Free After Love by Kathy Clark

“What is a migrator duck toy?”
    So she was going to play it that way? Nick couldn’t help but smile. She was a worthy opponent. “It looks like a dead duck with a squeaker in it, so it’ll make noise when he bites down. And no stuffing.”
    “A dead duck that squeaks? Really? You need to keep his toys in line with his job. Cocaine doesn’t squeak.”
    Nick found himself focusing on her full, pink lips. There was a flake of sugar stuck in the corner, and he wanted desperately to lick it off. Of course, that would turn into a passionate kiss. He’d make her forget this Jared and every other guy.
    She must have followed the focus of his gaze, and the tip of her tongue reached out to capture the piece of sugar.
    Nick shifted uncomfortably, conscious of his body reacting to the unintentional tease. He felt his cock bulging against the zipper of his jeans, and he crossed his legs, one ankle on top of his knee, hoping she wouldn’t notice. “So what’s first on the agenda today?”
    “Let’s go over your instructions before we load Harley up and head to town.”
    At that moment Jared limped back outside, followed by a three-legged dog. He leaned over and dropped a kiss on top of Jamie’s head. “See you later.”
    “Be careful. Tell Jose not to speed. One more ticket and he loses his license,” Jamie said.
    A young Hispanic man came out of the kennel, and Jared eased his way down the steps with Bobo hopping along behind. They walked to one of the company trucks, got in, and drove off.
    Seeing Jared had cooled Nick down. He didn’t bother repeating his question even though his curiosity was burning hot.
    “You said you have some contraband for today?” Jamie said, continuing as if nothing unusual had happened. Apparently for her it hadn’t.
    “Yeah, I got one of each flavor.” Nick pulled the package out of his shirt pocket.
    Jamie studied the loosies and sniffed them, one by one. “They each smell different. That’s good. I’ll show you how to do it with one, and then you can do the others at home. The process will be the same.”
    “Okay.”
    “Harley’s command library is simple and few at this point.
Harley, heel
to make him walk next to you…It should be on your left side. Use his first name before the other commands, such as
Harley, come, Harley, sit, Harley, seek
. Got it?”
    “Does he shake hands?”
    Jamie looked at Nick with some disdain. “He’s not a circus dog, Nick. If you want to waste his time by teaching him to shake hands and roll over, that’s up to you. But he won’t learn that here.”
    Nick sensed Jamie didn’t appreciate any humanization of Harley. “I thought he was supposed to become part of the family?”
    She slid him an amused look. “Do the members of your family roll over on command? I’ll bet your reunions are interesting.”
    “Actually, none of us ever learned to roll over or play dead.” Nick laughed. “You’ll have to come meet my brothers at Grammy’s. My hat’s off to you if you can teach them anything.”
    “I’m much better at training animals than people. Animals listen…and they try to please. People aren’t controllable.”
    Nick couldn’t argue with that. It was a truth he saw every day on the job. Once a dealer, always a dealer.
    “You’ll need to take Harley with you as often as possible to keep him socialized. He needs to get used to loud noises and big crowds while learning to focus on your commands. His soldier loved him and treated him well, but I doubt he did any kind of formal training. Whenever Harley turns and looks at you and seems confused, it’s because he’s waiting for his next command. Can you handle that?”
    Nick nodded. It didn’t sound hard…but it was a hell of a lot to remember.
    “Let’s head to the arena. I want to see you handle him.”
    For not the first time since he’d met her, he felt like he was back in elementary school, where he’d had to show his work on math problems. Of course, his teacher