Page 75 of Trusting a Warrior

“Take him. Take him.” He thrust Bosch at Matt, who had no choice but to take him or else Bosch would fall to the ground.

A few grunts and mutters of “Weak” went around the circle. Mullet wiped his hand over his forehead and glared at them.

“I had a bad experience with a dog as a kid, okay? Fuck all y’all.”

Geo took Bosch from an apologetic Matt, shooting him an “It’s okay” look.

“The point here isn’t to force you to like dogs,” he said evenly. “The point is to establish a trust reference. Out in the field, in the confusion and heat of the moment, now Bosch won’t go after you.” He couldn’t help but add, “In theory, anyway.”

More razzing as Mullet visibly paled. “Don’t need no fuckin’ K9 in our unit,” he muttered. “Fuck that dog.”

Geo approached the next man in line, a tall, freckled redhead.

“Hey, Bosch,” the guy said with a smile as he reached for him. “I’m Rhys.”

This time Geo almost dropped him. This was Rhys? Lani’s Rhys?

No, not hers. Her ex.

Geo studied Rhys covertly. Gah, the dude was gorgeous, with that red hair and those striking green eyes. A wholly unaccustomed, idiotic spurt of jealousy slithered through him. Stiffly, he reached for Bosch. “Okay, you’re done.”

Rhys raised a questioning eyebrow, then shrugged, handing Bosch back without comment.

At last, the introductions over, Geo bent to dig a bite sleeve out of his duffel and slip it on his forearm. “I’ll play decoy, if you want to do the honors.” He took off Bosch’s muzzle and handed his leash to Matt. After giving him some quick instructions, Geo trotted a little ways off and took up an offensive stance. He nodded to Matt, who hissed, “Reveiren!” and unclipped his leash.

Bosch streaked toward Geo, a black-and-tan blur of motion, and then he leapt, body fully extended, to clamp hard onto Geo’s protected forearm. They fought, Geo doing his best to dislodge Bosch’s grip on him, but the pressure exerted by a canine in full bite was impossible to loosen.

Shouts from the guys echoed in Geo’s ears as he stumbled around in the sand, sixty-five pounds of fur and muscle firmly attached and not going anywhere. At last Geo raised his free hand in surrender. Immediately, Matt trotted up and gave Bosch the “release” command, then tossed him a Kong.

“Okay, pretty cool,” Mullet called begrudgingly. “But no way can that thing run the O-course with us.”

“Wanna bet?”

Instantly one-and five-dollar bills started flying. A grinning Shane took charge of the money. “I’m restricted from the course at the moment, so I’ll be the bookie.”

Geo took off the bite sleeve and slipped into a chest harness. “I’ll need a swim buddy,” he started to say, glancing at Matt, but Rhys raised his hand.

“I’m in.”

Geo couldn’t help but stiffen as Rhys strolled toward him with a loose-limbed, lazy grace that sparked the jealousy right back to life, a little stronger this time. He and Lani must’ve made a beautiful couple...

“Okay,” he grunted when Rhys reached his side. “There’ll be times you have to lift and attach Bosch to me—”

“I’ve worked with K9 teams before,” Rhys broke in. “I’m an 18-Delta medic, too, so I have vet training. You and Bosch are in good hands.”

If he’d been anyone other than Lani’s ex, Geo probably would’ve indulged in a brief fantasy of the gorgeous Rhys’s hands literally being on him, but under the circumstances, he could hardly keep a snarl from twisting his lips.

Jesus, where the fuck is this coming from? I don’t have any claims on her!

Sucking in a deep breath, Geo pushed Lani back into her designated mental box.

“Okay, Bosch. Let’s show this fucking Mullet asshole what’s what.”

“Amen,” Rhys muttered, and then they were off.

Bosch ran easily next to them as they navigated the different apparatus. He crawled when they crawled, and jumped over the lower obstacles with ease. When it was time for Geo to climb, he waited as Rhys lifted the dog up and hooked him to Geo’s chest harness.

Bosch hung calmly as Geo climbed up a metal ladder, then attached a cam to the thirty-foot rope and slid back down. The whole time Rhys stayed next to him, and as the course went on, they slowly meshed into one smoothly operating unit.