Chapter One

Tyler

“Hey, Jamie. Is everyone ready for their baths?”

Jamie looked up from her computer and smiled at me over the counter. I had been volunteering at the animal shelter for the past year grooming all the dogs awaiting adoption. The way I figured it, if they looked their best then they had a better chance of getting a new home.

“Hey, Tyler. We’ve got a couple newbies back there who could really use your help.”

“Sounds good. Which kennels are they in?”

Jamie scrunched her nose. “Oh, you’ll know when you see them. They look like they’re covered in the mud, but the smell is what the real problem is.”

I laughed. “That bad, huh?”

“Worse.”

“Well, I better get to it.”

I grabbed a leash from the wall and headed to the holding area. The new dogs were kenneled right up front, and they were so muddy it was hard to tell what kind of dogs they were. I decided to take on the larger of the two first. “Hey buddy,” I said as I pulled the door to the kennel open. As soon as I bent down to hook the leash on the dog he jumped up, his front paws landing on my shoulders, and his tongue made several quick swipes across my face.

Laughing I wiped off my face, and once I had the leash hooked I stood back up as quickly as I could. “You’re a friendly guy, aren’t you?” The dog just stared at me with his tail wagging back and forth rapidly. “Let’s get you cleaned up and I’ll see if we can sneak in some play time. How’s that sound?”

***

It was a good thing I took Jamie’s advice. Getting the newbie’s clean took so much work that I knew I wouldn’t have time to get to all the dogs, so I decided to finish out the day getting to know the new pups. I was pretty sure that both of them were mixed with lab, a boy and a girl. The boy was quite a bit larger than his female counterpart but considering the similarities in their coloring I figured they were likely brother and sister.

Putting them both on a leash I headed up front with them to let Jamie know I was taking them to the outside play area to get some exercise.

“They’re both light brown with black patches over their faces. They dug under the fence and took off. I’ve been trying to find them for a week now.”

I looked down at my new fur-buddies and knew that the man I heard talking to Jamie was looking for them. “Sounds like your dad is looking for you two.”

I walked around the corner to the front lobby and stopped in my tracks. The man standing at the counter was a wet dream. He had short-messy black hair, and even in his t-shirt and jeans it was obvious that every inch of his body was made up of hard-muscle. The dogs at my side started barking and pulling toward him, and when he turned my way I thought I’d get lost in his ocean-blue eyes. Then he smiled, and holy shit, I don’t know how I kept myself upright. My knees went weak and my heart did a damn summersault inside my chest. Cole Wilson had been my number one crush since high school, but it had been years since I saw him last. He had joined the military right out of high school and was shipped away. He’d always been hot, but damn, the military had turned him into pure sex.

Cole walked toward me and bent down about a foot from me. Both dogs jumped on him, licking his face all over with their tails wagging at warp speed. “I’m so glad I found you guys,” Cole said as he rubbed their heads.  “Don’t scare me like that again.”

After a moment Cole stood up and held out his hand toward me. When I put my hand in his, it seemed to swallow mine whole as he shook it. His hand was warm, and it felt so good holding my own. “Thank you so much,” he said. I just raised my eyebrow in return, not sure what he was thanking me for; his presence had my brain short circuiting. “Thanks for taking care of Ozzie and Bella.” Cole pulled his hand from mine and motioned to the dogs sitting at our feet. Right. He is here for his dogs.

Finally snapping out of my hormone driven fog I smiled back at him and held up the hand to pass him the dog leashes. “It was my pleasure. Really, all I did was give the two of them a much-needed bath. We were just on our way outside to play so they could get some exercise, but I’m guessing you would love to get them home.”

Cole took the leashes and smiled at me before narrowing his eyes, examining my face like something foreign had suddenly appeared there. I brought my hand up to my face half expecting to find something different there. “Something on my face?”

Cole shook his head and laughed. “No, man. I just realized I know you. It’s Tyler Williams, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s good to see I’m not the only one still around here. I feel like so much changed while I was gone. I hardly know anyone other than my parents here anymore.”

I nodded. He was right. I had a couple friends who still lived here, but most of the people we went to school with had fled our small town as soon as high school was over. “Yeah, I guess most of our classmates weren’t interested in quiet, small town living after school was over.”

“If they’d seen the shit I have they’d come back.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I’d heard horror stories about the things people in the military witnessed during deployments. I could imagine some peace and quiet would be just what the doctor ordered after the things I had heard.

Cole ran his free hand up and down the back of his neck and forced a small smile. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to be so blunt.”

“No, don’t worry about it.”

“Maybe we could grab a drink later?” Cole suggested. I’m pretty sure my shock was obvious when my eyes went wide. “If you don’t have plans, of course.”

“No,” I said quickly.

Cole’s smile fell. “Oh, well, that’s okay.”

Cole turned to walk away, and I quickly grabbed his arm and moved in front of him. “No, I mean. I was saying I don’t have plans. I’d love to hang out.”

“Great.” Cole smiled. “I need to get these two home and make sure I fix their escape route in the back yard. Want to meet up at Bubba’s pub around seven tonight?”

The smile that stretched across my face was automatic. “Yeah, that works for me.”

“All right. See you then.”

I watched Cole walk out the door, staring after him for several seconds after the door closed behind him until I heard Jamie whistling behind me. When I turned to look at her she wiggled her eyebrows at me with a big grin on her face and I rolled my eyes before I walked away to bathe a couple more dogs to pass the time. Seven o’clock couldn’t get here fast enough.