Chapter 3

Lori polishedthe edge of the glass and set it back on the table before she glanced up at the grandfather clock. She really didn’t like when people didn’t show up on time. If her visitor was going to be delayed, why hadn’t they texted or called to let her know? Unless there’d been an accident on her way here from Chicago and they couldn’t let her know. She suddenly wished she hadn’t entertained the unkind thoughts about not letting her see Max…if she ever arrived.

But she’d assured Toni that she was more than happy to let Sergeant Gabriella Jackson visit her old canine Army buddy. Lori had been running this ranch as a sanctuary for ex-service dogs and horses long enough to know that the bond between a handler and their animal was often very strong, so she wasn’t about to deny Ms. Jackson the opportunity to see how Max was doing.

She glanced at the clock again just as she became aware of the sound of a throaty engine and gravel crunching under tires. She leaned over the dining room table to peer through the window and saw a truck that had obviously seen better days roll to a steady stop. Only feeling a little bit like a peeping Tom, she waited to see Ms. Jackson exit from her vehicle. Toni hadn’t sent an actual photo of Max’s Army friend from where she’d been reporting on a military base, but she had taken the time to describe her in detail. In such technicolor detail, in fact, that Lori had teased Toni about her loyalty to her new girlfriend, Jo. Lori and Toni had discovered early on in their friendship that they shared the same taste in strong, butch women, and Toni had been overly eager to tell her everything she knew about Ms. Jackson. Her zeal to impart all that information was probably due to Toni’s belief that Lori should get over the epic failure of her marriage to the lawyer and get back on the horse, but on this matter, their opinions were polarized. Lori was nowhere ready to even polish the saddle, let alone strap it to a stallion and jump on for the ride.

But she wasn’t dead, and appreciating a fine woman from a safe distance was permissible.

Lori shouldn’t have doubted her friend’s journalistic ability to accurately describe the acute hotness of her temporary colleague. As promised, Ms. Jackson did not disappoint. The faded red door of the truck opened, and a deliciously tall drink of water stepped out onto Lori’s gravel drive. Boots; tight, tapered jeans; a T-shirt that hugged and accentuated all the important places; and close-cropped hair—not military-cropped but not far off: the kind of hair that felt so sensual when you wrapped your hand around the back of her head. Dark sunglasses completed her outfit and added to her overall rugged sex appeal.

She let out a long, contented sigh, filed away the vision of satisfyingly clichéd near perfection of butchness for later use, and stepped back from the table to go to the door. She paused briefly by the hallway mirror to check her overall appearance; she wasn’t on the market, but it didn’t hurt to look good on the shelf. Happy with her reflection, she opened the door and stepped out. The pleasant afternoon heat ramped up twenty degrees when Ms. Jackson smiled and took off her shades to reveal beautiful baby blues. Damn the lawyer for breaking her so bad that all she could bear to do was look.

“Lori Turner?” Ms. Jackson asked and held out her hand.

“That’s me,” she said as coolly as she could manage. It had been too long and not nearly long enough since she’d been around this kind of temptation. “And you’re Ms. Gabriella Jackson?”

There was that smile again, only this time just the left side of her lips and cheek joined in, somehow making it an even more appealing gesture.

“Yes, but please call me Gabe. And I’m so sorry I’m late. There was an accident on the I-65. All the lookie-loos slowed down the traffic.”

“Would you like to follow me?” Lori asked, appreciating the prompt explanation of her tardiness, but there was no way she was about to start calling her hunky guest Gabe. That was way too familiar and way too soon. Ms. Jackson was a visitor. Gabe would be a friend. She gave a mental shrug; another friend wouldn’t be so bad, especially one that looked like her. Then she shook the thought away. Toni had said she was just passing through on her way to start a new life, and Lori couldn’t remember where. She was sure it wouldn’t be Gary, Indiana. Starting a new life here hadn’t worked out well for her, and she didn’t know why anyone else would choose it.

