Extreme Honor

by Piper J. Drake

  It was obviously popular. Every table was taken and the servers bustled between seated customers. The atmosphere was warm and the servers were good-natured. Friendly in the way only people who enjoyed where they worked could be.

  Their orders were taken by a cheerful girl who looked to be high school age, maybe first year of college.

  “What’s the story here?” Lyn had no doubt Sophie would know. The morning had been a fun, quirky litany of stories.

  “Hah. This place has an incredibly young owner, who is also the chef.” Sophie nodded toward the back. “Came up with the concept when he was…fourteen, maybe? It’s the nation’s first restaurant completely run by young people.”

  “Really?” Lyn raised her eyebrows. The menu was well put together with some complex flavors in those items. “That’s young. Very young to be starting a business.”

  She wasn’t familiar with labor laws for minors in this state but it seemed far-fetched.

  Sophie nodded. “It’s an inspiring story and they had the support of friends and family. Dinner is all fixed price style, European influence now. It’s a definite romantic hot spot.”

  “And have you been here for a particularly good date or two?” Despite chatting about shopping preferences and art, they hadn’t touched much on personal life. Lyn wasn’t sure if it was off-limits but she figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.

  “Nah.” Sophie sipped water. “I’m too busy with work to deal with the insanity of dating. Every few months I try to go out with a guy or two. There’s a couple of awkward dates with inane conversation and I swear off men until I forget just how painful dating can be.”

  “Ah well, I can completely understand.” Lyn played with her straw. “It gets worse when you travel all the time. Most guys don’t want to wait a couple of weeks for a second date. So even if I find someone remotely interesting, he’s moved on by the time I’m back in town. Or he’s decided I wasn’t interested because I keep telling him I’m out of town.”

  Sophie nodded in understanding. “Tough situation. But then again, you’ve been here about a week now. You usually in one place for this amount of time?”

  Lyn shook her head. “Most times, a client consultation is just a few hours. Training sessions are the same. I try to schedule clients in the same area together to make a trip out cost-efficient. Depending on how the dog and the owner are doing, I might come out every week for a month then switch over to once a month for a while to make sure the training stuck.”

  Sophie gave her a knowing smile. “Stuck with the dog or the owner?”

  Lyn laughed. “It’s almost always the owner who needs training. Once the dog figures out what a command means and which command a particular human is trying to give them, they’re generally good if there’s consistent practice. It’s more about figuring out the right routine for the whole household so the dog is behaving the way the owner wants. Not always as easy.”

  “Brandon says most of the time dogs aren’t bad, they’re just bored.” Sophie glanced out the window as if the man would materialize.

  Lyn didn’t blame her. Her own thoughts had been drifting back to the kennels, too. Wondering what David was doing with her out of his hair and how Atlas was doing.

  “Yeah. A bored dog gets destructive,” Lyn confirmed.

  “So your specialty is more dog psychology than actual training, isn’t it?” Sophie’s face lit up as their food arrived.

  Lyn took a minute to try her sandwich. “Mmm. Good call.”

  “Mmm.” No words from Sophie either.

  After enjoying their first bites—because good food deserved proper attention—Lyn pulled her brain back to the last question. “It seems like psychology, but getting where a dog comes from and how he or she is thinking makes training exponentially more effective. Besides, dogs are some of the most honest creatures you can work with anywhere.”

  Sophie nodded, more knowledge in her eyes than Lyn had anticipated. Lyn shifted in her seat.

  “The boys work with dogs for a lot of the same reasons, you know.” Sophie’s tone had become softer, more somber.

  “Not sure I get what you mean.” And Lyn wasn’t sure she wanted to.

  Sophie popped a French fry in her mouth. “Brandon grew up in this area. Did any of them mention it to you? He left for the military right out of high school and didn’t come home to stay until he was ready to retire from active duty. He started Hope’s Crossing Kennels as soon as he got back.”

