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
