“’Bout time you got here.” Gabe, the shelter’s vet, stepped out, shrugging into a windbreaker. “You drove slow enough to be driving Miss Daisy.”
“Really? Clichés from the eighties? I thought I’d taught you better.” Dax handed the man a leash and reached for another dog. “Besides, I told you not to wait. None of the dogs need medical attention.”
Gabe snorted. “Yeah, like I’d let you be the judge of that.” He scooped up the corgi and tucked her into his chest. The dog sniffed Gabe’s dark-stubbled jaw, licked him once, then curled into the vet’s arms with a delighted sigh. If the corgi could have purred, she would have. Gabe had that effect on dogs.
Which Dax didn’t understand, because Gabe usually had the opposite effect on humans.
“Don’t mind him.” Brad, the owner of Forever Friends, stepped onto the back drive. The floodlight at the rear door reflected off his blond hair. “Gabe would have been here no matter your arrival time. With Marla and the dogs out of the house, Gabe was lonely.” Brad knelt and said hello to three more pups Dax had leashed up, rubbing their heads and cooing softly.
“Eat me,” Gabe said without heat. “Your wife has gone to the same baby shower as mine. You didn’t want to sit at home alone either.”
“I’m not alone.” Brad took four leashes and headed inside. “I’ve got Ana with me.” Ana was Brad’s adorable new stepdaughter. If she was at the shelter, the resident dogs were probably up to their snouts in treats.
Dax followed Gabe and Brad into the shelter to the infirmary. Gabe lifted one of the dogs onto a metal exam table.
“Why did it take you so long?” Brad asked. “Your text didn’t explain the delay.”
“Two words: Annelise Ansel.” The Bluetick strained at the leash, his toenails scrabbling on the wood floor as he tried to make a break for the door. Dax told him to sit but was soundly ignored.
Gabe looked up from his examination of the corgi. “Uh, hate to break it to you, but your dog is a dude.” He nodded to William’s nether regions. “You gave him an effed-up name.”
Dax blew out a breath that rattled his lips. “This is William. Annelise—Lissa—is the woman who hid in the back of the van for a free ride out of New Orleans.”
“What’s that now?” Brad dropped the end of a rope he was holding, leaving a mutt victorious in their game of tug-of-war. He straightened and took a step forward. “How long was she back there? What was she doing back there? Is there any way I’m getting sued?”
“Relax.” William jumped up on Dax, pressing his front paws into his stomach. Dax ruffled his ears. “Lissa’s fine. And, unfortunately, she wasn’t in the back very long. We had a loooong drive together.”
Gabe put another dog on his table and peered in the Chihuahua’s ears with a penlight. “Why’d you let her stay?”
“What was I supposed to do? Leave her on the side of I-10?”
Sensing his distraction, William seized his opportunity. He pushed off Dax’s stomach and made a break for the door, his leash trailing behind him.
“Son of a …” Dax planted his fists on his hips. “That dog is hyperactive. He’s going to be trouble.”
“He’ll be fine,” Brad said. “He can’t get into any trouble here. Maybe he’ll find his way to the playroom and the other dogs. Now tell us more about this woman.”
“Not much to tell. She’s a nutjob who wants to start a new life.” A nutjob with a pretty smile and the most fascinating eyes he’d ever seen. They acted like magnets, drawing him in. Dax found Gabe’s rolling stool and plopped down. He pushed himself across the hardwood floor. “I left her at True North Motel. But if you see a beautiful bohemian chick with long curly hair, steer clear. She’s more trouble than that dog.”
“Ah.” Brad shared a look with Gabe and smiled. “That’s why he gave her a ride.”
“What are you talking about?”
Gabe dipped his chin and raised his eyebrows. “You crashed at my place for months. I know how fast a pretty girl makes you stupid.”
“You’re criticizing me when it comes to women?” Dax leaned backward, forgetting there was no support to his stool. He slapped his palm down on the floor to keep from falling. “Before Marla, I saw you use and toss aside lots of women. I, on the other hand, am excellent at relationships. Considerate and rational.”
Brad choked on his own laughter. “You’ve never done anything rationally, jailbird.”
A dog howled, the sound echoing faintly off the walls. William had discovered the limits of his temporary home.
“Hey, I might have had a tiny run-in with the law—”
Gabe snorted.
“—but I am a very logical, sensible person at heart. This chick is crazy.” Crazy, and uninhibited, and bursting with life. But first and foremost, crazy. People like that could be fun for a time, but after a while they were exhausting to be around.
Or so he’d been told.
“You parachuted into the Arctic Circle and hiked out.” Brad led a dog to Gabe’s table and hefted her up.
“It was summer.” Dax shrugged. The most dangerous thing about that trip was the mosquitoes. They’d been huge.
“You slackline walked across a canyon in Colorado,” Gabe said.
“I forgot about that one.” Brad rubbed his forehead. “That one was insane.” He shot Dax a disappointed look and shook his head.
Ana, an eleven-year-old with the long black-brown hair of her mother and an attitude to match, shuffled in, rubbing her eyes. “What’s slackline walking?”
“Something you’ll never do,” Brad said as he walked over to her. He tugged on one of her dark braids. “Did we wake you up, sweetie?”
“Nah. Some black-and-white dog jumped on the couch before running out of your office and howling.” She looked around the room, and her eyes widened. “A new crew of dogs? They’re so cute!”
She trotted over to the corgi and scooped her up. “You know, I’ve been thinking …”
Brad shook his head. “Your mom will kill us if we bring home any more dogs. But you can help me settle these guys in for the night.”
Dax trailed after them to the central room of the shelter. The dogs’ living quarters was a large, roomy space. Marla, the owner of the building and Gabe’s girlfriend, had told Dax that a large waterwheel used to run its length, powering the gristmill. Previous owners had expanded on the main structure, adding rooms for storage and offices before the mill had been abandoned.
Looking at it now, Dax never could have guessed its history. With the idea that acclimatizing dogs to comfortable surroundings would lead to well-adjusted pets after they were adopted, Brad had designed the space like a big home. Animals lounged on plush daybeds and sofas. Rugs were strewn over the wood floor and dog toys were always underfoot.
The dogs looked over at them, then raced toward Ana en masse. She waded through the barking canines to a bucket hanging from the wall and doled out the treats within.
William either didn’t notice food was on offer or didn’t care. He raced in a circle around the room, his ears flapping behind him, baying intermittently.
“Uh-oh.” Ana pointed at the Bluetick. “He’s got the zoomies.”
“I’ll take him outside for a run,” Dax said. He tried to corner William, darted for his leash, missed.
“Are you sure?” Brad took the leashes off the dogs he’d brought in and watched to see how they interacted with the