She drew her eyebrows together. “It’s fifteen feet up, young man. You’ll never reach it.”
“I love when someone says I can’t do something.” He shook out his arms and shot her a grin. “It makes it that much more satisfying when I succeed.” He winked and turned toward his target. The light post had a boxy base that rose two feet from the ground. The lip was an inch wider than the pole, plenty of space for a toehold. He ran for the light, jumped onto the base, and pushed off. He stretched his lanky six-foot-three frame and grabbed the pole close to the horizontal arm the scarf was wrapped around.
Hand over hand, he pulled himself up the last couple of feet and tugged the silk square free. He slid down the pole, hopped off, and presented the scarf to the woman with a flourish. “Madam.”
Several patrons from the café’s patio clapped, and Dax swept a low bow.
The woman handed him his bags and knotted the scarf around her neck. “Thank you for the dramatic rescue,” she said wryly.
Dax opened his mouth to respond, but a group of three beefy men knocked into him as they hurried down the sidewalk.
Dax staggered into the woman and threw out a hand to steady her. “Hey, watch it,” he shouted after the jerks. The men ignored him and quickened their pace.
The older woman sniffed. “People today. What are you going to do?”
He shrugged and waved goodbye. His irritation melted away before he’d crossed the street. It was hard to stay annoyed in the Big Easy. With its decadent food, sultry music, and beguiling women—Dax looked up and down Decatur but didn’t see any long curls—New Orleans didn’t allow a person to stay in a bad mood for long. Maybe he should take a real vacation down here sometime.
He found the Forever Friends van parked a block away in front of a used bookstore. He opened the back doors, and a chorus of barking greeted him.
“I know, I said I wouldn’t be long. But it took me a while to find Da Bone Bakery.” He opened his second bag and doled out cookies amongst the eight dogs in their cages. The dog treats smelled as good as his beignets and if he didn’t already have his own snack, Dax would have been tempted. “I’ll find a rest stop in a couple of hours, little dudes.”
A Bluetick Coonhoud scratched at his cage and whined.
“You’ll get to run free in a little bit.” Through the wire, Dax scratched the white patch on his black head. “Sit tight.” He hopped out of the van and closed one of the doors.
Shouting down the street drew his attention. He walked to the front of the van and eyed one of the yahoos who had knocked into him, yelling at a cabbie. Out of his open window, the driver tossed the man a one-fingered response and sped off, narrowly missing the guy’s toes. His buddies pulled him off the street. They strode down the sidewalk, peeking into shop windows and down alleys.
Karma was a bitch. Dax was a firm believer that what a person sent out into the world boomeranged back around. Knock into someone one moment, almost get your toes run over the next. One of the men turned, and Dax spun around to hide his grin. He circled to the back of the van and shut the other door. Jumping into the driver seat, he cranked the engine. The van sputtered, coughed, and with a little bit of coaxing and pedal-pumping, finally turned over.
Dax eased onto the narrow street and made his way out of Crescent City. He hit the I-10 freeway and headed for home. Rummaging in his bag, he pulled out a beignet and took a bite. Powdered sugar drifted down like snow to dust his cargo pants. Dax moaned. Sweet, lardy goodness.
A dog in the back howled, the sound muffled through the wall between the cab and the cargo area.
“We’ll go for a run soon,” Dax called around a mouthful of fried dough. Obviously not believing him, the dog howled again. Poor bugger. Dax hated to cage the animals, but it was for their own safety. And Brad, the owner of Forever Friends, would tan Dax’s hide if he caught him building a playpen in the back of the van again. As long as Dax worked for other people, he’d do as they asked. But when he had his own business …
He wiped his hand on his pants and flipped the visor down. A picture of a different van stared back at him. Off-Road Adventures was written in a chunky print across its side. He ran his finger over the picture and his stomach fluttered.
Dax enjoyed volunteering for Forever Friends, which was lucky since he didn’t have a choice about it. Legally enforced servitude, he liked to call it. But his time there couldn’t compare to the thrill of leading a group of people out into the wilderness for a vacation they’d never forget. His probation was almost up, and soon he could return to working at the adventure company full time. But he wanted to be more than just an employee.
