14. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Christian
N oah’s arms banded around me held me in place even as Stormy sat before me, eyeing me.
“Puppies.” I gasped the word, even as I scooted out of Noah’s hold and scrambled off the bed.
The smell hit me right away.
One puppy had actually peed on the puppy pad while the other had missed almost entirely.
Despite our proximity to precisely no neighbors, for propriety’s sake, I yanked on my boxer briefs before scooping up the wriggling bodies and heading down the stairs.
Stormy was hard on my heels, and I had everyone outside and searching the grass within just a couple of moments.
The back door opened and, as I turned, Noah tossed a bathrobe at me .
I caught it easily and shrugged it on. The air nipped this morning, and my nipples turned to nubs. Nipples Noah had definitely enjoyed nibbling on last night.
Which brought a smile to my face.
“Could you make some coffee? I need help waking up.” I had a regular shift today, and after coming home a little late last night, and the blow job, my mind was still a little fuzzy.
“Sure, I can put on a pot.” He arched his eyebrow. “Would you like to learn how to give a hand job in the shower?”
I was almost late for work.
In the end, however, I was at work on time, and I greeted Dillion with a huge smile.
He eyed me as if not quite certain what to make of me.
I didn’t blame him—I came to work every day with pep in my step, worked my ass off, then went home just as happy. From what I could see, his life was more interesting than he let on. Since that was none of my business, I moved right along.
My week with Noah went much better than I ever could’ve imagined. More blow jobs, more hand jobs, more sleeping in the same bed.
Except, clearly, he wasn’t willing to admit anything more was going on between the two of us.
I’d always figured I would be happy being with Noah in a friends with benefits relationship.
But I wasn’t. I wanted more. I wanted way more.
I was getting greedy, because as much as I was enjoying the benefits part of our relationship, I worried the friendship part might start to slip.
Every day Noah secured new clients, trained our puppies—although Stormy didn’t need much work—and every night we came together.
Late Sunday morning, as the lab puppy owners all arrived, I fretted .
Noah was standing with Junior—a clearly anxious Bruiser at their feet—when Soren approached. Tibby was actually walking beside him on a loose leash. I grinned. “Well done.”
A bit of color rose in his cheeks. “Tibby’s amazing. We do the training in small increments—but do several a day. She’s really taken to it.” He smirked. “T-R-E-A-T-S definitely help.”
“Yes, they’re great motivators for the first few rounds of training. Noah’s advanced classes work on praise and encouragement rather than food.”
Soren nodded. “Don’t tell Tibby—she’ll be quite upset.”
“Generally, the dogs tend to be nine or ten months old before they’re ready to start that.”
“Will Stormy do that training?” He glanced over at my dog who sat quietly in the heel position beside me.
“Formally? I’m not certain. Noah’s already doing most of those things with her all the time.
I don’t think she realizes she’s being trained.
” I tilted my head. “I’ve wondered if dogs feel appreciation.
Generally it can take a rehomed dog about three months to feel truly comfortable.
Trusting that their lives won’t be upended again.
We’re Stormy’s third home in her short life—at least that we know of. But she seems to be settling.”
“You and Noah appear to be a calming presence in her life.” He eyed me speculatively. “And how are things going otherwise?”
Heat crept up my neck, and I knew, from long experience, that a blush was overtaking my cheeks. Damn my pale-skinned ancestors.
“Oh, that’s interesting.” Soren grinned.
“Malcolm and I figured you two should be together—whether you’re both smart enough to realize it is another story.
Well, let me rephrase. You seem to have figured it out.
Whether Noah gets his head out of his ass to figure out what he’ll lose if he doesn’t make a move, is an entirely different situation. ”
“He won’t lose me.” Said quietly and with some ferocity.
“I hope not. I mean, don’t pine after the guy forever, by any means. You deserve happiness as well.”
“I am happy.”
He cocked his head. “Yeah. You have, I don’t know, a glow about you.”
“Oh look, Richard, his daughter Brooke, and their dogs Smudge and Pepsi have arrived. I should go greet them.” I lit out of there like my ass was on fire, even as Soren’s chuckle propelled me forward.
Glow? Does that mean he knows what Noah, and I have been up to? Oh God, is it written all over my face? “Hi, Richard. Brooke. How are things going?”
Brooke glared. She had teenager down to a science, even though she was only twelve. Funny how both Noah and I were only children, yet I could recognize attitude so well. Eighth grade felt like a million years ago.
“We’re good.” Richard met my gaze. “Happy to be here so we can learn more. Smudge is doing great, but Pepsi needs some work.”
And since Pepsi was Brooke’s responsibility, I wasn’t surprised to hear the dog lagged behind her sister.
