Not liking the path his mind was determined to take, he climbed out of his truck. Bruno sprang to the ground, ready to lift his leg and mark every scraggly shrub and pine tree leading to the front door. Jay unloaded the truck bed, taking out the bags of cement, light fixtures, and cans of primer and paint. He hauled everything inside, then fed the dog, and headed to the shower.

His thoughts turned to Kristi and their night of lovemaking. After all of his warnings to himself, all the mental admonitions, he’d fallen into the same old trap and had ended up in her bed. Just where he’d really wanted to be. And damn it, as a scientist he didn’t believe in a lot of romantic nonsense. Sex, after all, was sex. Some better than others. But he hadn’t really bought into the emotional connection of it. At some level he’d even hoped that after tumbling into bed with Kristi and spending hours making love, he would somehow, miraculously, be cured of her.

Of course he’d been wrong.

Seriously wrong.

With Kristi, there was more to it than pure sexual gratification. Always had been. In fact, if he were honest with himself, he’d admit his fascination with her was worse than ever. “Good goin’, Romeo,” he muttered, yanking off his clothes and stepping into the shower of the Day-Glo green bathroom. He couldn’t help but wish she was with him, that he could wash her body with soap, feel his hands slide down her slick skin, kiss her breasts while water cascaded over them both, and lift her up, feel her legs wrap around him and…

Oh hell. He was giving himself a hard-on just thinking about it. He scrubbed quickly, turned the spigots to cold and braced himself as his erection softened. Within minutes, he toweled off, then pulled on clean jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt from his duffel bag. Socks and shoes followed, and he grabbed his notebook computer and was out the door again, calling to Bruno, who was lying in the overgrown yard beneath a live oak, where a squirrel had taken up residence on a bough just out of reach.

“Give it up,” Jay advised his dog as the squirrel, tail flickering, scolded noisily. “Let’s go.”

On cool days, he took the old hound with him everywhere. Bruno was content to wait in the car while Jay ran errands. As long as the temperature allowed, Jay figured it was better than having the dog cooped up in the semi-gutted bungalow for hours at a time.

He pulled out of the driveway and onto the street. Next stop: the hardware store followed by Wagner House, which would be open in the afternoon. He thought he might even stop by the diner for lunch, see Kristi in action.

She would hate it.

And he would love it.