  “Okay. Guessing you grew up with him?” Lyn leaned her chin on her hand, interested. The kennels looked fairly new, with all up-to-date equipment, so she’d guessed they’d been established recently.

  “Yup. I was his next-door neighbor growing up. Once he bought the land for the kennels, I made sure his finances were all in line to keep him in the black.” Sophie’s expression grew distant and maybe a hint obstinate as she continued, “He wanted to make a place for himself because no place felt right when he got back. It’s hard to find a comfort zone when they return from overseas. The contrast, the change from deliberately stepping into danger every single day to being surrounded by people running from place to place completely unaware of what could happen…there aren’t words for it.”

  Lyn nodded. Her stepfather hadn’t ever stayed for long. And it’d made her bitter. But this was the first time someone had given her this perspective.

  “Alex and David arrived as soon as the main building and kennels were built. They all had experience as handlers. They put together their business model to provide basic and obedience training for the community and to train working dogs for military and police units.” Sophie seemed to have forgotten the rest of her sandwich, working her way through the French fries instead. “It didn’t take long. Brandon was a hometown hero and they’re all gorgeous.”

  Lyn chuckled. “I hadn’t noticed.”

  “The basic and obedience classes are packed with single women who’ve suddenly decided having the protection of a dog at home is a good idea.” Disgust colored her words but Sophie waved it away. “They eventually settled into business and now people come from hours away to work with them. And their dogs are the best. They provide working dogs to police units all over the country and to the military, too.”

  “David’s training techniques are incredibly effective.” Lyn admired him for his work with any of the dogs on site, especially Atlas. It took a rare person to put pride aside to work in the situation they had. Lyn was lucky Atlas was responding to her and thankful David was coordinating with her in Atlas’s best interest.

  “To hear some of the ladies talk, David is incredibly effective in a lot of ways.” Sophie studied her.

  Lyn hoped her face was completely blank, fighting the heat rushing up to her cheeks. “I wouldn’t know and I don’t think it’d be appropriate if I did.”

  Sophie raised a single, perfectly groomed eyebrow in a high arch. “No?”

  “It’s not professional.” Saying so had sounded perfectly logical when she’d had the conversation with David at the beginning of the week. Here, with Sophie, not so much. Lyn didn’t want to be so short—not when Sophie had been so nice all morning—but Lyn wasn’t sure how to turn this into an easier-going chat.

  “Weak.” Sophie shook her head. “I like you. And I’m straightforward with people I like. So I’m going to say this: this isn’t a corporate environment. Plenty of people can work together plus engage in extracurricular activities.”

  Oh, and Lyn had been imagining them. Working with David every day was an exercise in self-control and mental focus. Every time he bent over to pick up a tennis ball, she was presented with the most grope-able ass she’d ever seen. And the other day he’d taken off his shirt in the afternoon for a few minutes to switch out to a clean one. The sight of all those wonderful muscles rippling underneath his skin had left her drooling, just a little. Luckily he hadn’t noticed.

  “We’re both focused on Atlas as a priority.” Might be the truth, but also another dodge.
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br />   “True. And he’s important. I get it.” Sophie nodded. “It’s not easy under all the scrutiny either. Since Atlas was in the papers, people are coming out of the woodwork, aren’t they?”

  “There’s a lot of oversight.” As personable as Sophie was, Lyn kept her stepfather’s interest to herself. Not that she wanted to hide it. But it’d just complicate things and be a whole lot more history to share than she was ready to do in one sitting.

  “Which means a lot of stress, maybe some anxiety.” Sophie pinned her with a direct look. “And there is very obviously tension between you.”

  “Maybe.” Okay, a lot. But Sophie had already laid it out there and Lyn wasn’t ready to say it out loud. “Why do you have an opinion about it?”

  Sophie had said she liked Lyn. And Lyn hadn’t been this close to another woman in years. Sophie could be a real friend someday if things here worked out. Lyn didn’t want to mess it up with a fight over David.

