Sandy
Breakfast finished, she washed the dishes in the sink, letting the sudsy water clean her hands at the same time.
The kitchen faced east, and she could see the first real rays of sunshine creeping over the outline of Barton City in the distance. Most of the town was invisible, but the downtown skyscrapers stood out in stark contrast to the fields of crops nearby. It was about time to get to work, and Palin was nowhere to be seen.
Figures. I don’t know why I believed him in the first place.
“Come on, Champ.”
He whined for her. Turning, she realized he was already at the front door. Noticing that he had Sandy’s attention, the canine pawed at the door, careful not to scrape his nails against it.
“Drank a bit too much last night?” she teased, drying her hands and letting the water flow down the drain. “I’ll be there in a moment.”
Champ just whined some more.
“All right, all right. Let’s go,” she said, laughing as her dog perked up, tail thumping from side to side excitedly. “We’ll go, then you can go.” She cackled hysterically at the pun.
Champ cocked his head.
“Oh come on, that was funny,” she muttered, shaking her head at her best—and only—friend. Grabbing her gear, she opened the door and promptly screamed and slammed it shut.
There was a body on her front porch. Just lying there. It was huge. Massive. It was probably swollen all grotesque-like. How long had it been there? Who put it there? Who was it? Why was there a DEAD PERSON on her porch?
Shaking, she flicked the lock closed. Police. She had to phone the police. The sheriff would come out. They would take care of this. It was fine. Everything was fine.
She looked around frantically. “Champ? Champ, where are you?”
There was a loud wuff, muffled only by the door. Sandy turned slowly. Oh no. Champ was outside. With the body. What if he’d disturbed it? Would she be in trouble? Would they have to put her dog down?
“Sandy?” The voice came through the door.
She screamed again.
“Sandy are you okay? What’s going on? It’s Palin.”
Palin? What was Palin doing out there?
“Stay away from the body!” she shouted. “I didn’t do it. Don’t touch it.”
There was a long pause. “Uh, what body?” Even through the door his confusion registered with her.
“The one on the front porch!” Why the hell was he so calm? Was he used to this sort of thing?
Another thought struck her. What if Palin had killed them? And was after her! Sandy slid to the floor, moaning softly. It was happening again. She couldn’t handle it. Not another time. Her eyes darted to the rack at the side of the door. Her shotgun was there. All she needed to do was get to it.
Champ started barking happily outside. Weren’t dogs supposed to be good at sensing death or something? She couldn’t remember in her current panic as she slithered across the floor, hoping that the old wooden floorboards wouldn’t give away where she was headed, even as they creaked slightly underfoot.
She’d never realized just how loud they could be when she wanted to move in silence.
Her fingers finally closed over the cold steel of the barrel and she lifted it out, holding it tightly to her, muzzle pointed at the roof.
“Sandy what’s going on in there? Are you okay?”
“I didn’t kill him.”
“Kill who?!” Palin shouted. “There’s nobody dead out here.”
“There was a body on the porch.”
Palin didn’t reply.
“Palin?”
“Sorry,” he replied, very clearly trying not to laugh. “Sandy, look. There’s no body. That was me. I was asleep.”
“Why were you asleep on my porch?”
“I got here early. I didn’t want to disturb you. So I just took a nap to catch a few extra minutes of sleep. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had to be up this early. Especially with the drive to get here.”
She got to her feet and peered out the peephole. Sure enough, the corpse was on its feet and looking a lot like Palin.
“Back away from the door.” Her voice was firmer now, used to giving commands.
Palin, his face split wide in a grin, shook his head and stepped back, and then off the porch completely.
She opened the door, sticking the muzzle through.
“Whoa!” he shouted. “Easy there, Sandy. I promise you, there’s nothing out here. You can trust me.”
But can I? You’ve done nothing to prove to me you aren’t crazy.
Sandy had half a mind to send him home and tell him never to come back. The entire morning had left her shaken and uneasy. Peering around, she verified that there was no second body, no signs of blood. Nothing to signify a body had been lying on her porch. Palin stood at the bottom of the steps, arms slightly out to his sides. He didn’t look scared.
What stunned her the most was the image of Champ sitting nearby, happily wagging his tail and staring up at the big stranger. Since when did her dog like other men? Whatever, dogs are weird anyway, no matter how much I love the big idiot. After all, he does like to splash around with the pigs from time to time. It was probably nothing. Just a new person for him to get attention from.
“Shall we get to work?” Palin asked, clapping his hands together.
Sandy jerked at the noise, but not nearly as much as she would have two minutes earlier.
He was here; she may as well make use of him and his muscles. It’s not like there was a shortage of work to be done. And if they finished early in the fields, maybe she could get him to help tackle some of the repairs around the barn and farmhouse that needed doing. Palin certainly seemed ready to tackle anything that needed doing as long as she said it did.