He squeezed the steering wheel. Jesse had agreed to his sale price. Dax still couldn’t believe it. In four short months, when Jesse retired, Off-Road Adventures could belong to Dax. If Dax could raise the down payment.
Considering his life savings consisted of a bundled-up roll of fifties in a coffee can under his bed, that might be a challenge. But he loved challenges.
He hit a causeway, a ten-mile stretch of freeway raised above swampland on the left and Lake Pontchartrain on the right.
The howling from the back rose in volume and was joined by a round of barks. The cacophony drowned out the radio set to a country music station. Maybe it was the song, heavy on the fiddle, that was riling up the dogs. Dax turned the radio off, and the ruckus in the back grew louder. Something thumped.
“Shit.” It couldn’t have been a cage tipping over. He’d checked the tie-downs twice. Something falling from a shelf? The bag of dog food hitting the floor? Water stretched on both sides of the freeway. There was nowhere to pull off to check. None of the barks sounded pained or frightened, but Dax pressed his foot to the accelerator anyway.
It was five more miles until he hit land. He took the first exit and pulled over onto a grassy patch lined with beech trees. He cut the engine and hopped out. The barking increased to a fevered pitch. “Guys, I’m coming. Cool your jets.”
He stretched his hands to the sky as he stood before the back doors. Now that he’d stopped, he should let the dogs out to stretch their legs, too. It was six hours to Memphis, his goal for the night, and even though their cages were lined with the fluffiest dog beds money could buy, it still wasn’t the Hilton back there.
The loudmouth of the group howled again, the mournful cry going on and on. “All right, I’m coming.” He unlocked the door and pulled the handle. Reaching around to the latch on the second door, he released it and threw both doors wide. “Now what—”
A wave of fur and slobber charged at him. The front paws of a husky hit Dax’s chest, and he stumbled back. The body of a Bassett Hound knocked into his legs, and Dax went down. All eight dogs leapt from the van and seemed to take pleasure in jumping on top of him. Thirty-two paws stampeding over his body. The air was knocked from his lungs. Small dots of light swam across his vision.
The dog howled again. It was the Bluetick Coonhound, and now Dax recognized the sound for the victorious cry of freedom that it was. The hound stood near the fender, chest puffed out, nose pointed to the heavens. The other dogs circled around him before bolting for the park-like area. The Bluetick looked as proud as if he’d freed his friends and led the rebellion himself. Like a smaller, and hairier, version of William Wallace.
Dax assessed his own condition. A slowly spinning head, but nothing severe enough to indicate a concussion. Sore legs and stomach from the dogs bouncing down on him. But all in all, no major damage.
A gorgeous cascade of wild curls popped into view.
He blinked, but the vision didn’t disappear.
The woman underneath the curls stood in the open doorway of the van, chewing on her bottom lip. Her exotic blue eyes glowed from her light-brown face. A small band of tiny multicolored beads circled her slim throat. She raised her hand to the top of the frame to steady herself, and the triangle hem of her paisley
top rose an inch. “Are you okay? Those little guys were really excited to get out of here.”
“What … who … what … you!” Dax rose onto one elbow. “Who are you and what are you doing in the back of my van?” He sat up, saw stars again, and held his position.
She hopped down, and the hem of her top fluttered up above the belly button of her toned stomach.
Dax swallowed.
“Hi. I’m Annelise, but call me Lissa.” She reached back into the van and grabbed the bag full of leashes that sat near the door. “We’d better get these guys rounded up. Don’t want them to become gator bait.”
Dax looked from her, to the now empty van, to the dogs rollicking about them. He slowly shook his head. “Where did you come from?”
“The French Quarter. I needed a ride.” She shrugged. The small strap of her top slid down her shoulder, and she pushed it back up.
“You needed a ride,” he repeated, and pinched the bridge of his nose. He must have hit his head harder than he’d thought. “You needed a ride, so, what? You decided to hitch one in the back of a van moving rescue dogs up to Michigan?”
