Where did you want to go?”