  “David is one of my best friends. He’s become a big brother to me. If you hurt him, I’d have to come after you.” One French fry was popped into Sophie’s mouth and another was waved in the air between them. “But if you might be good for him, it’s my duty as a little sister to get involved and get things moving since the two of you are obviously being obtuse about it.”

  Chapter Seven

  Cruz stood on the main street people-watching, basically.

  Tourists were walking by and giving him a healthy amount of space on the sidewalk. Considering the sheer number of visitors on a Saturday afternoon, he was more than happy to be free of the crowds of people. Of course, part of the reason why he’d been given so much space was probably because he was in a shit mood and wasn’t bothering to keep it from showing on his face. He wasn’t going to check out his reflection in a storefront window to confirm.

  He’d spent an entire morning up at McGuire, accessing SIPER Net to view the report on Calhoun’s death, and he didn’t have answers. Only more questions. He’d have preferred to bring the report back to his office where he could read and re-read and brainstorm, but those kinds of documents were secure and accessible only via SIPER Net. Which meant if he wanted to refresh his memory on the report, he had to drive up to McGuire and sign in to a secure location to gain access. No taking anything out with him.

  All he wanted now was to sit down, have lunch, and brain dump the questions he had so he could compare them with his other notes at home later. Why he’d stopped in New Hope on the way home was a question he wouldn’t answer to Forte or Rojas, but he’d be honest with himself.

  Lyn and Sophie had come up to New Hope.

  And knowing Sophie, there was no way the ladies had finished their shopping yet. Add the knowledge of how hungry Lyn got around lunchtime—she basically had an internal lunch bell inside her belly—and he was pretty sure they’d be seated in one of the trendy places along the streets eating their way through a menu.

  What he didn’t know was what he was going to say when he found them. Joining them would probably happen. He wasn’t the type to give bullshit excuses for why he was around town either. He had promised Lyn they were good when she’d turned him down for a dinner date. And he’d been careful to keep things professional and easygoing through the week as they focused on Atlas’s rehabilitation. But this was their first day away from each other. He’d wanted to check in on her and hadn’t thought twice about stopping.

  Now that he was here, though, he wasn’t sure if she’d think it was creepy.

  He’d consider himself creepy.

  Maybe he should go home and pick up fast food on the way.

  As he turned to head back to his car, he caught sight of a man across the street. The guy was doing a good job blending in with the wall of tourists checking out the old railroad station. Only he’d been there for as long as Cruz had been standing around debating whether to continue finding Lyn and Sophie or leaving. No other visitor had been hanging out for as long. There was only so much time a person could spend staring at an old building. Photographers and artists were the only exceptions that came to mind.

  This man had neither a fancy camera nor tripod. No art supplies either. He was dressed like a tourist but wasn’t. Fit beneath the t-shirt and jeans; wearing work boots, not sneakers or loafers. Plus, the way the man stood kept the wall at his back and all approaches in easy view.

  Definitely not the usual person out to enjoy the sights and shopping.

  “David!” Sophie’s voice erupted about a block down the street as she and Lyn emerged from a restaurant.

  His person of interest didn’t flinch. Despite remaining in his relaxed position leaning against the wall, the man’s balance shifted easily to a more ready-for-action position. Interesting.

  “Didn’t you hear us?” Sophie arrived at his side and gave him a friendly punch in the arm.

  “I heard you. Entire street did, too.” Cruz tore his gaze from the other man to focus on Sophie and Lyn before Sophie made a bigger scene. “It’s never good to reinforce bad behavior.”

  Sophie gasped in mock outrage and Lyn choked on a laugh.

  “You two just finished lunch?” He’d might as well chat with them and make sure all was well.

  “Oh, actually, I think I forgot something at the shop down the street.” Sophie made a big show of fishing through her shopping bags. “I better go try to find it.”

  Obvious. So incredibly, painfully obvious.