“Noah’s going to review everything from last week first off, and he’ll make certain Pepsi’s up to speed.” Even as I said the words, I noted the pooch was trying to gnaw on her leash. Oh dear, lots of work there.
As more people arrived, Noah stepped into the center of the training ring and had everyone make a circle around him. Sable and River were in their crates in the house. We’d bring them out and introduce them to everyone once we hit playtime .
“Okay, glad to see everyone came back.” Noah grinned as he surveyed the group. “Anyone want to go first to show me what you’ve been practicing?”
Janelle’s hand shot in the air.
Noah beckoned her to come toward him.
She advanced with Roxy walking loose on leash and glancing at Janelle for her cues.
The puppy did everything on command perfectly and only received a treat at the very end.
She’s going to make a great service dog. I didn’t know nearly as much about animals as Noah did, but I’d learned enough about temperaments.
We had a woman who worked in the office at the factory who had epilepsy.
Her service dog would alert her if a possible seizure was near.
We had a safe space for her to lie down and one of us would keep her company.
As the person with the most first aid training, that position fell often to me.
I wonder how Ronni’s doing. Are the others taking care of her?
She’d caused a momentary hesitation in my decision to leave—but I couldn’t stay just for her.
I had hopes Marian, our new accounting clerk, would step into the role of…
caregiver…? I’d certainly been more than just a junior executive.
I’d taken the care of my employees seriously.
Way more than my father ever had, that was for certain.
Even as I had that train of thought, Frankie, Penny, Haggis, and Bear all took their turns.
Bruiser managed—but barely.
Sleepy had to be roused, but she valiantly tried.
Smudge aced and Pepsi struggled because Brooke’s lack of focus was clear .
Noah was patient, though, in guiding her through some corrections and making suggestions.
Finally, Brooke seemed to be more interested as Noah effused about all the great things that would happen once Pepsi was trained up.
Class continued in some semblance of order as Noah focused on sitting and walking. Only a couple of the dogs managed a loose leash, but that was a goal for the end of class, and we still had some time to get the dogs doing as they were told.
Plus, what toddler ever did as they were told? None as far as I’d ever seen.
By the time the puppies were released into the puppy pile, even Sleepy managed to rouse herself to join the fray.
Noah brought River and Sable out and gently introduced them to the puppies who showed interest. Even though ours were several weeks older, they were much smaller than the labs. I worried they might get trampled, but Noah had everything in hand—as he always did.
By the time everyone left—after Soren had given me that look—I was exhausted and ecstatic at the same time.
Noah’d been amazing and was clearly in his element.
Moving out here was proving to be a really good idea.
Although Noah deserved the credit for the idea, I took some pleasure from knowing I’d pushed him into doing it.
He never would’ve come if I hadn’t been willing to pull up stakes and move across the country with him.
Noah closed the gate after Daphne and Penny drove away. He sighed.
“You’re doing such an awesome job.” I grinned broadly. “Even Brooke is coming around, and I can see Pepsi’s got potential.”
“If Brooke works with her. Big if .”
“You can always call midweek and say you’re doing a check in.”
“I’d have to do that with everyone. ”
I pursed my lips in consideration. “Well, I suppose. Although maybe not—just do it with the clients who are struggling. You’re just making certain the pooches are getting everything they need.”
“If I can make five calls, then I can make nine.”
I did the math in my head.
“I only need to call Richard and Brooke’s house once.”
“Right.” I snapped my fingers.
Stormy bounced over and put herself in the heel position.
“That, my friend, deserves a treat.” Noah pointed, then promptly chased after River who was clearly making a break for it. He had nowhere to go, but that obviously wasn’t going to stop him as he ran as fast as he could on his tiny little legs.
Sable, not to be outdone, chased after Noah.
Stormy brushed her nose against my hand.
“Right. Treat.” I dug into my pocket.
She took the treat gratefully, then joined the fray.
Fifteen minutes later, Noah and I sat on the back porch with three exhausted puppies at our feet. He met my gaze. “Miss Esmeralda at three?”
“Yep.” I’d checked with the head nurse this morning, and our landlady was having a good day. We would finally meet the woman. I was excited. She just seemed like such a spitfire. Living here and doing her own thing for more than eighty years.
Noah sort of moved his head in some weird motion I couldn’t understand. Was he trying to tell me something? I couldn’t be certain.
“We’re not dating.”
“Right.” That pierced my heart, but I’d recover.
“I’m not really interested in you romantically, right?”
“Right.” God, where’s he going with this?
“But do you wanna, like, have dinner with me over in Hartsville at that fancy restaurant?”
Don’t shout for joy. It’s just dinner. “Uh, sure.” Right. Stay calm. Everything will work out .
I wasn’t certain when my inner voice had become so optimistic—but I’d roll with it. For now.