Kelsey took the leash and had to refrain from jolting backward when their fingers brushed. Her skin prickled as if she’d gotten a shock. Kurt immediately locked his hands around his hips as he stepped back, drawing her attention to his lean torso. It was a really, really nice torso.
“I don’t think I need to remind you to stay on this property. With all the dogs. Until they’ve passed several handling tests.”
She nodded and let the pretty girl sniff her closed hand. Having worked so long around dogs who were mostly mysteries, she’d committed the basics to memory. Always read the dog’s cues when interacting with them for the first time. Stand straight or drop to a squat, never lean over them—it was threatening—and avoid direct eye contact until the dog relaxed. “You don’t. I know. The yard’s plenty big anyway.”
One of his eyebrows rose slightly. “Then I’ll let you get acquainted.”
* * *
“Pepper, definitely Pepper. Don’t you think?” Kelsey looked at Patrick for confirmation. Since most of the dogs’ names weren’t known, finding the right name for each of them was one of Kelsey’s top priorities.
Patrick gave the stocky Rottweiler another once-over before answering. “I think you’re right. Pepper suits her.”
“Then Pepper it is.”
They’d been outside for twenty minutes when Kelsey sank to the ground in a warm patch of sun at the far edge of the front yard, a spot nestled under the yard’s most enormous trees. Kelsey figured they had to be as old as the house.
The Rott had been super laid-back with Kelsey, and Patrick was seeing how she did with him. Most animals seemed to pick up on the fact that he was a bit different. Patrick had Asperger’s. He was brilliant but a bit quirky. Most animals were comfortable around him from the start, though a few were skittish. Pepper seemed fine.
Kelsey crossed her legs and rubbed her calves, enjoying the feel of the grass beneath her. She was wiped out from the intensive cleaning yesterday and from assembling the crates this morning. When the laid-back Rottweiler noticed her on the ground, she pulled Patrick in Kelsey’s direction. The Rott collapsed in the grass alongside Kelsey with a plop. Since Pepper had trusted her enough to sit next to her, Kelsey decided to go with it, even if sitting on the ground beside a powerful dog who might still be wound up from an unstable past wasn’t the most responsible of ideas.
They sat together for several minutes. Pepper was content to lie still and have her ears rubbed. Her nubbin of a tail wagged contentedly.
Maybe she didn’t have much trust to reestablish with people after all.
Even as underweight as the dog was, Kelsey guessed she was at least eighty pounds. She was thin for a heavyset Rott, but she hadn’t been starved. The vet had put her at about five years old, and by a simple glance at her belly and the two rows of exposed teats, it was clear she’d had at least one litter already. And, unlike many of the dogs, she didn’t have any visible scars.
“Maybe she was only bred and not fought. She seems so trusting of people,” Kelsey said.
“Most breeds that end up in the fighting rings were originally bred to have strong trust in their owners.” Patrick’s tone was matter-of-fact, but Kelsey knew it wasn’t because he didn’t care. He just had difficulty connecting with his emotions. He rarely got upset, but when he did, he immersed himself in a laborious project and didn’t stop until he was physically spent. He was cute with his soft brown eyes and always disheveled hair. He drove her nuts at times with his penchant for routine, but he was one of her favorite people.
“True.” Kelsey let out a sigh and forced thoughts of Pepper’s past out of her mind. Animals were often better than people at living in the present.
Mr. Longtail emerged from a thick hedge at the edge of the yard. He headed toward the group with his tail erect and unusually fluffy. Kelsey shortened the leash that Patrick had passed her way when Pepper sat down. Pepper watched the cat approach with only mild curiosity, as though she’d been around cats before and knew they weren’t prey, which definitely wasn’t something you could say about many dogs.
To Kelsey’s surprise, the cantankerous cat walked right up to the Rottweiler and started to sniff, first the dog’s face, then her paws and down her side. Pepper did nothing more than wag her tail, after glancing Kelsey’s way as if in confirmation that this was okay.
“Well, she could easily be adopted into a house with cats,” Kelsey praised, patting her. She relaxed and resumed rubbing Pepper’s ears, which the dog seemed to really enjoy.
Finished with his sniff test, Mr. Longtail rolled onto his back and wiggled back and forth, marking his scent. Clearly, he didn’t mind that the dog next to him was practically ten times his size.
“I see why Sabrina Raven liked him,” Patrick said. “He’s not your average cat.”
Kelsey shook her head as Mr. Longtail stood up and strolled toward the back of the house without seeming to give them another thought. “No, he definitely isn’t. And I’m no longer worried about him getting too stressed out by all the dogs. He’s just so full of himself. He probably thinks they’re here for his amusement.”
“Possibly.” Patrick watched the cat appreciatively before turning back to his Swiss Army knife. He was using the pair of microscissors to trim his nails. “Does the contract Megan signed tell which of you has more say? You or the handler?”
Kelsey’s brows furrowed. “No, but he does, I would guess. He’s the professional.”
“He’s letting it be your decision to keep Pepper.”
“I suspect he’s being courteous.”
Patrick pressed the scissors back into the thick knife and slipped it into a pocket in his pants. “You blush when you look at him.”
Kelsey stopped rubbing Pepper’s ear midway through a stroke. Patrick had
