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“It has its moments.”
Her smile was genuine and carried with it something that gave him the feeling they’d already found common ground. Soldier to soldier, it was an unspoken thing, an understanding civilians lacked because they’d never served.
Gunner’s interest meter clicked a couple more notches. “Don’t you miss the rush?” she asked. “The danger and adrenaline?”
“Every day,” he admitted.
This time her smile held that lure that had undone men since the beginning of time. It lit a fire he hadn’t felt in a long time. “Well, we’ll just have to find something to get your blood pumping, won’t we, big guy?”
Gunner wasn’t a fool. He heard the unspoken invitation in her words. “It depends. How long until you report back?
“Three weeks. I’m staying with Charli and Grady.”
“You think you’ll get it done in three weeks? I’ve been tortured, you know, so I hold out for a long time.”
“I’d put money on getting it done in under three weeks. Are you ready to get started?”
“You tell me, Major.”
“Okay, let me finish this plate of food, and we’ll get out on that dance floor and see if we can get something stirring. Sound like a plan? Oh, and it’s Oakley to my friends.”
“Is that what I am?”
“I reckon we’ll just have to find out, won’t we?”
“Yes ma’am,” he agreed and was rewarded with a smile.
And just like that, he knew life was about to change. For how long was anyone’s guess, and right now, that didn't matter, because it’d been a long time since Gunner had his sights on something he wanted.
Like Major Oakley Rising Wolf.
Chapter One
Grady watched from the porch and saw the two riders come into view. Oakley had been staying with them for several weeks while on leave. During that time, she and Charli had rekindled their friendship, and Grady had gotten to know her better.
She was pretty amazing. In fact, she’d so impressed him, he’d made an offhand remark to his partner, Mason James, that they should go into the K9 business with her when she retired.
Now, as he watched her and Charli ride toward the barn, talking as they rode, he thought back to a conversation he had with his partner, more than a week ago.
Grady rose from his seat on the porch and walked over to the rail. “So, are you interested?” Mason, his partner and co-owner of Sanctuary, vacated his seat and joined Grady at the railing.
“Interested, yes. It’s a damn good idea, but I don’t have it right now. I’ve already sunk all I felt I could afford to lose into the place. I won’t risk this place. It’s all Charli and I have, and now that we’re married, I’m not about to put her home at risk. She deserves better.”
“I agree, and I didn’t mean to suggest we fund it. I think we need to attract investors, people who share a common vision.”
“Like?”
Mason shrugged. “I haven’t put out feelers yet, so who knows. But you can rest assured every potential investor will be vetted. They’ll think a congressionalinvestigation is a piece of cake compared to our background check.”
“I like the sounds of that,” Grady looked out and almost immediately moved his chin up in a type of gesture. “They’ll be headed for the barn.”
“Meaning it’s time to table this, or time to agree to throw a line in the water and see what bites?”
Grady shrugged. “What can it hurt to see if there’s interest considering our terms? And we will have rigid terms, right?”
“We will always own Sanctuary. This investment can pay back the investors. We can train for military, medical, police and personal protection. We can even train handlers. I ran some rough numbers and will put it on paper for you, but the bottom line is, I believe we can not only make it affordable for people who need service animals to get one, but also, we can make this part of the venture self-funding.”
“You make it sound appealing, but there’s nearly always something that will get tossed into the works, grinding it to a halt. So what’s our monkey wrench? Aside from money, what do we need we might not get?”
