Page 39 of Sit, Stay, Love
‘Depends,’ he said with a mischievous chuckle.
‘You don’t have to tell me of course, but—’
‘Why am I scared of dogs?’ He took an uneven breath and rolled onto his side to face her. ‘It’s okay. I should have told you upfront. Things would probably make more sense if you knew.’
She shuffled to her side and met his gaze, offering him a reassuring smile.
He smiled back, swallowed hard, and told her about the year his family spent the Christmas school holidays in the beach town of Culburra, and the two dogs that lived up the street. He was eleven, and his brother, Chris, was thirteen. They’d walk back and forth to the beach a couple of times a day, past the dogs, which always barked at them. Chris would sometimes bark back or bounce a ball in the street, driving the dogs crazy. But because the dogs were behind a gate, the brothers were never really worried about them. Then one morning, the gate was open. Ethan had suggested they go a different way to the beach that day, just to be safe. But his brother teased him, calling him chicken. So Ethan, wanting to prove his brother wrong, kept on walking.
‘I was a bit nervous,’ he said. ‘But there were people in their yards and kids up the street a bit and, you know, at eleven you think you’re indestructible. Anyway, Chris being Chris and a complete dickhead, starts whistling for the dogs, which he didn’t need to do, because as soon as they saw us,they charged out the open gate. Chris started laughing, but I shat myself and split. Which was a mistake, because they ran straight past Chris and chased me down. I felt a pair of teeth go into the back of my thigh and fell to the road. Chris went from laughing to screaming for me to run. But the dogs were all over me by then.’
Sera’s hand went to her mouth to smother a gasp.
He pulled his gaze from hers, rolled onto his back and squeezed his eyes shut.
‘I remember the noise. The growling and snarling and snapping. And the pain. There was a fair amount of pain.’ He looked back to Sera and shrugged. ‘I just put my hands over my head and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in the hospital. They did a real number on my leg. I’ve got a few scars – leg, arm. I used to have a couple on my back, but they’ve faded now. I was in hospital for a bit. Had to have a couple of operations because they were worried about damaged nerves. Everything was fine, though. Nothing permanent. At least, not physically.’ He took a fortifying breath and blew it away. ‘Anyway, that’s why. The owner of the dogs was devastated. He took the dogs to the council himself. They’d never bitten anyone before. I’ve never really forgiven my brother. Tried to, but… well, if he hadn’t pissed them off, I might not have got bit, and that nice man wouldn’t have lost his pets. And of course, I’ll always wonder, if I hadn’t run, would it have still happened?’ He sighed deeply. ‘So, yeah.’
Sera sat up and gazed down at him. ‘Ethan. I’m so sorry that happened to you. And I’m so sorry I put you in a situation that made you relive it.’
He pushed up on one elbow and gazed back at her. ‘I just want to get past it. It was years ago. I need to move on.’
She nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘And given time, I know I can be okay-ish with dogs. But I’m always nervous, and I’m always tense, and a sudden bark or growl makes me want to hurl. I don’t want to feel like that anymore. I’m done with it.’
He smiled softly, his vivid blue eyes locking with her green ones, drawing her to him, holding her transfixed.
She swallowed hard. Twice. God, she wanted to kiss him, to press her mouth to his and kiss him. To feel his breath on her, his lips on her, his tongue licking into her mouth. She wanted to put her ear to his chest and listen to his heartbeat. Feel the warmth of him against her body, the softness of his touch.
Stop it.
She was crushing on him hard, and it had to stop. He was going away soon, and he was paying her to be with him – she had to remember both of those things. She had to constantly remind herself. They had a business arrangement.
She gently shook her head, shaking away her thoughts, and asked, ‘What kind of dogs were they? The ones that attacked you.’
‘I don’t know. Brown ones.’ He flicked her a look. ‘Kind of like Ernie.’
‘Oh no.’ She winced as she remembered how she’d treated him the night he’d come to Toby for help.
Ethan gave a wry smile. ‘Yeah. But you know what? Ernie was a good thing. He made me understand not all brown dogs are out to eat me. And, of course, he led me to you.’
Chapter Eight
‘Darling, you’re in the paper.’
‘I’m what?’
Sera was sitting at her desk, her phone on speaker while clicking through a thousand open tabs on her computer, trying to find the one with the article on the meaning of flowers for funerals. She landed on a page full of photos of Ethan, then quickly closed it, glancing around as if someone might have seen.
‘Just the local paper,’ her mother went on. ‘Your father spotted it. I don’t read the local rag, but you know him, still reads all the news. He’s been retired for over a year but—’
‘Mum,’ Sera interrupted.
‘Oh, sorry, darling. There’s a photo of you and your actor friend. It says, ‘Aussie heartthrob Ethan James and mystery woman walk their dogs at Belrose.’
Sera groaned. ‘Oh god.’ Was it the little girls who took a sneaky photo of the two of them? Or the mother? Probably the mother. She said a silent prayer that there weren’t any photos of Ethan after the dogfight.
‘How exciting,’ her mother went on. ‘My daughter stalked by paparazzi!’
