Petting Them: An Anthology of Claw-ver Tails

by Tate James

  How could this adorable man not be married, or snatched up by some enterprising lady?

  Andrew blushed again and locked his gaze onto the road ahead, and Annabeth realized she’d spoken aloud. “Oh, god, I’m so sorry. Crap. I mean—”

  He cleared his throat. “No, it’s fine.” As she studied his profile his mouth quirked up. “I mean, that’s quite a compliment, really. Especially from a lady like you.”

  She raised her brows. “Like me?” Her fingers continued to tap against her leg, but no longer with the song’s beat.

  “You know…”

  She held her silence.

  He swallowed. “I mean, you’re basically…”

  “Basically…”

  “Perfect,” he blurted out.

  She laughed. “Oh, honey, I am far from perfect.” Her throat closed on the last and it was her turn to swallow. If only he knew how far from perfect I am. She shoved away the shadows that thought brought with it, and turned her head to stare out the window.

  Silence stretched, no longer comfortable, and she shifted in her seat. She wanted back the last few minutes, to rewind to when they were humming along to 80s music.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  That was not something she had expected. In her experience, men didn’t just apologize. Plus, he had nothing to be sorry for. “Why?” she asked.

  The truck slowed and he put on the signal, then took a right at a stand of mail boxes. The driveway was a well-maintained gravel, and a wire fence ran along either side. He pulled off a little before they reached an older two-story country house, its style a cross between her farmhouse and the Petersons’ place, with blue paint and white trim.

  “For reminding you of something you’d rather forget.” He said the words with a matter-of-fact-ness she could appreciate, though she didn’t particularly like that he could see through her so easily.

  “Thank you,” she said, keeping it simple.

  He gave her a curt nod, his attention still fixed ahead. He opened his mouth, closed it, then twisted in his seat to face her fully. “We’d be good for you, you know.”

  And what did that mean? She flicked her gaze back out the window. A middle-aged couple stood on the porch now, a teenage boy just coming out the front door behind them. Releasing a breath, she reached for the door handle.

  “Annabeth.” Andrew laid a hand on her shoulder. “We’d be good for you,” he said again. “Friends. It’s good to have them, to have people you know you can count on.”

  And why would he assume she didn’t have friends? “I have friends.”

  He gave her shoulder a squeeze and dropped his hand. “Of course you do. But it would be good to have some out here, and not just in Houston. Friends you can call if you’re in trouble, or just need an ear.” A pause. “Friends who are close by.”

  Why did she get the feeling he wasn’t just talking about her now? “Ed mentioned Jake and Carter aren’t very sociable.”

  “None of us are, really. We don’t… mesh well with others.” He reached for his door handle. “You’re different.” Then he was out of the truck and around the hood to open her door.

  She jumped down. “Friends,” she said. It wasn’t an agreement, more a contemplation and confirmation of his statement.

  He went to the back of the truck, opened the canopy and reached in to retrieve a small duffle. Returning to her side, he turned toward the house but didn’t step forward. “We’d be good for you,” he said again. “And you’d be good for us.” Then with a wave to the family, he headed toward them, leaving Annabeth to follow behind.

  The Johnsons were good people, pretty much the opposite of the Neirguards. Darren, their son, explained that he had seen the pittie running along the side of the road. It was half grown, and obviously had once been loved by someone, because he’d came right to Darren, and allowed himself to be loaded into the car.

  They had him penned around the back, and Darren showed them the way as Andrew explained just who Annabeth was and why she was with him. When they learned she was going to start a rescue nearby, Amy, Darren’s mother, instantly offered to put in some volunteer hours when things were in operation.

  “Especially during the school year,” she was saying, walking beside Annabeth. “I work at a camp daycare. We’re busy all year, of course, but the shifts are easier to adjust during school. Summer is near impossible, what with parents putting their kids into the programs to keep them busy.”

  Annabeth thanked Amy, promising to contact her when she was close to opening, and they exchanged contact information. Then it was time to turn their attention to the dog.

  The make-shift pen was set up near the back of the rear yard. They’d given him water and food, set out in large bowls. He was definitely at least part pit bull, with a gray and white dapple coat, and his paws showed just how much growing he still had to do. When he saw Andrew approaching, he stood and took a couple steps forward, then stepped back, ears to his head.

  Andrew slowed to a stop about five feet from the pen, and Annabeth halted right behind him. He waited until the dog’s ears were up and then slowly stepped forward until he was a couple feet away, then stopped again. The dog remained at the back of the pen, but his head and ears stayed up.

  “That’s right,” Andrew murmured, his tones low. “That’s right. I’m a new friend, just like Darren. He fed you, right? It was good, I bet.” Andrew took another step forward and knelt down, his body angled to the side. “Match me now,” he said to her.

  Annabeth knew what Andrew was doing, putting the dog at ease and giving him body-language he would interpret as “safe.” She knelt a couple feet to the right, and deliberately looked over the dog’s shoulder.

  The pup shifted and looked into her eyes. She blinked and held it for just a moment, then looked down. There was a soft scruff of paws on dry grass, and then the dog was beside her, stretching to sniff at her through the plastic playpen barrier.

