Page 12 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

The woman coming after it was wearing light-colored pants that were fitted to her body and stopping at her ankles. She had some heels on her feet she kicked off and left in the road, her bare feet picking up speed on the dog, both of them with hair blowing in the wind.

“Mr. Franklin, get back here!”

His jaw dropped and he thought, what the fuck? How could this be happening to him twice in a week?

The puppy was on a full run right at him. Van stopped and squatted down, scooped the ball of hair in his hands and got his face bathed.

The stunning blonde beauty stopped in front of him out of breath and panting.

“Son of a bitch,” she said. “I can’t believe he did this again. You’d think this damn dog would get sick of doing this. Or maybe he’s sick of me and wants to get away. Jesus, am I that out of my element here?”

She looked like an angel but appeared to swear like a sailor. He found it amusing and arousing at the same time.

He’d thought she’d had a touch of crazy going on before and now it was confirmed.

He wasn’t sure which one of them had hair blowing around more. The owner or the dog. They were almost the same color. Sort of. Maybe not. The woman’s was a yellow blonde, the dog’s more a copper.

“I believe this belongs to you?”

“Yep,” she said. “I have to be the worst dog owner on the face of this earth. I opened the door to bring the garbage out. I let him out too to do his business. When I brought the bins to the road, he snuck between my feet the minute the gate to my fence opened.”

“Maybe keep the dog in the house when you’re going to open the gate?” he asked.

“You think?” she asked sarcastically. “But he ran out so fast I thought he had to pee. We are getting there on house training. I thought it’d save me cleaning up my kitchen floor.”

“Instead you got a nice workout,” he said, handing over the dog when she reached for it.

“I’m getting a lot of them lately,” she said. “At least I didn’t step in dog crap barefoot this time.”

He grunted. “You mean when you were trying to get him out from under your deck?”

She frowned. “Do I know you? How did you know about that or who I am?”

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” he asked in his dry calm work voice. It was the only time he talked much. Though he was doing more of it now than normal too.

She burst out laughing. “Oh my God. Seriously. It was you? Talk about a small world. I guess you realized it by me shouting Mr. Franklin as I chased him down the street.”

“It’s not that common of a name,” he said.

She laughed even harder. “He would have tired out before me,” she said. “At least I hope so. I’m not much of a runner. Now if he was trying to get away from me in the water, there’d be no chance.”

“You swim?” he asked.

“I did in college. I was good too.” She was wiggling her eyebrows.

“I bet you were.”

“I’m Kelsey, but you know that unless you forgot.”

“I didn’t,” he said. “I rarely forget much.”

“Do you have a name or are you just the nine-one-one operator?”

“Van,” he said.

“Not a common name, just like my dog. Though he’s called Frankie most of the time.”

“Just not when you’re mad or frustrated with him?” he asked, snorting.

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