Sticking her shotgun back inside and ordering her thundering heart to relax, she closed up and gestured for him to follow her. They were headed out to the northern fields first, to inspect the crops growing there. It was going to be a long day, but Sandy was used to that.
Palin came up alongside her. “Great place you have out here.”
“Thanks.”
“I almost missed the drive. It’s not very well marked, you know. Anyone could just drive on by.”
“That’s kind of the point.”
Palin fell silent. It was too early. She wasn’t ready to be chatty. When they got to the fields, it would be time to work, not talk. By the time the day ended, she would be too tired to chat. Sandy thought it was basically better off if they didn’t speak unless absolutely necessary. Unfortunately Palin didn’t agree.
“What’s your dog’s name?” He reached over to give him a few scratches behind the ears.
“His name is Champ.”
She eyed her dog. He’d stayed at Palin’s side the entire time they’d been walking. Traitor. What the heck did her canine companion even see in him? Whatever it was he was far more interested in him than Sandy. She’d gotten used to his presence at her right side. He was no help in the fields, except on the rare occasions she let him help dig holes for seeds. Sometimes his holes were a little off-center. Or too big. But he always had the biggest goofy dog grin on his face when she pointed to the ground and asked him to dig her a hole.
Sandy loved that dog. More than she loved people. Probably because the dog was trained and could be trusted. People couldn’t. If she told Champ to sit, he sat. If she said stay, he stayed. Humans were different. She knew.
“Champ? That’s an awesome name. Hey, Champ!” Palin reached over and gave him some good hearty rubs and pats on the flank. Champ made happy doggy noises and even surprised Palin with a big slobbery kiss. “Argh!” Palin righted himself and wiped at his face.
Sandy giggled. She hated doing that. It was such a girly-sounding noise. The last thing she needed to do was act girly with Palin around. Her eyes were already a source of constant trouble. They couldn’t seem to obey her orders to not look at Palin. Both of them insisted on focusing on his arms, and the way his sleeves pulled tight across his forearms.
He had a long flannel shirt on like her, though it wasn’t plaid, and he’d rolled the sleeves up to his forearms. It was a hottttt look on most males. On Palin? Sandy wasn’t comfortable with describing how she found it. Appealing was the most muted version she could think of. Anything else would be admitting she was in trouble for hiring him.
No. I can’t let myself get caught up in his sex appeal, as undeniable as it may be with his pecs that could double for tectonic plates. Or his rear that filled out the jeans better than any model she’d seen on TV. It was so tight and firm-looking. She just wanted to grab it! Just to see, of course. Curiosity. She wanted to do it for observational purposes, not because she liked him. She certainly did not.
He was big and brutish, and far too talkative for her to like. Plus he was also human, and a male. Those were at the top of her No-Go list. The only thing above them was “Attractive Human Male.” Which he fit. Her current obsession with talking about him even as she told herself she needed to stay cold toward him proved that.
“Do you always open your door with a shotgun in hand?”
“Do you always ask so many questions?”
“When I’m with someone I don’t know and they aren’t talking to me, making things really uncomfortable? Yes, usually.”
“I like silence. It’s peaceful.”
“It’s also weird that you don’t want to talk to me, or get to know me at all. That was part of our bargain after all.”
Sandy stopped and faced him. “Okay fine. Palin, why were you so insistent on coming to my farm, and why do you need my crops? What’s the secret reason here?”
He grinned. “I’m a dragon shifter on assignment to the military to judge a potential working relationship with them, who just so happened to stumble across his mate at a local farmers market while stuffing his face with delicious hot dogs.”
Distracted by his outlandish words Sandy missed her foot, stumbled forward, and nearly went face-first into the soft dirt. She landed on her hands and knees a split second before Palin reached her.
“I’m fine,” she snapped, brushing off his offer to lift her up. “I can stand on my own.”
Demonstrating this fact she got up, wiping her hands and knees as clean as she could. Great start to the day. A corpse and then a made-up story.
“Any more fairy tales to tell me?” she asked, starting to walk again without waiting for him.
Palin caught up to her easily. “It’s the truth. I told you I would never lie to you, Sandy. I don’t intend to now. There’s something…different about you that I can’t quite figure out.”
“There’s a lot different about me.”
“Maybe. I hope so. But that’s why I’m here.”
“Uh-huh. Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because I’m an idiot who decided to tell you where I live, so that you could come and help me work my land. So, I’ll stick to being an idiot, and you stick to being hired help. No dragons, no making friends with my dog, and we’ll call it a deal. Okay?”
Palin shrugged her cold tone off as if it didn’t register. “Sure. I can do that.”
“Thank you.” She pointed just off to her right, where the land turned from plain mud to mud with greenery in it. They had reached the northern crop field. “We’ll start over there.”
She led the way, conscious of the pair of concern-filled eyes staring at her back. Palin wanted to know why she was so standoffish.
Well, he could keep wondering.