Chapter Eleven #2
Brady launched himself forward, a black-and-tan blur streaking toward the barn. Josh stayed put, arms crossing over his chest, a small, satisfied smile touching his lips as the dog went to work.
A couple of times Brady stopped, his head lifted momentarily to the air before returning his nose to the ground. Each time she wondered what the animal was up to, and each time, he moved further down the field.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she stood and walked to where Josh remained by the corral.
“Hey there.” He smiled at her. Why was it the simple timbre of his voice always made her cheeks flush with heat? It didn’t matter if he was saying something pleasant or reading a technical manual, the man’s voice was like deep, dark, warm honey and she couldn’t get enough of it.
With Kade following close behind him, Brady turned toward the east until he and his handler were out of sight.
“Cassie must have gone pretty far this time?” She didn’t dare look at Josh for fear that her face would color like a roasted sugar beet.
“Maybe.”
His tone was so non-committal and yet all knowing that she turned to read his face. At that moment, a single sharp bark came from Brady along with an eruption of cheers and praise.
“Come on.” Josh put his hand on the small of her back and urged her forward.
Just what she needed, hot cheeks, a warm back, and every chance of self-combusting.
Only halfway to where Brady and Kade had disappeared from view, Kade, Cassie, and Benny came into the clearing.
“He found Benny.”
“Yep.” Josh slowed his steps, letting the others catch up to them.
“I knew he was a good work dog.” Removing his hat, Benny wiped his forehead with the red bandana that Brady had sniffed to find him. “But I had no idea he was this good. I was surrounded by enough fertilizer and manure to throw off the best bloodhound.”
His chest puffed and his smile wide, Kade patted the dog’s head. “Brady’s better than a blood hound.” At that, Kade flipped his wrist and checked his watch. “Playtime is over. I’ve got to hit the road if I want to be back on base before someone reports me AWOL.”
Josh carefully moved to one side, falling into step beside Kade and the others. “Give the guys my best.”
“I will.” Kade looped his arm around his wife again while Brady ran ahead to the house and Benny veered off to return to his work in the barn.
At the porch, Alice set the green beans to one side and pushed to her feet. “Will you be back soon?”
Pulling away from his wife, Kade wrapped his arms around his mom. “As soon as the brass gives me a little time off.”
Nodding her head into his shoulder, Alice’s smile was a little stiff, but she bobbed her chin once again and stepped back. “Well,” she sighed, “at least I know you won’t get blown up by insurgents in some sandy country on the other side of the world.”
“It won’t be long.” Kade reassured his mother.
The way Josh tensed beside her, she got the impression his mind had just gone back to a convoy in Texas that had blown up sending several good men to the hospital. No point in anyone mentioning that to Alice.
A few more hugs, a long kiss for his wife that had everyone developing a sudden interest in the ceiling, and Kade swung his duffel over his shoulder and waved once more from halfway to his rental vehicle.
Josh nudged her with his arm and tipped his head toward the house.
Nodding, she followed him inside allowing Alice and Cassie a little privacy as the man they both loved rode off the property.
“I know he’s supposed to be a working dog, but to me it looked like he was just having fun.”
“That’s because he was. Like people, if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
“My mom always said that. I love my job, but it still feels like work.”
“But you like it?”
“Most of the time.”
“You’re on furlough from the shutdown?”
“That’s right. I’m under contract to the DOD. Lots of perks. I get a bazillion weeks of vacation and every other Friday off. When necessary I can work from home, so it has a lot of positives.”
“Any word on when you’ll be called back?”
She shrugged. “Who knows. The news thought it would be over as soon as I got here and yet…”
“Here we still are.” He made a sound not quite a scoff, not quite a chuckle. “Who’d have thunk. Two people who both work in one way or another for Uncle Sam, and for one reason or other are forced to take time off from a job we like.”
Since being here, meeting him, she had to admit, she wasn’t so sure she liked her job near as much as she’d thought. Odds were, he was probably considering his own future. “Are you looking forward to going back?”
He heaved a slow heavy sigh. “Right now, I’m not very sure of anything. I feel like I’m in a dream and any day now I’ll be forced back into the real world.”
“They’re pretty lucky.”
Josh’s head tipped slightly, his brows buckled in confusion.
“The Sweets. All of them. There doesn’t seem to be a dysfunctional bone in anyone’s body and the whole darn town seems like it fell out of a Norman Rockwell painting.”
Now he chuckled in earnest. “I know what you mean.” A soft gentle smile came to rest on his lips.
That blasted smile had her feeling warm all over and wishing they could walk the rest of the way arm in arm like Kade and Cassie.
Almost shaking her head at her own thoughts, she silently scolded herself.
This man would eventually recover and return to the military that would deploy him who knew where—including, as Alice had put it, to some sandy country across the world—that was his reality.
All the while she’d be back in Houston. Nothing good could come from getting close and cozy with this man.
Except she didn’t like that one bit. Not one little bit.
Suddenly, she very much wanted to get closer, if not cozy, and that, like it or not, was not her best idea ever. Or was it?