“Braden!” She ditched the whisper, but tried not to scare him and make him jump and growl like her brothers did when she woke them. “Wake up.”
Nothing, not a flutter.
She sat on the bed and gingerly put one hand on his back, grazing the skin with her fingertips. God, he was hard and smooth and nice to touch. Also, dead asleep.
“Aren’t you a firefighter?” She leaned a little closer to his ear. “Don’t you sleep lightly?”
He took in a huge breath and flipped his head with a grunt, then slipped back into slumber.
She braved her way closer, getting her mouth to his ear. “Braden, I have something very exciting to tell you.”
“Mmm.” The response was half moan, half growl and came from somewhere deep in his chest. He lifted his hand and crooked his arm around her neck, pulling her down with another groan.
She went, sliding next to him. “I have big news.” She sang the announcement. “You want this.”
“What I want is…” He pulled her into him and kissed her, rolling onto his side to get more of her. “This.”
Heat wended through her as their bodies lined up, and she could feel every muscle in his body. “Oooh.” She couldn’t resist rocking against his hips. “Someone’s having a nice dream.”
“Not a dream, Cass,” he murmured into the kiss, sliding his hands over her. “Don’t leave me, baby.”
Now…or ever?
She pushed the question away and gave in to a few seconds of sweet pleasure as he explored her body, and she felt every cell liquefy and surrender.
Without opening his eyes, he started to guide her under him, sliding over her to press all of him against her, sending fire right through her body and erasing everything she might have been thinking when she came in here.
His hands caressed, his hips rocked, and her legs just seemed to relax under his.
One peek at his face, and she realized it was entirely possible he was still asleep. Which was not what she wanted.
“Jelly Bean could tell the difference between pepper and vinegar.”
He stopped moving.
“I tried it three different times. I set up a whole testing field in the back and used things he wouldn’t want to eat but that have distinct smells.”
He stopped breathing.
“And three times he was able to tell the difference, because I rewarded him for vinegar but not for cayenne pepper and…”
Finally, his head lifted, and he looked down at her with warm, sexy, but very much alert eyes. “Did you record it?”
“Every minute.”
He pushed farther away, making her momentarily doubt the wisdom of her timing, but the look on his face was worth the sacrifice of a seriously nice make-out session.
“You did that?”
“Come on.” She gave him a gentle nudge and got a look that hovered between reluctance and fascination. “I’ll show you.” She added some pressure, and he gave up the fight, letting her roll off the bed and following her out the door to the kitchen. “There’s my field test.”
“Those pots?”
All along the grass, she’d placed terra-cotta pots upside down. “I found them in your garage,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”
He looked down at her, fully and completely awake now. “Mind? I think I just fell a little harder for you, if that’s possible.”
She laughed lightly, but only to cover up what the words did to her on the inside.
“Come on. Let Jelly Bean show you, and we’ll go for round four.”
Outside, JB lay sprawled on the grass, soaking up the sun after all that work. He barely lifted his head when Braden came out, and he certainly didn’t growl at Cassie. Not after all those peanut butter rewards.
“You need to go inside, bud.”
He rolled on his back and looked up at her.
“In the house,” Braden said, snapping his fingers and pointing.
“Don’t look,” she called after him, then smiled up at Braden. “He knows what that means.”
“English is his superpower.” Braden took a few steps closer to the pots.
“So is playing hide-and-seek.” She gestured toward the picnic table under an awning where she’d set up all her materials, including a notebook with Jelly Bean Training written at the top of the page.
There, she sprinkled red pepper on a plate, then soaked two paper towels in vinegar and handed one to him. “Go pick two random pots and hide each of these under a different one. I’ll go get Sniffy.”
Braden hesitated only long enough to shoot her a smile. “My woman of action.”
“And your dog of wonder. Go.” She flicked her hand toward the pot. “Before he outsmarts us both.”