  Andrew let out a soft laugh and the dog scooched his hind legs away, though he didn’t stop his investigation of Annabeth. “He likes you,” Andrew said. “Good thing I brought you along, then.”

  They waited a few more moments, then Andrew pulled some treats from a pouch on his belt and tossed a couple through the pen. With a few more of those, he coaxed the pup over to him, and introduced himself. Soon, scratches and licks were being exchanged, and Andrew entered the pin. “Stay out there for now,” he ordered, crouching once more beside the dog. “I’m going to do a preliminary check. I’ll be able to do more once I get him back to the house.”

  Andrew started to look the pup over, checking his eyes, ears, teeth, and gently probing at the belly and legs, explaining to Annabeth what he was doing as he worked. It only took a few minutes, then Andrew was pulling a slip-leash from the bag and getting it over the dog’s head and in place.

  “That’s it?” Annabeth rose as he did, backing away from the edge of the pen. That hadn’t taken nearly as long as she’d thought it would.

  “That’s it for now. I want to get him home and check a couple things. There are signs of ringworm, which I’ll need to confirm. He definitely has fleas, and a couple spots of mange. Nothing too horrible.” As they cleared the pen the dog strained toward Annabeth, but the leash—high up toward his head—kept him under control. “Go ahead and say hi,” Andrew instructed.

  Annabeth knelt once more and held out her hand, palm open and low to the ground. The pup sniffed, licked, then nudged her hand until she was scratching just behind his ears. With a small huff, the pup laid down and spread out his legs, happy to stay right there for the foreseeable future.

  “What will happen to him once you’re done?” she asked. It was a shame her shelter wasn’t already up and running… “Can I keep him?”

  The dog looked up at her as though he understood, then gave her hand another lick.

  Andrew wore the soft smile she was coming to associate with him. “Usually I’d drop him over in Giddings, with my exam result
s. But I can treat him for you, help you get him registered.”

  She looked back down at the pup, keeping her focus soft. “What do you think, Dusty? Want to live with me for a long, long while?”

  The dog huffed, pressed into her again, and gave her another lick.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. Well then, let’s go get you checked out and legal.” She rose and Andrew handed her the lead.

  “You know how to handle one of these?”

  “Yes.” They set off for the truck, Dusty at her side. Someone had obviously started some training with him, because he didn’t fight the lead. He wasn’t all that old, so whoever had him before this must have been taking great care of him… “What if he just got lost?” She didn’t want to give him up, but if he already had a family out there…

  “I can scan for a chip. May take a bit to get results back. We can also put up a couple of notices. But if no one comes forward by the time treatment is done, I think it’s safe for us to assume they won’t.”

  The tension between her shoulders eased. So, not a sure thing yet, but she might be able to add to her family of one soon.

  Once they had Dusty loaded into a crate in the back, they set off for the Petersons’ place. Andrew had a small office near the rear of the property, away from the house, where he would keep Dusty isolated and treat him. Once again, the silence was comfortable, and Annabeth found her mind drifting to their earlier conversation about friends. Would it be so bad, being these brothers’ friend? Andrew was correct. The few close friends she had, she’d left behind in Houston. Yes, she could give Jessica or Leslie a call, but their lifestyle—the work-a-holic days interspersed with the occasional happy hour, the salon visits and Saturday night clubs—was no longer hers. How long until there was nothing to talk about but old memories? How much would they understand about her day-to-day struggles to get the shelter going, the trials of living in a small community?

  Friends. It really wasn’t a bad idea. And Andrew said he thought she’d be good for them.

  “I think friends is a good idea,” she said, keeping her face forward and gaze on the road that passed by in a blur.

  His hands tightened on the steering wheel and he exhaled in a heavy rush. “Good. Me too.” A pause. “Are you still coming over now? I mean, should I drop you off at home and you could take your car over? That way you can leave when you want?”

  “What, you’re not going to kidnap me?” Her words were easy, the teasing dig something she couldn’t resist. He would probably blush. She turned her head just enough to study him from the corner of her eye. Yup, he’d blushed.

  “I could,” he blurted, and the flush deepened.

  She laughed and gave his shoulder a playful punch. Yes, this friends thing with them would be fun. “Go ahead and take me home. If there’s time after we get Dusty settled, then I’ll want to still go into town. I was going to talk to Sally and Ed, and see if they knew of anyone interested in being on the board for the shelter. I need to get it incorporated in order to apply for the tax-exemption for donations.” She shrugged. “Just one more thing to take care of, then cross off.”

  “What about me?”

  That had her pausing. She had originally not wanted to impose on them any more than she needed to as a client. But if they were going to be friends, well, friends imposed upon each other, didn’t they? “Do you want to be on the board?”

  “Yes.” There was no hesitation. “And I think Sally would do it. It’s just the type of thing she’s interested in. Bossing people around and organizing everyone is kind of her thing. And she’s good at it.”

  “That sounds perfect.”

  “You could also ask Dillon Hame. He’s a retired teacher. His wife keeps a couple of goats, and every time I’m called out to check on them, I get an earful of how he’s driving her crazy. You’d be saving her, and my ears, if you give him things to do.”

