Page 10 of Hot Winter Nights (Bear Mountain Rescue 1)

Dex headed into the woods where the pup had come from, whistling, but there wasn’t another sound. Fairly confident the pup was alone, he headed back to the truck and climbed into the driver’s side, setting the pup on the passenger seat. Bluebell whined and tried to climb over the backseat, but a firm “Stay” from Dex had her sitting back, her long ears perked as she eyed the puppy.

And as the pup sat back, Dex got a good look at the little guy’s stumpy left front paw. Dex couldn’t tell what breed it was, but he had a feeling that its owners hadn’t been pleased by the pup’s deformity, most likely something it had been born with. But why let it live to be six, seven weeks before they dumped it?

Grabbing a blanket from the back, he tucked it around the little guy. “What do you say we get you a bath and some grub?”

The puppy cocked its head and whimpered.

Dex took that as a yes. Pleased to have something to focus on besides Allie Fairchild, he started up the truck and headed to work.

Chapter 6

It was after nine at night when Allie stumbled out of her office. She had put in a fourteen-hour day and she didn’t just feel exhausted, she was also ready to get away from people. Since she’d made her snarky comment to Dex, the rest of the staff had been giving her a wide berth, including Hunter.

Speak of the devil, there he was, walking out the front door ahead of her. Allie picked up the pace, wanting to make peace with him.

“Excuse me, Dr. Gracin,” she called, racing to catch up.

He paused just outside the entrance and waited for her. He was out of his scrubs and wearing a simple T-shirt and jeans. Jeez, were all the men in Bear Mountain immune to the cold? She was wearing wool tights under her slacks and still freezing her butt off.

“I am really sorry about earlier. Mr. Belmont is my landlord and we didn’t exactly have the best first impression of each other, but that’s no excuse for being rude and unprofessional. I’ll apologize to him, but I wanted you to know that behavior like that isn’t normal for me.”

Hunter crossed his arms over his chest. “I know Dex can be kind of a dick, pardon my French, but he’s saved a lot of lives in this town. People respect him.”

“Well, I’ll do my best to get along with him and make things right.” She gave Hunter a small smile and asked, “So what about you? ’Cause, to be honest, I need all the friends I can get.”

“I suppose I could be persuaded to not join the angry mob…if you’ll have a drink with me.”

As much as she wanted to make amends, Allie was so tired that she’d rather get back to the cabin, crawl into bed, and sleep than try to be social tonight. “Can I take a rain check?”

“How about tomorrow? I have the day off; you have the day off. We could go exploring, maybe have a picnic before the weather gets too cold.…”

“How do you know I have the day off?”

“I may have asked Rebecca if you were coming in.”

Even when he was mad at her, he’d still asked about her schedule? How endearing was that? “Well…”

“I promise you’ll have fun.”

Think about the list. Plus, it would keep me away from the cabin so Dex can fix it.

Allie pictured being stuck in the cabin all day with Dex; sweaty, shirtless Dex in a tool belt and swinging a hammer with those strong arms.…

“Okay, yeah. A picnic with a friend sounds great.”

“For now,” he said, grinning.

“What?”

“Friends for now.”

Laughing softly, she shook her head. “I get the feeling you don’t hear the word no a lot.”

“Not often, but I promise I’ll be the perfect gentleman. Would nine tomorrow morning work for you?”

“Nine is perfect,” she said.

“And just to show what a swell guy I am, I’ll walk you to your car.”

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