She heard footsteps behind her, and she turned to see Josh standing in the entrance of the kennel.
Audrey held out her hand The Supremes stop-in-the-name-of-love style. “Don’t come in, he’s scared of men.”
Instead of entering Josh just crouched down so he was closer to Thor’s level and spoke in calming, soothing tone. “It’s okay, big guy. You’re okay. It’s just a little thunder. Nothing to worry about.”
Audrey turned back and saw that Thor was sniffing the air toward Josh. His eyes didn’t appear to be as wild and panicked, it’s like his brain had switched to being curious about Josh.
“Yeah, that’s a good boy.” Josh reached out his hand making his wrist limp and Thor stretched his neck to sniff him.
After a few minutes Josh shuffled slightly on his feet and then lowered onto his butt so his back was leaning against the cement block of the kennel wall. He was no longer facing Thor head on; he now had his side to him. As soon as Josh changed positions Thor took a tentative step in his direction.
Audrey couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Thor wasn’t cowering, or crying, or yelping. He was still shaking but he didn’t seem terrified.
Josh remained perfectly still, just speaking in that same soothing, low, calming voice and within ten minutes Thor had crawled onto his lap, curled up, and had fallen asleep as Josh petted his head.
“His name is Thor and he’s afraid of thunder?” Josh asked in a teasing tone once Thor was snoring peacefully.
Audrey honestly could not believe what had just happened. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she wouldn’t have. “How did you do that?”
“I worked with bomb sniffing dogs when I was in Beirut. Dogs respond to energy. You just have to stay calm and almost telepathically tell them that they are safe and that everything is okay.”
The left side of Audrey’s lip curled as she let out a tiny huff of air. She knew all of that and had been trying to put it into practice, but she’d failed miserably. “You make it sound so easy.”
Josh’s shoulder lifted in a tiny shrug. “It is once you learn how to stay in a calm and authoritative state. It works with humans sometimes, too.”
It sure as hell worked on Audrey. She wanted nothing more than to crawl up into Josh’s lap, curl up in a ball, and fall asleep as he stroked her hair. But right now, that position was occupied.
12
“Seriously? Another one?”
Josh pulled what was left of the shredded rag from Thor’s mouth. He’d thought that he’d Thor-proofed the garage but every time he turned around the dog had found something else to destroy.
He’d had Thor for three days and he was a completely different dog than the petrified animal he’d seen in the shelter. When he’d come around the corner to check on Audrey after he’d heard the high-pitched yelp, his heart had broken at what he saw.
Growing up, he’d always wanted a dog, but his dad had never let him get one. When he got home from the Army, he’d thought about getting a dog, his psychologist had even suggested that he get one to help with his PTSD and night terrors, but he felt guilty getting an animal when he could barely take care of himself.
But having Thor had shown him that Dr. Lowe was right. He’d felt happier and calmer these past few days than he could remember ever feeling.
Thor looked longingly in the direction of the oversized dog bed Josh had gotten for him which was currently inhabited by Bullet who was snuggled up in the center. The tiny cat looked even more miniscule due to the scale of the bed.
“It’s your bed. You can lay on it, too,” Josh told Thor whose only response was to flop down on the concrete floor and let out an exaggerated sigh.
For all the years that Bullet and Batman had been coming around they only ever showed up when it was feeding time. But the past three days that Thor had been at the shop, the cats had been hanging out all day and staying in the shop when Josh closed at night. Sleeping on Thor’s bed.
At first, Thor seemed to like the company. Both cats would snuggle up next to him on the bed and Josh had gotten some adorable pictures. Now, it seemed that there must have been a shift in the relationship dynamic because if Batman or Bullet were on the bed first, Thor didn’t go near it.
It was so funny to Josh that Thor could literally eat the cats as snacks, but he was nearly as scared of them as he was of thunder, at least when it came to claiming his bed as his domain.
“They get on the bed when you’re sleeping on it. You can get on it when they are,” Josh pointed out as he lowered down onto the creeper and laid down with barely any pain in his back.
Having Thor hadn’t been the only change the past few days. Since the AcroYoga class his back had felt markedly better. He’d only had to take pain medicine twice. He felt stronger and more flexible.
His tertiary blast injuries had mostly been in his back. He’d broken his arm and fractured his ribs but those both healed. His back was the only physical ongoing injury he dealt with and the AcroYoga had been the most effective form of therapy he’d found. He’d seen the benefits from doing yoga by himself, but they were nothing compared to the difference he experienced from the class with Audrey.
It was sort of the difference between jerking off and having sex. There was something to be said about practicing with another person. The balance, stretching and strengthening was exponentially better. He was tempted to ask Audrey if she’d take more classes with him, which he was pretty sure she’d agree to, but he knew that was playing with fire and he would definitely get burned.
The class with her had not only affected his physical body, it had also affected him both emotionally and mentally. The way she looked at him with complete trust as he’d held her above him. The way the curves of her body fit perfectly in the palms of his hands. The way they moved together in perfect harmony as if they’d done it a thousand times before. Even Tiana had commented on how intuitive their movements were with one another.
His dirty mind had immediately filled with other things they could do together where their bodies would be in sync. If they were that intuitively synchronal with one another with their clothes on how much better would it be if they didn’t have any barriers between each other.
Those thoughts were not appropriate to be having about Audrey, especially considering the fact that she’d never shared any naked time with another person. Since he’d found that out it had only made him want her more, which was something he didn’t even think was possible. He wasn’t sure what that said about him as a person.
His mind was a million miles away when he felt the familiar swat of Nonna’s shoe on his leg.
Josh rolled out from under the car. “You could just say my name to get my attention.”
“Who can hear with all this racket?!”
The music wasn’t that loud, but Josh pulled out his phone and turned the nest speaker down.
“Oh, what a handsome boy you are,” Nonna talked in baby talk as she lavished attention on Thor who was standing beside her eating it up. “You are the most handsome boy there ever was.”
“Thanks, Nonna,” Josh teased.
Nonna ignored him and kissed her hand then put it on the top of Thor’s head before turning her attention to Josh. “I need to call Pastor Harrison.”