That wasn’t completely true. She was being harsh. The sanctuary had been all kinds of successful since she’d gotten here. She stopped and turned around. “Sorry, I didn’t offer you a drink. Would you like some fresh lemonade?”

Ms. Jackson wrinkled her nose. “Maybe after I see Max? Would that be okay? I’m eager to see how he’s doing.”

“Sure,” Lori said and continued along the path to the kennel building.

Ms. Jackson took a couple of long strides to come alongside her. “Toni said you’ve been rescuing and rehoming ex-service animals for six years.”

“That’s right.” She didn’t offer any more information, and technically, Ms. Jackson hadn’t asked a question. But she didn’t have to be an asshole to maintain her professional distance either. “She said you’d been in the Army for twenty, and you’ve come out to start a new life.” Nope, maybe that was too much. It implied she and Toni had talked about Ms. Jackson’s personal life, and that wasn’t professional at all. Lori racked her brain to think of how she could backtrack and came up empty, so she stayed silent and hoped Ms. Jackson wouldn’t pick that thread.

“Yeah? What else did Toni tell you?”

Lori didn’t miss the raspy playfulness in Gabe—dammit—Ms. Jackson’s voice. More importantly, what had Toni told her about Lori? “That’s about all,” she said, affecting a breezy nonchalance she didn’t feel. “She did say that you were both injured in the same attack. Is that why you left the Army?” Oh, Mary, mother of Joseph. Avoiding the personal didn’t include outright questioning about trauma and possible PTSD. What was she thinking? It had been a long time since she’d had to disguise any kind of attraction to a woman, and she was sorely out of practice. She should’ve just let Beth take this visit; she was the most heterosexual person Lori had ever come across, so she’d be immune to Ms. Jackson’s charms. Lord only knew what Toni had revealed about Lori’s relationship situation in a misguided attempt to interfere. She could only hope that Toni hadn’t taken it upon herself to play Cupid.

“No, that wasn’t the reason,” Ms. Jackson said. “It was time for me to follow my new dream.”

Lori bit back a number of questions begging to be answered. Answers led to more questions, and when they were answered, they inevitably led to more questions, and before she knew it, they’d be getting to know each other better. None of that mattered. Ms. Jackson was here to visit Max and then she’d be leaving to follow her new dream, like she’d just said. “Dreams are important.” Duct tape. That’s what she needed. A roll of duct tape for her mouth, which apparently had no intention of listening to the logical side of her brain.

“Was this place your dream?”

“Beth!” Lori waved and gestured for her to join them, praying she didn’t appear as manic as she felt.

Beth wandered down the path toward them, clearly in no hurry. Lori hadn’t noticed she had one of their other charges straining at the leash in the opposite direction. That would make her planned request awkward and obvious.

“Boss?” Beth asked, stopping ten yards in front of them.

Honeycomb sniffed the air but didn’t growl, which was a first since they’d taken him in; he didn’t take kindly to any new visitors. His unofficial canine seal of approval was another check in Ms. Jackson’s boxes—not that Lori was keeping score.

She backtracked on her original reason for calling Beth over. She’d pony up and be an adult instead of a teenager crushing on the hot new student. “How was Max when you fed him?”

Beth’s frown was infinitesimal and disappeared as rapidly as it had appeared… Once she’d taken the time to appraise their visitor, Beth smiled widely. Why was everyone Lori knew invested in the ongoing drama of her personal life?

“He was quite engaged actually,” Beth said. “I think he’s back on track.”

“Back on track?” Ms. Jackson glanced between Beth and Lori, concern instantly etched in her expression. “Has he had problems?”

“The Fourth of July fireworks messed with his rehabilitation,” Beth said. “He’d been progressing pretty well up to that point. You know, as well as can be expected given the state he came to us in.”

Ms. Jackson’s concern clearly deepened. “The state he came in? Did he have a bad flight? Did something happen?”

