“Is he nice? He doesn’t sound happy.”
“He’s nice,” Carlise reassured her friend. “But he’s not used to people. He was starving when we found him, and I think he’d been beaten. So he’s just wary.”
She opened the door, and Baxter almost ran past her. Carlise grabbed him by the collar that Riggs’s friends had included when they’d come up with the dog food. “Hang on, Bax. It’s okay! That’s Susie, she’s a friend.”
But the dog didn’t seem inclined to give the woman standing on the porch the benefit of the doubt. He was growling, his fur still sticking up, and if dogs could glare, Susie would be getting an eyeful.
Carlise frowned. He hadn’t acted like this when JJ and the others were there. She couldn’t imagine why he was so riled now.
“How about this—I’ll hold him while you go inside, then I’ll leave him out here for a while. Before you leave, I’ll come outside, grab him, and bring him back in so you can get to your car without any worries. Okay?” Carlise asked her friend.
Susie looked petrified and nodded immediately.
Carlise hung on to Baxter as she moved farther along the porch, away from the door, giving Susie a clear path to get inside.
Once she was safely behind the front door, Carlise scolded Baxter. “You aren’t being very nice. That’s my best friend, and you’ll probably be seeing a lot more of her. I’m not leaving you out here forever, just for a while as we visit. Then I’ll bring you back inside, okay?”
To her relief, Baxter turned his head and licked her face. Carlise laughed. “Off with you, mutt. Go find some bunnies to chase and snowballs to eat.”
She let go of the dog, and to her surprise, he immediately sat instead, staring up at her.
“Oh, don’t make me feel guilty. It’s not even that cold out here,” Carlise told him.
Baxter merely blinked.
Steeling her heart, Carlise stepped to the door and slipped back inside. She turned to see her best friend peering around the cabin with curiosity.
“One bed, huh?” she said after a moment, smirking at Carlise. “You left that part out on the phone.”
Carlise chuckled. “Yeah, you already weren’t thrilled with the situation, I didn’t think it would be good to spring that on you.”
“This is literally a romance book come to life. The damsel in distress needing a place to shelter in a storm, and—surprise—there’s only one bed, so I guess you have to share it.”
Carlise giggled. “Heroine in peril,” she said.
“What?”
“‘Heroine in peril.’ I think that sounds better than ‘damsel in distress.’ Less needy. Less pathetic.”
Susie rolled her eyes and laughed. “Whatever.”
“Besides, the first three days, he was so out of it with a fever that there was nothing romantic going on, believe me,” Carlise said.
“Wait, did you have to hold his dick while he pissed?” she asked with wide eyes.
Carlise burst out laughing. “Oh my God, no! Jeez. He was alert enough to walk to the bathroom with my help, and then I left him to do his thing. There was no willy holding while he was sick.”
“But there is now,” Susie said knowingly.
Carlise couldn’t stop the smile from forming on her face. “Oh yeah, there’s lots of willy holding now.”
The two women laughed together.
“You look good for someone who was terrified just weeks ago,” Susie observed when they sat on the couch.
“I feel pretty good. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m still scared of Tommy, but Riggs has promised to help me figure out who’s bothering me and make them stop.”
“How’s he going to do that?” Susie asked.
Carlise shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I trust him.”
“There’s that trust again,” Susie said, sounding unconvinced. “You don’t even know him.”
“Actually, I do,” Carlise countered.
“How can you? You met him only a couple of weeks ago.”
“It’s hard to explain. We’ve been together twenty-four seven for weeks. I know him, Suz. He’s a good man. Hardworking. Loyal. His friends are amazing. And he went through hell while he was in the military—”
“So he has PTSD and could snap at any moment?” Susie interrupted.
“Maybe he does, but I’ve seen no signs of it. And no, he’s not going to snap. He has great self-control. Lots of it.”