Page 2 of Unexpected Christmas with the SEAL

Bruno sat down and cocked his head to the side.

She filled up the kettle and set it on the gas stove to boil.

“Uncle Asher thinks I can’t handle it here for a few days. But I’ll show him. Nay,we’llshow him. We’ll clean the house from top to bottom, muck stalls, and maybe I’ll even teach you some new tricks.”

Bruno just kept tipping his head from side to side.

“Or should I take on a real challenge and teach Fumble to be a civilized goat who doesn’t pee on himself, anyone else, or escape?”

Bruno yawned, then fell to his belly, gazing up at her with enormous eyes of doubt.

“Yeah, I thought that might be a little much for the time we have. Don’t want to flytooclose to the sun the first time around.”

Eventually, the kettle whistled, and she pulled it off the stove just as there was a knock at the door.

Bruno barked and trotted to the front door while Hannah set down the kettle on a cool side of the gas stove and turned off the element on the side she’d just been using. Last thing she needed was to torch her uncles’ house twenty-minutes into her house-sitting gig.

She headed to the front door and swung it open.

Her jaw dropped.

Cal was driving home from Denver when he got a text message from Asher asking him to swing by the ranch. His and Nate’s niece, Hannah, was house-sitting for them over Christmas while Nate and Asher attended a wedding in Canada. Cal already knew this, and was on standby if Hannah needed any help, but he hadn’t been anticipating getting a message from Asher so soon.

But Asher just wanted Cal to pop in and introduce himself to Hannah so she didn’t feel so awkward calling a stranger if she needed a hand.

Luckily, the Harris Brothers Ranch was on his way home, so he swung down the driveway and rumbled his black Chevy Silverado toward the farmhouse.

He clomped his boots up the freshly swept porch steps, opened the screen door and rapped his scarred and freckled knuckles against the worn wood.

A bark from inside told him that Bruno was there.

He loved Bruno.

And Bruno loved him.

Well, Bruno loved everyone, as long as they rubbed his belly. But Cal liked to think he and Bruno had a special relationship. Bruno understood Cal.

Bruno just wanted belly rubs. He didn’t need Cal to talk up a storm.

A simple dog for a simple man.

Cal thought about getting himself a dog like Bruno, but so far, he hadn’t connected with a pup or even a rescue dog the way he did with his friends’ dog.

The door opened to reveal an amber-eyed beauty with dark, curly hair in a high ponytail.

“Can I help you?” she asked, her jaw having dropped and eyes gone wide when she first opened the door and gave him a thorough and appreciative once-over.

He scratched the back of his neck, but then dropped to a crouch and scratched Bruno behind the ears when the dog started rubbing his sides up against Cal’s leg for attention. “Name’s Cal. Your uncles told me to stop by and check on things.”

Her growl had Bruno glancing up at her in surprise. “Seriously? They’ve been gone like thirty minutes. Did they honestly think I was going to torch the place that quickly?”

Cal shrugged. “Just doin’ as I’ve been asked. Thought I should come and introduce myself.” He continued to give Bruno attention, even when the dog rolled onto his back and shamelessly exposed his belly for rubs.

“Well, as you can see, Bruno is fine. I’m fine. The ranch is fine. The horses and goats are fine. Everything here isjustfine. So,” she flicked her fingers in front of her, “you can go.”

He’d heard from Asher and Nate, as well as Asher’s wife Triss, that Hannah was a fiery one. And he could certainly see her spark.

The smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth from her sass had him wanting to stick around just to see if she could turn those sparks into flames.

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