She backed into the kitchen to see which pots he used, then found Jelly Bean waiting patiently by his food. First, she scooped some peanut butter onto a spoon, gave him a lick, then waved the vinegar towel in front of him, then gave him more peanut butter.
“You ready?” she called to Braden.
“Yep.”
“Brace yourself.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket to record the moment and followed Jelly Bean, who trotted out to the grass. “Find the vinegar, Jelly Bean,” she called.
He walked by the pots, slowing at the one with cayenne pepper, which she’d let him taste only once, then continuing to the second from the last, lifting a paw, and slapping it on the pot victoriously.
“Yay, Jelly Bean!” Cassie called, hustling closer to crouch down and reward him with the spoon of peanut butter.
“Cassie!” Braden choked her name in disbelief.
“I told you.” She beamed up at him. “This dog knows the difference between vinegar and pepper. If he can’t work in the fire department, we could always give him a job at Santorini’s.”
“It was temporary,” he said, reaching down to bring her up for a hug. “His inability to discern smells must have just been a cold or something. It was temporary.”
“See? Some temporary things can be good.”
He seemed at a loss for words, just scanning her face with his deep-blue eyes as if trying to guess where to best plant a kiss. The mouth won, and the next thing Cassie knew, she was folded in strong arms, smothered with sweet lips, and high on life and her doggy training victory.
“We have to tell my uncle,” he said, breaking the kiss as if the thought had just hit him. “We might not have to take the ten-thousand-dollar training course. Maybe he’ll pass the program at Waterford, and Uncle Daniel will sign the affidavit.”
She inched out of his arms. “Let me text my mom and find out if he’s at Waterford. We’ll go now.”
“Now?”
“Of course. Let’s take Jelly Bean and my recorded proof, and you can make the case.”
As she started to text, he took her hand and lowered the phone.
“You don’t want to go now?” she asked. “What if Jelly Bean loses his scent sense again?”
“No, that’s not…” He shook his head. “I just don’t even believe you.”
“You want to see all three recordings showing that he did it every single time?”
“I don’t even believe you…exist.” His voice softened, and she finally understood what he was saying.
“Oh…” She smiled. “Here I am, sticking my nose into your dog issues and trying to fix them. That’s what I do.”
He let out a sigh and hugged her closer. “Thank you,” he said softly. “For everything.”
“Even the tease on the bed?”
“We’re not done there, but…this boy…” He threw a proud grin at Jelly Bean. “Text your mom. I can’t wait to see if my uncle will retest him.”
Not ten minutes later, they were on their way to Waterford Farm in his truck.
“What’s the name of that movie?” Braden asked as they pulled out. “While You Were Sleeping?”
She laughed. “While you were sleeping, I read one of those scent-detection sites and started taking notes. Then I could
n’t help it. I had to try and set up a test field, especially once I found vinegar in your cleaning supplies, since that’s what they recommend testing with. You know, I started with some peanut butter just to totally butter him up, pun intended. Then he seemed so responsive, I tried food in one closed fist and soap in the other. Then I just buzzed.”
He gave her a side-eye. “You buzzed?”
“That’s how I feel when I just have to get something done. I can’t be stopped.”
“You’re a powerhouse, Cass. No wonder this guy wants to hire you.”
Oh, Jace. Family First. Leaving Bitter Bark. “All that work with Jelly Bean made me forget,” she said.
“Not me,” he admitted. “Although getting a job offer is a little better than what I was worried you were doing with him.”
“Yeah, no need to be jealous.”
Curling his lip, he turned into the massive entrance of Waterford Farm. “How could I not be? Big Greek dude was all over you in your shiny pink dress.”
“Oh, you noticed my dress?”
“Waited all night to take it off you.”
She closed her eyes at the reminder of how difficult it had been to stay home and in her own bed that night. “How did it go with Simone, by the way? I forgot to ask.”
“I forgot to care.” He grunted. “She wants me back.”
“What?” She shot forward. “Way to bury the lead.”
