Protective Instinct

by Tricia Lynne

  Really. Bad. Idea.

  Chapter Two

  Everything happens for a reason.

  Sometimes the reason is that you’re stupid and make bad decisions.

  Brody

  After pushing the button for three, I leaned against the adjacent wall and watched as Lily pinched the bridge of her nose and repeatedly mumbled the word no under her breath. Goddamn, she was cute as hell. She smelled a little bit like pee—I’m guessing dog. Her glossy black hair was in complete disarray, and she had dried drool on a green polo shirt that said The Unruly Dog Training Center, along with some kind of stain on her pants.

  That road rage of hers, too...when she flipped me off, it cracked me right the fuck up. I didn’t know it was her in the little SUV. She’d been weaving in and out of traffic, running up on people’s bumpers or slamming on her brakes. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was letting her over in front of me. When she realized it was me, the expression on her face had been fucking priceless.

  Lily Costello was a tough nut to crack. Gorgeous—I’d always thought that—and her ass was something to behold, all round hips and cheeks with a softness that I really, really wanted to squeeze. Not that I would without her permission. Texas gentleman, born and bred. Besides, with Lil, it would for sure get me nutted. I always seemed to seek her out at team functions—even after I’d learned she was the GM’s stepkid. I knew I shouldn’t. Not smart to have the hots for the GM’s stepdaughter. But she was something to behold.

  The first time I’d met her, she hadn’t smelled like pee. Instead, she’d smelled like some exotic flower that drove me insane. It wasn’t until I smelled it on another woman that I asked and found out it was jasmine. On Lily, the scent was darker, headier, sexy as hell. As far as I was concerned, the scent was Lily’s alone. I couldn’t smell it without thinking of her. She’d had on a deep purple dress that night. With silver studs. It left her soft, strong arms bare. Thighs of the same composition peeked out of her hemline. Again, with that ass in the form-fitting dress, and I could see the outline of a small belly under the fabric.

  She had a wicked sense of humor, not an ounce of pretension, and she rarely bit her tongue with me. I’d gone home with some completely forgettable jersey chaser that first night. I had to. To try to rid myself of the scent, the sound, the sight that was Lily.

  Something she’d called me on the second time I ran into her. The thought made me smile. We were at a team fundraiser, expected to mingle with the guests in order to give them their money’s worth. Instead, I’d spent half the night trying to find her face in the crowd. When I finally did, she’d playfully busted my balls about asking for her phone number and then going home with someone else before we’d talked a bit about her dad’s playing days and the structural superiority of waffles to pancakes.

  Things flowed so easy for us. It didn’t matter what we talked about; we fell into a rhythm. She was never nervous or forced, she didn’t stroke my ego or tell me what she thought I wanted to hear, and she sure as hell wasn’t starstruck. More like the other way around.

  She was real, unrehearsed, and I was in awe.

  Yeah, I was for damn sure attracted to Lily Costello, but my brain was on board, too.

  She was my magnet. “Am I really so bad, Lil?”

  Her dark blue gaze snapped to mine as she tucked loose hair behind her ear. “No. Sorry. I’ve had a bad day is all. Is this the dog that made the news?”

  “Yeah. I’ve only had her a couple weeks. She was wandering outside the practice facility, limping, skinny as hell, and skittish. Got her to a vet and they had to muzzle her to clean her up.” The wound on her foot had been badly infected, and she’d had two clusters of ticks attached to the skin above her tail. But the wound on her neck had nearly sent me into a rage. She’d been knifed. Like somebody tried to slit her throat. The vet had bathed her, removed the ticks, and put her under to clean and stitch the wounds. She was so damn scared in the vet’s kennel it broke my heart, yet the warning in her eyes was all you don’t wanna fuck with me, buddy.

  I understood that look on a gut level.

  Hiring the pet sitter was a stupid idea. I absolutely blame myself for that. When I couldn’t get the dog to go outside to pee or poop, I should have hired a pro trainer right then. Instead, a friend told me to try a dog sitter when I wasn’t home for the day to clean up after my girl. I paid the guy’s hospital costs—which were as extensive as antiseptic, Band-Aids, and a precautionary round of antibiotics—as well as offering him five large because I felt bad. Hell, he returned to work the same day. Then he realized who I was, and the scratch on his forearm became a traumatic event.

