by Regina Cole
The person bankrolling all that was—Drake?
“I’m sorry,” Belinda said, her spine going cold. “I just thought—”
“It’s okay, dear,” Vivian said, pulling Belinda in for a hug. “We miss him too. And Hunter. Lord knows we love that boy like he was Drake’s brother instead of best friend. And if there was an easy way to convince them to come back, we would. But for now perhaps it’s best if we just let Drake be. He’s happy, and doing what he loves, so we’ve got to stand back and let him.”
Vivian patted Belinda’s back for a moment, and Belinda fought the urge to jerk away.
“That tiff you had will blow over soon. Don’t worry.”
As Vivian continued to murmur kindness and sympathy, Belinda’s wheels spun wildly.
This wasn’t right. It couldn’t be right. Vivian was lying to her, wasn’t she?
“Excuse me,” Belinda said. “I need to go to the ladies’ room.”
Without waiting to hear Vivian’s response, Belinda turned on her heel and swept out of the ballroom. Skipping the door to the restroom, she ducked into a private alcove with two cushioned couches and a large potted plant.
Her cell phone was in her hand and dialing before she could stop it.
Not that she would have.
“Daddy, I need a plane ticket to Dallas. As soon as possible.”
4.
Friday…
The butterflies in Everly’s stomach had somehow transformed into an angry cloud of buzzing wasps since lunchtime.
The first eight firefighters to pull a shift at her tent had been super nice, helpful people. Of course, two of them had been female. Six of them had been guys who were scheduled to take part in the bachelor auction later that afternoon, and Everly had cheerfully let Charlie handle them.
Charlie hadn’t minded being the liaison with the guys, however. Naturally flirtatious anyway, Charlie really turned it on when faced with the hunky firefighters. Everly? She’d had to fight off a panic attack.
Everly sighed as she kneeled beside the next cage, reaching in past the excited hound-mix puppy to grab his overturned water dish. She was used to feeling like this. After all, she’d always been this way. She froze when it came to attractive members of the opposite sex. It was why she and Jesse got along so well. Neither of them could really handle people the same way they could animals.
“You guys are just easier to relate to than those giant sexy firefighters.” She ruffled the dog’s ears as she turned the water bowl over and began filling it from the jug she held. The dog licked her arm repeatedly, his thick tail whacking the sides of the crate.
“Calm down, baby. You’re going to get to go for a walk soon.”
With that, she glanced over her shoulder. It was time for the next shift to come and take over. The last two had already turned in both their animals and the donations they had managed to get from the milling crowd at the art festival.
She had to hand it to Allison. This really was an excellent idea so far. They had pulled in over $900 in donations, and it was only three quarters of the way through the first day. The bachelor auction was tonight, and if people gave anywhere near as generously as Allison had suggested, then Everly wouldn’t have to worry about bills for a couple of months. It was a cushion that could help her breathe, for sure.
With thoughts of the fundraiser on her mind, she moved to the front of the booth. Where was that schedule? Charlie had been coordinating with the fire department and Allison to fill the volunteer slots for the booth. But surely someone else was supposed to be here by now?
Rifling through some papers, she finally spotted the corner of the yellow sheet that Charlie had been checking off all morning. Scanning the document quickly, her eyes lighted on the timeslot.
2 p.m. Kyle Winters and Drake—
“Hi, again.”
Her eyes had seen his name at the same time she heard his voice, and her heart did a double backflip. “Hi.”
He smiled at her then, and her body froze in place. She couldn’t so much as blink.
“Been stuck up any trees recently?”
And just like that, her frozen flesh thawed instantly from the heat of her temper.
“No, I haven’t. But I bet you’ve been a smartass every moment we’ve been apart.”
His startled laugh almost wrung a smile from her, but she smothered the expression quickly. Damn him, he didn’t deserve that kind of expression from her. Not with the way he bossed her around and needled her by turns.
“You’re right. My momma would be ashamed.”
