Still, something tugged at her. Noah and Dancer’s seamless partnership spoke to a part of her she usually kept locked away. The part that sometimes got tired of doing everything alone, of being fiercely independent because she had no other choice.
Sometimes it sucked to never have anyone.
But it also sucked to have someone and then find out he couldn’t handle it when she brought the thunder. So she’d gotten used to counting on one person—herself.
“Hey.” Noah’s low voice skated across her skin. “What’s going on? You seem distressed.”
His gaze hooked hers, warm and not the slightest bit intrusive. He brushed back a strand of hair as if he did that kind of thing often, both paying enough attention to notice hair out of place and casually touching her.
She liked both.
“Just thinking about what Reynolds said. About the commitment involved.” She hesitated, then decided to be honest. “I guess I wasn’t sure I was ready to take that leap before. It’s not just the training. It’s—”
Well, that she could barely spellcommitment, let alone fathom the requirements for it.
“Learning to rely on a partner?”
“Maybe.” She matched his steady gaze, daring him to make something out of it. Hoping he would, if for no other reason than to give her an outlet for the steam building inside.
He just shook his head. “You’re already aces at that. If I thought you’d have a single lick of trouble bonding with an SAR dog, I wouldn’t have suggested it.”
Jamming a hand down on her hip, she eyed him. “What are you babbling about? How do you know I’m already good at working with a partner?”
“Because you work with me, Sabrina,” he told her gently, drawing her hand into his and raising it to his mouth in a gesture that should have been weird but felt so natural, as if his lips had been made for that hollow near her thumb. “We’re a good team. Don’t bother to deny it. You feel it too.”
Her face did a thing without her permission that probably looked like agreement to him. She might have even nodded against her will.
Oh, who was she kidding? It was dumb to pretend she didn’t know exactly what he was talking about, even if she couldn’t quite reconcile the truth herself. “Yeah. Okay. You might have a point.”
“Faint praise.” He laughed, totally unfazed. “Obviously I have some work to do to get you to see it my way. Challenge accepted.”
Good grief. This guy.
“Maybe less than you think.” She tilted her head, studying him. “If any other man had stepped in like that with my commander, he’d be on the ground bleeding out. Since you’re still in one piece, we’re gonna chalk that up to whatever this thing is going on between us. I don’t hate it. You had my back when it counted.”
“That’s what partners do. Dogs and human ones.” The words carried weight, even though his tone stayed light. “I’m a totally separate package from the SAR cert training, by the way. You have my offer to help regardless of what happens between us. But I’m selfish enough to hope that you take me up on everything I’m offering.”
“What’s that?”
He spread his hands wide with a flourish. “You see it, it’s yours.”
That sounded remarkably like a label. “Can I write Sabrina across your forehead with a Sharpie?”
His brow lifted. “No. Too public. What goes on between us is no one else’s business. Pick a spot I can cover up and the answer is yes.”
She’d been kidding. But there was something so elemental about his total willingness to be claimed that she couldn’t quite dismiss the idea from her mind.
All of this heaviness should have given her pause. Instead, she found herself taking a step closer. “Maybe we’ll save that for next week.”
“It’s a date,” he said, his voice rasping deliciously.
“Does that mean you’re going to teach me all your SAR secrets?” she asked, trying to lighten the suddenly charged atmosphere.
His answering grin did funny things to her insides. “Every single one. Your next day off. It’s mine.”
“I’ll be there.” The promise came easily now, weighted with possibility.
She had no illusions about what she was getting into. SAR certification would demand everything she had—physically, mentally, emotionally. It would mean long hours, brutal conditions and learning to be a permanent part of a team.
