She gave a tiny nod that was barely perceptible, but he saw it. He saw a lot of things. First and foremost, that Jacob could jump in a lake with his warnings.
This was real and was happening.
They spent another hour working on various commands, Noah using every excuse to adjust her form, which doubled as its own secret language.
“Ready to try something more challenging?” he asked, already planning their next sequence. Their next date. The next year as she earned her certification and became an SAR specialist. They could work together. They could travel places together so he could write articles. Be one of those nauseating couples who are so in love that people don’t want to be around them.
The whole thing unfolded in his head so easily that he couldn’t stop imagining it.
Sabrina’s answering grin held a wild edge that called to him. “Bring it, Colton. We can handle anything you throw at us.”
However, by the beginning of the third hour, Sabrina started to regret her flippant proposition that she could handle whatever Noah put on her plate. The guy didn’t have an Off switch.
Normally, she’d be all over it, especially something like this SAR thing with such high stakes, which she really wanted to get right.
But everything had ratcheted up to a whole other level of intense, thanks to the subtext Noah had dropped into the mix.
This wasn’t merely SAR training. She and Ripley werebonding. Learning to trust each other. They were building a partnership—a permanent one.
Noah guided them through basic obedience work, each exercise building on the last. They practiced sits, stays, heels—what Noah called their foundation. He kept throwing around these twenty-dollar words that must be second nature to him. But she’d never done anything like this, something that required her to do more, be more and, above all, consider the long term.
Not to mention that nebulous concept oftrust. There was some fine print that she’d totally missed in all her research and video watching.
But despite all the stuff going on inside her, the sheer overwhelm of the responsibility and commitment required for this SAR dog partnership business, it was going well. Really well. Ripley responded to Sabrina’s commands like they’d been working together for years. It was something else.
That other thing jockeying for position in her chest was pride. In herself. In Ripley. And, yeah, in Noah too. Because he’d made this happen. He’d seen the potential and then put in the work to push both dog and woman to this place.
If she didn’t already have a thing for him, that would have done it.
Also, no one had told her how sexy it was to watch a competent guy in his element. It was very distracting. How she’d retained a word of what the man said, she’d never know.
“The most important command is the emergency recall,” Noah explained, setting up a longer distance exercise. “When you call your dog off a track, they have to respond instantly. Lives could depend on it.”
His hands settled briefly on her shoulders as he positioned her, still with the same casual familiarity, as if he’d been doing it for ages.
“Like if the terrain suddenly becomes dangerous?” she asked, leaning into his touch because this easy intimacy they’d developed worked for her.
“Exactly.” Noah’s voice got so animated when he explained things. It was adorable. “Natural hazards, human threats—SAR work isn’t always safe. Your dog has to trust your judgment completely.”
There was that word again.Trust.The concept made her chest do funny things—that subtext again. He was doing it on purpose, calling her out, making her think about how little she trusted anyone except herself.
It was doing a number on her.
Especially after the way Noah had handled her intensity that morning. He’d been…perfect. He hadn’t tried to change her or rein her in. Just accepted her exactly as she was. Even when she’d completely overreacted, which she could admit now.
Finally, a guy who got it.
But she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. For this perfect guy to turn out to be not so perfect—just like all of the other ones who had zero staying power.
Maybe if she learned to trust her partnership with Ripley, she could figure out how to do it with a guy. Eventually.
“Show me,” she said, thrilled to have an excuse to segueing into her new favorite activity, watching Noah do anything.
Four hours passed like four minutes. Sabrina’s muscles burned from running Ripley through recall exercises, but dang if she wasn’t nailing every single one. She had this. They had this. Noah made it feel less like work and more like the best kind of game—one she was absolutely crushing.
Who knew having a hot guy for a trainer could be this much fun? And that was the thing about Noah. He made everything fun. It was part of his charm.
“You’re both picking this up faster than anyone I’ve ever trained.” Noah’s praise sent a shower of sparks through her chest.
