Chapter Eighteen
Jessie practically soared to Waterford Farm later that morning, riding on a cloud. Mac loved her story, which he’d said would require very little editing, and so did the broadcast department.
And that wasn’t the only reason she was glowing.
Garrett Kilcannon was the most amazing lover she could have imagined. Of course, if she got this job, that meant she’d be leaving that amazing lover.
But he was a man, and this was…her job. Her goal. Her focus. Her future. Her life. He was just a great, wonderful, sexy guy.
If only that were the sum total of her feelings for Garrett, she thought. Unfortunately, they were deeper. Inconvenient, unexpected, and real…but she definitely had feelings for him that went way past what they’d done in bed this morning.
How was that even possible?
Because she knew everything about the guy. And couldn’t find a single thing that didn’t appeal to her. She probably knew him—including his secrets—as well as anyone, but that wouldn’t mean their “relationship” would stop her from doing the one thing that had been steady and reliable and first place for her.
She turned in at the wide white gate, admiring the WF logo on the plaque, taking her time to cruise down the long drive that took her to the home that would always mean safety, security, and comfort to her.
She used to arrive by bike most days, since the development where she’d lived with her mom and sister was about five miles from here. So many days, she’d pull into this driveway, backpack full of her weekend clothes, and glance up at the house, a low-grade bubble of excitement brewing…but that was always tempered by a mental reminder that this wasn’t her home. This wasn’t her family. This wasn’t her place.
She was only borrowing it for a while.
And with a guy like Garrett? Who knew? Maybe she was only borrowing him, too. She couldn’t back away from this opportunity because she had a thing with the subject of the interview that got her the opportunity. That would be just plain stupid.
Wouldn’t it?
When she walked across the open area and looked into the training pen, she saw Garrett working with a few of the people in this week’s class. Each one had a dog, though some seemed to have more control than others.
She studied his body, his movements, the way he angled his head and the breeze lifted some strands of his hair.
And that very same feeling she had when looking at the house washed over her. A longing for something she couldn’t have.
Unless she could have it, and then…she’d have to give up a part of herself in order to be connected to someone else. Was that the way it had to work?
He turned and waved to her. “Hey.”
One word. One look. One gooey girl on the receiving end. “Hey back.”
“Go get Lola, Jessie,” he called. “She’s dying to see you.”
She rounded the fence into the back door of the kennels, heading straight for her girl. The minute she reached Lola’s kennel, the dog stood up and barked three times, stopped, then barked three more times, her tail flopping.
Jessie said on a laugh as she flipped open the latch to the gate, “That’s my number-one girl.”
She reached down to stroke her head and neck, happily noticing her bowl was empty, getting a nice big face lick in response. The love was clearly mutual, folding Jessie’s heart in half in a way she’d never felt before.
“Come on, Lola. Let’s crash a class and stalk the hot trainer.”
Snapping her fingers, she and the dog headed outside and into the pen where they joined the class.
“We’re working on distraction training,” Garrett told her, pointing to a gray and black dog she hadn’t seen at the farm before. “This is Lindy, and she’s a wildly distracted pointer puppy.”
The group laughed, and instantly, the pointer took her eyes off Garrett and looked at the people, taking the noise as an excuse to jump. And then she ran in a circle, rolled on the grass, and hopped to her feet with a victorious bark.
“Lindy,” Garrett said, his voice steady and low as he got closer to her and pointed one finger at her. “Stay.”
She didn’t budge, and that got her a treat that he slipped into her mouth so fast Jessie barely saw the move.
Then, with his other hand, Garrett squeaked a toy and threw it to the side without taking his eyes off the dog. She started to dart, but he touched her head and eased her to face him. “Stay,” he ordered.
She did, getting another treat.
“The treat is key,” he told the class. “But you have to have their eyes. If you don’t have a dog’s eyes, you don’t have a dog.” He produced another squeaky toy, squeezed it, and threw it hard and far. Half the dogs there went after it, including Lola, making all the trainers react, and that noise threw Lindy again. But Garrett ordered her to stay, and she did.
He rewarded her with a treat and a head scratch. “Now, get your dogs, everyone, and let’s do a round of practicing.”
