She giggled. “Okay.”
“We’ll be good. I won’t let her bite them,” Junie promised.
“Well, I guess that settles it. Welcome aboard, puppy patrollers.” Gunner held out his hand, and Junie and Rosie took turns shaking it, beaming. “My friend Sidney is with the puppies. Let’s head over and meet them.”
As they followed Gunner across a field, Tank put a hand on Leah’s back and said, “Sid’s cool. You’ll like her. She’s ex-military, like Gunner. She was a dog handler. Now she’s a canine physical therapist and trainer. Her dad is also ex-military and a Dark Knight.”
“Dark Knights are everywhere.”
Tank cocked a grin. “You have no idea how true that is. Teachers, cops, retail shop owners…”
They came to a fenced area where six of the cutest brown, black, and white puppies were playing with Sidney. Sidney was beautiful, about Leah’s height, five foot five, with side-parted, shoulder-length wavy brown hair, and she looked to be in her early to midtwenties.
“Puppies!” Junie yelled, and the girls ran over to the fence, causing the puppies to jump and yap.
“Careful,” Leah warned. Gunner and Tank beat her to their sides like two giant bodyguards.
“They lick me!” Rosie giggled.
“No bite,” Junie said through her giggles.
So much for using a serious tone.
Sidney dropped to her knees, monitoring the puppies from inside the fence. She turned friendly green eyes up to Leah. “Hi. I’m Sidney. You must be Leah. Your girls are adorable.”
“Thanks. Junie, Rosie, say hello to Sidney,” Leah said.
“Hi,” they said in unison between giggles.
“We’re puppy patrollers,” Junie announced.
“Thank goodness Gunner found us some volunteers.” Sidney picked up a puppy and snuggled him. “Why don’t you come in here and patrol with me?”
The girls ran toward the gate, and Tank caught up to them in two long strides, his big hands swallowing theirs.
Junie looked up at him. “You’re not a puppy patroller.”
Tank returned her serious look with one of his own. “I’m a Twitch and Rosie patroller. Where you go, I go.”
The girls grinned, and Leah got that gooey feeling inside again as she followed them through the gate. She scooped up a puppy, and it licked her face, wriggling in her arms as the girls ran around with pups yapping at their heels.
Sidney sidled up to her and petted the puppy she was holding. “Gunner told me about the accident. I’m really sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.” Had they told everyone they knew? Leah realized it was such a big accident, it was probably on the news.
“I know we only just met and I’m glad Tank is there for you and the girls, but we all know he’s not the most talkative guy around. If you need someone else to talk to, I’m a good listener.”
“That’s really nice. Thank you.” Tank might not be warm in a traditional sense, but he was warm toward Leah and her girls. She saw Baz come out of the veterinary clinic and head their way. All the Wicked men were well built, but while Tank was monstrous and Gunner was thickly muscled, Baz was slightly leaner, with longish dirty-blond hair, his father’s dimples, and puppy-dog eyes that made the girls in the restaurant swoon.
“I haven’t lost a sibling,” Sidney said, waving to Baz, “but I lost too many friends in the military. Gunner and I both did, and I’m sure you know they lost their sister.”
“Yeah. It’s so sad.” She looked at Tank sitting on the ground with Rosie on his lap as puppies tried to crawl up her belly while Junie chased puppies around them. His watchful eyes moved between Leah and the girls and held a hint of laughter. That suffocating feeling was lighter now, but she couldn’t help wondering if that was wishful thinking. If she was seeing what she needed to lessen her own guilt of soaking in his attention. Were she and the girls really adding to his burden?
Baz sidled up to them outside the fence with a devilish look in his eyes. “What’s so sad? The state of Sid’s dating life?”
Sidney rolled her eyes. “Not all of us need a harem. Evie was looking for you earlier.”
“Most women look for me at one point or another.” He turned a warm gaze to Leah. “I heard you were stopping by and I wanted to give you a hug and tell you how sorry I am about your brother.”
He reached over the fence, hugging her for a long moment, but it wasn’t weird or uncomfortable. It was the embrace of someone who understood grief.
Baz motioned to the girls giggling and playing as Tank and Gunner wrangled nippy puppies. “It looks like the puppies are a big hit.”
“The girls needed this.” We all did, and somehow your brother knew that.
“Mind if I introduce myself?” Baz asked.
“Of course not.”
As he came through the gate, Tank said, “Junie, Rosie, this is my other brother, Baz. He’s a puppy doctor.”
“I wanna play doctor!” Junie cheered.
“Me play!” Rosie hollered.
The guys cracked up.
“Every female around wants to play doctor with Baz,” Sidney said quietly to Leah. “They look impenetrable with all those muscles and tattoos, don’t they?”
“They’re the toughest men I’ve ever met,” Leah said.
“Me too, but don’t let them fool you. They’ve got big, breakable hearts like the rest of us. It’s no wonder two of them rescue animals and one rescues people.”
Leah wondered if Tank gave everyone he rescued the same attention he gave them. If he did, it was an honorable thing to do. So why did she have a sinking feeling in her stomach?
Because it feels like we’re special.
His voice trampled through her mind—I’m not here out of obligation, darlin’. I don’t leave the special people in my life alone. End of story—leaving her to wonder if their definitions of obligation and special were different.
LATER THAT NIGHT, as they put the girls to bed, Leah was still picking apart her thoughts. She couldn’t remember the last time the girls had laughed so much. After playing with the puppies, they’d picked up lunch and Tank had taken them to a local pond to eat. The girls had played in the sand and put their toes in the water. They were so tuckered out, they’d fallen asleep on the drive home but had woken up the second they’d gotten back home and had been bundles of energy right up to the moment they’d climbed into bed, begging for Tank to tuck them in. The only way the day could have been better was if River had been with them. Leah’s grief had ebbed and flowed throughout the day. She’d catch herself laughing with the kids one minute and feeling sad and guilty for being happy the next. Like now, as she watched Tank saying good night to the girls, their memory blankets tucked around them, she pictured River sitting between their beds playing his guitar, and she ached anew.
She worked hard to tuck those memories down deep, focusing on her girls as Rosie hugged Tank.
“I miss Wiver,” Junie said, her lower lip quivering.
Leah sat beside her on the bed and hugged her. It was so unfair. They were too little to have lost their father. “I miss him, too, Juju. But he’s with Grandpa now.”