Page 30 of Mountain Rescue
“What the hell did that bastard do to you, Bella girl?” He hoped that by getting her out of the kennel and bringing her to the cabin, that she’d be happier, but maybe he was pushing her too soon. If she was still this stressed out tomorrow, he’d take her back.
She whined when he removed his hand, but her face stayed hidden under her tail. “It’s okay. We just have to get out of the Jeep. There’s someone I want you to meet. I think you’ll like her.” He hoped so. Maybe he should have asked Rachel if she was okay with him bringing a dog to the cabin, but too late now. He went around to the passenger side and opened the door.
“Come on. You can’t stay in here all night. I promise the wildcat won’t eat you.” The leash was still attached to her collar, and he picked it up, then slid his other hand under her belly. Before he could haul her out, she jumped to the ground. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
She pressed the side of her body against his leg as she looked around. She was shaking but not as violently as the first time he’d sat in the kennel with her. Maybe she really was starting to trust him. He sure would like to get his hands on the man who’d turned her into a dog afraid of humans.
Rachel was walking down the hallway when they entered the cabin, and he stumbled, almost falling on his face. “Uh...” Rachel wrapped in a white towel, water droplets dripping down her chest from her wet hair was not a sight he was expecting. It was definitely one he liked.
She stilled. “Oh, I didn’t know you were back.” She gripped the towel tighter, and he resisted telling her he wouldn’t mind if it slipped off, not at all. “Um, I took a bath.”
Obviously.
“In your bathroom.” She waved a hand toward his room as if he didn’t know where that was. “I hope you don’t mind, but...well, I needed to think, and a bath helps me get my head straight.”
“Think about what?”
“Oh, ah, stuff.”
He sure would like to know what that stuff was because he had a suspicion that he might be a part of that stuff.
“I’ll just go get dressed.”
That wasn’t necessary on his account, but he figured she wouldn’t appreciate him telling her that.
She took a step, then stopped when Bella whined. “What is that?”
He glanced behind him. He’d forgotten about Bella when confronted by a wet wildcat. “This is Bella.” She was trying to melt into the back of his legs. “She’s a bit of a scaredy cat.”
“Aren’t you a pretty thing?” Rachel kneeled, the towel parted, giving him a glimpse of the insides of her thighs, and he swallowed hard.
“You might want to get dressed before I introduce you to her.” Before he decided the floor was the perfect place to become better acquainted with his roommate.
“Oh, crap.” She pushed up and dashed to her room.
“She sure is cute when she blushes,” he told Bella. “How about you wait here a minute while I get your food and bed out of the Jeep.” When he headed for the door, she went right with him, an attachment to his leg. “Bella, stay.” He wasn’t expecting her to stop, had only thought it was worth a try. Surprisingly, she stilled. “Good girl.”
A few minutes later, he was back with her things. She hadn’t moved, and if he wasn’t mistaken, that was relief in her eyes at seeing him return. “Did you think I wasn’t coming back?” She attached herself to his leg again. He set her bed next to the sofa, then took the food to the kitchen. After filling one of the bowls with water, he set it on the floor. She lapped some up while he stood there, but as soon as he moved, she became a part of his leg again.
“You’re kind of like having a stalker.” They moved as one to the living room, and when he sat on the sofa, she tried to climb on his lap. “No, silly girl, you can’t spend the rest of your life attached to me.” She looked at him with the saddest eyes he’d ever seen, and he almost relented, but ground rules needed to be set.
She rested her chin on his leg, her sad eyes fixed on him. He put his hand on her head. “Here’s the deal. No one will ever hurt you again, so you don’t need to have that worry in your head anymore. I think Jack has a future in mind for you as a service dog. That’s a good job to have, but it’s going to mean you have to get used to being around people, strangers you don’t know. I know that’s going to be hard, but I have faith you can do it.”
He sensed Rachel before he saw her, and he glanced over as she came into the room. “Bella and I were just having a little motivational talk.”
Rachel took a seat on the end of the sofa. “She’s shaking like a leaf.”
“She’s afraid you’re going to hurt her. Animal Control took her away from her previous owner because he abused her.”
“That’s so sad.”
“Yeah, it is, but Jack has her now, and she’ll never be hurt again.” Tears shimmered in Rachel’s eyes, and it made him wonder. “Can you feel animal’s emotions, too?”
“Sometimes. Not as strongly as I do people. Can I touch her?”
“That’s up to her. Just hold your hand out, let her smell your fingers.” She did, and Bella pushed her face between Dallas’s legs. “She just needs to get used to you, to find out you’re not going to hurt her.”
“How’d you get her used to you?”