Lori shook her head and placed her hand on Ms. Jackson’s arm before quickly retracting the over-familiar gesture. “It was nothing bad, and nothing we weren’t expecting. The journey from Syria to Chicago took nearly seventy-two hours, and Max was alone for a lot of that time. It exacerbated his condition a little, but that’s something we anticipate for all the dogs that come in from overseas.” She smiled, hoping to calm Ms. Jackson’s fears. “Beth isn’t one to sugarcoat things.”

Beth raised her eyebrow, and Lori knew she’d have to endure a full-on interrogation once Ms. Jackson was gone. Which couldn’t come soon enough. Sort of.

Honeycomb’s attention drifted from the boring assembly of humans, and he pulled in the direction of the stables.

“If there’s nothing else, Honeycomb wants to go visit Cash,” Beth said, holding him with apparent ease.

She was powerful for her diminutive frame, something she’d demonstrated on the day of her interview by transferring twenty haybales from Lori’s truck to the stables ten times faster than Lori had ever managed. They were about the same size, but Beth put her to shame in terms of physicality. She imagined it could be quite intimidating to any man lacking in self-confidence.

Lori shook her head. “No. I just wanted to see how Max had been before I took Ms. Jackson to see him.”

Gabe took a half-step forward and held out her hand. “Just Gabe. Ms. Jackson sounds weird.”

And now Lori couldn’t continue to use her formal name or she would seem weird too. Gabe did sound nice when she said it in her head though, and calling her Ms. Jackson was weird. Using Ms. just didn’t suit her at all.

Beth shook Gabe’s hand. “I’m sure Max will be very happy to see you.”

Then she headed off to the stables, but not before she’d winked at Lori and wiggled her eyebrows, which was just overkill. Lori got it: Gabe was hot, and everyone knew she was exactly Lori’s type. She’d made a problem for herself by being so open about her private life, but everyone who worked here was like family, so the teasing was to be expected. Still, she would avoid Beth’s inevitable interrogation by heading to the vet for their weekly medicine supplies after Gabe left.

Lori turned back to Gabe to find her looking amused. Or smug. Of course someone who looked like Gabe would know she was catnip to a woman like her…and to anyone, really.

“Honeycomb and Cash—did they come to you with those names?” Gabe asked and smirked slightly.

“Yes and no.” Lori gestured to the path and started walking again. “Beth named the horse Cash because he’s jet black.”

The way Gabe tilted her head slightly indicated she hadn’t made the obvious connection. Well, it was obvious to her and Beth anyway. “After Johnny Cash. He always wore black.” Lori shrugged, thinking that it sounded silly when she said it out loud. “She’s a big fan of old country music, or real country music, as she calls it.”

“I like a lot of the country artists from this century,” Gabe said. “Like Carrie Underwood. Miranda Lambert. Ashley McBryde. Kacey Musgraves. Kelsea Ballerini.”

“Hm, you have good taste,” she said. That was a lot of very beautiful women. Very feminine women. She stopped herself from asking if it was just their music she was so enamored with and tried to think of something Max-related to talk about. “Max has gotten himself quite the fanbase since he arrived.”

“You mean the kids on their field trips?”

Lori hid her surprise at Gabe’s knowledge. Had she done her homework on the Sanctuary, or had Toni told her all about their operation? “Oh no, Max isn’t ready to be with the children yet. I meant his TikTok fans.”

“Oh, of course. I watched some of your videos.”

Gabe smiled a little, and Lori swooned a little more. Some videos? Or all the videos? If Gabe had her own thirst trap TikTok channel, Lori would be all over it in the privacy of her bedroom. Had Gabe just been interested in where Max was staying? Or had her interest been piqued by Lori? “It’s a useful way to secure donations to help with our ongoing costs.”

“I saw the link to your website and all the stuff you need every week. It must be crazy hard to keep this place going.”