“There’s no lead,” he said. “I’m not interested.”
“What did she say?”
“Just that she…” His voice faded away. He was obviously uncomfortable with the subject. “Doesn’t matter, Cass.” He turned into the long drive, the yellow house and sprawling canine center coming into view. “I’m not on the market.”
But if Cassie moved to Chicago, he would be.
“Well, it pains me to admit it, but you guys made a really nice couple,” she said.
He grinned at her. “Couple of what?”
Her heart stuttered for a moment. Right then, with his sweet smile and good heart and silly pun…he was more like her father than any Greek man she’d ever met. She managed a laugh, but nothing about that thought was funny. It was scary and intriguing and gave her doubts about…everything.
“There are a lot of dogs in the pen,” Braden said, jutting his chin in that direction. “That’s more than a typical training day.”
She followed his gaze, but it landed on a big old black Buick that would never look like it belonged here. “Yiayia’s here,” she said. “What is she doing at Waterford on a Monday morning?”
“I don’t know, but my mom’s here, too.” He gestured to a compact car. “And by the looks of that obstacle course, dogs are getting ready for a show. Isn’t that this coming weekend?”
“Oh, yes, the Waterford Farm Dog Show is Friday, and the Family Fur Bake-Off for Ella’s fundraiser is Saturday.” But her attention was on that Buick. “I’m going inside to say hi to my grandmother for a sec while you find Daniel. Can I meet you over there? Here, take my phone. I’ll unlock it so you can show him the video.”
“Okay.”
She tapped the screen, then handed him her phone. When she turned to open the door, he put his hand on her arm and drew her back. “Hey. Wait one second, please.”
She looked at him. “Yeah?”
“Kiss for luck?”
“Is that what the Irish do?”
He drew her closer, slid his hand under her hair, and angled her face, studying her for a long moment. “It’s what this guy, who is crazy about you, is about to do. You good with that?”
“I’m…getting good with it.” Which made things messy. She covered with a joke. “Never sure how Jelly Bean will respond, though.”
“Let’s find out.” He eased her closer and kissed her, just so very gentle at first, as if he wasn’t sure what might happen next. When it was quiet in the back seat, he added pressure, deepened the kiss, and Cassie leaned into him to go along for the ride.
He tasted like toothpaste and sunshine and the sexiest man she’d ever kissed. Heat crawled up her skin, making her cling to his impossibly perfect shoulder and slide her hands up into his hair.
With a soft moan, she shifted her head to the other side, let their tongues play and time stand still. At that moment, there was just this warm, inviting kiss in a truck on a dog farm with a guy who made her feel so good. The rest of the world—big cities and their big decisions—was a million miles away. And she didn’t want to be anywhere else on earth. For now, at least.
They separated, neither one of them rushing to open their eyes. And the truck was dead silent but for their soft sighs.
“Well, what do you know?” she whispered.
“Jelly Bean passed another test.”
“Way to go, Junior Einstein.” She glanced in the back to find the dog watching them, but quiet. “Now, go sniff like you’ve never sniffed before.”
Chapter Eighteen
“It looks like Westminster over here,” Braden said as he greeted his cousin Shane, who’d just stepped out of the training pen to grab a water.
“Hey, Braden.” Shane gave him a sweaty high five and reached down to greet Jelly Bean. “Please tell me he’s entering this dog show. You know he’d win.”
“He’s not a show dog.”
Shane snorted and thumbed in the direction of the pen. “Are any of them? You know how my dad is about ‘show dogs.’ You do realize that the main event is Wiggliest Butt or Best Kisser, right? But none of them follows commands like this genius.”
But this genius was going to be a scent-detection dog.
Braden eyed the “obstacle course,” which he could see now was pretty downgraded from a real dog show. A kiddie pool, a few ramps, and his cousin Darcy was in the middle of it, waving a hula-hoop at Braden. “Hey, Bray!”
