Road.
Rebekah made a slight chuckling sound. “That’d be a first.”
“What would be?” Grant asked, finally getting his seat belt locked in.
“You being my dirty little secret,” Rebekah said, the engine revving as she gained speed. “I would’ve thought it would be the other way around.”
Something tingled along the edges of Grant’s nostrils and he tried not to sniff. “Why would you be the secret?”
“Oh, come on, Grant. You’re the golden boy of the Whitaker family. I just work here.”
Well, the fact that she worked for his aunts wasn’t the real problem bothering her right now. No, Grant heard what she wasn’t saying aloud—that he might not feel comfortable going public with their...fling? Relationship? He wasn’t really sure what to call their situation, but that wasn’t the issue. His only concern was her feelings and assuring her that he heard her. It didn’t matter how beautiful, intelligent or accomplished Rebekah was. There were always going to be some people who thought they shouldn’t be together because they were different. While he couldn’t deny that Rebekah’s feelings were likely the result of her own experiences, he also wanted her to know that he’d always been proud to be with her. “For the record, I have never thought of you as the hired help. In fact, I’m not the one who’s embarrassed to have people finding out about us.”
“It’s not that I’m embarrassed about you.” Rebekah flicked her eyes at him before turning on her signal and pulling onto Spring Forest Boulevard. “It’s that I’ve worked really hard to become the director of an organization that does amazing things in the community. As a nonprofit, we’re governed by a different set of rules than regular corporations. That makes my job fall under more scrutiny when it comes to ensuring that everything stays aboveboard.”
“So you’re saying dating me wouldn’t be aboveboard?”
“First of all, we’re not dating.” Rebekah turned to him as her car idled at an intersection. Grant tried to ignore the pang of disappointment at her words, despite the fact that he’d been telling himself exactly the same thing these past several weeks, ever since their night together. “Second of all, as you know, there’s currently an attorney looking into some of your family’s past investments and I don’t want to risk any appearance of impropriety or otherwise suggest that there might be any conflicts of interest.”
Ouch. He especially didn’t like the reminder that there were potentially some financial issues going on right now with his uncle Gator.
The man had always been a financial whiz. That was why Birdie and Bunny had trusted him to manage the investments used to support their living expenses and the shelter’s overhead. Gator always seemed to know just how to deal with every shift in the market, using his intelligence and intuition to help his sisters and also to build his own personal fortune. But then something had gone wrong. Suddenly money wasn’t where it was supposed to be. When the storm hit Spring Forest and the shelter took heavy damage, the aunts discovered that Gator had let their insurance lapse and couldn’t provide a good explanation for where the money for the premiums had gone.
The situation had seemed to get more tangled by the day, until the aunts had had no choice but to hire people to look into it. Now, Gator was nowhere to be found and some people in town were suggesting that Grant’s favorite uncle had gone missing to avoid being questioned about his alleged mismanagement.
“Okay, obviously we’re not dating,” he readily agreed, trying to ignore the fact that there was a sour, mildew-type odor in this car that easily overpowered the scent of Rebekah’s flowery lotion. “I think we both made it pretty clear that night that we weren’t in the market for a serious relationship.”
He certainly wasn’t—especially with someone who lived a two-hour flight away. The light turned green and Rebekah barely got out a nod before pulling forward, allowing Grant to continue.
“However, with circumstances being what they are...” he glanced down to her still-flat stomach behind the seat belt “...don’t you think people are going to eventually find out that you’re pregnant?”
She held up a finger. “If I am, in fact, pregnant. Remember, the doctor hasn’t officially confirmed it.”
“Is there any reason to think you’re not?”
The muscles in Rebekah’s toned arms stiffened as she gripped the wheel tighter. She opened her mouth as though to say something, then made a sniffing sound. “I’m not the only one who smells that, right?”
The stench that had been slowly building inside the car was becoming unbearable, and Grant finally gave in and cracked a window. “Yes, I’ve been smelling it for the past five minutes but was hoping it was coming from outside.”
She hit a switch and both of their windows whirred all the way down. Grant inhaled the fresh, warm air filtering in as Rebekah’s corkscrew curls whipped around her face. While lowering the windows improved things slightly, the scent still lingered.
“It’s definitely coming from inside the car,” Rebekah said, pinching her nose as she slowed for a four-way stop. “What could it be?”
“It reminds me of the time one of Aunt Birdie’s goats got into the henhouse and stomped on all the eggs before rolling around in chicken poop.”
“But twenty times worse,” Rebekah said right before making a gagging sound.
Just then a loud yip came from somewhere in the back of the car. Grant and Rebekah nearly butted foreheads as they whipped their necks around. A mangy animal with long gray fur covering its eyes poked its head up from the storage area in the very rear of the car. The thing growled low and deep, revealing tiny yellowed teeth, and its front legs were perched on the back seat as if it was about to leap over and attack. Grant held himself perfectly still and lowered his voice. “What in the hell kind of animal is that?”
“I think it’s that stray dog that everyone has been trying to catch. Remember the one from last week that your aunt chased into the street? I’ve never seen it this close up, though, so I can’t be sure.”
“What’s it doing in your car?” Grant asked.
“How should I know? It must’ve jumped in when I left the back hatch open to argue with you in the parking lot.”
“Okay, where is your extra leash?”
Rebekah was also holding herself very still, which made her raised eyebrow even more prominent. “My extra what?”
“My aunts always keep an extra leash and a few lengths of rope in their pickup truck for this exact reason. They say they never know when they’re going to come across an animal that needs help.”
“Grant, just because I work at a pet rescue doesn’t mean I go driving around town looking for actual pets to rescue.”
The dog growled again and made a snapping motion, as if it was about to lunge at them. “Well, we probably shouldn’t stay in here with him. Or her. Let’s get out slowly and then I’ll call an animal control officer to come take him.”
Rebekah nodded. “On the count of three, we’ll both get out at the same time.”
Grant began the count. “One, two—” He didn’t