“It has its challenges, that’s for sure.” Lori stopped at the far end of the kennels. “This is Max,” she said, but there was no sign of him. “Oh.” Actually, there was his muzzle poking around the corner of his inner sanctum. And then his eyes. And the rest of his head. Lori’s heart raced, and she grabbed Gabe’s forearm without thinking, excited to see Max venturing out of his safety zone.

The flexing of strong muscle beneath her fingers drew her attention back to Gabe, and she withdrew her hand. “Sorry. I’m just so happy to see Max interested in something on the other side of that little door.”

“Definitely no need to apologize,” Gabe whispered.

Lori opened the gate slowly and ushered Gabe in, ignoring the husky tone of her response, and closed the gate behind her. Before Lori could give Gabe any instructions, Gabe had already dropped to her knees. “Hey, boy. It’s me,” she said gently. “Do you remember me?”

Oh, wonderful. An incredibly handsome butch carved out of God’s own granite, combined with a gentle heart of gold. The Almighty had sent this woman to torture her, that much was obvious. Lori pulled her gaze away from the wide expanse of Gabe’s back and glanced up the run. Max was inching his way out, his whole body shaking with the intensity of him sniffing the air.

“That’s right, boy. Come on out,” Gabe whispered. She sat down, stretched her legs out in front of her, and held her hands, palm up, on the ground. “You can do it, Max-a-million.”

Lori smiled at the same nickname she’d been using and wondered if that’s why Max had responded to her better than he had to Beth or anyone else. She crouched down herself and pulled in her breath, not wanting to do anything to spook him.

“Come on, Max-a-million.” Gabe eased back against the short brick wall that formed part of Max’s run. “Come say hi, old buddy. I want to see how your war wound’s doing.”

Gabe hadn’t asked Lori about the wound, but it had been fully healed before Max had even arrived at the Sanctuary and hadn’t been an issue. His mental war wounds were the thing she and the rest of her team had been most worried about.

Max was fully visible and in his run now, and Lori had to tamp down the urge to open the gate and join them. This wasn’t her moment; it was theirs. Two war heroes reunited. It was the kind of thing they made movies and wrote books about; who didn’t love a human/dog friendship that had survived the trauma of battle? But this was going to be a short-lived reunion, and she couldn’t help the stab of sadness at that notion, though she couldn’t say with total authority that her emotion was purely for Max and not for selfish reasons. Eye candy like Gabe didn’t come along on a regular basis, and even though Lori was in no position mentally or emotionally to delve into anything deeper, having a hunk like her visiting on a weekly basis until Max was ready for a normal civilian life wouldn’t hurt.

“Who’s my brave boy?” Gabe whispered as Max took a few more tentative steps forward, still sniffing the air like crazy. “You know it’s me, Maxi. Trust your nose.”

Lori nodded slowly. Gabe had somehow divined exactly what was happening with her canine colleague: he’d been having a crisis of confidence in his instincts. And then it was like a switch flicked in Max’s mind, and he quickened his pace until he was almost within touching distance of Gabe. He dropped to his belly and stretched out his neck until his nose touched the middle finger of Gabe’s left hand. She didn’t move at all, impressing Lori still further, and Lori held her breath for fear that even a loud puff of air might make him bolt back to his kennel area.

“Hey, buddy. Have you missed me as much as I’ve missed you?”

At Gabe’s quiet words, Max stuck out his tongue and ran it along the length of her palm, like the taste of her would confirm her identity. It must’ve done exactly that because he immediately drew himself closer to Gabe, sitting to attention and as close to her as he could without actually sitting on her. Lori had no doubt that Gabe’s thighs would be more than strong enough to take the pressure of all eighty pounds of the pooch, but she suspected that might be a level of affection and familiarity that wasn’t encouraged in the Army. Not that she really knew, of course. Almost every dog or horse that had left the Sanctuary had gone to regular civilian homes, and she’d had little contact with actual Government personnel, other than when they dropped the animals off with her.

