by Cat Schield
He’d intended to make love to her again and then spend the night snuggling with her.
Snuggling.
With a groan, Shane flipped open his laptop and stared at the screen, unable to comprehend anything on it. Brandee had definitely won this round. Now it was up to him to make sure that didn’t happen again.
* * *
The following day, Shane agreed to meet Gabe for a drink at the TCC clubhouse bar before dinner. While he waited on his friend, he followed up on a text he’d received a few minutes earlier. The call wasn’t going well.
“I thought I told you last week that I needed that changed,” Shane snarled into his cell phone. “Get it done.”
“Sheesh,” Gabe commented as he slid into the empty seat beside Shane. “Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, or what?”
The question hit a little too close to home. In fact, he hadn’t woken up at all. He’d never fallen asleep. After Brandee’s abrupt departure the night before, he’d busied himself until two o’clock and then laid awake thinking about her and replaying what had happened between them in the shower. And afterward.
Never before had a woman bolted so soon after making love. If anyone put on their clothes and got out, it was him.
“Sorry,” Shane muttered. “Things are way behind at The Bellamy and we’re due to open in a couple months.”
“Things are always running behind. You usually don’t take it out on your contractors.”
Shane wasn’t about to get into why he was so cranky. Not even with his best friend. So he shrugged his shoulders, releasing a little of the tension, and sipped his scotch.
“I’m feeling stretched a bit thin at the moment,” he said. “I told you that I’m helping Brandee with her ranch. It’s made me lose sight of some of the details at The Bellamy and I’m annoyed at myself.”
“Oh.”
Just that. Nothing more.
“Oh, what?” Shane demanded, not sure he wanted to hear what his friend had to say.
“It’s just this wager of yours...” Gabe looked deep into the tumbler before him as if he could find the answer to life’s mysteries at the bottom.
“Yes?” Shane knew he should just let it drop, but whatever was or wasn’t happening between him and Brandee was like an itch he couldn’t quite reach. And if Gabe had some insight, Shane wanted to hear it.
“It’s just that I know you, Shane. I’ve seen you around a lot of women. You like this one. I mean really like her.”
His first impulse was to deny it, but instead, he said, “Your point?”
“Let’s say you somehow win the bet and she falls madly in love with you. Then what?”
“I guess we keep dating.”
“You guess?” Gabe shook his head. “Do you really think she’s gonna want to have anything to do with the guy who made her fall in love with him so he could take away the ranch she loves?”
“I don’t have to buy the ranch.” In fact, after spending time on it, he didn’t really want the ranch to become home to hundreds of luxury estates. “I could just tell her I changed my mind.”
“Have you?”
“Maybe.”
“Does anyone ever get a straight answer out of you?”
“It depends.”
“And what happens if Brandee wins?”
“That’s not going to happen. I might really like this woman, but that’s as far as it goes. She and I are too much alike. Neither one of us is interested in a relationship. We talked about it and we agree. Sex is great. Romance is...”
He’d been about to say tiresome, but he had to admit that over the course of several dinners and long talks by the fireplace on the patio, he was enjoying himself a great deal.
“Romance is...?” Gabe prodded.
“Too complicated, and you know I like things casual and easy.”
With a nod, Gabe finished the last of his drink. “As long as you realize what you’re doing can have repercussions and you’re okay with whatever happens, my job as your conscience is done.”
“I absolve you of all responsibility for any missteps I make with Brandee.”
Gabe didn’t look relieved as he nodded.
“One last thing before we get off the topic of Brandee,” Shane said, remembering his promise to her the night before. “She asked me if you’d be willing to help tomorrow with her teen group. Apparently Megan Maguire from Safe Haven is bringing by some of her rescue dogs for the kids to work with.”
“Sure. Let me know what time I need to be there.”
* * *
Brandee surveyed the camp meeting hall for any details left undone. It was nearly ten o’clock in the morning and she was expecting a busload of teenagers to arrive at any moment. Megan had brought fifteen dogs, one for each teenager. Currently the rescues were running around in the paddock, burning off energy.
“Thank you for helping me out today,” Brandee said to Gabe.
“My pleasure.”
He and Chelsea had moved tables and organized the kitchen, while Brandee had helped Megan with the dogs and set up the obstacle course they would use later in the afternoon.
The plan for the day was for Megan to talk about the benefits of dog training for both the owner and pet and demonstrate her preferred method of clicker training. Then they would turn the kids loose in the paddock with the dogs so everyone could get to know each other.
After lunch, the teenagers would be issued clickers and dog treats. Megan was in charge of pairing up child with dog. Some of the kids had been through this before, so they would be given less experienced dogs. And the dogs that were familiar with clicker training would be matched with newcomers.
“Have you heard from Shane?” Gabe asked. “I thought he was going to be here today.”
“He promised he would be, but he had something to check on at his hotel project.”
“Well, hopefully that won’t take him all day.”
