“We’re gonna get a case.”
“How?” She glanced at Baz. “When?”
Baz shrugged. “It’s bound to happen now that you’ve jinxed us.”
JJ’s grin was slow and wide. “Jinxed? Seriously? You believe in superstitious bullshit?”
“Watch,” Brantley told her. “I guarantee within a week, we’ll have a case.”
She rolled her eyes again and grabbed her juice. “That’s not a bad thing, B. It’s what we do. We work cases.” JJ got to her feet. “Now come on. Let’s see what trouble’s brewing at the barn.”
***
“Don’t be mad at me,” Reese said.
He glanced in the rearview mirror, recognizing the pout.
“It had to be done. And deep down, you know it feels better.” Reese flipped the signal to turn. “Seriously. I do it at least twice a day. You can handle havin’ your teeth brushed once a week, easy.”
Tesha’s eyebrows twitched.
“Keep lookin’ at me like that, and we’ll do it daily.”
Reese chuckled when she turned her attention out the window.
If it was weird that he talked to his dog, he didn’t care. He did it all the time. These days, he didn’t even care if anyone was around to hear him, either. He considered it fate that almost two years ago, he and Brantley had been called down to Houston to work a case that had turned out not to be a case at all. It had led Reese to the home of Tesha’s former owners, the parents of the kid they thought was missing but had, in fact, been sneaking around with a girl from another school. Tesha had been neglected and tied up in the backyard without any shade and just out of reach of the food and water bowls that had both been empty. Without hesitation, Reese had revoked her former owner’s rights to own a dog by carrying Tesha out of that backyard.
As far as Reese was concerned, aside from falling in love with Brantley Walker, it was the best thing he’d ever done. Never had he figured that, at thirty-three, he would be settling down, making a life with a man and a dog. Yet that was what he was doing.
“Almost home, girl. I bet JJ’s there.”
He watched Tesha in the rearview to see her reaction. The moment she heard JJ’s name, her ears cocked, and she started looking around. It wasn’t a secret that Tesha loved JJ. Strangely enough, Tesha had become more protective of her since JJ got pregnant. How the dog knew, he wasn’t sure, but it was another of Tesha’s many endearing qualities.
“When we get to the house, you can go to the barn and see her. Cool?”
Tesha leaned forward and rested her head on the corner of the seat back, her snout pressing on Reese’s shoulder. He reached back and gave her head a scratch.
“I’m glad you forgive me.”
A few minutes later, Reese pulled up to his house, parking behind Brantley’s truck so he didn’t block the exit from the parking area everyone else used. He climbed out and opened Tesha’s door. She waited patiently until he unbuckled her leash from the seat belt clip.
“Go,” he told her. “Have fun.”
With a flurry of speed, Tesha launched out of the truck and took off at full speed for the barn, weaving around to the back where the dog door was.
Reese was still smiling when he walked into the house.
Brantley leaned out of the kitchen, watching him. “If brushing teeth makes you smile like that, you’re welcome to do mine whenever you want.”
Reese chuckled, joining Brantley.
“Although, if you’re up for that task, I could think ofsomething elseI’d prefer you to put in my mouth,” Brantley said, his voice husky.
Reese felt his face heat. It was a reaction he couldn’t help. Didn’t seem to matter how long he was with this man, Brantley still had the ability to make him blush.
“How’d it go? At the vet?”
“All good.”