  Now he wanted a seven-figure settlement.

  The elevator door slid open on my floor, and I motioned for Lily to go first, wondering what kind of panties she had on under those pants. What would that ass look like bent over my couch?

  My dick twitched. Fuck, don’t go there. I was already on thin ice with the Bulldogs, and my no-trade clause was contingent upon my conduct. I was sure after all the shit I’d stepped in lately that banging the GM’s stepdaughter would be crossing the line.

  The fantasy suite scandal had been an epic clusterfuck that was still in the news. I’d been in the downtown Dallas hotel that night, but when my teammates started getting naked with those chicks, I took off.

  My reputation with women wasn’t great, I freely admitted it, but I didn’t screw around anymore. I hadn’t in a while. Boring Brody didn’t sell magazines, and the girl from the fantasy suite who’d tried to blackmail us had doctored the pictures, inserting me into the thick of things. I owned that I’d been there, but I left before shit went sideways. The fact that the news broke only a couple months after I slept with someone who turned out to be the team owner’s granddaughter didn’t exactly help matters with the organization.

  She never told me who she was, and it was a one night thing when I’d needed to blow off some steam.

  Now, the owner wanted me gone, pronto. I was hanging on by a thread, especially at my age. I was planning on retiring once my contract was up, anyway—the rookie linebacker from Florida was breathing down my neck. I wanted to finish my career in Dallas. I’d played all my ball here, from peewee on up. Hell, my mom still lived in Plano and came to my home games.

  The GM was clear—if I didn’t keep my dick in my pants and my face off the news, I wouldn’t get to play out my two-year contract and retire from my hometown team.

  So, yeah. As much as I liked Lily Costello, she was strictly off limits.

  “Is she a mixed breed? How big is she?”

  I forced myself to pull even with her as we walked the length of the hall. “Yeah, she’s a big girl. One-ten, maybe? Some kind of Pit Bull, but bigger? Looks intimidating as hell but she sticks to her kennel like she’s scared.

  “I think if it’d been a yorkiepoodleretriever that nipped that sitter, he wouldn’t have made a fuss. My girl barely broke the skin. Honestly, I’d watched the nanny cam footage I set up to keep an eye on the dog during the day. I would have bit the sitter, too. I told him to check on her, let her out to potty in the bedroom on the pads because she wouldn’t tolerate a leash. If I try to take her outside, she locks up on me before I can get her out of the room.

  “The sitter tried to drag her out of the crate by looping a leash over her head and pulling. Now this guy is playing it for all it’s worth to get into my pocket.” I felt the lines in my forehead deepen.

  “A lot of those folks don’t have a ton of experience when they take a job as a dog sitter and don’t have the proper training in canine behavior. Working with dogs sounds like a fun and easy way to earn some money. Until it isn’t.

  “Most of the time, when a dog bites a person, it’s either because they’ve been trained to, or the human isn’t reading their behavior correctly. She likely panicked on the leash. Since you found her outside, I doubt that will send her in
to a panic, but getting her out there might be an issue. How did you get her to go with you?”

  Meeting Lil’s eyes this close with the light from the end of the hall filtering in, I discovered that they weren’t blue like I’d thought. They were the most amazing shade of violet. “Uh, protein bars. I unwrapped one and threw it in the back seat of the cab. I held another and sat on the parking block. Took about twenty minutes before she came up to me and took the pieces from the ground. Another ten, and she was eating from my hand. She’d let me touch her side, but if I reached for her head she ducked away. The emergency vet found a gash in her neck. It’s healed, and the stitches are out, but it was bad. Vet said it was a knife wound and barely missed her jugular. I’m guessing whoever tried to slice her throat is sporting some serious wounds of their own because they obviously didn’t finish the job.”

  Lily’s nostrils flared and I could almost hear her molars grinding together.

