Chapter 8

The job that lay before them was just so massive. At the very least, they were going to need help from a few trusted volunteers. Kelsey suspected she’d have a hard time convincing Kurt to let some tasks fall to other people, but she couldn’t see how else the rehab was going to work. He’d requested that for a few days, he be the only one taking the dogs in and out of the kennels and furnishing their meals, top areas where aggression could arise.

However, that left him with an enormous job.

He was fine passing dogs off to her once he’d walked around with them and made sure they were calm and attentive. Kelsey then did a “middle” shift with each dog, taking them for walks around the backyard while he readied their breakfast. After she passed the dogs off again, he had them sit at attention, then fed each one a little by hand before placing the bowl in front of them. From start to finish with all the dogs, the whole process ended up taking the better part of four hours.

During it, Kurt was quite different from the laid-back guy he’d been during their meal yesterday. He didn’t say a word that wasn’t related to the training, and she suspected there were times he forgot she was there. One thing for sure, she’d never met anyone with his ability to communicate with and train dogs. As he worked, she could almost see him shedding layers of his world until it was only him and the dog before him.

He was commanding and alert without being harsh or overpowering. During her years working at the shelter, she’d witnessed harsh and overpowering from a few people who’d come in claiming to have a way with dogs but who just intimidated them until the dogs were uncomfortable and submissive. In no way was this Kurt. His voice was never raised, and his movements were slow, fluid, and a bit exaggerated. Easy for the dogs to observe.

By the time the morning was over, Kelsey was willing to bet all thirty-seven dogs in their care had accepted him as an alpha and master. All except one, that was. Judging by the dog’s behavior both in the kennel and out, Kelsey was harboring doubts the cranky giant of a dog could be won over by anyone. He snarled when other dogs passed within six feet of his kennel, had all but refused to reenter it after a late-evening bathroom break last night, and pulled away from any sort of human touch or affection.

It was something, watching Kurt work. And a good experience for her too. That clingy feeling she’d carried around the last two days—reminiscent of a few embarrassing high school crushes she’d had—fell away like crumbs off a cookie. In its place, true admiration formed.

And after a dozen passes of the leash, she even stopped feeling the hiccup in her stomach every time their hands brushed. But that also might’ve had something to do with the fact that each leash pass was exponentially easier than the first when he’d placed both hands tightly atop hers to show her the best way to hold the extra leash for maximum control. During those few seconds, she’d grown seriously light-headed. His hands were perfect. They were well muscled, and the skin of his palms was tough without being overly calloused—and just maybe a part of her would’ve been okay with having him hold on forever.

That had happened while she was taking over care of the Akita so Kurt could get the dog’s breakfast ready. The observant dog had turned around to look at Kelsey as if it had picked up on her raging hormones. Thankfully, Kelsey had pulled it together and not let her mind trail deeper into the land of hand-touching fantasies.

After that, perhaps due to being shamed by a dog, she held the leash exactly right and didn’t need any more reminders. She forced her focus to be on all the amazing things she was likely to learn from Kurt over the next few months.

After the next-to-last dog was back in her kennel, Kurt looked directly at Kelsey for the first time in over an hour. “Let’s save the cranky giant till your friend Patrick arrives. You saw that it was all I could do to get him back into his kennel last night. And I’ve got the sense that dog has a stubborn streak bigger than mine. We might need a third set of hands around him for a while. I suspect he’ll be testing us the next couple of days.”

“Something tells me you’re right. Patrick should be here in another hour or two.”

“So, uh, well done this morning. You’re easy to work with. That doesn’t happen often. I know it’s a big job, but before long we’ll have enough of a system in place to bring in those volunteers you mentioned. I know when we do, it’ll give the dogs more time out of their kennels, but let’s give it a few more days. I’d like to get a good grasp on the rest of their personalities.”

She nodded. “That makes sense.”

“So how are you at building fences?”

Kelsey felt her eyebrows arch. “I can’t say I’ve ever tried.”

“I think our first order of business when the dogs aren’t demanding our attention is to get a few runs set up out back. If any of those volunteers are itching to help, we could use a hand there.”

Kelsey pulled out her phone. “We have an email hotline set up for such a thing. I suspect a few people will show up if I put out a call for help. What time should I tell them to come?”

Kurt glanced at his watch. “It’s a little after eleven. How about one o’clock? I need to run by a hardware store first, and since neither of our cars will hold all that we need, I was going to rent an hourly truck at the nearest Home Depot. If you’d give me a lift there, I’d appreciate it.”

