Brantley had no idea what he was talking about, but it didn’t actually matter who this Madison was. The simple fact that Reese had asked her to marry him was what he was hung up on. Not necessarily because Reese had had a near-miss with getting hitched, but more so that he’d been nearly engaged to a woman. Key word beingwoman. Brantley was used to competing for what he wanted, but when it came down to it, there was no competing in that arena.
And that fucking bothered him.
“And what? You panicked and asked her to marry you?”
Reese shrugged one shoulder. “Basically. Yeah.”
Wow.
Just wow.
“Brantley?”
He continued to stare at the table. “What?”
“Say somethin’.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“Are you pissed?”
“No.” That much was true. He wasn’t angry, he was confused. Worried, maybe. He’d go so far as to say he was hurt, even. Although the last one made no sense at all. It wasn’t like they’d shared all their deepest, darkest secrets with one another. Hell, there were some big ones neither of them had revealed yet.
But for some reason, this particular secret felt … enormous.
“She’s in the past,” Reese stated. “I haven’t talked to her since that day. The day she broke things off.”
He glanced back at Reese. “Did you love her?”
“I thought I did. At the time.”
Brantley nodded, but he looked away again.
How had he not known this? What else didn’t he know about Reese?
More importantly, what other things in Reese’s past would he have to compete with?
Chapter Two
Several hours later, after a tense flighthome, after they’d picked up Tesha from JJ’s and returned to the house, Reese was doing his best to give Brantley some space. Not because he wanted to but because he could tell Brantley preferred it.
Ever since Reese had revealed that he’d been almost engaged, Brantley had been acting strange. And while he said he wasn’t pissed, Reese wasn’t sure he believed him. He’d seen Brantley angry before and the man didn’t resort to violence. He was far too controlled for that. No, Brantley leaned more toward passive-aggressive, shutting down completely, closing himself off, pushing everyone away. Anything to avoid confrontation.
Which was exactly what he was doing now.
And Reese was letting him.
Because he preferred not to sit on his thumbs and wait for Brantley to come around, after a quick trip to the grocery store, Reese had made a call to Magnus Storme, the man they’d hired to handle Tesha’s training, hoping Magnus could squeeze an extra session into his busy schedule, grateful when the trainer had agreed.
The owner of Camp K-9, a highly sought-after dog daycare and search-and-rescue training facility just a few miles down the road, was well regarded by his clients and came highly recommended. Kennedy, Tesha’s veterinarian, had recommended Magnus to Brantley. In turn, Brantley’d done his research and decided to check him out prior to mentioning him to Reese. By the time Reese was officially introduced, Brantley had deemed the man capable and deserving of their business.
And bybusiness, Reese was referring to his desire to train Tesha to assist with their cases. More along the lines of search and rescue—assisting with finding missing people—but also patrol training, which consisted of obedience, agility, tracking, and the like. And they were starting from the beginning with basic training and whatnot.
Now, as Reese waited for Magnus to arrive, he tossed the ball for Tesha, sat patiently on the step while she scampered across the brittle, dry grass, retrieved it, and returned. She was getting better, no longer wandering off aimlessly unless she’d already dropped the ball at Reese’s feet, but they still had a long way to go.
“Tesha, here,” he commanded, watching his four-legged friend as she trotted his way.
She came to a stop directly in front of him, plopping her butt on the ground and staring up at him with such hope in her eyes. Yeah, there was no doubt about it, when it came to this dog, he was a goner.
