“It smells amazing in here. Can we help with anything?” Brody offered.
I waved him off. “Y’all, sit down and help yourself to the salad while I slice the bread.” Which I made quick work of. After sitting the lasagna on the table, I joined them.
“This smells amazing,” Hayes added. “You didn’t have to cook for us, Lily. We could have gone out.”
“Two problems with that. Oh, help yourselves, guys.” Hayes dug into the pan with the server and scooped a piece out for himself as I continued. “One, this isn’t a topic of conversation most people want to ruin their dinner, and two, y’all are a bit famous round here.”
“True.” Brody dug in and served me a piece of lasagna the size of my head before serving himself. “Generally, when I go out, I don’t get to eat or talk to anyone but fans.” He forked a bite of lasagna and moaned. “Dear God, this is good.”
Hayes chuckled. “The man likes his carbs.”
I swallowed my current bite. “So do I.”
Brody sent a conspiratorial wink my direction that had me thinking about his mouth closing around more than a fork.
Now, I was the one blushing.
Hayes noticed and I wished he hadn’t. “So, Lily, how long have you been training dogs?”
“Mmm, six years, I think? I don’t actually train dogs. I train humans on how to communicate with their dogs. What kinds of dogs did you have growing up?”
“Mostly strays. Mixed breeds,” Hayes replied.
“What about you? I’d imagine Billy was the kind of guy that couldn’t deny his little girl anything,” Brody asked.
I let loose a derisive snort. “Ha. I wouldn’t have wanted to have a dog when I was little. My house was...erm, my folks fought a lot. My dad liked to screw around at away games and he also drank like a fish and would lose his shit on occasion. Being Billy Costello’s kid wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be.”
When I glanced at Brody, his lips had thinned. He sipped his wine and I did the same, wishing I hadn’t said that. My mom and I didn’t tell people about these things. Mom didn’t want his legacy tarnished or whatever. As far as armchair quarterbacks knew, Billy was a model dad and husband.
But these guys would have heard the rumors, the stories that got passed on in locker rooms. That, plus wine, and loose lips were the result. I needed to squash this shit. “And Dick... Well, we all know how shit on his Luccheses would go over with him.”
Hayes chuckled. “Have you ever been bitten?”
I nodded, thankful for the subject change. “As a trainer, you’ve either been bit or you’re going to get bit. It’s just a way of life. A dog who bites generally does it because the human isn’t doing a good job of reading the dog.” Setting my wine down, I held out my arm, where a group of puckered scars were set together. “This one was an Akita. I was getting my certification. He was resource guarding and the owner made it worse by trying to prove to the dog who the boss was. I thought we had it sorted, but as soon as his owner came back into the room, the dog reacted to the threat. I took six stitches.”
Brody leaned forward, brushing the scars with the pad of his thumb. “Damn, darlin’.”
Hayes whistled through his teeth. “Geez, Lil. Akitas are big dogs. I hope you had some help.”
“Eh. I’m a lot stronger than I look.”
A line appeared between Brody’s brows again. “No doubt, but don’t you ever get gun-shy?”
I shrugged. “I guess it’s like a quarterback. You either start hearing footsteps and panic because you’re about to get hit, or you block out the footsteps and do the job.”
“Except a quarterback has pads. And teammates,” Brody added.
Hayes nodded. “An offensive line.”
“And as good as I like to think I am as a linebacker, I don’t have fangs.”
I clenched my teeth. It was sweet these guys worried about me, but it was my job to be in harm’s way on occasion. “Guys, thanks for the concern, but it’s part of my job. A part that’s more dangerous the bigger the dog is, but I’ll take that Akita biting me over him biting the baby that just started crawling and put her hand in his food bowl any day of the week.” I refilled my glass. “You guys do your jobs. You take calculated risks each play. My job also requires calculated risks that I’m more than capable of assessing.”
Hayes started scooping up dirty dishes to whisk to the sink. “Yep. Sorry, Lil. Not our place to tell you how to do your job.”
Brody’s brown eyes were trained on mine but had a softness around the edges. “Yeah, sorry. I just thought about if he’d gotten something besides your forearm. I didn’t mean to insinuate that you couldn’t or shouldn’t do your job.”
“Accepted,” I said, adding a wink so he knew there were no hard feelings. “Why don’t I feed you two cheesecake and we can talk this plan through.” After pushing back, I went to the cabinet to pull out dessert plates. Bumping Hayes with my hip, I thanked him for clearing.
“You cook, I clean.” His smile was the stuff of Hollywood legends.
While I served cake, I heard the back door open and close. Shortly after, dogs began dancing around my legs as Brody topped off their water bowl. When I set a piece in front of Hayes, I noticed the ass bent over in my utility room getting the dogs water. Damn, those jeans hugged him entirely too well. I wanted to know how he’d react if I walked over and cupped it. Maybe slid my hands into the back pockets.
“Mmmm. Brody, man, why’d you buy this?” Hayes’s voice brought me out of my dirty daydream and I set the other two pieces on the table before I got caught ogling again. But Hayes hadn’t missed it. His grin was all kinds of lascivious. “Now we’re gonna have to run tomorrow. A minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.”
“Okay, Karen.” Brody sat back down, slid cheesecake in his mouth. “Mmm. Damn, that’s good.”
I couldn’t help the chuckle. These two were obviously pretty close and entertaining as hell.
“Y’all. Game plan.”
“Mmmhmm?” Brody rolled his fork in the air.
Setting my own fork down, I grabbed the list of shops out of my office and we went over them one by one. I pointed out a few places I knew sold lots of bully breeds and owners I knew owned more than one of the shops on the list, so they didn’t go to another shop that person owned. I answered questions about mills for Hayes and reminded both men to turn on the charm if need be. We even strategized when to go.
“Just remember, if they have a lot of bully breeds in the store, be thorough.” I licked cheesecake off my knuckle and didn’t miss the way Brody tracked the movement. At least I wasn’t the only one being tortured. “I think it’s best if you guys go in giving as little info as possible. Make sure you ask for a manager or owner.”