Brandee heard something in Gabe’s tone, but before she could ask him about it, the camp bus appeared around a curve in the driveway. She pushed all thought of Shane’s absence to the back of her mind. They’d completed the preliminary work without him, and there wouldn’t be much to do while Megan spoke. Hopefully, Shane would arrive in time to help with lunch.
“Here we go.” Megan Maguire came to stand beside Brandee. The redhead’s green eyes reflected optimism. With her kind heart and patient manner, Megan was one of the most likable people Brandee had ever met. “I hope this group is as good as the last one.”
“Me, too. We had such a great time.”
“Of the ten dogs I brought that day, three of them were adopted almost immediately. The little bit of training they get here really helps.”
“I know most of the kids enjoy it. Some act as if they are just too good for this. But it’s funny, a couple of those girls that gave us such a hard time last month are back to do it again.”
Brandee wasn’t sure if it was because their parents were forcing them or if deep down inside they’d actually had fun. And what wasn’t fun about hanging out with dogs all day?
The bus came to a halt and the door opened. The first teenager who emerged was Nikki Strait. She was one of the girls who’d been so bored and put out the prior month. She looked no better today. Neither did her best friend, Samantha, who followed her down the bus steps. Brandee sighed. Perhaps she’d been a little too optimistic about those two.
“Welcome to Hope Springs Camp,” she said as soon as all the teenagers were off the bus and gathered in an ungainly clump. “On behalf of Megan Maguire of Royal Safe Haven and myself, we appreciate you giving up your Saturday to help with the dogs.”
There were a couple smiles. A lot of looking around. Some jostling between the boys. All normal teenage behavior.
“We’ll start our day in the camp meeting hall, where Megan will demonstrate what you’ll be doing today. If you’ll follow me, we can get started.”
The teenagers settled into the folding chairs Chelsea had set up and more or less gave Megan their attention as she began speaking about Royal Safe Haven and the number of dogs that people abandoned each year in Royal.
“Dogs are pack animals,” Megan explained. “They need a pack leader. Today it will be your job to assert yourself and take on that role. This doesn’t mean you will mistreat the dogs or get angry with them. Most dogs perform better with positive reinforcement. That’s why we use this clicker and these treats to get them to perform basic tasks such as recognizing their name, and commands such as sit and down. We’ll also work with them on recalls and a simple but potentially life-saving maneuver I like to call ‘what’s this.’”
Megan set about demonstrating with her dog how effective the method was. She then switched to a nine-month-old Lab mix that had come to the shelter only the day before and was full-on crazy rambunctious.
Brandee surveyed the teens, noting which ones seemed engaged in the process and which couldn’t be bothered. To her surprise Nikki was one of the former. The same could be said for Samantha.
Next, Megan brought the kids to the paddock so they could meet the dogs. Brandee turned her attention to lunch preparations. May had helped with the food. She’d fixed her famous lasagna and they would be serving it with salad, warm garlic bread and brownies for dessert. Last month they’d done chili and corn bread. As for next month...who knew if she’d even be around. With Maverick causing trouble, and Shane acting distant one minute and amorous the next, there were too many variables to predict.
A much more animated group of teenagers returned to the meeting hall. Playing with a group of dogs would do that.
Shane still hadn’t arrived by the time the tables were cleared and the teenagers got down to the serious business of clicker training. Brandee shooed Gabe and Chelsea out of the kitchen with plates filled with lasagna and began the tedious job of cleaning up. She wrapped up what was left of the main meal and put the pans into the sink to soak while she nibbled at some leftover salad and scarfed down two pieces of May’s delicious garlic bread.
It was almost one o’clock when Shane strolled into the meeting hall. Brandee had finished washing the plates and the silverware. All that was left was to scrub the pans.
“How’s it going?” he asked, snagging a brownie. Leaning his hip against the counter, he peered at her over the dessert before taking a bite. “This is delicious.”
“It’s going fine,” Brandee said, more than a little perturbed that after promising to help, he hadn’t. “I didn’t realize your business was going to take you all morning. You missed lunch.”
“That’s okay, I grabbed something in town.”
“I thought you had a meeting at The Bellamy.”
“I did, then David and I needed to chat, so we headed over to Royal Diner.” He was gazing out the pass-through toward the gathered teenagers. “I’m here now. What can I do?”
She was tempted to tell him everything was done, but then she remembered the lasagna pans and grinned. “You can finish the dishes.” She flung a drying towel over his shoulder and pointed at the sink. “I always leave the worst for last and now they’re all yours.”
As she went to join the others, her last glimpse of Shane was of him rolling up his sleeves and approaching the sink as if it contained a live cobra. She doubted the man had ever done a dish in his life and reminded herself to double-check the pans later to make sure they were clean to her standards.
Banishing Shane from her thoughts, Brandee circled the room to check on everyone’s progress. To her surprise, Megan had paired Nikki with the hyper Lab mix. Nikki had seemed so disinterested the previous month, but with the puppy, she was completely focused and engaged. Already the teenager had the puppy sitting and lying down on command.
Brandee sidled up to Megan. “After how she was last month, what made you think to put Nikki and the Lab mix together?”
