by Susan Stoker
The dog’s head came up at the sound of her voice, and a whimper replaced the growl deep in her throat. Hannah leaped to her feet and charged at Sidney. Caite gasped and took a step backward, but Sidney went to her knees on the floor and held out her arms.
Hannah’s head careened into Sidney’s chest, nearly knocking her backward off her knees onto the floor. She went ahead and sat on her ass anyway, figuring it was probably safer. The whimpers increased, and Hannah’s tail wagged a million miles an hour. “Hey, baby. Are you okay?” Sidney crooned.
Hannah did her best to crawl onto Sidney’s lap and buried her snout under her arm. Her butt was still on the floor, but her upper body was pinning Sidney down.
Bemused, Sidney looked up at Caite.
The other woman was staring down at them, and when she saw Sidney looking at her, she smiled. “Guess she missed you, huh? Definitely having words with my man and Gumby when they get home.”
Sidney looked back down at the fifty-plus pounds of dog in her lap and ran her hand down Hannah’s back. The wound there looked really good. Better than it had earlier. The angry red had turned into a lighter pink, indicating that it was healing. It even looked like some of the hair on the outer edges of the wound might be growing back. She knew it wouldn’t ever completely cover the scar, but the sight of it was encouraging.
“You gonna let me look at your foot, baby?” Sidney asked.
Hannah didn’t remove her head from her lap, but her tail wagged faster.
“What do you need?” Caite asked.
“Paper towels. Maybe a warm wet rag? I don’t know what else until I can get a look at where she cut herself.”
“I’m so sorry,” Caite said. “I should’ve moved the flowers to the counter this morning before I left for work.”
“It’s not your fault,” Sidney said immediately. “Dogs are curious. Besides, it’s obvious she has good taste. I’m assuming the flowers are toast?”
Caite chuckled. “Yeah, trampled, and I think she even ate some.”
“Sucks. I don’t think I’ve ever received flowers from a guy before.”
“Really? Never?”
“Nope”
“Blake manages to have them delivered for me every time he’s gone. It’s a small way to show me that he’s thinking about me even when he’s not here.”
That was the sweetest thing Sidney had ever heard. “You’re lucky,” she said.
“Believe me, I know. I’ll be right back,” Caite told her, and turned to head into the kitchen.
Sidney leaned over Hannah and said softly, “I missed you, baby. Have you been good? Besides the whole flower thing today, I mean.” Hannah didn’t answer in words, but she did wiggle in closer. “I’m gonna need to see your paw, girl. I know you don’t want me to, but if there’s still glass in there, I gotta get it out. You aren’t going to bite me, are you?”
The fact of the matter was that Sidney wasn’t sure what the dog was going to do when she started treating her cut pad. She knew better than most that injured animals sometimes lashed out when they were hurting. Hannah knew her, and seemed to love her, but pain sometimes overruled everything else.
Caite came back and put the things she’d asked for on the floor next to her. “Can I help?” she asked.
“Let’s play it by ear,” Sidney said. “The last thing I want is for you to get bitten if she decides she doesn’t like what I’m doing to her.”
“What about you getting bitten?” Caite asked.
Sidney shrugged. “Won’t be the first time.”
Caite frowned, but didn’t respond.
Shifting so the bulk of Hannah’s body was across her lap, Sidney carefully bent one of Hannah’s front legs back, the one she’d been licking. The dog whimpered, but didn’t otherwise move or growl.
“That’s it, girl, just let me help you. I’ll get you fixed right up,” Sidney murmured. She took the wet washrag and gently swiped it across the dog’s paw. “Ah, yeah, you really did a number on yourself, didn’t you? Caite?”
“Yeah?” The other woman kept her voice low and even, which Sidney appreciated.
“Do you think you can find me a pair of needle-nosed pliers or something? I’m gonna need something other than my fingers to dig this piece of glass out of her pad.”
“Um…sure, but…what do they look like?”
Sidney looked up in surprise. “What…needle-nosed pliers?”
