10.

D UB

“You do realize he’s going to be pissed at you, right?” I heard Elizabeth’s voice carry through the doorway as I walked across the grass. “If I promise to visit you every day, will you stop jumping the fence and running away from home? I’d hate for you to get in trouble.”

“Dub won’t hurt him,” Laura assured her.

“He’ll get growly and cuss a lot, but he’s never raised a hand to either of us, so I’m sure Herc won’t be in too much trouble.”

“Speaking of trouble, does anyone know you’re over here with me?” Elizabeth asked.

“We had breakfast at Charlotte’s and told her where we were going. She said we should remember not to overstay our welcome.”

“I can’t imagine you ever doing that. I like having you around. You’re both wonderful helpers, and the dogs absolutely adore you. That says a lot about a person, you know.”

“Are you really going to pay us for helping you?” Mary asked.

“I said I would, and I won't go back on my word,” Elizabeth assured her.

I stopped just outside the door so I could listen to the girls talk to Elizabeth and loved how easygoing they felt around her - something I’d never witnessed when they were around our mother.

“Can we stay at your house for a few days?” Laura asked.

“I don't have a problem with that, but I can’t say yes until I’m sure you have permission. Who should we ask? Your mother, Dub, or Charlotte?”

“Dub told us to stay away for a few days so he knows we’re not going to be home tonight. His friends are coming into town, but it’s supposed to be a secret.”

“Laura, sweetheart, if it’s supposed to be a secret, then why did you just tell me?”

Elizabeth’s soft laugh made me smile, and I finally admitted to myself how much I’d missed her in the last three days. After my forced convalescence - that I let drag to five days, which had felt like an eternity - I had a million things to do. At the top of the list was securing the house to try and figure out exactly what Aleta had up her sleeve. With the help of a few of my friends, I’d be starting that process this afternoon while Aleta was at work.

“You said we could come to you if we have a problem. I think that’s why Dub’s friends are coming to visit too.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Aleta has been taking a lot of phone calls, and she tried to video us talking to her the other day.”

I could almost feel Elizabeth’s tension as she asked, “What did she want you to say?”

I could imagine Mary’s shrug since that’s what she’d done when I’d asked her the same thing. I decided that I’d been eavesdropping long enough. It wasn’t something I was proud of but would likely do again.

By the time I was standing in the open bay door, there were so many eyes on me that it felt like I was on a stage. Every dog in the place was watching me as well as my damn horse, who had jumped the fence again. Elizabeth watched the dogs turn their heads to look at me and smiled when she saw me in the doorway.

“Kevin!”

“Karen, I see that you’ve summoned the demon back to your side,” I said grumpily as I glared at Hercules.

“I didn’t summon him. He came back all by himself.”

“What kind of treats are you giving him?” I asked as I looked around at the dogs who were lazing on the floor around her as she brushed the one sitting on his haunches in front of her. Mary and Laura were grooming the dogs that sat still in front of them, and the happy expressions on their faces was enough to lift my spirits after yet another confrontation with our mother just a few minutes ago.

“Can we stay with Elizabeth for a while, Dub?” Mary asked.

“We work for her now, and she’s going to pay us real money!”

“What other kind of money is there?” Mary asked Laura with that know-it-all look she got when her sister was irritating her.

“Ladies,” Elizabeth said under her breath. Both girls looked at her and then went back to brushing the dogs, their argument stopping before it had a chance to really get started.

“Is it okay if the girls stay with you for a few days? Maybe a week? I’d like to keep them out of the house for a while, and Charlotte’s little ones gave her the crud.”

“Girls, will you take the dogs out to the play area and watch over them until I get outside?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison as they set their brushes aside and stood up. I was impressed when Mary ordered the dogs using some of the commands I’d heard Elizabeth use and watched as they eagerly followed the girls to the back door.

Once they were outside and out of earshot, Elizabeth asked, “First of all, is your sister okay? Does she need help with the other boys? I can go over and cook dinner or take . . .”

“You are absolutely fantastic, Elizabeth.”

“Where did that come from?”

“You’re willing to wade in and help a woman you haven’t known for very long and even willing to try and feed her herd of children, which I’ve done before, and let me say, that’s not a task for the weak.”

“It’s the neighborly thing to do.”

“Bullshit. You’re a sweetheart. Just admit it.”

“Whatever,” Elizabeth said dismissively.