Kelsey’s mind flashed to the less than perfectly clean interior of her Corolla. She liked to think there was a link between it and her busy life. Her dedication to bringing a shelter dog home each night meant there were always stray hairs floating around. To protect the backseat from resulting wear, she’d covered it with a sturdy quilt. Its bright, colorful pattern didn’t exactly add serenity to her car. On top of that, with her packed schedule, she was often grabbing meals on the run. Try as she might, crumbs got into hard-to-clean places.

At least she carried trash and recycling out after each trip. There was that.

Yesterday, she’d seen that while Kurt’s restored Mustang might be old, it was meticulously clean inside and out. Which was probably what you’d expect from someone who’d just gotten out of the marines.

“Sure. I can meet you out front whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m ready.”

So much for a fast cleaning spree. He bolted the house doors after she grabbed her purse. If he didn’t need her at the Home Depot, she was going to swing by the grocery store for some grab-and-go snacks. For a while at least, sitting down for a meal would be a rarely afforded luxury. And they’d need to have something to offer the volunteers.

Her car was unlocked, so Kurt let himself in. He gave the Chihuahua bobblehead on her dashboard a soft flick and set it to bobbing. Kelsey started the ignition, a touch apprehensive about driving under his watch. “So how was your night? I can’t believe you slept on one of those beds.”

“Would you believe me if I told you it was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a while?”

“Now that you say it, you do have an air about you that says you wouldn’t let a drafty, eerie old house disturb your rest.”

“That cat tried to take over the pillow once. That was the only thing to wake me up.”

Kelsey’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “Mr. Longtail slept with you?”

“I suspect he was being more territorial than affectionate. So, what is it about the house that you think is eerie?”

“Let me see. How long do you have?” This made him laugh, a gentle, rolling sound that made Kelsey’s heart flutter. She gripped her hands on the steering wheel again and forced her focus on the road and away from the well-muscled thighs shaping his jeans. He hadn’t shaved this morning and had a touch of five-o’clock shadow complementing his olive skin. “It’s creepy, for one thing.”

“You said that, but I’m looking for specifics.”

Specifics. She went with the first few that came to mind as she drove out of the residential area and merged onto Arsenal Street. The house was at the end of an unusually quiet neighborhood, and it was easy to forget how close it was to bustling South City. “It’s so abandoned and—I don’t know—isolated. Though I’ll admit that with all the life packed in it right now, it seems warmer and more welcoming than it did before. And there are the creaks that sound like moans. The house sounds like it’s protesting just about every step you take. And creepiest of all, in the back of the basement where it becomes an unfinished cellar, the temperature drops a solid ten degrees in a matter of a foot or two. One night when I was down there looking for Mr. Longtail, that whole area seemed foggy. I made sure it was still daylight whenever I went into the house for a few weeks afterward.”

He gave her Chihuahua bobblehead another soft flick, this time sideways as she headed west toward Kingshighway Boulevard, which was a few blocks from the store.

“Unnerving but definitely cool.” He looked her way and gave her a crooked smile. His eyes were warm and rich like chocolate syrup.

Kelsey had never thought of herself as an easy blusher, but her cheeks superheated. She focused on driving and not trying to notice him in her peripheral vision. Driving right past the entrance to the hardware store a few minutes later didn’t help either. She turned around in a gas station and backtracked. “So how good is that sense of direction of yours? With no cell, you’ve got no access to Google Maps. Can you get back to the house okay?”

“I can, but I appreciate the concern.”

Kelsey stopped in front of the main doors and slipped her car into Park. She bit her lip, not sure what to make of the way Kurt’s gaze traveled over her before he got out. Or the way he paused the longest over her lips before looking into her eyes. This made her mouth turn dry. She swallowed, and the sound seemed loud and awkward in the quiet car.

“I’m running by the store for snacks. Can I pick anything special up for you?” she asked.

“You chose well on the pizza. I’m sure whatever you get will be fine.” Kurt pulled out his wallet, but she waved him off. “The pizza was on you. It’s my turn.”

“Fair enough. I’ll see you back at the house in an hour or so.”

“Sounds good.” She rolled down her window as she drove away, hoping to cool her burning skin. This whole rehab thing would be so much easier if she didn’t find Kurt so attractive. Thankfully, he’d been so distracted by her bobblehead that he’d hardly seemed to notice her missed entrance to the store.