Caite blushed. “Yeah. I know, I know, I should know. But I’m hopeless with that sort of thing. I get confused about the difference between a Phillips head and a flat-head screwdriver too.”
“Seriously? I mean, a flat-head screwdriver literally describes what it is in the name.”
“I know, but if someone asks for a Phillips head, I still get confused and I’m not sure which they want. Go ahead and laugh. I’m used to it. Blake makes fun of me all the time.”
Sidney couldn’t have stopped the laughter from escaping if her life depended on it. Finally, she got herself under control. “Sorry. I work with tools all day, every day, so it just surprises me when I hear shit like that. I think I saw a toolbox in the front closet when Decker was giving me a tour. If you bring it over here, I’ll point out what I need.”
“Okay. Deal!” Caite said happily as she moved to the closet.
In moments, she was back with the battered red toolbox. Just as Sidney hoped, Decker had a pair of needle-nosed pliers right on top. “Those. The thing with the blue handle and the long spike things that look like a really long snout.”
Caite beamed. “See? You know how to ask for things in a way I understand.”
Still chuckling, Sidney took the pliers from her when she held them out. Then she got serious. “Okay, step back. I’m gonna do this nice and fast so Hannah doesn’t have time to freak out.”
“So Hannah doesn’t have time to freak out?” Caite asked perceptively.
“Yup. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it,” Sidney told her. “Here goes.” She wiped away the blood that had welled up while she’d been talking. The piece of glass wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small either. She clasped it, and winced when Hannah whimpered. “I know, baby, but once this is out, you’ll feel a whole lot better, promise.”
Then she quickly and firmly pulled the piece of glass out of the dog’s foot. Hannah whimpered some more, but didn’t snap at her or make any threatening moves whatsoever.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, Sidney held out the pliers with the piece of glass still grasped in the nose. “Can you take this?” she asked Caite.
“God, my heart is beating a million miles an hour,” Caite said as she took the tool from Sidney.
“Mine too,” Sidney said with a smile. “And Hannah’s.”
While Caite headed into the kitchen, Sidney covered Hannah’s pad with the wet cloth and held it firmly in place. The pad would continue to bleed, but hopefully with direct pressure it would stop sooner rather than later.
Taking a look around her, Sidney winced. There was a lot to clean up. She had no idea what in the world Hannah had been doing to get blood absolutely everywhere, but there was no way she could leave Caite to deal with this all on her own.
Forty minutes later, Hannah was back on her bed—stripped of the comfy outer cover, which was in the washer—watching as Sidney and Caite scrubbed the walls and floors.
Caite had changed into a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, and Sidney had nabbed one of Decker’s T-shirts from his dresser. It was way too big, but she tied it in a knot at her waist and figured since it was only her and Caite, her fashion faux pas would be forgiven.
“Seriously, how in the world did blood get up here on the countertop?” Caite muttered as she worked in the kitchen.
“Same way it got under the couch,” Sidney commiserated.
The two women talked about nothing and everything as they cleaned, until Sidney sat back on her heels and said, “You know what would make this better?”
“Um…finding someone els
e to do it for us?” Caite replied.
Sidney laughed. “Yes, definitely that, but I was thinking alcohol.”
Caite stopped wiping the cabinets and looked over at her. “It is Friday night, and I don’t have to work tomorrow.”
They grinned at each other and put down their cleaning supplies and starting raiding Decker’s kitchen. They came up with a bottle of rum and Kool-Aid. It wasn’t exactly highbrow, but neither cared.
An hour later, with the house mostly clean, Caite sat on one end of the couch, and Sidney snuggled with Hannah on the other. Luckily, the bleeding had stopped completely, but Sidney kept a washcloth wrapped around it, just in case.
“I don’t think the blood is ever going to come out of these cushions,” Sidney lamented.
“Then Gumby will just have to buy a new couch!” Caite exclaimed a little too exuberantly.
The bottle of rum was almost gone. Between the two of them, and with a whole lot of Kool-Aid, they’d about polished it off. It had been a while since Sidney had gotten drunk, but tonight had definitely called for it.