“Si’s brother and his wife Dani took the twins for a few days, and the other boys are big enough to take care of each other, but thank you for the offer. As for cooking, Charlotte swears that there’s a demon camped out in her digestive system, so food is the last thing she wants to think about right now.”

Elizabeth smiled at Charlotte’s description of how she was feeling but it changed into a look of concern before she asked, “What is your mother up to, Dub? Why is she trying to get the girls to talk on video, and why does she want to dress them up and take pictures?”

“My guess is she’s trying to sell them off to the highest bidder.”

“And that’s most definitely going to be my first line of defense in my criminal trial,” Elizabeth said as she reached her hand out for me to pull her up from the floor. Hercules, who had been standing a few feet behind her, put his head over her shoulder and bumped my chest so hard that I had no choice but to take a step back. “Stop being an asshole, Schmoopie.”

I hadn’t believed it possible for horses to glare until Hercules met the love of his life, but here we were. Apparently, I wasn’t much more mature than him because I glared right back.

“I’m gonna start tying you up, dickhead,” I threatened.

“We’ve discussed it, and Hercules is going to try to curb his urges and stay where you put him. I’ve promised to come visit him a few times a day as long as he’s good.”

“You know he’s not a dog, right? Or a human.”

“I’m well aware of what he is, Dub, considering he’s bigger than my first car and his paw is the size of my head.”

“Horses don’t have paws, Elizabeth. Horses have hooves.”

“Whatever,” Elizabeth said with a dismissive wave. She put her hands on my cheeks and gently felt for swelling as she said, “Open your mouth and let me look at your . . .”

“I’m not a goddamn animal, Karen.”

“If you were, you’d be a grumpy bear.” When I just stared at her, she said, “You’re not going to show me your teeth, are you?”

Without even thinking, I let my dick do the talking and blurted out, “The only reason I would open my mouth is to show you exactly what my tongue can do.”

I realized what I’d said and swallowed hard as Elizabeth tensed. She didn’t take her hands from my face, though, which I saw as a good sign, and just stood there looking up at me for a few long seconds. I could tell she was thinking and wasn’t sure if she was uncomfortable or pondering the idea until she took me by surprise and pulled me closer.

When her lips touched mine, it didn’t take long to come out of my stupor and kiss her back. My left arm wrapped around her waist as I reached around her and shoved Hercules away with my right hand. I pulled Elizabeth closer until she was flush against my body and tilted my head to take the kiss to the next level.

When her tongue met mine, it felt like I’d touched a live wire. Somehow, I knew that I’d never feel this way with any other woman. That was enough to make me take a step back. As Elizabeth’s hands dropped from my face, I realized that she’d taken my hesitance the wrong way.

“I’m sorry . . . I don’t know . . . I just . . .”

“Hush,” I whispered as I pulled her close again.

“Don’t tell me to . . .”

She didn’t have a chance to finish that order because my tongue brushed against her lips and made her lose her train of thought.

◆◆◆

“Let me look around for a minute and make a game plan,” Santa, one of my brothers from Tenillo, said as he walked past me into the house.

“He’s on a mission because he knows that Frankie’s with Maylee and Pita at the resort,” Bug explained as we followed Santa inside.

“Why is that a problem?” I asked.

“Our wives tend to do things to the extreme,” Bug explained as Hammer let out a dramatic sigh. “The resort has all sorts of high-end boutiques, and if we don’t hurry back, they’ll buy so much shit that we’ll have to rent a moving truck to get it all home.”

“Don’t even get me started on all the shops that are in Springblood. Pita’s been talking about getting a new painting for the dining room, and God only knows what she’ll find in some of those artsy fartsy places.”

I laughed and said, “I sell my shit in one of those artsy fartsy places.”

“Really?” Bug asked. “You’ve come a long way from craft fairs and bike runs.”

“ And we’re movin’ on up, ” Hammer sang.

Bug and I ignored him, but as usual, he managed to make me smile. After he finished most of the chorus to the old sitcom theme song, I said, “I’ve got pieces in a gallery in Rojo and one in Springblood, but my online sales are what’s making bank.”

“You’re doing well for yourself, brother,” Santa said as he walked back into the kitchen. “I’ve found some good places for cameras and even picked out where I’ll put the listening devices in the bedrooms and bathrooms.”

