“His food is in the bin beside the fridge. Thanks, honey.” The endearment slides from my lips without thinking and I’m not one to throw around terms of affection. It doesn’t look like Jay minds, he’s looking up at me, the hint of a smile teasing at the corner of his mouth. “I won’t be long.”
Twenty minutes later I’m sitting in the front seat of Jay’s truck with Belle on my lap, wrapped in a towel. The only one she’ll allow to carry her around is Beau, and I wasn’t planning on him coming along so I had to protect my arms from those sharp little claws of hers.
As it turns out, Beau has no intention of staying home alone. He slips out when Jay tries to pull the front door shut and leaps right into the driver’s seat.
“Seeing as we’re already late, can we bring him?” I ask when Jay sticks his head in.
“Fine by me, but you’ve gotta get in the back, buddy,” he adds for Beau.
The back is only a narrow bench, which means Beau’s big head is leaning in between the front seats so he can keep an eye on the kitten. As we pull onto the road, Jay reaches over and scratches Belle between the ears before taking my hand and lacing our fingers.
Despite the dog leaking drool all over our hands, he doesn’t let go.
Jay
“Well, who do we have here?”
I jerk around at Dave’s voice.
I just opened the door to let Beau into the house. He started barking wildly the moment he spotted the horses, but seeing my vet’s truck parked by the barn already, proper introductions between dog and horse would have to wait.
Dave’s a nice guy, I like him, but he’s damn lucky his attention is focused on the kitten. For a moment there I thought he was flirting with Meredith and I was about to deck him. The strength of that impulse shocks me. I’m not one for violence, despite what my profession might suggest. Don’t get me wrong, I’m trained, I can take out a perp in the blink of an eye, but as a uniformed officer I rely mostly on my calm and my negotiating skills to resolve conflict. There was nothing calm about the way I felt there for a minute.
“Hey, Dave.” I take a step closer and can’t resist draping my arm around Meredith’s shoulders. “I see you met Belle, and this is Meredith Carter.”
He darts a glance at Merry before turning to me. “This is the friend you were talking about.”
“Girlfriend,” I correct him, but he ignores me and offers her his hand.
“Nice to meet you, Meredith. Dave Juergens.”
“Likewise. I really appreciate you doing this.”
He waves her off. “Not a problem. It was time for one of my routine visits anyway. Let me grab my bag.”
As soon as he heads for his truck, Meredith swings around on me.
“Down boy,” she says in a low voice, fighting a grin. “I’m not some new shiny toy you want to keep to yourself. No need to stake your claim.”
Put on the spot, I rub the back of my neck. This is uncharted territory.
“Not a toy, no, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to keep you to myself. Besides,” I add defensively, “I thought he was coming on to you.”
Now she’s not even trying to hide her amusement.
“He was coming on to my cat, actually,” she corrects me in a dry voice. “Are you always this possessive?”
This feels a lot like quicksand, one wrong move and I’m sunk.
“Not that I can remember.”
She seems to weigh my response when Dave walks up.
“It may be easier if we do this inside,” he suggests.
Beau starts growling the minute Dave follows us inside. When he asks Meredith to put the cat on the counter and starts examining her, I have to hold on to the dog. He’s protective of Belle and wary of Dave.
So am I, buddy. So am I.
The kitten is deemed healthy, approximately twelve weeks old, and is administered her shots. Beau—calmer now Belle is back in Meredith’s arms—is introduced to Dave, who runs his hands along the dog’s flanks.
“You’re a big boy, aren’t you?” He glances up at Meredith. “Where’d you get him from?”
“He’s a rescue. I got him from the shelter. He was found up at the cemetery roaming around, so I can’t really tell you much.”
“I’m willing to bet he has some wolf in him, although it’s rare to see them this far south.”
Meredith glances at me. “Jay suggested the same thing when he met him. It doesn’t really matter to me where he came from. He’s here now.”
She said something similar back then and it struck a chord, but now that she knows my background her words hold a clear message. One I tuck away deep for safekeeping.
“Lucky dog,” Dave mumbles, as he grabs his bag and looks at me. “How about I have a quick look at Hunter and the girls?”
“Yeah, sure. They’re out front, but move them to the barn.”
“Hunter?”
I turn to Meredith. “My horse.”
“And his harem,” Dave adds. It’s his going joke, since the four horses I board all happen to be mares.
“Can I come meet them?”
“Sure. Bring Beau. You can leave Belle in here.”
When we get outside, Meredith and Dave start walking toward the barn with Beau in tow while I go round up the horses. The moment the dog spots them he starts barking, spooking them as he runs up. Meredith tries to call him back but doesn’t have any luck, he’s focused on the skittish animals.
“Beau!” I yell and the dog’s head turns my way. “Come!”
He glances back at the horses before slowly coming toward me. When he’s within reach I grab his collar and take him with me into the field.
“Quiet,” I order firmly when he starts growling and pulling at my hold.
I have to remind him a few times as we approach the herd, but by the time they slip through the gate Dave holds open and into the corral attached to the barn he no longer tries. He’s still curious, but when I cautiously release him, he resorts to sniffing around while Dave checks the horses.
When I approach Meredith, she rolls her eyes at me.
“Belle already adores you,” she grumbles. “Figures you’d win Beau over too.”
I put my hands on her hips, pull her close, and ignoring present company, press a hard kiss on her mouth.
“Only one I’m interested in winning over is you, Merry.”
Chapter 19
Meredith
“Do you ride?”
The forkful of scrambled eggs—which turns out to be the only way Jay can make them—stills halfway to my mouth.
When we were joined outside the barn by a friendly, slightly stooped older man introduced as Carlos, Jay offered to make me some breakfast. All I’d had was a couple of coffees and was starving, so I wasn’t going to say no to that. We left the two men to deal with the horses and took Beau back inside, where I was told to sit at the kitchen table while Jay put on a pot of coffee and cooked.
“Haven’t since I was maybe twelve and my parents took me on vacation to a ranch in Arizona belonging to an old friend of my dad’s. We had this old trailer we were allowed to park on the property and I remember spending most of my time with the owner’s daughter in the barn.” I chuckle at the memories that come flooding back. “Angela. She was three years older and I recall following her around the barn like a puppy. I thought she was the coolest person and tried to emulate her in everything.” I wince. “Including jumping fences on horseback, except it wasn’t nearly as easy as it looked when she did it.”