“Michigan? Is that where we’re going?” She unwound one leash from the bunch and chased down a small terrier.
“We’re not going anywhere.” Dax grabbed the bumper and hefted himself up. “I’m going home. You’re going”—he flapped his hand toward New Orleans—“wherever the heck you belong.” He looked at the van’s doors and jiggled the lock. It worked. “How did you get in here?”
“On Royal Street, you left the doors open for a moment.” She snagged a small mutt and held his squirming body in one arm while trying to attach the leash with the other. “These guys don’t like being cooped up. I think on the rest of the drive up to Michigan we should let them outside of their cages.”
Dax gripped the back of his neck with both hands. “I repeat: We are not going to Michigan. I am. You are going back to … a psychiatric facility?”
The edges of her pink lips curved up, and she rolled her eyes. Like he was the one with a screw loose.
“A halfway house?” He planted his hands on his hips. “Are you jumping parole?”
“Don’t be absurd.” She looped the end of the leash around her wrist and grabbed a corgi as it trotted by. “I’m a painter. I was getting tired of New Orleans and decided to try somewhere else.” She tilted her head. “Michigan sounds as good a place as any. Does it get really cold there?”
“Freezing.” He took a step closer to her and ignored the scent of honeysuckle coming off her skin. “If you want to move, you call a moving company. Pack more than a backpack’s worth of stuff,” he said, nodding at her pack wedged in the corner of the van. “You do not, I repeat, do not, hop in the back of a stranger’s van full of rescue dogs.”
She attached a second leash to the corgi’s collar. “All I need are my brushes. Everything else is replaceable. Are we going to Detroit? I hear their music scene is almost as good as New Orleans’.”
Dax stared at the sky. A puffy white cloud was its sole occupant aside from the sun. That celestial object had started its descent toward the horizon, a reminder that daylight was burning and he was on a schedule. “Look, I’ll call a cab for you. I’ll even pay—”
“No, thanks.” She shook her head and the waterfall of curls shimmered in the light. “Besides, why waste money on a taxi when we’re going the same way?”
“You must have family who can help you if you want to move.” The Bluetick nudged Dax’s hand with his cold nose. Dax bent for his collar but the hound took off at a sprint for the tree line. Perfect. “Why don’t you ask them for a ride?”
“My parents live in a Winnebago. I’m not sure what state they’re in today.” She handed him the two leashes and took off after the husky that was rolling in the dirt nearby.
“Siblings?” he yelled after her.
“Nope!”
Dax rubbed his forehead. It was beginning to throb. His dad had taught him to be a gentleman. He couldn’t leave a woman alone on the side of an interstate. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t picked up hitchhikers before. But those people had asked for a ride; not stowed away in the back like a fugitive. He was getting a bad vibe from this chick. And no matter how beautiful she was, he couldn’t let his hormones override his good sense.
“How about friends?” he shouted. “You must have friends you can call.”
She dove for the dog, missed, and landed on her butt. The husky trotted up to check on her and she snapped on the leash. “Other artists,” she called back. “Complete flakes.” Standing, she brushed grass off her behind and sauntered back toward the van. Her blue jeans were molded to her hips, and each step she took toward him was a seduction.
He swallowed, trying to bring moisture back to his mouth. He dragged his gaze up to her face and met her mesmerizing eyes. That didn’t help. He gave it one last try. “Look, I’m not a taxi service. I don’t pick up strays unless they’re of the four-legged variety.”
She arched a dark eyebrow and gave him a smile worthy of the sphinx. “Well, then, consider me your latest rescue.”
About the Author
Allyson Charles lives in Northern California. A former attorney, she happily ditched those suits and now works in her pajamas writing about men’s briefs instead of legal briefs. When she’s not writing, she’s probably engaged in one of her favorite hobbies: napping, eating, or martial arts (That last one almost makes up for the first two, right?). One of Allyson’s greatest disappointments is living in a state that doesn’t have any Cracker Barrels in it. You can find her at www.allysoncharles.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/AuthorAllysonCharles.
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