Caite was just as drunk as Sidney, but she seemed to be a happy drunk, whereas Sidney always got super-emotional. Not crazy, like starting fights, just weepy.
“How did Rocco manage to send you flowers when he’s on a mission?” Sidney asked the other woman. She’d been thinking about it ever since Caite figured out how Hannah had gotten hurt.
“He sets it up ahead of time. Sometimes they come the day after he leaves, and other times they come a week later. I think he does it so they’re always a surprise. I mean, I’m always pretty sure they’re coming, but I don’t know when.”
“That’s so sweet,” Sidney told her, resting her head on the back of the sofa.
“I know. And looking at him, you’d never guess he was so romantic.”
“What’s up with the beards?” Sidney asked.
Caite giggled. “Right? I mean, I’m all for a hot guy with a beard, but to have every single one of the guys on the team with one is kinda crazy.” She leaned forward and winked. “But now that I’m sleeping with a bearded hottie, I can definitively say that I’m pro-beard in bed.”
Sidney smiled politely.
“Oh my God, seriously?”
“What?” Sidney asked, looking around in bewilderment.
“You haven’t slept with Gumby yet?”
Sidney knew she was blushing, but couldn’t help it. She took another drink of the homemade “trash-can punch” they’d concocted. “This really does taste like straight-up Kool-Aid.”
“Stop trying to change the subject,” Caite scolded, shaking her finger at Sidney. “I thought for sure you guys were doing the nasty.”
“We haven’t known each other that long,” Sidney defended.
“Girl, whatever you’re waiting on, stop it.”
“I just…I don’t sleep around, and I keep thinking Decker is too good to be true.”
Caite shook her head fiercely. “No, he’s not. I thought the same thing about Blake. But these guys…they’re…amazing. That’s a crappy word for what I’m trying to say, but my brain isn’t working too well right now. They’re honorable, sweet, and completely badass. If Gumby likes you, you don’t have to worry about him cheating or being a dick.”
Sidney raised an eyebrow. “All men can be dicks.”
Caite waved off her words. “Oh, I’m not saying he won’t fuck up. He will. All guys do. They can’t help it. It’s ingrained in their DNA. What I mean is that if you decide to be with him, really be with him, he’ll make sure you know how special you are.”
“Is that what Rocco does with you?”
“Um, yes. Flowers?”
Sidney nodded. Caite did have a point.
“And the beard thing? Totally hot. Especially when he goes down on you.”
Sidney knew she was beet red.
Caite rolled her eyes. “Tell me you haven’t thought about it.”
Sidney shrugged. “I’ve thought about it.”
The other woman grinned huge and nodded. “As I said…mind-blowing.”
“Can I ask something else?”
“Of course. I think after cleaning up what looked like a murder scene, we’re like, best friends now or something. I wouldn’t be surprised if we wake up in a jail cell tomorrow morning, wondering what the hell we did the night before.” She laughed at her own joke, and Sidney couldn’t help but smile at her.
“Decker said you saved his life?”
Caite rolled her eyes. “Those guys are way too focused on that.”
“So it’s true?” Sidney asked.
Caite shrugged. “I guess. I mean, I’m sure they would’ve figured out a way out of that hole they were in before the bad guys came along and shot them if I hadn’t shown up.”
Sidney’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “What?”
“Yeah. It was in Bahrain. They were only supposed to be checking things out. Nothing bad was supposed to happen, but they were ambushed and thrown down into this cellar. I heard the bad guys talking about going back and shooting them, and I couldn’t let that happen. Blake had asked me out on a date, and it had been forever since I’d been on one, and I wanted that date, damn it! So I went into the city, found them, and opened the hatch where they were kept. That’s all I did. They’re making it into way more than it was. Did you know that Gumby saved my life?”
Sidney’s mind was spinning. Intellectually, she knew Decker was a Navy SEAL, but hearing all this, she was getting a whole new picture of the man he truly was. And it was both scary and hot as hell. “No.”
