Page 132 of Light My Fire

Brooke reaches for my hand again and squeezes me. Her eyes are bright and locked on mine.

“After I saw what the dogs did after the attack on the World Trade Center, I dug in deeper and learned more about how dogs are trained and incorporated into fire and police departments.”

She smiles but just waits for me to go on.

“That obviously really hit close to home because of Wyatt and Luke,” I say. “The dogs are amazing and I just think… that would be something important I could do. With a big enough property, I could have a whole training program. We could have different kinds of dogs. Bloodhounds areespeciallygood, though I know our labs will be superheroes.”

Brooke swallows. When I pause she says, “Who is we?”

I look at her with surprise. “You and me. And Luke and Wyatt. I can own the thing and get training, but you’ll be the vet and I want Luke and Wyatt involved as much as they want to be. We’ll have to hire others, of course.”

Her eyes look a little shiny suddenly. “I love how you call the dogs ‘ours’.”

I lean in. “They are ours. I can’t look at any of them without thinking of you and the guys.”

“That plan is… incredible.”

“Yeah?” I’m relieved and so happy to hear her say that. “You think I can do it?”

“Of course.”

“I mean, beyond paying for it.” I suddenly feel a little shy or something. “I’ll do that, of course, and hire whoever we need, but I’d like to actually work with the dogs. I’d like to be a trainer.”

“So be a trainer,” she says. She gives me a big smile. “Absolutely, you should do that. You’resogreat with the dogs, Jackson.” She squeezes my hand again. “There is no one who trains dogs who has any special characteristics that you don’t have. You’ll get trained, you’ll learn, but of course you can do that.”

“Will you be our vet?”

She grins. “Yes. But I’m not giving you a discount.”

I love that grin. I loveher. I reach over, grasp the bottom of her chair and drag her closer. I put my mouth against her ear. “Bet I could find a way to knock a few dollars off the bottom line.”

She giggles. “Afewdollars? Sir, from what I’ve seen so far, you could get me to do anything for you.”

Heat floods through me. I growl against her ear. “Eat your fancy food, then I’m going to feed you tacos and then I’m going to finger you to orgasm inside your front door, and then I’m going to make you agree to our next date. Which willnotbe sex-less.”

She shivers, quickly eats her figs and ham and crab puffs.

We laugh and flirt and talk as we head downstairs, then eat the best tacos from a truck only a block away. Laugh and flirt and talk as she also pulls me into an ice cream shop another block away. Laugh and flirt and talk in the car.

And then I hike her skirt up and make her come hard on my fingers against her front door before leaving her breathless and planning to see me again on Friday.

And I’m not even half-way home before I get a text.

Thank you for an amazing night. You are going to be as good at raising and training SAR dogs as you are at handing out orgasms.

And btw, that is VERY VERY VERY VERY good.

I grin and text back.

I’m addicted to you. Just so you know.

Good to know. Knowledge is power.

You don’t know anything about the five hundred dollars in cash in my purse do you?

I’d texted my cousin who had accompanied me to the last black-tie fundraiser I’d gone to and asked how much her dress cost because I didn’t remember. Then I’d slipped the cash into Brooke’s purse since she’d declined to give me her Venmo.

That’s for the dress you’ll need to buy next time.

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