  “When I stood up off the parking block, the dog skittered back. I thought she was going to run away, so I opened the door of my truck and threw the last of the bar in the back.” I shrugged. “I got lucky, I guess, because she jumped in.”

  I slipped my key into the lock. I knew I was staring, but I couldn’t stop trying to get another peek at those purple eyes. “I figured, out there in the north forty at the training facility, there’s coyotes and bobcats. Even heard tell of a couple mountain lions. I didn’t want her to be something else’s dinner. Hey, are your eyes purple? They’re mesmerizing, Lil.”

  She nodded, chewed on the inside of her lip. “It’s a mutation. They’re not actually purple. It’s a shade of blue that appears violet in certain lights. But that really wasn’t smart, Brody. A dog that big could have attacked you from behind while you drove and taken your head off. You should have called the nearest rescue or animal control. And dude, the way you’re staring is full-on creeper.”

  Like I said, Liliana Costello did not sugarcoat shit. I huffed a quick laugh. “Sorry, don’t mean to be creepy. I’ve never noticed it before, and I’ve never seen anything like it.” Lily cleared her throat, forcing me back on topic. “The dog stayed curled in a ball on the floorboard. But, yeah. I realized that after the fact.”

  Pushing the door open, I motioned for Lily to go first, resting my hand on her back without thinking. The small touch sent a shock of heat through me and a shiver through her.

  “Wow. This is... I expected it to be bigger.”

  I snickered as she surveyed my apartment. “That’s what she said.”

  She let out the most inelegant snort. Yet, that beautiful purple hue sparked with her smile. I liked making the woman smile.

  My apartment was open and airy with comfortable furniture and two bedrooms. “I really don’t need much. The flashy stuff isn’t my thing.”

  Lil nodded. “Smart. I don’t need a lot either. Where do you keep her kenneled during the day?”

  “In the guest room.” I led her down the short hall, tennis shoes squeaking on the floor.

  “What’s her name?”

  “I haven’t given her one yet. I was hoping her personality would show itself.”

  “Well, that’s your first assignment. If you’re keeping this dog, give her a name.”

  I nodded, opened the door. Huddled in her open-doored kennel, she was folded into a small ball. All black brindle, with cropped ears laid back tight against her massive head, she missed nothing as we entered. “She doesn’t like to come out of there. Especially when someone is in here with her. I come home and check on her, and she’ll wait till I leave the room before she emerges. She’ll leave it to eat and do her business on the pads, then she turns around and goes right back in. And I already learned if I shut the door to it, she’ll do her business in the kennel if she has to. I didn’t want to have to give her a bath as scared as she’s been. As long as the door stays open, she won’t do her business in there. So, I took out everything of value and now it’s her room.”

  “Mmm.” Lily scanned over the monster of a dog and took everything in. “I’ll need to get her out of the kennel, but I’m already seeing two things. First, she’s not a Pit mix. She’s a Cane Corso.”

  Huh. “Never heard of that breed.”

  “It’s an Italian Mastiff breed derived from an extinct breed called Molosser. Actually, all bully breeds come from Molosser. Even the little guys like Frenchies and Boston Terriers.” Her voice was soft and even, soothing, as she spoke. “Corsi are a working breed with highly developed guardian instincts. Very loyal, but they need firm, positive reinforcement combined with continuous socialization to be good family pets. A lot of people want Corsi because they have the ‘tough’ look. However, when people don’t have the skill set or knowledge to handle a powerful breed with guarding instincts, bad things happen.”

  Her voice was getting louder. Not sharp, but firm. Confident. The dog’s ears twitched at the sound; her head turned in Lil’s direction. “The breed gets a bad rap because so many owners pick them for the wrong reasons. They don’t think about how the breed will actually fit into their lives. An unsocialized Cane Corso is a bite waiting to happen. But, properly socialized, they are some of the most loyal and loving companions you can have.”

  “Cane Corso. Huh. I think I’ll call her CC. You know, your stepdad wanted me to have her put down. I couldn’t do it. She’s not a bad dog. She’s misunderstood. She needs somebody to believe in her is all.” I let my head drop forward a bit. I wanted so much to give her a good life, yet I didn’t know where to start.