The most convenient grocery store was a mile from the house, so she headed that way. The mental focus needed to zoom through the aisles would get her mind off the way she’d salivated just a bit at the sight of his sculpted hand toying with her bobblehead. Working with him was one thing. The dogs demanded most of Kurt’s and her attention. But she needed to get ahold of herself when it came to things like this. She wouldn’t deny she was crushing on him. But that was all it was going to be, an I’m-not-telling-a-single-soul crush.

He was too different from her for anything real to happen between them. He was an ex-marine, and before he’d agreed to the job, she’d overheard him make it clear to Rob that he had no intention of staying in Missouri. But this was her home. She loved it. Loved being close to her family and watching her sweet nieces grow up. Loved the shelter and the pulse of this just-big-enough city.

And besides, she wasn’t ready to put herself out there by falling for another guy only to be rejected. Once had been traumatic enough. It happened during her sophomore year of college and had turned into one of the worst experiences of her life. Steve had been her chem partner, and they were both pre-vet. They met freshman year and had become great friends. They hung out all the time and were dedicated study partners. One night right before December finals, she threw caution to the wind and went for it.

Kelsey had thought taking it to the next level with Steve was the natural next step. She was even having secret thoughts about marrying him and running a vet practice together. They were great together. They had so much in common—from favorite movies to a love of animals to a weakness for Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, steak fries, and mochas with extra whipped cream.

They were sitting on the same side of a booth in a popular coffee shop, cramming for their biology final, when it happened. He’d snuck in a bottle of Baileys for their coffees, and she was just tipsy enough to let go of her inhibition. He’d turned to whisper something in her ear about the kids at the booth in front of them, and she’d been so close to his lips. She’d kissed him and even leaned in more when he started to pull away before the kiss got deeper.

While the kiss was her lead, taking it the rest of the way was his. She’d dated a guy in high school for over a month, and they’d done a lot. A lot lot. But not everything. So, it surprised her how easily she accepted Steve’s offer to go to his car and slide into the backseat. He was putting on a condom when she told him she loved him. He stopped long enough to look at her and say her name, but the three words she thought for sure would follow never came. Instead, he kissed her full on the mouth, and in the swoop of minutes, her virginity was a thing of the past.

Maybe it had been true love on her part; maybe it was a crush. Either way, her feelings hadn’t been reciprocated. After the bio final the next day, he broke her heart. He didn’t only break it; he crushed it. He’d been fidgety and nervous and had a big, sheepish smile she’d only seen once or twice when he really felt stuck in a corner. “I’m sorry, Kels,” he said. “I just didn’t feel it.”

With those few words, she lost her best friend and secret dreams at the same time. Somehow, she made it through the rest of her finals, bombing a few and doing fairly well on the rest, even as she and Steve avoided each other like the plague. She went home for Christmas with nothing more than a giant basket of dirty clothes, assuming that however bleak things were, she’d be back the second week of January.

It was over break that the crippling monster that was depression hit. It was the darkest, the ugliest, the worst time of her life. She hardly ever let herself think of those days. Somehow, in a world of gray nothingness, she found the shelter, around the same time she started medicine. And after the longest winter of her life, the sun came out again.

Kelsey had just turned twenty when Wes offered her a full-time job. In the months that followed, she turned away from everything that was gray and sad. She made the connection between the seven colors of the rainbow and the days of the week, and bought a different-colored adoption-focused T-shirt to wear each day, coordinating the day of the week with its corresponding rainbow color. She focused on the shelter and her family and, eventually, evening classes at a nearby university.

She had her life together again. Even though things were feeling a bit repetitious and empty before this rehab started, she wouldn’t risk experiencing hurt like that again.

Remembering the few glimpses she’d had of Kurt’s perfectly sculpted core underneath his T-shirts as he worked—and the resulting churning feeling in her midsection, the one that reminded her of the ocean before a storm—she knew it wouldn’t be hard to fall for him. Not only was he a pleasure to look at, but he was so natural and calm with the dogs.

Maybe she’d been wanting to kick life up a notch, but crushing on Kurt wasn’t the answer. She was here to help dogs that deserved the best second chance they could get. That was enough. For seven years, her work at the shelter had been enough. It would be enough at the Sabrina Raven estate too.

* * *

For stocking up, Kelsey focused on the peripheries of the crowded store, choosing a variety of easy-to-eat fruits, precut veggies, hummus, and several packages of natural granola bars. She couldn’t pass up a box of freshly baked cookies from the bakery but promised herself she’d leave them to Kurt and the volunteers. Mostly. As she was inventorying her cart, she remembered string cheese and bottled water and circled back, hoping they’d now be set.

