Page 47 of Wicked Healing

The fact that he’d been jealous of Sean was interesting. Then there was an airman that brought his Shiba Inu to board. They visited the kennel a couple of times, as well as a couple of others, before deciding on her kennel to board him at. Erin believed Airman Prince was doing his due diligence in caring for his animal, but Luca was suspicious. It made Erin laugh a little. They weren’t really anything, but it was obvious he wanted to be more.

So did she.

* * *

“Paul called,”Luca told her two nights later as they sat on the back steps watching the dogs play. It had become one of their little things, getting together every night to talk about the day. Luca cherished the time, looking forward to it as soon as he got up in the mornings. Sometimes he wandered into the covered barn when Erin was exercising the horses or cleaning the kennels, but he never seemed to catch her at the right time. In the evenings in the back yard was their time to reconnect.

And it left him wanting. He was stupid to have denied himself this.

“Is he finally taking a break from La Jolla?”

“Says he is,” Luca murmured. “I think suddenly having a daughter has maybe changed some priorities for him.”

“Good. I gave him Carolina’s number, like you suggested. Since he’s former military Helping Hands, Healing Hearts would happily provide him a caregiver for Hope that he could depend upon. And since they’re in San Diego it would be close.”

“Is that where the offices are?”

“Office, yes,” she corrected. “There’s only one, though she dispatches all around the world. Carolina has built an incredible business on her own. Well, her family helps out here and there but it’s mostly just her and her assistant.”

“Maybe the aunt will encourage him to do something.”

“When is he coming in?”

“Tomorrow afternoon, sometime.”

Erin nodded. “I’m anxious to see them again.”

As he looked at her serene smile, he could see that she was. Nothing much rattled Erin Knox. Yesterday he’d caught sight of her fighting the skittish Larry in the covered barn. He’d stayed long enough to make sure she’d gained control of the horse, then continued on with his workout. He stuck close to the barn, though, and he was relieved when she came out a little later, face creased in a smile. It was obvious she loved those big, dumb animals. Luca didn’t see the attraction.

“I told Paul he could stay in my house when he visited.”

“You did?” He looked at her in surprise. “Don’t you think he’ll stay with the aunt?”

Erin shrugged. “Not sure, but I wanted him to have options if he needed them. It’s not always cut and dried with a child.”

“Have you been around a lot of them?” he asked curiously. “Children, I mean.”

Erin laughed at his expression. “A few here and there. By your expression I would assume you haven’t.”

It was his turn to shrug. “A few. The guys on my team had a bunch of them.”

Luca must have looked as enthused as he felt. “Not your cup of tea, eh?”

“I’m not going to say never,” he said eventually, “but it will be a very long time before I’d even consider it.”

Greta was curled up on the step in front of Erin, soaking up the stroking her mistress was giving her. The two of them looked very natural together.

“Did you get anyone new today?”

She shook her head. “I was supposed to get a terrier mix at some point but the owners had to reschedule. I’ll see them next week sometime. What did you do?”

“I went to the Apache Wash Trailhead and ran for a while.”

Her hands went still and she leaned toward him. “Did you really? Which trail?”

“The long one.”

“Damn, dude. That’s a serious challenge. Good for you. How do you feel?”

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