He waved back and turned to Shane. “I actually brought Jelly Bean in for a little test today. Is your dad around?”
“He’s down in the K-9 pen with Liam doing bite work.” He crouched down in Jelly Bean’s face. “How’s the old sniffer, JB?”
“I think it’s working again,” Braden said. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Really? That’d be awesome.” His attention was pulled away to the pen. “Hey. Hey! Ruff! Do not eat the swimming pool! None of that!” He gulped the rest of the water, tossed the empty in a bin, and held his hand up. “You really should enter Jelly Bean. He’d show them all what’s what.”
He took off, and Braden watched for a second, trying to imagine his dog jumping into a kiddie pool, running around two cones, then diving through a hula-hoop. He could do it, of course, with about two rounds of practice. But Jelly Bean was an arson investigator, not some trained circus act.
“Come on, boy,” he said, guiding him into the kennels. “Let’s go where the grown-up working dogs are.”
Braden made his way around the back of the kennels and down a slope to where another large pen was in use. Here, two German shepherds were deep into training with Liam and two men, no doubt some of the many law enforcement personnel from all over the East Coast who trained here. They all wore padded bite suits and helmets, the dogs and men panting in the heat.
His uncle was leaning against the fence, talking to Braden’s mom. Not far away, Uncle Daniel’s Irish setter, Rusty, snoozed under a nearby tree, and the red golden, Goldie, paced back and forth in front of her sleeping charge.
“Hey, Uncle Daniel. Mom.”
They turned, and both flashed surprised smiles.
“Oh, hi, honey.” His mom came closer with her arms outstretched. “This is a nice surprise. We were just talking about you.”
“What are you doing over here?” he asked after giving her a hug.
“Gramma Finnie and Yiayia are using the kitchen for a project and needed some input from me, so I stopped by to chat with my brother.”
Uncle Daniel greeted him with the usual hug, and Jelly Bean barged into the mix to get closer to the veterinarian every animal in
the state loved. Of course, that got Goldie and Rusty to shake off and come over, too.
After the hellos, Braden got right to the point. “I think Jelly Bean is discerning scents again.”
“He is?” Uncle Daniel’s eyes popped in surprise.
“I have it recorded here on Cassie’s phone.”
“You smellin’ right again, boyo?” Daniel got down in JB’s face, giving him a good rub and a close inspection. “That’s great news.”
“So maybe it was just a cold or temporary thing,” Mom said.
Daniel looked up, squinting his blue eyes against the sun. “Are you sure he was able to discern and not just smell?”
“Here’s the proof.” Braden pulled Cassie’s phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen, going to the photos app to find the videos she’d shown him before they left the house. “Take a look.”
He did, watching the first three videos, then nodding enthusiastically. “This is very promising, Braden. Come on, let’s check him into a kennel. Can I keep him a few days?”
A few days? “It’ll take that long?”
“To do it right and make sure the change is lasting. Plus, we’re swamped with the fundraising dog show.” Daniel gestured for him to follow, and they all headed back to the kennels at an easy pace, and on the way, Braden told them both everything that had happened that morning and how Cassie had successfully tested him.
“Speaking of fundraising, how’s the scavenger hunt going?” his mother asked.
“Well, we don’t have nearly ten thousand dollars’ worth of entries yet, but Cassie says it’s early. Plus…” He gave a hopeful look to his uncle. “You sign that affidavit, and we can donate whatever we earn to something else. Maybe that new rescue transport business you said Marie’s niece wants to start.”
“Are you trying to bribe me?” Daniel asked with a laugh.
“I know better.”
Back in the kennels, Jelly Bean barked a few times, circling and sniffing the place where he’d spent so much time.
“He’s happy to be back here,” Braden noted.
“That’s good. We’re up to our eyeballs, so I’m going to have to put him in a kennel with another dog, if that’s okay. It’ll only be for…” He stopped and frowned as if an idea occurred. “Unless you’d do me a huge return favor.”
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