Page 10 of Only Her (K2 Team)
“Where I work. Is there someone around at night when you’re not here? You know, should one of them get sick or something.”
She’d never had anyone ask her that question before, which just went to show how much he loved his dogs. He’d been keeping their conversation all business, and she followed his lead. “I have a college student who sleeps here at night. He leaves at six, so the boarders are only unattended for an hour, until I or one of my staff arrives.” Apparently, he wasn’t going to explain what K2 was, which made her all the more curious as to what he did.
“I’m not sure when I’ll be back. Hopefully in a few days, but I’ll keep in touch.” He locked gazes with her. “Can I get your cell number? You know, so I can call and check on them. I might not be able to call here during normal hours.”
She broke eye contact before she embarrassed herself just staring at him. It made sense to give him her number, but it seemed like they were moving into alien territory. Did she want him to be able to call her anytime he wished? She glanced up to see he was watching her. “Sure.” She rattled off her number, and he put it in his phone. “I’ll need yours. In case of an emergency, which I don’t expect to happen, but better safe than sorry, right?” She waved the boarding form in front of his face. “I need it for our records. That’s all.” Now she was babbling.
After giving her his number, he ordered the dogs to stay, then left to get the food he’d brought. She used the form to fan herself. “Jeez, Riley, you’re behaving like a high school girl with a crush on a cute boy.” One she had kissed and who had held her as she cried, and now they were acting as if none of that had happened.
She leaned over the counter and peered down at Pretty Girl and Sally. “Either of you got any insights on your Mr.Magnificent you’d be willing to share?” She would swear that both dogs looked back at her with amusement. “Right. Mum’s the word.”
“Why are you talking to yourself, and who’s Mr.Magnificent?” Brooke asked, walking up behind her.
The front door opened, and Riley turned to Brooke and lifted a brow.
“Ahhh,” her assistant drawled, her gaze raking over Cody as he walked in, a slow smile forming on her pretty face.
Riley wanted to hiss like a territorial cat warning off an invader. This was where she should turn him over to Brooke and go on about her business, but her feet refused to move. Her receptionist followed Brooke in, stepping up to the counter.
“Hello,” Michelle said. “Can I help you?”
Both of her employees were single, and both were eyeing Cody as if he were a Popsicle they wanted to lick. Not that she blamed them, but it still irritated her.
“I’m helping him,” Riley snapped. Three pairs of eyes settled on her. The two females looked at her as if they’d never seen her before, which this side of her they hadn’t. Hell, she hadn’t even known she had athis side. As for Cody, he was unreadable, but then there went the slightest curve of one side of his mouth. Against her will, she smiled back.
“Ahem...”
At the sound of Brooke clearing her throat, Riley realized she and Cody were standing there, staring at each other. Heat rushed into her cheeks, and she grabbed the bag he had set on the counter.
“Any instructions?” she asked, getting her professional mask back into place.
“Just that you keep them together. Can I see where they’ll be?”
“Sure. Come with me.” With any other boarder, she would have had Michelle or Brooke take the owner on a tour, but she wasn’t about to leave either of those she-wolves alone with him.
He came up next to her, close enough that her skin warmed where he almost touched her, and God, he smelled good. The man was entirely too potent and sent all of her senses into a frenzy. She was honest enough with herself to admit that she’d never had it this bad for any man before—not since Reed, anyway—which was tough luck as Cody had made it clear that nothing was going to happen between them. His dogs followed along, their toenails clicking on the tiled floor, and she concentrated on them.
When she had remodeled, she’d included four large kennel spaces along with smaller areas for the cats and little dogs. The dog pens had access to individual outdoor fenced-in yards. As she had no large dogs in residence at the moment, Cody could have his pick.
“You have a preference?” She waved a hand at the pens.
After a quick glance, he took the bag from her hands, went to the pen at the end, and opened the gate. “Come,” he said in a voice she was learning to recognize as one he only used with his dogs. It was firm, but there was a gentleness in his tone, and she wished all animal owners were like him.
Pretty Girl and Sally trotted into the cage, then turned and looked up at him as if questioning what their next move should be. He squatted in front of them. “I’ll come back for you, I promise,” he said, a hand on each of their heads. “You be good for Riley, or I’ll take your balls away for a week.” At the word “balls” both dogs’ ears perked up.
From the bag, Cody removed four balls, two large bone chews, and a tug rope. The dogs eyed the balls with longing. “Not yet,” Cody said. “We’re not done talking. If for some reason I don’t come back, it doesn’t mean I don’t love you. It just means...” He bowed his head.
Most pet owners when boarding their animals just dropped them off. A rare few asked to see where their furry people would be kept, and Riley couldn’t think of a time when one had talked to their pets the way Cody was with his dogs. Feeling as if she were intruding on a personal moment between him and the dogs, she quietly left the room and waited for him in the hallway. For some reason, tears stung her eyes. What did he mean by implying there was a chance he might not come back? Although she didn’t know him well, she knew without doubt that he wouldn’t willingly abandon those two animals.
A few minutes later, he came out and stopped in front of her. “I expect to be back in a few days. I’ll keep in touch and let you know when to expect me.” His gaze moved to the wall behind her shoulder for a few seconds, and by the haunted look in his eyes, she could swear that he was seeing a ghost from his past. Then his eyes focused back on her. “With what I do, there’s always the chance I won’t return. You don’t owe me anything, and you can say no, but I’m going to ask two things of you.”
“If it’s in my power.” She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to refuse him anything. The man was tortured by something, and her soft heart had already decided to hurt for him.
“The first thing, promise you’ll find good homes for them.”
She nodded. “I can do that. And the other?”
The way he hesitated told her that whatever he was about to say, he’d rather not. “There’s a dog, Layla, that got left behind in Afghanistan. If she can be found and I’m not able to, my teammates will get her here. I’d like you to reunite her with Pretty Girl and Sally. So should the unexpected happen, and you do have to find a home for these two, just make sure that whoever it is will take a third dog. Will you do that for me?”