Still, Lori decided that since Max had shown that he was happy to see Gabe, she should give them some time together. “I’m going back to the house. When you’re ready, just make sure you close the gate properly, okay? I’ll have the lemonade and some homemade cookies waiting for you.”

Gabe glanced across at her briefly and nodded, the joy of the reunion shining through in her grin. “I can stay a while? You’re not in a hurry to close up?”

“No hurry, I don’t have any plans,” she said and backed away quickly to head up the path. For Pete’s sake, why tell her that? For the few minutes it had taken Max to emerge from his kennel, Lori had just about managed not to have sexy thoughts about her visitor. Now she was back to oversharing. The fact that she had no plans on a Saturday night, even with friends, tugged at that part of her she’d been valiantly trying to hide away. She hadn’t been out with Rosie for about three months since their last night out turned into an unauthorized double date. Lori hadn’t forgiven her. Nor did she trust her not to try it again. Which was what Rosie’s visit a couple of days ago had been about: a night out with a promise not to push Lori into anyone else’s arms.

She got back to the house, pushed the door closed behind her, and rested her head on its stained-glass window. The warmth felt nice, but she pushed away from it at the memory it evoked: the last time she’d done that had been when she closed the door on the lawyer as she left with all of her belongings and half of everything else. Half their tableware, cutlery, even three of the dining table chairs. Lori had glibly suggested they flipped a coin to see who would get to keep the actual table, but the lawyer had pulled up a spreadsheet on her iPad with the costings of every single thing they had ever bought together. She’d pointed to the matching sideboard, which apparently was exactly the same price, and suggested that Lori keep that while she took the table. By that time, Lori had lost the will to fight over furniture and simply let the lawyer take whatever she wanted.

She took a deep, cleansing breath and let it out slowly, completing the box breathing her therapist had suggested she try whenever she had these kinds of thoughts. Chocolate cherry cookies. Lori headed to her kitchen to bake, something that always cleared her head better than any breathing exercise.

It was two hours later when Lori heard a knock on her front door. She made last-minute adjustments to the freshly baked assortment of cookies on her new dining table before letting Gabe in. Her well-pressed gray marl T-shirt that Lori had admired earlier—though obviously, it was what was underneath that she had actually admired—now looked like Gabe had been rolling around in the muck of Lori’s stables.

Gabe tugged at the neck of her tee, having clearly spotted Lori’s gaze sweeping over her. “I’ve got a fresh shirt in the truck if you want me to change before inviting me in.”

A ridiculous, and particularly vivid, slow-motion movie of Gabe stripping down so Lori could launder the offending shirt played in her head. “Don’t be silly. Come on in… I just won’t invite you to sit on my cream couch.” She chuckled, and Gabe laughed too. “This way.” Lori tried not to swing her hips as she walked to the open-plan dining and living area, and she resisted casting a backward glance to see if Gabe was appreciating the view. “No upholstery for you to get dirty.” She pulled out a wooden chair and gestured for Gabe to sit then poured her some lemonade.

Gabe smiled and nodded toward the cookies as she sat. “They smell really good. Did you just bake them for me?”

“No,” she said, praying her nose didn’t grow an inch or two. “I make a big batch every weekend for the field trip kids. You just got lucky with your timing, that’s all.”

Gabe’s smile twitched and her eyes narrowed slightly for the briefest of moments, perhaps embarrassed at her assumption. Or perhaps not buying Lori’s story.

Gabe took a long drink from her glass. “This might be the best lemonade I’ve ever tasted,” she said and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Did you make this yourself too?”

Lori didn’t have a quick answer this time. She was too busy watching the trajectory of the errant lemonade drop that had escaped and was about to drip from Gabe’s chin onto her chest…where it would travel down that deep V of muscle?—

“I bet the kids love drinking this as much as they love coming to see the animals. What’s your secret?” Gabe asked, when Lori didn’t answer the first question.