  Lily smiled, put a hand on my arm. The touch kicked up my heart rate as heat rode down my spine. “I get it. And I love that Brody Shaw, big mean linebacker, goes all soft for his rescue pup.”

  I didn’t think it was possible for me to get embarrassed, but I felt the tips of my ears turn red.

  “She’ll come around with time and patience. If you don’t think you have those, plus the energy to put into her day-to-day care and training, tell me now. I’ll make other arrangements for her, because she’s going to be some work. Right now, that kennel is where she feels safe. I’d guess she’s spent most of her life in one. Wherever she came from, she’s not had an easy life, and it’s going to require a lot of work on your part to earn her trust.”

  I didn’t have to think about it at all. “No, she’s my dog. I’ll do whatever needs to be done to make her life with me stellar.”

  Lily gave a solid nod, her lips turning up at the corners. “Okay. I’m going to get her to come out. Why don’t you have a seat to give us some room?”

  I sat in the corner chair and watched the raven-haired trainer work her magic. She moderated her voice the entire time we’d been in the room, but now her tone changed to one that held more authority. CC’s ears perked, her massive head coming up from her paws to watch the trainer.

  Lil knelt in front of the kennel. She didn’t baby talk or coo; she simply spoke in the same confident tone that perked the dog’s ears. She told CC how brave she was. That she was safe. That she wouldn’t let anything hurt her. It didn’t matter what she said because the point was the delivery.

  Within a couple of minutes, the dog moved to the open door to investigate the trainer, who offered a palm to sniff. After a gentle nosing, Lil scratched her behind an ear and my girl’s eyelids drooped in pure bliss. She stopped before the Cane Corso had had her fill, and a question filled CC’s puppy-dog eyes when Lily pushed back a few feet. While she spoke, Lil produced a treat from her pocket.

  It proved too tempting, and my girl emerged from the kennel to investigate. It was something to see. Lily was in control of the situation, the dog picked up on it, and as a result, started to relax. She peered around as if seeing her surroundings for the first time. The dog ducked when Lily stood to her full height, and nearly dropped to the floor. As soon as her new friend reached into her magic treat pocket, CC’s heartbreaking reaction was replaced with c
uriosity.

  “She’s inquisitive, eager. That’s good, but you’re going to need to repeat this process until she comes out on her own to find you. You’ll want to keep treats with you whenever you’re with her to reward her for good responses.”

  Lily’s patient yet firm voice was doing it for me, too. The woman was totally in control and it was hot. “What about bad behavior? Housebreaking and all that?”

  When CC sat next to Lily’s leg and nosed her pocket, Lil offered her another treat. She patted CC’s head, examining the dog’s scarred neck and the smaller scars on her ribs. I had no idea how she’d gotten those. Barbed wire maybe, or a cage that was too small. Like they came from some repetitive action and the scar tissue was so thick hair no longer grew.

  When Lil started moving around the room, the dog followed. The trainer rewarded her with another treat. “For now, ignore any unwanted behavior until she’s more confident. What puts her at ease is feeling like you’ll keep her safe. You want her to feel that all the time before we worry about bad habits. Once she’s sure of herself in the apartment and seeking you out on her own, we’ll worry about the rest.”

  I propped my elbows on my knees. My voice came out grated. “Make her feel safe. I can do that.”

  Whatever my girl had endured before she hopped in my truck, she’d never have to worry, or scrounge, or shiver, or fight again. Lil must have noticed the emotion swimming through my eyes because her own softened.

  “I’d like to get her out to your living room so I can look her over better.” She reached into her pocket, producing a handful of treats. “Hold on to these. I’m going to lead her into the hall behind you, and then you’ll take her out to the living room the same way I get her to go with me. Sit on the living room rug and let her come to you. Reward her when she does. If she asks for more treats, reward her again. If she asks for affection, give it to her with a gentle touch, but don’t lean over the top of her or make prolonged eye contact because those are threatening gestures in dog language, okay?”