  “Again, that sounds good.” She shot him a grin. “Are you being good to me so I’ll keep being your friend?”

  Her quip didn’t earn her a blush this time, but it did get her a raised brow. “But of course. I think I’ll be spending plenty of time taking care of you, actually.”

  There was nothing suggestive in his tone, but her mind skipped to all the ways he could take care of her, and most of them involved skin on skin and lips on lips. She shifted in her seat as heat rose to her cheeks. Andrew cut his gaze to her, then turned his head to stare, taking his attention from the road.

  “Watch out!”

  He jerked his head to face front and studied the road. “What was it? It didn’t seem like we hit anything.”

  There hadn’t been anything, she’d just wanted to gain a moment to regain her equilibrium. “Um, it was probably nothing. I just was movement out of the corner of my eye, and it startled me.” Not the best lie she’d ever told.

  He nodded slowly then caught her gaze for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the road. His lips quirked up, fell, parted and then he let out a barking laugh, startling an answering bark from Dusty in the back. He flashed her a wicked grin, one that would have been more at home on Carter, but didn’t say another word.

  He hadn’t originally realized the innuendo in his words, but he’d caught it now—and her reaction—she realized. Great. Just what I need. A new friend who now knows my mind can’t stay out of the gutter.

  And it didn’t just go the gutter route for Andrew, either. This is going to be a problem. Especially if Carter and Jake already had past issues with women cheating on them with each other. She would need to keep herself under strict control. Which was never normally a problem.

  She let out a soft groan and hit her head against the headrest.

  10

  andrew

  She was delightful. He’d never felt so comfortable around a woman. The light teasing, the banter, the sheer playfulness of her, was refreshing. Oh, he didn’t think she was easy, not in any way, but she… fit. She fit with him, and he’d never felt that.

  He’d met her twice now, and spent maybe a total of five hours in her company. It wasn’t much, not enough to plan a life on, but sometimes you just knew.

  It had been like that when he’d decided to become a vet, and it was like that when the brothers went to adopt the pups. It had been like that when Jake and Carter said they were coming home, and it was like that now—with her.

  He snuck another peek at her, noting the color that still rode her cheeks. He refrained from asking just what the blush was for, because he thought he knew. He’d just convinced her to be friends, he didn’t want to push her too far, too fast. He’d keep himself, and his brothers, on a short leash around her. Let her make the first move.

  And he’d make sure all three of them respected whatever decision she made.

  There was also pain in her. He’d seen it earlier, after his oh so idiotic blurting of her perfection. That pain tugged at him, calling to his own. He had a feeling she’d understand him, them, better than anyone else. Even if all that came of her being in their lives was friendship, as he’d told her, she would be good for them.

  An urge gripped him, and he found his mouth opening as he turned into her drive. “Can I tell you something?” Would he regret this? Sharing like this? He’d call it an experiment, then, and leave it at that.

  His tone must have told her this was something more than idle chat, and her eyes widened. They were green, and he’d seen the way Carter stared at them. Jake had seemed just as fascinated, but his gaze had strayed to her hair, bound back in a sloppy ponytail. For Andrew it was her lips, and he swallowed as they softened then curled into an encouraging smile.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “You know Carter and Jake lived in Houston for a bit, right?”

  She nodded.

  “Well, I didn’t. I didn’t want to go. I’ve never been great with crowds, with people, so I stayed out here, building my vet business.” He pulled into her drive and parked, though he didn’t turn the truck o
ff.

  “Okay?” She stayed in her seat, making no move to open the door or leave him. She showed no signs of impatience.

  His shoulders eased down. “And you know we grew up here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Right, well, we grew up here after our parents died.” He rushed on as her smile fell. “It was an accident, a car accident, and we were young, maybe five.” A dark pain crossed her expression, and he hurried to reassure her. “I don’t remember much of that time, none of us do. But we’d been uprooted from what we knew and shipped out here to our father’s parents. While they were loving, they were getting on in years, and three kids running around wasn’t easy on them. Jake and Carter were even more difficult, if you can imagine.”

  That eased some of the darkness and earned him a quick smile.

  “What I’m trying to say is, we grew up with just the three of us, mostly. Even in school, it was just the three of us. They stuck up for me, and I took care of them. We’re a team.”

  “But they left you.”

  And she cut right to the heart of it, while missing the point at the same time. “They did leave. But they came back. They both had great lives out there. Hell, Jake still has clients from Houston seeking him out, and Carter’s had at least three offers from contractors out that way, with jobs for him.”

  Her brow furrowed, and he realized he was making a hash of this. “I… I can’t live out there, in the city. It’s not just a dislike of crowds. I can’t be in them.” He sucked in a breath then eased it out. “I can hide it here, dealing with a few people at a time. Even going into town isn’t that bad. The restaurants never have more than a few dozen people in them at their busiest. Most don’t even bother approaching us.”

  “You don’t go into town without your brothers, do you?”

  “No.” He searched her expression. Again, there was no judgement, just a general curiosity.