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disgust, she pulled the slim phone from her jacket pocket, unflipped it, and held it to her ear. Barely a moment later, she closed the phone and sighed,

pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers.

“What?” Cat asked.

“The idiot who calls himself my agent,” Dylan grumbled. “I was supposed to sign some papers for him today and I left them back at my house.” Shaking her

head, she shoved the phone back in her jacket. “Damnit. I’d normally blow him off, but he’s meeting with Nike tomorrow, and they’re already whining about

the damn contract.”

Cat’s face fell a little, though she tried valiantly to hide her disappointment. “That’s okay,” she said finally, giving her best smile. “We were pretty much

done here anyway, right?”

“Yeah.” Dylan’s fierce blue eyes softened. “I’m sorry, Cat. This wasn’t what I had in mind when I suggested going out for dinner.”

“That’s okay.” Cat’s smile became more genuine. “You can always make it up to me later.”

Chuckling, Dylan eased her long frame from the bench seat and stood, straightening the lay of her jacket. “Ready?”

“Let’s go.”

Once inside her car, Dylan looked at her watch, then lightly beat her hand against the steering wheel. “We’re never gonna make it. His damn plane leaves

in a couple hours.”

“Well…um…are we close to your house?” Cat paused a moment, then hurried on. “I mean, instead of dropping me off and then going back, we could just go

over to your house, pick up the papers, and drop them off, right? I mean, if that’s okay.”

Cat wasn’t sure why she was suddenly feeling so hesitant, but she did know that above all things, Dylan’s privacy was her most prized possession. She

hadn’t seen her coach’s house yet, hadn’t even asked about it, and figured Dylan would issue the invitation when she was ready. If she was ever ready.

She bravely raised her eyes, to meet Dylan’s smiling gaze.

“I’m glad someone in this car remembered their brains today. You sure you don’t mind coming along?”

“Are you kidding?” Spreading her arms, Cat lounged back into the incredibly soft leather of the bucket seat. “Lead on, Madame. I’m yours for the evening.”

“Geez,” Cat remarked, stepping out of the car and eyeing the grounds of Dylan’s estate, “this place have its own zip code?”

“Ha, ha,” was Dylan’s droll reply as she walked toward the door and inserted her key. Opening the door, she is almost bowled over by two very large, very

feisty dogs, who stopped briefly to greet her, then pelted outside to snarl at the intruder to their domain.

“Halt!” Dylan yelled, freezing both dogs in their tracks before Cat had the chance to either scream or keel over. “You’d better both be sitting by the time I

turn around, or I’m going to have a nice pair of matching furs to hang over the fireplace.”

Brunhilde and Siegfried sat immediately. Siegfried look chagrinned. Brunhilde just looked pissed.

Turning, Dylan walked in between her two dogs, laying a hand on each of their huge heads. “This, my dears, is Cat. She is a friend. Understand?”

Brunhilde gave a soft chuff, not entirely convinced. Siegfried promptly rolled over onto his back in an invite for a belly rub.

Cat broke into laughter, completely charmed by the goofball’s antics.

Brunhilde growled.

“Brunhilde!”

Bending at the waist, Dylan stared into Brunhilde’s intelligent eyes. The dog’s eyes shifted away, then back again.

“Jealousy doesn’t become you. Deal with it.”

Brunhilde growled again, softly.

“I mean it.”

After a long moment, Brunhilde gave an almost human sigh, and dropped gracefully down to her belly, resting her head on her paws.

“Good girl.” Dylan looked up to see Cat’s concerned gaze. Her expression softened. “Don’t worry. She won’t hurt you.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Cat replied, looking at Brunhilde, and her mistress, in turn.

Dylan’s eyebrow rose.

Cat blushed. “I…um…I don’t want to come between you, that’s all. It’s obvious you mean everything to her.”

“And she means everything to me.” This was said with a truly loving look toward the ‘she’ in question. A look that was returned with equal emotion. “She’ll

be alright.”

Siegfried whined, still waiting for his belly rub.

Cat looked at Dylan, a question in her eyes.

“Go ahead,” Dylan said, laughing. “He won’t shut up until you do.”

Cat approached the dog slowly, squatted down, and began to rub his warm, soft belly, to his extreme delight and appreciative groans.

A moment later, she was almost launched into orbit by the feel of a large, wet, and very cold nose pressing on the inside of her free arm. Brunhilde’s

slightly grudging, slightly beseeching gaze caused the laughter to well up again, and Cat gave into it, reaching up and scratching the large dog gently

behind the ears.

“Alright, you two. Enough with the hedonism. Inside.”

All thoughts of pleasure forgotten, the two dogs immediately rose to their feet and trotted into the house. Dylan and Cat followed close behind.

“Wow…” was all Cat could say as she entered the grand residence. Huge, airy and open, it was as if someone had stepped into her dreams and brought

them to life.