Stitched Up Heart (Combat Hearts Book 1) (20 page)

“Ruby?” Bree asked.

“The little dog he said you’re fostering. She’s under my desk right now, as a matter of fact.” She leaned back and to the side, peeking under her desk. “Just curled right up at my feet and hasn’t made a peep all day.” She straightened in her chair. “I wanted to talk to you about what I need to do to adopt her. I’ve been thinking about getting a dog for a while and she is just the sweetest thing ever.”

Bree blinked a couple of times. “Jase brought the dog into the office?”

“Of course. Said he didn’t want to put her in the kennel by herself while the other two dogs were roaming around.”

“Oh.” Bree tried to wrap her head around everything Carol had said. “Uh, you’ll need to fill out an adoption application. She needs to be spayed and brought up-to-date on her shots.”

Carol’s eyebrows rose and she looked hopeful. “Is there a way I can keep her until she’s officially ready to be adopted?”

Bree smiled. “I think we can probably arrange something. Is he busy?” She tilted her head toward Jase’s office.

“Nope. Let me buzz him and tell him you’re here.” Carol picked up the phone and pushed a couple of buttons. “Jase, someone here to see you.”

Less than ten seconds later, Jase opened the door to his office and strode toward Bree. He grabbed her close and bent her over the arm he banded around her upper back. The kiss was hard and open-mouthed. She forgot they had an audience. She sank into the kiss, oblivious to everything. He finally pulled away. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

He stood her up and grabbed her hand. “Thanks, Ms. Carol.” Bree smiled and waved over her shoulder as Jase dragged her into his office.

“You brought the foster with you.”

He closed the door behind her and backed her up against the wall. “She was whining when I put her in the cage. It broke my heart so I brought her into the office. Charlie and Polly were curled up on their beds when I left.”

“Softy.”

“Sue me. You left me asleep on your couch.”

“You were sleeping hard. I didn’t want to wake you. You haven’t been getting much sleep the last few days.”

“What did I say about waking me up?”

Bree rolled her eyes. “I didn’t have time to get creative on my way out the door.”

Jase shook his head at her. “Wake me up before you leave. For whatever reason you’re leaving.”

“Bossy.”

“Yup.” He didn’t even try to deny it.

Bree rolled her eyes again and changed the subject. “Why do you call her Ms. Carol?”

Jase stared for several heartbeats before placing a kiss on the sensitive skin just below her ear. He pushed away from the wall and sat behind this desk.

“I’ve always called her Ms. Carol. Ever since I was five.”

“You’ve known her that long?” She inhaled sharply, connecting the dots. “She’s Tony’s mom.”

Jase looked up from his computer. “Yeah. When I started V.E.T. Adventures, I needed help. She was retired and offered to help me get started.”

“And never left.”

“I don’t think I could get her to re-retire even if I wanted to. I need to finish up some emails before I’m ready to leave. You good with waiting?”

“I don’t have anywhere else to be. I was going to go let
Ruby
out, but that’s been taken care of.”

“Yeah. I don’t think you’re getting that dog back.”

“I’m good with that.” Bree wandered around Jase’s office. The large L-shaped desk took up the far corner. The computer sat on the long side of the L, leaving the short end, facing two tan arm chairs, open. Pictures and ubiquitous military plaques hung on the walls. One picture was of the ribbon-cutting for V.E.T. Adventures. “Are you a 501c?”

“Yes. One of those things Carol helped with.”

“How do you get your funding?”

“Donations mostly. We charge a small fee, but we try to cover most of the costs ourselves. Unfortunately, I think we’re going to have to cut down on the number of trips this year. We’ve haven’t gotten as many donors this year.”

“Put in a grant application with the foundation,” she said.

Jase swiveled in his chair to face her. “So that would mean you would give me money?”

“No.” She was confused by the bite in his voice. “It means you submit an application and the board votes whether to approve and fund it.”

“But if you push it, it gets approved, right?”

“Actually no, I have no say in the matter. It’s a requirement that if a board member knows an applicant, they have to abstain from voting. Members can actually be kicked out of the discussion if it becomes necessary.”

Jase crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “So you’ll have no say in whether I get approved if I apply for funding?”

“More than likely, I won’t even see the application.”

“And I suppose you won’t give me any advice on what to say on the application, either.”

Bree cocked her head. “No. What are you trying to say?”

“I don’t want your money, Bree,” Jase told her.

“Okay. I didn’t offer you any money. I told you to apply for a grant from a foundation my grandfather established.”

“Which basically means your money.”

“Jase.” She set her hands on her hips and fought her annoyance. “I have no more say in where the foundation gives grants than the other twelve people on the board. If I wanted to give you money, I’d make an anonymous donation. Why are you getting upset?”

“I don’t want you—” He leaned forward and rested his forearms against the edge of the desk. “I don’t want you to think…”

“That you want my money? I wouldn’t be here if I thought that. Not for a minute. I’m not offering you money and I’m not trying to give you a handout. I’m telling you about an opportunity you can take advantage of, if you choose to.”

Jase ran his hands through his hair. “Thank you.”

She strolled over to the chairs facing his desk. “Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t seen the application. If Carol got you your 501c approval, you might want to give it to her.”

Jase grinned. “Duly noted.” He turned his attention back to his computer. He clicked the mouse several times in a row. “Damnit.”

“Computer freeze up?”

“No. One of the volunteer guides uses the campsite to go hunting on his off days. He sent an email saying there’s pretty bad damage from the storms a couple of days ago. I’m going to have to go up tomorrow to clear the site instead of on Thursday like I had planned.”

“When will you be back?”

“Late Sunday.”

“Okay,” she said with a nod.

“That’s it? Okay?”

“Um, have fun?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to disappear again, are you?”

