Free Hammer's Fall (The Breakers' Bad Boys) by Laurie Roma Page B

after she had turned off her car and got out. She was instantly glad she had worn jeans and a long sleeve shirt under her white coat. The air was chilly outside, despite the sunshine.
    “Hi, Kali. Thanks for coming today.” Evie shot Kalista a rueful smile. “I guess I should have asked you if you are afraid of dogs before you came here.”
    “I’m not,” Kalista assured her. “Oh wow, they’re so beautiful.” She knelt on the ground and held out her hand. All four dogs seemed to quiver with glee, their tails wagging at the thought of meeting a new friend, but they simply sat there, looking up at Evie for permission before they moved from her side.
    After receiving a release command from Evie, all four dogs surged forward, licking and rubbing against Kalista until she was laughing at their exuberance.
    “Sorry, they love people. This is Lancelot, Gawain, Percival and Galahad.”
    Kalista’s eyes widened. “You named your dogs after knights of the Round Table?”
    “Yep, all four of them are trained for search and rescue, so it seemed fitting. They are my best guys.” Evie walked over to rub two of the dogs on their backs. She loved her dogs, and relaxed when she saw how comfortable Kali was surrounded by the cheerful animals. Wanting to distract them, she pulled out four tennis balls from a small bag hanging at her side, holding two in each hand. “Hey, guys! Go get’em!”
    She hurled the balls across the yard and Kalista watched the dogs fly after them, then turned back to look at Evie’s home. “I have to tell you, your house is absolutely amazing.”
    “Thank you. I really love it, too.” Evie waved her hand toward the building. “I live in the main part of the house. The right wing belongs to my cousin, Francesca, and the left, my cousin Beckett. Francesca is an author so I can go days without seeing her, and Beckett is our resident veterinarian. He works at the clinic in town three days a week, but the rest of the time he can be found in his office here over at the kennel.”
    “I thought you have three cousins who live here,” Kalista said.
    “Hunter, my oldest cousin, lives over at the boarding house. He says he wants to be available if any of the guys over there need anything, but I think he is more comfortable over there because he’s a former soldier, too. Truthfully, I think he does a good job connecting with the guys that stay here, even if he doesn’t talk much. Did Hammer tell you what happened to him?”
    “No, he didn’t.”
    Evie shrugged. “They don’t talk about that kind of stuff much. Hunter was a Navy SEAL, and he was in a pretty bad explosion when he was overseas. I don’t know exactly what he was doing, he doesn’t talk about that stuff, but he was badly burned on one side of his body.”
    “Oh my God. I’m so glad to hear he made it home.”
    “So am I,” Evie said with feeling. “My parents died when I was still a teenager, but my aunt and uncle didn’t hesitate to move their family here to take care of me. My cousins were great, and we became close almost instantly. When I talked to them about starting this place, everyone supported the idea. Now, we all get to do something we love. Even my uncle, Tony, and Madeline work at the kennel. They live in that house over on the other side of the pond.”
    Kalista looked across the pond and saw a smaller ranch house. It warmed her heart to think of Jared’s mother in a happy relationship after what she went through with Jared’s father. Pushing those distressing thoughts aside, she opened the trunk of her car and took out a large canvas bag that held three gallon-sized plastic containers filled with dog treats. “I was really excited about coming to see you about the upcoming adoption event. I made three kinds of treats to start us off.”
    She had taken care to do a little research online before she tweaked the recipes until she was happy with the results. Becca and Anna had helped her make the treats over the last