James let his anger rise a bit. He’d been one sorry-ass fool, letting pride keep him from ending it. How long would it have gone on if Bogart hadn’t disappeared?
Jaylynn had never even tried with Bogart. She didn’t want him around. No, Bogart couldn’t be kept in a kennel outside when they were together. Yes, his partner shed, but it wasn’t that bad. If Bogart was part of the deal, then James couldn’t stay at her place overnight.
Not surprisingly, the feeling of dislike was mutual. Oops, sorry, Bogart chewed up her favorite purse. Oh no, you can’t find your cell? Yes, look, Bogart hid it. He does that when he’s bored, or being ignored. Maybe if she didn’t leave her things lying around everywhere. If she just tried to be friends with Bogart …
Instead, Jaylynn had tried to destroy him.
The memory of Shay laughing and rolling in the grass with Bogart flashed through his mind, tugging a smile from him. Shay’s love of Bogart had no calculation. He doubted she was capable of fake emotions.
He thrust that thought aside as Jaylynn started down the hall.
She didn’t notice him until she was within half a dozen steps. “Well, look who’s turned up? If you’ve come to apologize, it will have to wait. I’m busy.”
James smiled but it held no humor. “I didn’t come to apologize.” He signaled with his hand and Bogart, who was sitting out of sight, padded softly into view.
“Oh my God! How—I mean, you found him.” Her voice was full of false emotion. “It’s a miracle. Hey there, boy.”
She reached out a hand as if she meant to pat him but Bogart rolled back his muzzle until all his teeth showed. She jerked her hand back. “Where—I mean, how did you find him?”
“Cut the crap, Jaylynn. I know. Everything.” James’s voice was pitched low so that others moving through the hall couldn’t hear him. But she got the message.
She blinked twice. “Okay, I have an admission to make.” Her perfect posture slipped as her shoulders rounded in feigned regret. “Your dog wasn’t stolen.” She glanced across at him. “I was too ashamed to tell you the truth. So I kind of made up that story about him being stolen.”
“Really?”
She nodded, staring now at a spot on the floor halfway between them. “I stopped on the way to the groomers to pick up a new nail polish. When I opened the door, he took off.” Her lower lip, scarlet-lipstick perfection, trembled. “He never liked me, you know. I think he ran off just to upset me.”
“Cut the shit, Jaylynn. You drove him all to the way to an animal shelter near Raleigh to have him put down.”
She straightened her spine, thrust out her perfect breasts, and shook out her hair. The stare she leveled at him said she was done with explanation. “Like I said, I’m busy. If you want to discuss this—no, you know what? We have nothing to say to one another.” She tried one last time for her “Charlotte’s Sweetheart” smile. “It was good while it lasted but it’s over. Let’s not waste each other’s time and spoil it by making bad memories.”
James watched her take three steps to the nearest doorway. “If you leave this hallway before we’re done, I’m going straight to the station’s general manager to tell her the story you don’t have time to hear.”
She turned around slowly. “What do you mean?”
He gave her the “come here and sit” hand signal he used with Bogart, and he was pleased to see by her insulted expression that she recognized it.
All pretense of flirtatiousness vanished as she retraced her steps. “Make it quick.”
James gave her the account of how he’d found his animal, his voice level and unemotional. She grew paler with every sentence but her expression remained neutral.
When he was done, she gave him her trademark blink and then a coy big-eyed “oops” glance. “So, I made a mistake. What do you plan to do about it?”
“It’s not me you have to worry about. You lied to the police, alleging the false charge of dog-napping. You could be cited for false allegations, for starters.”
Her expression relaxed. “What is that? A fine? I can pay it.”
“You also stole and tried to destroy police property.”
Her gaze flicked to the very much alive Bogart, panting by his side. “But I didn’t actually do anything.”
“Then there’s your public relations problem when this gets out. People love their pets. Your ratings soared when Bogart was on. Remember all those crayon pictures of him you got? ‘Dog killer’ isn’t going to look so good on your resume.”
“You and that damned dog.” Her voice was bitter. “I wish I’d never set eyes on either of you.”
“Ditto.” He held her glare. “I could press civil charges, too. But I won’t.”
Jaylynn closed her eyes for a moment, as if in prayer. When she opened them the old Jaylynn was back, the silky siren pose slipped into place.