“I think the new equipment we got will work well on the porch even with the sounds of all this . . . nature going on outside.”

“Nature? You act like a city boy that hails from a booming metropolis or some shit,” I teased. “You live in the country too.”

“The trees on our properties are so young, they’re barely big enough to house a single bird's nest. We might live in the country, but you live in the backwoods mountains with real nature,” Bug said as if that was a grievous insult. He shuddered and said, “It’s so . . . primitive.”

I looked at Hammer and asked, “Did someone give him a word of the day calendar again?”

“He’s learning big words so Boo doesn’t grow up and realize he’s dumb,” Santa said as he opened the refrigerator and peered inside. “What? No beer? I thought we were friends.”

I sighed and let my head fall forward before I said, “I’m assuming my mother saw it in there and poured it all out.”

“That’s what you get! Buying alcohol for your degenerate friends,” Santa joked as he shut the refrigerator door.

“Did you know they drink hot chocolate?”

“Instead of beer?” Bug asked Hammer before he looked over at me. “I don’t follow.”

“They’re not allowed to have alcohol, obviously, but caffeine is against the rules too. So are hot drinks. But they can drink hot chocolate.”

“How does that help the beer situation right now, Hammer?” Santa asked.

“It’s hot, and chocolate has caffeine.”

“I don’t give a shit,” Bug said in exasperation.

“Let’s get this shit set up so we can go into town and find our old ladies,” Santa redirected before Bug and Hammer started yelling at each other. “We promised we’d take them out to dinner. Do you want to come?”

“I’ll have the girls with me.”

“Are their table manners any worse than yours?”

I flipped Bug off and said, “I’d like to invite a guest too.”

“Does your guest know how to eat with utensils?” Bug asked.

“Man, fuck you,” I muttered as I lifted a piece of equipment from one of the boxes I’d helped them carry in. “Let’s get this shit started. I’m already sick of the three of you and would rather visit with your women anyway.”

“We drive all this way and look how he treats us,” Santa grumbled good-naturedly as he opened his toolbox and lifted out a drill. “Now, who is going up in the attic?”

When we looked at Bug simultaneously, the smallest of our group, he sighed. “I hate all of your big asses equally.”

◆◆◆

ELIZABETH

“Lay down. Pa’!” I repeated myself several times as I slowly lowered the treat to the ground and watched the dog follow my hand until he was on his stomach. I let him have the treat as I praised him with, “Good boy! Mag Doq!”

“That is so cool,” Mary said from her perch on the fence where she’d been watching me for the last few minutes. “Can I try?”

“Sure,” I said, positive that Dynamo, a sweet pit bull, was far enough in his training to start taking commands from others. “Hop down, and give it a try.”

As Mary got a few treats out of the container I had hanging on the fence, I gave Dynamo some ear scratches and looked out over the corral at the other dogs who were either lazing in the sun or roaming around the space.

I’d completed all of my training tasks for the day and had enjoyed playtime with each of the dogs after their session. All I needed to do now was take the notes I’d written and type them into each dog’s record for their owners to review online.

When I heard Hercules whinny from the second corral where we pretended that he was secure, I glanced over and saw Dub walking across the field with three other men. I took a few long seconds to study the man who had kissed me senseless a few hours ago and wondered when I’d get the chance to do that again - and more, if I had my way.

“Who is with your brother?” I asked Mary.

“Those are his friends from Texas,” Laura said from where she was laying in the shade with Sammy, a Great Dane Labrador mix, and River, an Australian shepherd, who were scheduled to be picked up tomorrow by their owners since their training was complete.

“Have you met them before?”

“No, but there are pictures in his office of a bunch of his friends, and I know they ride motorcycles together,” Laura explained. “He calls them his brothers, but I’m not sure why because we’ve got plenty of those already.”

I laughed at her exasperation and replied, “I think he means brothers of the heart instead of by blood.”

I’d read enough MC romances in my time to know that Dub probably trusted these men more than anyone else on earth and wondered what it meant that he’d brought them to my house to meet me. Was it some sort of test to see what they thought about me before he . . . I wasn’t sure how to finish that thought because he was probably just as confused about this morning’s kiss as I was.

Really, though, I wasn’t confused at all. I knew exactly where I had wanted it to lead - straight to my bedroom where I’d play out all of the fantasies I’d had about the man since we’d first met.

Dub raised his hand as I stood up and smiled as they approached.