“Yeah, I can’t swim. Well, I can float. Sort of. A bad guy decided he wanted to kill me because of shit that went down in Bahrain, and to get away from him, I stupidly went into the ocean. Gumby and this other SEAL guy, Cookie, showed up out of nowhere and towed me to shore.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup. Totally saved my life.”
“No, I mean, you seriously can’t swim?” Sidney wasn’t surprised Decker had gone into the ocean after Caite. He was a really good swimmer.
“Well, I’m better now. Blake is teaching me. Let me guess, you’re probably an Olympian or something, right?”
Sidney laughed. “No.”
“Whew.”
“But I was all-state on my water polo team in high school.”
“Bitch,” Caite said. But she said it with a smile on her face, so Sidney simply giggled.
After a moment, she said, “I like you.”
“I like you too,” Caite returned.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to,” Sidney admitted. “I mean, the guy I like was excited to tell me that you saved his life and how much he admired you. Then he asked you to dog-sit Hannah instead of me, which, I’ll admit, kinda hurt. I was prepared to be polite to you, but I genuinely like you.”
“Oh my God!” Caite exclaimed. “I felt the same way. Well, not about dog-sitting Hannah, because I didn’t know that he didn’t ask you. When Blake said he’d come over here and met you, and how nice you were, I was kinda jealous. I know Blake would never cheat, but I kinda didn’t like that you were encroaching on ‘my’ guys. I mean, I’m not dating them, it’s not like some sort of reverse harem or anything, but I kinda started thinking about the team as mine, you know? But you were the only person I could think to call, and you came right away, and were so worried about poor Hannah…” Her voice trailed off.
Sidney ran a hand over Hannah’s head and heard the dog sigh in contentment. Then she said, “I don’t make friends easily. But I’d like to think we’re friends now?” She felt tears in the back of her eyes, and she did everything possible to keep them from falling. If she cried, Caite would think she was a complete dork. Damn alcohol, making her weepy!
“Yes! We’re totally friends. You’re so cool, and I can’t believe you don’t have a million friends already. You’re way cooler than I am. I mean, I majored in French in college. Who does that?”
“Well, I didn’t even go to c
ollege,” Sidney admitted.
“Then you saved a ton of money. Go you!” Caite said with a smile.
It was hard to believe Caite was as genuine as she was, but judging by the way she smiled at her, Sidney knew it was true.
“How do you deal with Rocco being gone?” Sidney blurted. “We don’t have any idea where they went or how long they’ll be away.”
“It sucks,” Caite said with a frown. “I won’t lie. But I have to trust that they know what they’re doing. They always go over and over the missions before they leave. Blake told me that they have a ton of backup plans just in case something goes wrong.”
“Decker mentioned that too,” Sidney admitted.
“I just have to believe that he’ll come home safe and sound. But even if he gets hurt, I’d never leave him,” Caite said fiercely. “I’ve heard so many stories of women leaving their men while they’re laid up in the hospital.”
“They do not?!” Sidney said, shocked.
Caite nodded. “Yup. But I don’t care what happens, I’ll never leave Blake. Ever. He’s stuck with me.”
Sidney couldn’t even think about something happening to Decker. It hurt her heart.
It was at that moment when she knew exactly how badly she’d fallen for the Navy SEAL.
“It helps to talk about it with someone,” Caite said. “Blake introduced me to a group of SEALs he’s worked with, and their wives, and I have to tell you, I was super jealous of how close they all were.”
“How come you didn’t call one of them tonight?” Sidney asked, genuinely curious.
Caite shrugged. “They were all really nice, and I know Blake wants me to call them if I ever need anything, but I don’t know…they’re all so…established. They’ve been with their men for years, have kids, and are very close with each other. I kinda feel like an outsider. Not because of anything they’ve said or done, but just because Blake isn’t a part of the team their men are on. Does that make sense?” she asked.
“Surprisingly, yes,” Sidney reassured her. She held up her cup. “To new friends!”
“To new friends,” Caite echoed, holding up her own cup.
“You can call me anytime.”
“And you can call me,” Caite returned.