“She should be,” Everly sniffed. She wasn’t sure whether she should be grateful or irritated that the other fireman volunteer chose that moment to wander up.
“Miss Pitts?” The red-haired man smiled as Drake moved aside. “Hi, I’m Kyle Winters.”
For some reason, with Drake there, Everly didn’t have nearly the same amount of trouble forming coherent sentences with the muscled and burly Kyle that she normally would have. Kyle was as tall as Drake, but stockier, with a well-groomed reddish beard and brilliant blue eyes. Definitely the kind of man that intimidated the shit out of Everly usually, but today? She was okay. Weird.
“Nice to meet you, Kyle. Did Charlie get both of you the information about how today’s going to work?”
Kyle and Drake both nodded.
“Great. Kyle, are you comfortable with dogs?”
Kyle grinned. “My dad’s been a K-9 officer since I was in elementary school. I used to help him work his canines on the weekends.” He ruffled the hair that curled at his nape. “I miss them, actually. My roommate is allergic, so I can’t have a dog at home now.”
“Great. You can take Lila around. She’s a Dane/Shepherd mix. Huge, sweet as can be, but not the brightest kid in class. She loves people though. Think you can handle her?”
Kyle knelt beside the largest crate, offering his knuckles to Lila. “We’ll get along just fine.”
With Kyle settled, seemingly overjoyed to be in the company of a four-legged furbaby for the first time in a while, Everly turned her attention to Drake, who was standing at the corner of the booth with his hands in his pockets. He was eyeing the line of crates at the back of the booth with some consternation.
“What about you? Are you comfortable with dogs?”
“I like them okay. But the only one I’ve spent a lot of time with is Hunter’s pit bull, Elsa. Never walked one on a leash before.”
She shouldn’t. She really, really shouldn’t.
She was going to anyway.
“Well, in that case, I’ve got the perfect dog for you. Come here.”
Smiling much too brightly, she reached over and grabbed his hand to pull him toward a medium-sized crate in the corner.
Taking her revenge for the way he’d teased her shouldn’t be this much fun.
For some reason, the overly bright smile on Everly’s face made the hair on the back of Drake’s neck stand on end. As she dragged him to the back corner of the booth, and then knelt down in front of a small-ish crate, an ominous sense of foreboding accompanied his nervous laugh.
“This is Gossamer,” Everly said as she swung open the cage door and reached inside. A weird, wheezy sound with several exuberant snorts emanated from the creature Everly produced.
It was a tan-colored, squish-faced, fat little bastard of an animal.
“What is that?” Drake didn’t know whether to pity it or congratulate it for surviving while looking that ugly.
“Like I said, this is Gossamer. She’s a pug, well, mostly. I think there might be some Chihuahua and rat terrier in there too. Other than the smell and the looks, she’s a really good dog.”
“Smell?” Drake leaned forward and took a whiff. “Whoo, boy.”
“She just had a bath, so it’s not too bad right now. Some dogs are just stinky, and she’s one of them.” Everly snapped a neon-pink lead to the thick, red collar around the dog’s neck, then placed the bright blue Hopeful Paws donation vest around her bulky middle. “
She’s great on the leash, so you won’t have any problems with her.”
“Let me get this straight. I’m supposed to walk this abomination around and get donations for the shelter?”
“Yup. Unless, of course, there’s some kind of problem with that?” She held the leash out to Drake, one hip jutting out slightly, her chin tilted in challenge.
Damn, she was cute.
“Nope, no problem at all.” With his foreboding clamped around his neck like a vice, Drake took the leash and beckoned to the snorting, waddling morass of fur. “Come on, Gossamer. Let’s rake in the donations.”
With the ugly dog at his side, Drake squared his shoulders and marched out of the booth, Everly’s bemused expression warming his back.
Once out of sight of the booth, Drake knelt down by Gossamer’s side and petted the critter. “You are a fugly little shit, aren’t you?”
Gossamer responded with a lap to his knuckles and a snort that could only be described as gleeful. Her too-long, curly tail wagged exuberantly as he scratched behind her flop ears.