In addition to them having the groceries, Megan had texted earlier that she was bringing a hot meal over tonight. Most likely Megan’s meal would be enough to feed a small army, so they wouldn’t need to worry about dinner for a few days, even if several volunteers showed up.

Megan loved to cook, and whatever she was making was sure to be fabulous, though Kelsey had stopped asking for her recipes after several failed attempts to replicate her incredible cooking.

Kelsey was steering her cart next into line at the register when she remembered paper plates. Normally she was a wash-and-reuse kind of girl, but she hadn’t inventoried the stash of dishes that came with the house. She left the cart to hold her spot in line and jogged to the paper goods aisle, grabbing the first package of recycled paper plates she could find.

She made good time in the store and wasn’t surprised to make it back to the Raven estate before Kurt. The grocery store was much easier to navigate than Home Depot. And he was renting a truck.

She was, however, surprised to find two cars parked on the side of the street in front of the house and five people milling around them. The hair on the back of her neck prickled knowingly as she took them in. Protesters.

Kurt had mentioned they might show up, but Kelsey had doubted him. Who’d want to protest on this quiet, forgotten street? Apparently, they would. She recognized one woman from the warehouse. Kelsey had read the sign now hanging loosely at the woman’s side the morning she chose the dogs: ONCE A KILLER, ALWAYS A KILLER.

A rarely felt anger bubbled up. The warehouse had been unfamiliar and foreign. But this was shelter property. How dare they! She pulled past them and into the circular driveway. Rather than grabbing the groceries, she squared her shoulders and crossed the front yard.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

There were four women and one guy. Self-righteous wasn’t a word Kelsey liked to label anyone with, but it certainly fit the bill this time. She could feel the indignation rolling off them. Several lips curled as she approached. The woman from the warehouse stepped forward, as if indicating she was the ringleader.

“We saw your interview. I doubt there’s anything you’ll be willing to help us with, so we’ll be helping ourselves. We’re getting a court injunction to shut this down before someone gets hurt.”

Shock and anger rocketed through Kelsey. The possibility that someone might try such a thing had been discussed among the group at the shelter, but it had seemed like a worst-case scenario. No one would wish them that much ill will. But clearly someone did. Five someones. And they were standing right in front of her.

With thirty-seven dogs, the shelter might be over regulation as to how many animals could reside there permanently, but the rehab was temporary. And thanks to a volunteer with great connections on the city council, they’d been given a waiver.

“I suspect you won’t have much luck with that,” Kelsey responded. “We have permits. And we’re keeping the dogs confined to the property while they’re being retrained.”

Somehow, the woman’s face was both pasty and pink at the same time. “Oh, it’ll happen. We have God on our side.”

Kelsey’s anger flared like a lit match. “Oh really? Because I’m pretty sure God loves all creatures.”

“That house is full of killers,” the man interjected. “God holds no love for killers.” He had a creepy look about him that made Kelsey feel squeamish. He was wearing a tight sweatshirt with an iron-on picture of two dogs trapped in a savage embrace, teeth bared in ferocious snarls. The caption underneath read Not God’s creations.

Kelsey’s blood pressure was spiking. No good would come from talking to these people. And inside the house, there was important work to be done. She needed to focus her energy and attention on something that could make a difference. But the boiling-over-with-anger part of her couldn’t hold back. “I’m curious. Do you eat beef? Or wear leather? Or do you protest the existence of cows too?”

All five protesters looked at her like she was crazy.

“I’m just saying, when you’re done making a mess here, maybe you should protest outside a cattle farm. I’m sure you know the stats. Cows kill about as many people each year as dogs. Only there are a zillion more dog-and-people interactions than there are cow-and-people interactions, so statistically speaking, cows are far more dangerous to people than dogs. Even dogs like these that have been placed in fighting rings.”

The leader shook her head, her lip curling as if Kelsey were diseased. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I don’t?” Kelsey leaned forward, setting her hands on her hips. “Google it. And if you would kindly step off the grass, I won’t have to call the police. It’s a free country, and this is a public street. You’re welcome to stand there and protest to all the people not coming down this deserted street all day long. But step on our property, and I’ll have you arrested. It’s that simple.”

She turned and headed at a controlled walk toward the car. They tossed insults the whole way, calling her and the dogs a variety of nasty names. She kept her anger in check and took her time getting her bags out of the trunk, even pausing to check her phone.

Sticks and stones, Kelsey thought, heading inside and taking a deep, calming breath once the door was closed. If anything, their taunts had made her more determined to make a fantastic success out of this venture.