  Lyn leaned over to look in the bags, too. “I’ll…”

  “No, no.” Sophie waved a hand. “Stay here and chat with David. I’ll only be a minute.”

  Before Lyn could say anything else, Sophie was walking at a fast clip down the street expertly dodging other shoppers on the sidewalk.

  Damn. He was pretty sure a grenade had just fallen into his foxhole. If he stayed, it was likely to be a mess. If he made a run for it, Sophie would shoot him down in his tracks.

  Lyn cursed under her breath.

  He studied her. “You don’t have to wait with me if you don’t want to.”

  What? He didn’t see any reason to pretend politeness if either of them was uncomfortable.

  She looked up at him with wide eyes, her lips parted in surprise. Her very kissable…Shit. He should go.

  “I don’t mind waiting with you.” The words came out quick, with a weird note of panic.

  Oh, even better. Creepy might not be a strong enough word for the reaction he was inciting in her.

  He did not want to be the cause of it. “It really is okay. It’s your day off. You should get to relax.”

  He took a step away, then suddenly stopped. Because her hand had shot out to snag his wrist.

  “I really don’t mind.” Her grip on his wrist was firm, not hesitant.

  Interesting. He turned his wrist in her hold until she released him and he caught her hand in his instead. “No?”

  Her fair skin turned a pale pink over her cheeks. He wondered if other parts of her flushed when she was embarrassed.

  She left her hand in his, relaxed and warm. “Feels weird being out and about instead of working with you and Atlas.”

  “It’s been an intense week.” So was this…moment. Or whatever it was. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, enjoying the softness of her skin. Hanging around was becoming a better and better idea.

  She nodded. “He’s coming along very well. And I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to learn from you.”

  Very well was an understatement. Atlas’s transformation over the last several days was continuing. His responses to commands had become quicker, more enthusiastic. The dog was starting to actually pay attention to his surroundings and listen for commands. His desire to work was coming back. And that drive was key in a military working dog.

  “There’s a lot more to this concept of balance you’ve been talking about than I’d initially given credit to.” Cruz had been skeptical at first. The whole dog-whisperer technique of head shrinking a dog had been tough to keep an open mind to at t
he beginning. Most of his training had to do with understanding the natural drivers of a dog and making sure training coincided with those instinctive impulses. “It’s good to see him engaged.”

  Of course, Cruz had some reservations. The rehabilitation they were doing with Atlas was good now. But in the future, the question would be whether Atlas had become too attached to a single handler again. They’d have to cross that bridge when they came to it.

  Lyn, though, had lit up thinking about Atlas. “Seeing him in action is exhilarating. I knew the military service dogs could do amazing things, but seeing it in person is a whole new level of wow.”

  She’d said “wow” several times through the week. And every time, Cruz had pondered how he could make her say it in bed. Completely inappropriate, but hell, as long as the thoughts stayed locked inside his brain they couldn’t hurt. And they were definitely entertaining.

  Cruz grinned. “Atlas is capable of more. Maybe we should take you out and rig you up for some of the more adventurous training exercises. A little rappelling, maybe even take you to one of the bases and arrange for a jump out of a helicopter.”

  Could be a lot of fun. Though it’d depend on how she faced the challenge. Atlas had done it plenty of times, but back then his handler had been practiced in the action first. If Lyn was nervous or afraid when she tried, Atlas would react to her anxiety.

  “Really?” Lyn’s eager expression and her genuine smile made Cruz rethink. She’d come through some crazy shit already. A little hop out of a helicopter wasn’t likely to daunt her.

  “We’d need to get you trained first.” He wanted to take her out on those new experiences himself. Savored the idea. And if he imagined a few other naughty experiences, too, who could blame him? Adrenaline was a great aphrodisiac.

  She probably looked fantastic in rappelling gear. All those nifty straps.

  Probably unaware of his line of thought, Lyn shrugged. “Training is usually for the human half of the pair anyway. The canine just needs clear leadership.”