Free Leashed (Going to the Dogs) by Zoe Dawson Page A

comfortable.”
    The two dogs were wrapped around each other in sleep, Jill’s softly rounded belly triggering another wave of panic for Owen. No matter who told him that dogs have an easy time with birth, he worried about losing Jill. It was a tie to his great aunt and…dammit, he loved that dog. He didn’t know when it happened, but it had. She had been a comfort on his bad days and a joy on his good ones. Now that he was agility training her as Callie suggested, it was even better. Callie had been right. Jill had an aptitude for it. She was picking up the basics pretty quickly.
    “Why don’t you leave him here? Bring me his leash, and I’ll walk him when I walk Jill. You can let them have the day together. I’ll be taking Jill to the dog park later, too.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Contrary to the evidence from yesterday, he is a very well-behaved dog. I don’t think he’ll give me any trouble. It’s not like he can get her pregnant again.” He thought about that for a second. “Can he?”
    Callie laughed softly, the sound drifted through him like soft rain. “No. He can’t.” She looked over at Jack, smiled softly, and walked over to pat him. He raised his head slightly, thumped his tail, then went back to sleep. “The trainer in me just wants to take control and make him obey. It’s a definite no-no, but this one small occasion shouldn’t hurt. Okay. I’ll drop his leash by. Thanks for looking after him today. I’ll be home about four.”
    “No date tonight?” He hadn’t meant for that to come out and he certainly hadn’t meant to sound so…peevish.
    She looked at him with a startled expression. “No, not tonight.”
    “If that doctor had any sense, he’d set up a second date.”
    Callie looked both amused and crestfallen. He knew he should say something about them dating, but he couldn’t get the words past his barriers. It was better this way. She wanted commitment, and he just couldn’t let his guard down.
    “I’ll leave you my key, too. Just in case you want to drop Jack off.”
    “All right.”
    First Owen took the dogs for a walk and laughed at the amount of attention they received. The Great Danes were so huge that just walking with two made him secretly feel like he was a giant among men.
    Celeste came by late morning to discuss the inventory and restocking of the club.
    “We are low on vodka, so I prepared a purchase order to restock,” she said, leaning over him. She had found many occasions recently to brush against him or touch him. Nothing had ever been overt, but he knew when a woman was coming on to him.
    For the first time in his life, he was ambivalent. When she stood in his path and put her arms around him, he was surprised.
    “I got tired of waiting,” she said softly before she kissed him. He let her, mostly because he wanted to compare the experience with how Callie made him feel. And there was no comparison. Where he completely lost himself in Callie, Celeste, for all her beauty, barely made a ripple.
    “I’ll get all this taken care of,” she said with a secret smile. “I’ll see you tonight.”
    She left, and he knew that he would have to tell her tonight that he wasn’t interested. His emotions were a chaotic, raging mess. He would have to sort them out before he made any promises to Callie.
    In the late afternoon, he heard some banging in Callie’s loft. He looked at his watch and saw that it was only three-thirty, and she wasn’t due home till four. He sat up straighter, wondering if the thief Callie had told him about could be in her apartment right this second. He left the dogs at his place and used Callie’s key to let himself quietly into her loft. The banging was coming from her bedroom. He approached the closet door cautiously, until he heard Callie’s voice swearing.
    “Callie?”
    There was a squeak and she came tumbling down on top of him, along with a rain of purses.
    “What the hell?” he exclaimed, as he barely managed to catch her