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After topping his dogs, he turned to put the containers away and tripped over Boss. The chili slipped from his hand as he grabbed for the counter to keep from landing on Boss.
“Dammit!”
Chili covered Boss’s back and splattered the front of the lower cabinets and the floor. John sighed and wolfed down a hot dog while Boss started licking chili off the cabinet doors. “Yeah, thanks buddy. You are so going to need a bath.” That had not been on his to-do list today. He ate the rest of his lunch then herded Boss to the bathroom.
“Okay, this is gonna be fun.” He started the water, then stripped off his clothes. Boss didn’t fit much better than John in the tiny space. Trying to reach in and rub the chili off before shampooing required the flexibility of a contortionist—which he was not. Why hadn’t he installed a handheld sprayer? That would have made his life easier. Instead, water hit him in the face, filling his ear and blinding his left eye.
“Turn around.”
Boss didn’t budge.
“Come on. I need a little help.” Boss nuzzled John’s face. “That’s not helping. Turn.” For a dog that took any opportunity to stick his head out the window of a moving vehicle or wade in a creek, water hitting him in the face shouldn’t have been a big deal. He pressed Boss’s rump until he shifted and tried to escape. John landed on his ass with his wet dog looming over him, chili still streaking his coat.
“That’s it. Plan B.” He struggled to his feet. What was Plan B?
He changed into dry briefs and pulled back on his shorts, then grabbed a towel and the shampoo. Gripping Boss’s collar to keep him on course, he led him out of the bathroom.
After circling all three of the houses in The Oasis and not finding a hose, he headed to Elizabeth’s. She had to have a hose, or at least a bucket. He wasn’t going to let Boss drip chili all over her floors.
As he had hoped, there was a hose on a decorative reel on the side of her house. He scouted a spot before turning on the water and nearly had the chili scrubbed off before he spotted Elizabeth watching from a few yards away.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Had a little mishap in the kitchen. Ended up with chili on all the dogs. I tried cleaning him in the shower, and that didn’t go well.” Understatement. “I didn’t see a hose down there. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“It’s fine.” She raised her gaze from Boss up John’s body to his face. “You’re soaked.”
“Yeah. Still got water in my ear and my eyeball. I should have come here first.” He started shampooing Boss, who was suddenly on his best behavior. “You think you’re going to get a treat, don’t you? Well, it was my fault. Kind of. I’m sorry.” Boss licked John’s face. Either accepting his apology or cleaning off chili. “What?” He eyed Elizabeth.
“Y’all are too cute.”
“You hear that, Boss? She’s calling us cute.” As if on cue, Boss barked. “He said he prefersruggedly handsome.” Though John would take cute coming from Elizabeth, who gave a delicate laugh as she dropped her gaze, before it flitted back to his face. He could swear her cheeks turned a bit pink. Women often gave him a second glance due to him being unusually tall and in great shape, but Elizabeth Carroll was not most women.
“Oh, wait, before you run off, I’ve sketched out plans for the deck and sent them to my engineer buddy to look over. Are you free on Saturday to go with me to pick out the supplies? You can make it pretty for your future tenants.”
“And I need to pay. Can we make it after ten?”
“I was gonna say after lunch. Best not to shop hungry so we don’t buy stuff we don’t need.”
She gave that cute laugh, shaking her head. “That’s when you go grocery shopping.”
“Ah, that makes sense. I’ve got plans in the morning, so about one works.” He held his breath and shifted his attention to Boss as if the matter was settled.
“All right.”
John watched as she sashayed away. She didn’t date, so she wasn’t playing hard to get, but he liked a challenge—and every little thing he learned about her. He liked that she was smart, independent, good to dogs, didn’t expect perfection, and had a sense of humor. Even better, she was able to keep a confidence and was not all about herself. It didn’t hurt she was easy on the eyes. The kind of beauty that grew on a guy.
ChapterTwenty-Four
S.O.S. – Abba
When Abba’s “S.O.S.”started playing, John whipped his phone from his side pocket. “Top, cover. I’ve got to take this,” he instructed his first sergeant and stepped away from where his team practiced running an urban insertion drill. “John Bryson.”
His greeting was met with a sob.
“Ariana, are you okay?”
“No.” More crying. “I came out of work and my car has two flat tires.”