Drake smiled. Everly had obviously thought she was getting one over on him by giving him this ugly little mutt, but she didn’t know he had a soft spot for underdogs.
His mom had given him a call that morning. Hammerfell Investments was celebrating a record first quarter profit. She’d kept it light, but the please come home and join us, son, was implied.
It wasn’t what he wanted. That was part of the reason he and Hunter were such good friends. They liked the same things, craved the same kind of life of adventure. If he lived in his parents’ world, he’d be expected to wear a suit every day, hobnob and wheel and deal with all the big shots in Tucson.
Underdogs didn’t belong in that kind of arena, not in the slightest. But being here, doing what he was doing, even escorting an ugly dog while he did so? Made him so much happier than schmoozing for his family’s business ever had. He felt like he was making a difference, and that, more than anything, made him feel alive.
Gossamer might not have had the easiest time getting adopted because of her looks, but Drake wasn’t embarrassed to be walking her around. In fact, he had an idea.
A booth down the aisle from Hopeful Paws was selling kid’s costume pieces, and Drake made a stop there first. With a few choice additions to Gossamer’s wardrobe, the pair began a slow, talkative circuit around the festival. Drake would be damned if Everly got the upper hand on him. For some reason, the competition with her really tickled his fancy.
The place was loud, crowded, and so not her scene. The Deep Ellum Arts festival looked more like an excuse to get drunk and listen to loud rock music than anything else.
Belinda shoved her way through the crowd, looking for him. She’d been in Dallas for two days now, and had planned this very carefully. It wasn’t that hard to find him. After all, he’d been a good son and told his mother exactly where he was living and working.
She’d gone to his apartment one night, but he hadn’t been in. More than likely, he was hanging out with Hunter.
Her fingers curled into a tight fist, her gel-covered nails digging into her palm. That bastard. She was more convinced than ever that Hunter had something to do with the fact that their relationship had ended when it had.
Hunter had never liked her, and he’d made no secret of it. The hatred was mutual. When Hunter had suddenly up and moved to Dallas? She’d tap-danced around the living room she and Drake shared.
But now, Hunter was near Drake, and Belinda was not. And even though she wanted nothing more than to shove her Ferragamo straight up Hunter’s low-class, tattooed backside, revenge could wait.
Catching Drake could not. And this, in public, was the absolute best chance she had. Besides, if this initial meeting didn’t work out, she had a really good backup plan.
He couldn’t run if she bought his sexy ass.
“There,” she hissed as she rounded a large booth selling tie-dye everything. There he was.
Wearing his fireman pants and a tight-fitting grey tee with his station logo on the breast pocket, he was smiling at a kid who was stuffing a dollar into a vest on—well, what the hell was that?
Some—creature—on four legs stood next to Drake’s leg, looking up at him adoringly. It looked like the bastard love child of ET and Mr. Potato Head. Only thing was, it was wearing butterfly wings and bobbing antennae.
Drake waved goodbye to the family, and Belinda straightened. It was her chance. She weaved through the knot of people standing in line at a hot dog booth, and then she was by his side.
“Hi,” she breathed, laying a hand on his arm.
“Belinda?” His eyes went wide with surprise. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I missed you,” she said, going onto her tiptoes for a kiss. But he turned his mouth away, and the pang of rejection had her gritting her teeth and lowering her brows.
Deep breath. Don’t get mad, it’ll only make things worse.
“You look good,” she said, letting her hand play along the muscles of his forearm. Damn, he’d been working out more lately. She couldn’t complain about the results.
“Sorry, but I’m on duty,” he said, indicating the thing on the end of the leash.
Belinda looked down, and then she noticed the words on the vest the creature was wearing.
Your donations help to rescue pets like me! Hopeful Paws Pet Adoption.
Right. That made sense. The bachelor auction she’d seen online when she Googled “Firehouse Three” was to benefit that place. As to when he’d gotten a hard-on for helping ASPCA rejects, she had no clue.