Megan grinned. “She and her mom have come by the shelter a couple times to help with the dogs and she has a real knack with them. I think last month she was bored with Mellie. This puppy is smart, but challenging. You can see how well it’s going.”
Next, Brandee turned her attention toward Justin Barnes. He’d isolated himself in a corner and was spending more time petting the dog than training her. It had been like this last month, too. The high school sophomore was disengaged from what was going on around him. She glanced in Gabe’s direction, thinking he might be able to engage Justin, but Gabe was helping Jenny Prichard work with an adorable but very confused shih tzu/poodle mix.
Shane’s voice came from right behind her. “Who’s the kid over there?”
“Justin. He’s the one I told you about whose dad wants him to play football rather than the guitar.”
“Sounds like he and I might have a few things in common.”
Brandee wasn’t sure what Shane could say that might help Justin, but she’d asked for Shane to come today. It seemed wrong not to give him a chance to pitch in. “Maybe you could talk to him about it?”
“It’s been a long time since I was a teenager, but I can give it a try.”
“Thanks.” Any animosity Brandee might have felt for his tardiness vanished. “I’ll finish up the pans.”
“No need. They’re done.”
“Already?”
“Just needed a little elbow grease.” He arched an eyebrow at her. “It’s not good for my ego that you look so surprised.”
“I’m sure your ego is just fine.” It was familiar banter between them, yet for one disconcerting moment, Brandee craved a more substantive connection. She dismissed the feeling immediately. What was she thinking? That she was interested in a relationship with Shane Delgado? Her stomach twisted at the thought, but the sensation wasn’t unpleasant. Just troubling.
“You’re right.” He smirked at her. “It’s great being me.”
She watched him walk away and laughed at her foolishness. Even if she’d never made the bet with Shane, falling in love with him would be a disaster. They were too much alike in all the bad ways and complete opposites in the good ones. Nope, better to just keep things casual and breezy between them. Fabulous, flirty, sexy fun. That was all either of them wanted and all she could handle.
* * *
As he ambled toward Justin, Shane passed Gabe and raised his hand in greeting. Gabe acknowledged him with a broad grin and Shane wondered if he saw a touch of relief in his friend’s eyes. No doubt Gabe appreciated that he was no longer the only guy.
Snagging a spare chair, Shane carried it to Justin’s corner and set it down beside the kid, facing the dog.
“Hey,” he said as he dropped a hand on the dog’s caramel-colored head. “How’s it going?”
“Fine.” Justin mumbled the word and punched down on the clicker. The dog’s ears lifted and he focused his full attention on the treat in Justin’s hand.
“What’s his name?” Shane indicated the dog.
“Her name is Ruby.”
“Hey, Ruby.” He fussed over the dog for a bit and then slouched back in his chair. “I’m Shane.”
“Justin.”
With niceties exchanged, the two guys settled down to stare at the dog, who looked from one to the other as if wondering where her next treat was coming from.
After a bit, Shane ventured into the silence. “What are you supposed to be doing?”
“Clicker training.”
“How does that work?”
“Ruby.”
The dog met Justin’s glance. He clicked and gave her a treat.
“That’s great.”
Justin nodded.
So, obviously this
whole connecting-with-kids thing wasn’t easy. Shane’s respect for Brandee’s dedication grew. He shifted forward in the chair, propped his forearms on his thighs and mashed his palms together.
“She made me do dishes,” he murmured. “Can you believe that?”
“Who did?”
“Brandee. She’s always making me do stuff I don’t want to.”
“That sucks.” Justin cast a sidelong glance his way. “Why do you do it?”
“Because she’s pretty and I really like her. I’m not sure she likes me, though. Sometimes I feel like no matter what I do, it’s not good enough, ya know?”
“Yeah.” More silence, and then, “It’s like that with my dad. He makes me play football, but I hate it.”
“My dad was the same way.” After all these years, Shane couldn’t believe he still resented his father, but the emotion churned in him. And really, it was all about not being good enough in Landon Delgado’s eyes. “He expected me to follow in his footsteps and take over the family ranch, but I hated it.” And in a community dominated by ranching, it felt like treason to criticize your bread and butter.
“What did you want to do instead?” Justin was showing more interest than he had a few seconds ago.
“I dunno. Anything but ranching.” Shane thought back to when he’d been Justin’s age. There wasn’t much he’d been interested in besides hooking up with the prettiest girls in school and hanging out with his friends. He could see where his dad might’ve found that frustrating.
“So what do you do now?”
“Still have the ranch. And I develop properties. Heritage Estates is mine. And right now I’m working on a luxury hotel outside town called The Bellamy.”
Justin’s eyes had dimmed when Shane admitted he still had the ranch. “So you did what your father wanted you to do after all.”
“The ranch has been in my family for almost a hundred years,” Shane explained, deciding he better make his point awfully fast or he’d lose Justin altogether. “It wasn’t as if I could walk away or sell it after my dad died. But I found a way to make it work so that I can do what I want and also respect my father’s wishes.”