“Kind of hard to disappear when you know where I live.”

“Do me a favor? Check in with Tim while I’m gone? I won’t have cell service while I’m on the trip. I don’t like that the cops don’t know what’s going on. I’d feel better if you let him know you’re okay.”

It was an easy enough thing to do. She’d feel better with someone knowing she was okay. She wasn’t going to admit that to Jase, though. Totally ruin her image. Denise would check on her, but she’d also charge over guns blazing and there was no telling how that might turn out.

“Sure.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s it? No argument?”

“Not when it’s something to my benefit.”

Jase nodded. A few key strokes on his computer and he turned off the monitor. “Dinner tonight?”

“I can’t tonight. Taco Tuesday. Standing date with Denise.”

“So I won’t see you until Sunday.”

“Nope.”

“So we should make the most of the time we have this afternoon.” Jase round his desk and braced his hands on the armrests of her chair.

“What, here?” she asked, surprised.

“Think you can be quiet?” Jase raised his eyebrows in a salacious gesture.

She returned his grin. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

Jase bent and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he spun them around.

“You pick me up a lot.” She stared at his mouth.

“It gets you where I want you to be.” He sat her on his desk and leaned forward, forcing her to lay against the cool wood.

She ran her hands under the sleeves of his t-shirt, tracing the definition of his muscles. “What if I don’t want to be where you put me?”

“Then I put you where you want to be.” He brushed a strand of hair away from her neck. “Where do you want to be?”

“Right here,” Bree said against his lips

“Then here it is.”

B
ree sprayed down one of the outdoor kennels. Jase was due back that night. Why had this seemed like the longest five days of her life? Would Jase call her or wait until tomorrow? Should she call him? No. Maybe she should text him and ask how his trip went.

Why was she pining? She was not a woman who pined for men. When did he start consuming all her thoughts?

A cold spray of water hit her legs. She flinched from the spray. “What the hell?”

“You’re thinking about him again, aren’t you?” Denise redirected the hose.

“Who? What? No.”

Denise gave her the
you’re so full of shit, I can smell you from here
look. “Uh huh. That’s why you haven’t heard a word I’ve said for the last ten minutes.”

“I heard you.”

“What was I saying then?” Denise threatened to spray her again.

What had she been talking about? Bree wracked her brain, but came up blank. “Fine, I was spacing. What were you talking about?”

“I asked how dinner went with Cindy on Friday.

“Oh. It was good, actually. She’s a lot more easy-going one-on-one. I might try to do lunch with her every now and then to get her out of the office.” She moved over to the next outdoor kennel and aimed the hose nozzle at the floor. “What else were you yapping at me about?”

Denise shot another spray of water at her. “The new litter of puppies.”

Bree jumped to avoid the spray. “There’s a new litter of puppies? Who had puppies?”

Denise threw her free hand up in disgust. “Why do I bother?” She released the trigger on her sprayer, dropped her hose, and led the way into the barn. The eight stalls had been converted into smaller kennels and gave dogs plenty of room to move around. Each kennel had a dog door cut into the back that led to a fenced outdoor pen. Denise walked down to the farthest kennel.

“She’s new. What breed?” Bree asked as she came to the edge of the kennel.

“Some kind of shepherd mix.”

“The K-9 unit interested in any of them?”

“They want three if we think there are any viable candidates,” Denise said.

“Really?” Bree raised her eyebrows.

“Yup. Drug dogs, apparently.”

“Cool.”

“Yes, which is what I’ve been trying to tell you for fifteen minutes.”

“Sorry.” Bree hung her head in mock shame.

“Uh huh. You’ve got it bad, sister. I’ve never seen you like this. Not even when we got tasked to that SEAL team for two months in Jalabad.”

Bree stared off into space. “Mmm…that was good times.”

“My point is you’re completely distracted by Jase.”

“I know.” Bree folded her arms on the stall door and rested her chin on them. “He’s only been gone a few days. It’s ridiculous. I
feel
ridiculous and I don’t know what to do. I’m being all… what’s the word for it?”

“Girly.”

“Girly!” Bree snapped her fingers and pointed at Denise like she had just solved the world’s energy crisis. “How do I quit being all girly and emotional?”

“Don’t look at me. I haven’t done girly since I went through puberty. I’m void of emotions.”

“You do emotions,” Bree said.

Denise lifted the latch on the half door and entered the stall. The dog’s tail thumped on the ground as Denise knelt next to her head. “I do some emotions, none of which are girly emotions. My emotions usually involve fireballs and razing insurgent strongholds to the ground.” Denise pat the dog on the head and checked the water and food bowls.

Bree quirked her mouth. “Valid point. Either way, I need to figure out how to quit doing them.”

“Why?” Denise asked.

“Why?” She opened the door for Denise. “Because I don’t want to be girly. I don’t want to moon over some guy and lose who I am in the process.”

“Who says you have to lose yourself?” She swung the door closed and checked the latch. “Why can’t you figure out a way to be who you are and still fall in love with Jase?”

“Um, first, no one said anything about being in love.”

Denise gave her that look again.

“Fuck.” Bree drew the word out as she groaned. She hated it when Denise called her on her bullshit. It was easy to avoid the truth without her around. “I can’t. It’s way too soon.”

“Not according to Gran it’s not,” Denise pointed out.

“Okay, Gran lived a fairy tale. We know that’s not how life really works.”

“Says whom?”

“Says everyone except Gran. Hell, even Elsa said you can’t fall in love with someone you just met.”

“You’re referencing animated characters again.”

“Hello? Fairy tale?”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Whatever. You love my face.”

“At the moment, I want to high-five your face,” Denise told her.

Bree stuck her tongue out. Denise returned the gesture before leading the way back out of the barn.