“How about when you’re off duty?” She reached for his arm again, but he pulled away. Undaunted, she continued. “My hotel isn’t far from—”
“Nope, got plans afterward too. Have a safe trip home.” He gave her a half-assed wave and turned on his heel. The fat little creature at his side waddled right next to his heel as if it was born to do so.
Glaring after him, Belinda set her jaw.
If he didn’t want to play nice, that was fine. She’d be happy to implement Plan B.
Throwing money at problems was one of her favorite ways to solve them, anyway.
Forty-five minutes later, a bit earlier than Drake was scheduled to return, he made his way back to the booth. Everly was kneeling down inside a small pen, surrounded by chubby little puppies, their squirming bodies and wagging tails making a living mass around her. A little girl knelt down across from her, one of the pups cradled in her hands as he kissed her round brown cheek.
“So when they grow up, they’ll look more like the mommy dog over there,” Everly was pointing at the crate just beside the pen. “They’re old enough now to go to another home.”
“Won’t they miss their mommy?” The little girl’s eyes were wide as her chosen pup climbed her shoulder.
“For a little bit, but they’ll learn who their new family is. When you love someone, they can feel that, and it makes them happy. So if you love him, and treat him well, he will be happy.”
In response to Everly’s statement, a wide smile broke out across the little girl’s face.
The little girl’s father was standing just outside the pen, smiling down at the pair. Drake’s own chest felt a little warm at the sweet exchange. Clearing his throat, he turned away to grab his composure.
What the fuck was wrong with him? Hunter would give him hell if he could see what a ridiculous sap he was being over this girl. They’d shared one kiss. So why was he falling to pieces over her?
Speaking of Hunter, he was going to be pissed as fuck if he heard that Belinda was in town. When his buddy arrived for the auction, Drake was going to have to warn him. And possibly the SWAT team.
Those two mixed like ammonia and bleach—potentially deadly to anyone caught in the fallout.
When he turned back around, Everly had stepped out of the pen and was handing a clipboard to the father as the little girl jumped up and down beside him, the beads on her braids clic
king with every move. As Everly talked them through the adoption process, Drake and Gossamer moved to the back of the booth and sat down, Drake with a bottle of water from the cooler marked “Volunteers” and Gossamer from a beaten-up blue bowl that Drake poured some Dasani into.
“I think we did good,” Drake said to the ugly dog as he gave her a scratch behind the ears. She leaned against his leg, rubbing her squished face against the calf his shorts left bare. “Let’s see what Miss Pitts thinks about our numbers, but I’m glad to call you partner.”
Gossamer gave a snort, and licked her floppy jaws.
“You guys are back kind of soon.” Everly moved back into the booth after waving goodbye to her newest adopters. “Give up?”
“No, we ran out of room.”
Everly hiked an eyebrow at Drake. “What?”
“C’mere girl,” Drake said as he coaxed Gossamer to her feet. When Everly saw Gossamer’s costume, glittery butterfly wings and bobbing antennae, she laughed. But when she noticed the bulges on the dog’s donation vest, her eyes went wide. Drake pulled out bill after bill after bill from the pouches, and once he’d neatened them into a thick pile, he handed the wad to a stunned Everly.
“I think you’ll find we did a satisfactory job.”
“What the—This is—How did you—”
“Talent, baby girl, pure talent.” Drake sketched an elaborate bow, and Gossamer snorted beside him.
Everly’s cheeks pinkened, and Drake smiled. There weren’t many things more satisfying than beating someone at their own game, and for some reason, Everly’s defeat was even sweeter than he’d imagined. Not as sweet as her kisses, though.
Damn, he wanted to hold her again.
“Did we do a good job?”
“You know you did,” Everly said, tucking the donations into the pouch at her belt. “I don’t know how you did it, but I’m grateful.”
“How grateful?” He moved closer to her, gratified when she looked up at him with those luminous blue eyes. She didn’t back away.
“Very,” she breathed.
“Want to show me?” He leaned down.