He came over to Jessie, draping a casual arm around her that made her feel…not casual. Downright butterfly-ish, if she had to admit it, which she wouldn’t.
“You’re pretty good at that,” she said, walking with him toward Lola.
“Not good enough.”
She gave him a questioning look. “That dog didn’t move when you told her to stay.”
He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Didn’t work on getting you to stay in bed this morning.”
“You didn’t have my eyes.” But she looked up at him now, as directly as Lindy had.
“No kidding. Your boss was a level-five distraction, which, if you stick around today, you’ll learn is the biggest challenge for a dog.”
“A level-five distraction? What are the levels?”
Lola circled Jessie’s legs, trying to get in between the two of them, making them laugh at how openly jealous she was of Garrett.
“Level one is something simple,” he told her. “Like a noise. Level two is a toy. A toy that makes noise is higher, a level three. Level four is a person, intensified by how well they know that person. And five? Can you guess?”
“Food?”
“Exactly. Something that they need and crave and are instinctively bred to fight to get. If you can throw a steak down in front of a dog and they stay, you’ve earned your stripes.”
“Did you hear that, Lola?” she asked. “You’d love a steak, wouldn’t you, girl?”
Lola panted and sat, paws on the ground, looking up.
“She sure knows how to sit,” Garrett said. “And she can probably go all the way to level five, though I’ve never tested her. You want to try?”
“Of course.”
He handed her one of his endless supply of squeaky toys, which she realized came from a pouch hanging from his waist. “Here you go.”
“You know, I never thought I’d be having romantic fantasies about a man who wears squeaky toys on his belt.”
He winked at her. “You should see what I keep in my nightstand drawer.”
Laughing at that, she turned to Lola. “Stay.” She tossed the toy, and the dog looked at it, jerked a little, but then looked right back at Jessie and stayed where she was. “Good girl!”
Garrett gave Jessie a treat from another bag. “You have to give this to her, really fast.”
She did and won a look of undying affection.
“Try it again,” he said. “Louder and farther.”
“Stay,” she ordered, squeezing the heck out of the toy and tossing it a good ten feet. Lola flinched. “Stay,” Jessie repeated.
She flinched again, but didn’t take a step.
“Reward with love this time,” Garrett said softly.
“Good girl,” Jessie exclaimed, hugging Lola’s head and adding a kiss just because she had to.
“As we know, this one’s been trained.” Garrett glanced around to see the others in various states of sit and stay. “Let’s see if she knows this one.” He crouched down and held up his hand. “High five, Lola.”
She stared at him.
“Let me try,” Jessie said. “High five, Lola.” Nothing. “So there’s something our little Mensa candidate can’t do. Can you teach her?”
“You can.”
“Okay. How?”
“Get on your knees in front of her, hold up this treat, but tell her to stay. We already know she will. Hold her eyes the whole time.”
“Oh yeah. You have the eyes, you have the dog.” She looked right into Lola’s deep-brown eyes, her whole chest exploding with love for the creature. “Stay, Lola.”
She did, and then Garrett told her to lightly tap one of Lola’s front paws. After a few seconds, Lola instinctively lifted her other foot to paw at the treat. “High five!” Garrett said. “Give her the treat.”
Lola took it, ate, and they tried again.
On the fourth time, all Jessie had to say was, “High five,” with no treat, and Lola lifted her paw, making Jessie delighted down to her toes.
“What a good girl you are, Lola!” She gave her the treat and added a bunch of love, which was probably against the dog training rules, but Jessie didn’t care. “Can I stay for the rest of the class with her?” she asked, glancing up at Garrett, who was looking at her the way she’d been looking at Lola.
“You can stay anywhere you want, as long as you want.”
She smiled at him, warmed by his words and the expression on his handsome face. “Do I get a treat?”
“Later.”
She stood, sensing some people coming closer. “Don’t you dare make a bone joke.”
He chuckled and started teaching again, and Jessie spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon in the sunshine with Garrett and Lola, teaching her all kinds of tricks. By the time they finished, Jessie was ready to sit, stay, and beg for him.
She had no idea what the future held, or if she should be worried, excited, or scared. For right now, on this day, surrounded by sunshine and happiness, she loved her dog and enjoyed the thrill of being the number-one person…for Lola and Garrett.