“Brody, let them be,” Lily whispered.
Jet quickly flipped around to face my much bigger dog as she met CC’s stare. As soon as the bigger dog looked away, Jet continued over to me to sniff as if CC didn’t exist.
Lily smiled, patted her dog’s fluffy butt. “They’re going to be just fine.”
Letting go of some of my tension, I turned to say hello to the Aussie. She allowed me to touch her for only a few seconds before walking to the end of her leash in the opposite direction as if to say, Well, are we going or not, humans?
“Did...did she just give me the brush-off?”
Lily chortled. “First female to give you the brush-off, Shaw? Don’t take it personally. It’s Jet’s world. We’re only living in it.”
I held up two fingers. “Second. Second woman to give me the brush-off.” My gaze made a slow trip from Lily’s heart-shaped face to her curvy legs and back up. “Of course, her owner’s given me the brush-off several times.”
Her cheeks turned pink.
Dammit, why couldn’t I stop flirting with this woman? I was in enough trouble. Besides, one night was my limit, and Lily Costello definitely wasn’t one-night-stand material.
I liked her, found her brain fascinating. I wanted to get to know her better. Find out why she was so guarded, and that was relationship talk. I’d learned the hard way that as long as I played football, I couldn’t have my cake and eat it, too. Relationships were a no go when you didn’t know who you could trust.
It didn’t matter how much I liked Lily; she had a direct line to the man who could ruin my career. Pursuing her would be monumentally stupid. This whole arrangement was too tangled up with my career for me to be sure Lily could like me for me instead of the number 58 on my back.
I shook off all the thoughts, pushed them to the back of my brain and pasted an affable smile on my face. “Let’s not keep Jet waiting, shall we?”
As we set off down the path around the pond and into the wooded area, CC stayed tight to my leg on Jet’s side.
When a squirrel took off across our path, CC lunged after it, and Jet emitted a little growl. My big girl shrank back to my side.
My surprise must have shown because Lily chuffed out a laugh. “It’s okay. Jet’s telling her to behave herself.”
“Jet is the alpha.”
Lily grinned. “No. Technically, I am. I prefer the term leader to alpha since dog pack behavior is a lot more watered down than their wolf ancestors. Jet is a dominant dog. Most dogs defer to her, but she takes her cues from me. It’s fairly simple, really. If Jet trusts me, she’ll follow me. The other dogs follow her. I only need to be in charge of one dog, Brody. But it has to be the right one.”
“I mean, how do I do that? Become CC’s leader?”
“First off, you’re lucky. She already watches you for cues. She’s wary of her surroundings, but you’re okay with them, so she’s trying to be okay with them, too. You have to keep that up by making her feel safe anywhere you two are. It’s like running the defense. If you’re confident in your abilities, and in control of your emotions and reactions, the other players will be confident in your ability to lead them. If you’re indecisive or worried, panicked all the time, so are your teammates. They won’t trust you to lead them anymore. You and CC are a team, too.”
Lilly was putting it into language I understood. “I did a lot of research on Corsi.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t want to screw up with her, you know?”
“I’m glad you’re taking being a responsible dog owner seriously. What did you learn?”
I observed Lily’s profile. Her creamy skin had a pink glow. Soft, full lips I wanted to nibble on. Lily’s nose turned up just the slightest. My granny would have said God made it that way to keep the rain off her lip. She even had cute ears—tiny little things that might’ve belonged to a fairy.
I mentally slapped myself in the nuts. “I know they have a bad rap. That people think they’re dangerous and there are certain cities that have outlawed the breed. But it seemed to me that most incidents happen because of the people involved. Like, let’s get the dog, then slap it on a chain in the backyard where the trash man throws rocks at it, and hell yeah, I’d bite somebody, too.”
“Mmm. Truth is, every breed has bad owners, but as bully breed owners, we have to be diligent and put more time into training and socialization because of breed bias.” She blew out a long sigh. “Because, honestly, Brody, you should know, if CC were to bite, whether it’s a dog or person—even if she were defending herself against an attack—it will always be her fault. Whether she is or not, people will say she was the aggressor.”
“That’s bullshit.” I felt the lines in my forehead deepen. “I mean, I get it why we need to be cognizant, but it’s—”
“Unfair?” Lily pulled to a stop. I could see both the frustration and resolve on her face.
“Yeah.”
She nodded, continued walking. “It is.”
Stopping at a fenced area, she swiped a card. An electronic gate buzzed open and Lily led Jet and Mack inside, unclipping their leashes. I followed, hesitant to do the same with CC. Particularly after the conversation we’d had.
“It’s okay. Let her off leash. Leaving her on will make her feel vulnerable because she can’t run if something happens.” Bending at the waist, she unhooked CC’s leash and gave her a scratch on the head before she told Jet and Mack to go play.
“I know about dog parks. I just worry she’ll hurt another dog, and that will be the end of CC.”
Lily began to saunter through the grass. “First, this isn’t really a dog park. It’s a training area. The Unruly Dog owns it. Second, we’re the only ones here. I signed the area out just for CC. Next time we’ll introduce her to more dogs, but today it’s just us.”
“Ahhh. Controlled environment.”
“Exactly. Now, we’re going to let CC be a dog and explore her surroundings.” Lily meandered through the short grass as Jet led Mack and CC around the perimeter of the park at a trot.
CC sniffed at everything. Sticks. Holes in the ground. Bushes. A bird carcass. Eventually, she even broke away from Jet and explored on her own with Mack following her like a mooning teenager.
I knew the feeling. “How did you get into dog training?”
“I used to work with my own dog all the time. As I was finishing up my master’s degree in kinesiology, I went through an ugly breakup with a cheating asshole who got borderline obsessed. I needed to hit the reset button on life. Do what made me happy. I love the mechanics of the human body, but dealing with people all day... I have a low threshold for bullshit and my bedside manner is similar to my level of road rage during rush hour. Teaching my dog became my sanctuary. My escape from the people I had to deal with daily. That time with my dogs was wholly satisfying and made me happy in a way working with human subjects never had. So, I got certified.