“I also noticed you with your niece the other night. She’s lucky to have you.”
Again it was like he could see things he had no way of knowing. “She, ah, really fell in love with Harper. Didn’t even flinch at her teeth.”
“Good, I’m glad.” He leaned closer, just a bit. “You’d make a good dad.”
“Whoa.” I took a step back despite the brief sensation he was going to kiss me. “First you tell me we’re fated to be together, and now that I’d make a good dad.”
He winced. “Oh. Yeah. I can see how that sounded. Sorry. I wasn’t proposing fatherhood or looking for a baby daddy.”
I cocked an eyebrow.
Noah held up both hands, a hint of laughter in his voice. “I promise. I don’t want kids at all. Maybe another five dogs or so, but no kids.”
Despite my love of Bailey, I didn’t want kids either. And again it hit me what was going on. “We’re still talking about kids on our first date.”
“Ah. That is true. Sorry again.” Noah glanced upward and tapped his finger on his lip in an exaggerated motion. “Okay, nonfreaky, overly familiar commitment talk. Let’s see.” He dropped his hand and looked back at me. “So fisting. Yea or nay?”
I couldn’t suppress the snort that erupted. “Dear God. That’s the second time you’ve made me make that sound. And fisting? Really? That’s a better topic?”
His lips curved up in a playful smirk. “You tell me?”
“Am I that clearly a bottom? Do I swish too much when I walk or something?”
“You can tell a lot from a kiss, is all.” He leaned back, giving me more space. “So let’s see. Appropriate conversation. I believe you were mentioning looking for me on Facebook.”
“Was there a time before you were talking about baby-making and fisting?”
“Those don’t typically go together, but maybe you know something I don’t.” He shook a finger at me. “Now quit trying to lead us back into non-first-date topics. You asked about Facebook. You probably haven’t looked for me recently, I would imagine. I didn’t do anything on social media until I got this job a couple of years ago. Now it’s a big part of what I do for the shelter.”
I hadn’t looked in a long time. I’d given up on Noah being in my life ages ago. Way before I stopped looking for him on Facebook. “You needed Facebook to work at the humane society?”
“Yeah.” He lifted his hands to make air quotes. “I’m kinda the ‘face’ of the organization. I do all the public marketing, events, and such. You’ve probably even seen me on TV and didn’t know it. I go on the local news and other local shows pretty regularly to raise awareness of certain animals we have.”
The thought I might have seen him on TV and not realized who it was seemed horrid. “Surely I would’ve known if—”
A scrabble of barking broke out, causing us both to look toward the center of the dog park. People were rushing over from where they’d been lingering on the outskirts.
“Harper!” I drew in a quick breath and started to push myself off the fence, and then I saw her. Rushing toward me at full speed, her pointy ears flopping like she was morphing into a bat. I’d barely knelt down before she leaped and landed in my arms. She let out a whimper and shook so hard I had to adjust my grip to keep hold of her.
A few feet behind her, Ron and Andy bounded up to Noah. Though panting, they seemed to be enjoying the excitement instead of being terrified of it.
In the distance, both the human yells and dog barking faded.
Stroking Harper’s fur, I nuzzled her with my nose. “Poor baby. What’s happened to you?”
Noah’s large hand joined mine. His fingers brushed the back of my hand as he soothed her. His voice was low, as if she were a child napping. “We’re not sure what happened to Harper. A family said they found her on the street and they brought her to us. She was underweight and clearly traumatized, but we don’t know why. For several days, we thought she wasn’t going to be an option for adoption, but then she slowly started to come out of her shell.”
Even with both of us comforting her, Harper still shook. I glanced up at Noah. “I hate to do it, but maybe we should cut this short.”
“Probably a good idea. She needs to get away from here.” He paused, his voice questioning when he spoke again. “Did you mean the dog park or the whole thing? I’m sorry if I freaked you out. I tend to be too blunt.”
In all honesty, he kinda was freaking me out. And maybe he was talking about things too quickly. But I’d been thinking of him for the past twenty years, refusing to let any other man measure up to little more than a memory. “Ah, the dog park.”
“You don’t sound too sure of that.”
“No. I am. Really.” I attempted a smile. “Maybe let’s just go back to my place. Order in food or something.”
He winced again. “I almost hate to admit this. I’d already decided to not bring it up as I’m not playing things cool the way it is, but….”