“Yes, I make it for the kids. And my secret is years of patience,” she said finally and pointed toward the plants lining the deck beyond the double doors. “I planted those six years ago when I first got here. I keep them in pots and bring them indoors during the winter. This is actually only the second year of them bearing fruit.” Too much information, Lori thought, but at least it wasn’t inappropriate information. She hadn’t missed Gabe’s smirk when she’d raised her gaze from Gabe’s muscular chest to meet her eyes. Since Gabe was just passing through, maybe Lori could indulge in a one-night stand. The lawyer might’ve broken her heart and her spirit and everything else she could break, but Lori still had needs she’d ignored for nearly a year now, and it had only been a few months ago that she’d even started to touch herself again. How the lawyer had managed to get in her head to stop that too was beyond Lori’s comprehension.

Gabe inclined her head. “That is patient.”

Lori widened her eyes. Had she said all that out loud? Nope, Gabe was still talking about her lemon trees. “I have to be.”

Gabe took a bite of a chocolate cherry cookie and made a sinfully delightful sigh, the kind Lori could imagine herself making as she slowly stripped Gabe’s clothes from her insanely strong-looking body. She mentally kicked herself; she was out of control. It had been a long time since someone had stirred this kind of interest, and she was overreacting—that was all. And after all the hurtful things the lawyer had said about Lori’s lack of prowess in bed, she definitely wasn’t ready even for a meaningless fling. Best then that she gently encourage Gabe to leave, watch her fine ass walk away, and then run upstairs to bed to take care of herself.

“Thank you for letting me spend so much time with Max,” Gabe said, looking serious for the first time since she’d arrived. “I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity to see him.”

“You’re very welcome.” Lori was glad that the conversation had returned to Max; perhaps she could stay focused on the safe topic and stop her mind from wandering around fantasy land with a half-naked Gabe. “It looked like he was very happy to see you.”

Gabe took a breath as if she was about to speak then paused. She rubbed her hand over her short hair and seemed to be studying the rest of the room rather than look at Lori. Her sudden change from being completely self-assured to slightly hesitant intrigued and baffled Lori, and she had no idea what could’ve initiated it. She ran her nails along the intricate pattern of the crystal glass in her hand and waited.

“When Toni told me that she knew of a place that Max could go to instead…instead of the alternative, I can’t tell you how relieved I was,” Gabe said.

Lori was glad for the break in the extended silence that was almost becoming uncomfortable, but Toni had also told her what the “alternative” had been, and the same anger stirred her again. “I’d hardly call destroying a perfectly healthy dog an alternative.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.” Gabe clenched her jaw. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have used that word. But Toni… I think I’ll love her forever for what she did for Max.”

Lori relaxed a little and smiled. “She’s a good person.”

“What does that make you for running this place? A saint?” Gabe placed her half-eaten cookie on a side plate and eased back in her chair. “Honestly, what you’re doing here is amazing.”

Neither she nor the rest of her family ran their sanctuaries for compliments and praise but hearing it occasionally didn’t hurt. “Thank you. That’s nice of you to say.”

“How long do you think it will be before Max is ready to be adopted?”

“That’s like asking how long a piece of string is, I’m afraid. He was doing well, but like I said, the Fourth of July celebrations didn’t help at all. It could be a couple of months. It could be a year or more.” She shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

Gabe did the breath and hair thing again, and it was adorable the second time around. Was there anything sexier than a stronger-than-Hercules woman showing vulnerability?

“I was wondering if you’d mind… I was hoping that you’d let me visit Max again.”

“Oh. Are you staying in Chicago for a few days?” With that prospect, Lori’s decision not to follow through on her frankly outrageous notion of a one-night stand with Gabe was even more sound.

“A few days?” Gabe frowned then grinned. “Didn’t Toni tell you? I’m starting a new business with some old Army buddies, so I’m staying in Chicago for good.”

Lori gripped the wooden seat of her chair tight. Lord help me.