They were very different looking men, all seemingly a little older than Dub with a few more laugh lines and the occasional sprinkle of gray in their beards - of which they all had in abundance. The four of them walking side by side toward me was picture-worthy, and I made a mental note to go back through today’s security camera footage to get a screenshot to hold on to for posterity. I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but I had already done that a few times and gotten some excellent shots of Dub and the girls.

“Holy shit,” one of the men exclaimed. “What is she feeding that horse?”

“From the size of him, I’d say anything he fucking wants,” another man said skeptically as he eyed Hercules who was watching them approach. “That looks like a war horse from medieval times.”

“You can remember that far back?” Dub asked the man who rolled his eyes before he flipped him off.

I looked down at Mary and asked if she was comfortable taking charge of Dynamo, and when she assured me she was, I started walking toward Dub and his friends. It was hard to choose which one to look at first since they were all lookers in their own way. However, I thought Dub was without a doubt the most handsome of the group.

He was wearing his hair in that style that I’d at first thought strange but had really come to like, with half of it up in a band at the back of his head with the lower half brushing his shoulders. I’d found that he pulled the top half back when he was working so that it wouldn’t fall into his face, but he usually let it fall where it may otherwise.

As if there were a movie playing in my mind, I remembered watching him pull the band off his wrist and then run his hands through his hair before he tied it back. For some reason, I found that so sexy that I wanted to reach up and pull the hair band out so he had to do it again.

I was shaken from my thoughts when Dub said, “Elizabeth, I’d like for you to meet my brothers.” He motioned to each one as he said, “Santa, Bug, and Hammer, this is Elizabeth.”

“It’s a pleasure, ma’am,” Santa said with a smile.

I was about to speak when the man called Bug said, “If anyone tells my wife there’s a horse out here, I’ll bury you in my backyard and tell God you ran away.”

“While we’re at dinner, we’ll make sure to keep it to ourselves, right, Elizabeth?”

“Dinner?”

The three men grinned and looked at Dub before the one named Hammer waved his hand and said, “Let the master show you how it’s done, Dub.” He reached out and took my hand and then brought it up to his lips before he said, “Pretend I’m Dub, okay?” When I nodded, he continued. “Beautiful lady, would you care to accompany me to dinner with my friends?”

Somehow, I knew this man would appreciate the theatrics, so I put my free hand on my chest, and in a sugary sweet imitation of a Southern belle said, “You want little old me to come to dinner? But whatever shall I wear?”

Dub frowned and then took my hand out of Hammer’s before he shoved him aside with his shoulder. He leaned forward until his lips were almost touching my ear when he whispered, “Elizabeth, my gorgeous wildflower, will you please join me for dinner? Clothes are required while we’re at the restaurant, but strictly optional when I eat you for dessert.”

I turned my head just a fraction so our cheeks were touching when I whispered back, “You talk a big game, Kevin.”

Dub used his free hand to pull me closer before he said, “After tonight, you’ll stop with the Kevin bullshit and start calling me The Big Bad Wolf.”

“We’ll see,” I said seductively. Once I’d given him a chaste kiss, I took a step back and asked, “Seriously, though, where are we going to eat? I need to shower and change before I go anywhere.”

“Wear whatever you want,” Santa said with a shrug. “We’ll eat at the hotel.”

“The hotel?”

“They’re staying at the resort in Springblood.”

I looked at the clothes the men around me were wearing - faded jeans, T-shirts, and motorcycle boots, just like Dub always wore. Thinking of the few times I’d been there to meet Sin for lunch, I knew that these men didn’t quite fit the ambiance of the place, but if they were anything like Dub, they wouldn’t care in the slightest.

“Let me get the dogs secured and then give me thirty minutes to shower and change,” I said before I squeezed Dub’s hand and let it go. “I’ll get the girls to do the same.”

“Do you mind if we watch your dog routine?” Dub asked before he turned to look at his friends. “You’ve gotta see her setup, man. This has to be the bougiest dog hotel ever, and she’s got all of these dogs trained like you wouldn’t believe.”

Dub told his friends about some of the different things he’d seen me do with the dogs, and it made my heart skip a beat when I realized that he seemed almost proud of me. I liked the feeling because I was damn sure proud of myself.

I’d come a long way from the scared, timid girl that couldn’t even think about being this close to the dense forest.

It was a wonderful feeling.