Page 44 of Raging Fires

“You know what we should do?”

“What?” Jake turned to look at her warily.

“He’s way too dirty to get into that beautiful clean house you brought him. We need to give the dog a bath.” She ignored his groan and headed into house for some soap. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“Maybe for you,” Jake muttered as Kelli walked away.

On the list of things he didn’t want to do, this wasn’t the top one, but it ranked right up there in the top ten. There were so many things wrong with it:

One. Washing a dog was never ‘fun.’ He hated doing it, and the dog hated having it done to him.

Two. This wasn’t a domesticated dog, who was accustomed to enduring the indignity of a bath. It was a stray, used to running around and doing what it wanted, which did not include having water poured all over him.

Three. This wasn’t some little puppy. It was a big animal, which meant that Toby was strong enough that someone would have to wrap his arms around him and hold him still, and that someone would be Jake.

Which led to Four. Kelli’s new pet was filthy dirt and stank of garbage and other things that it was probably better not to think about, not to mention being covered in fleas and ticks, and the poor sucker holding him, namely himself, would get the full impact of the dirt, odor, and insects.

He would wind up soaked to the skin. And worst—he was going to spend another half-hour in close proximity to Kelli. He’d just spent a torturous hour with her hovering over him, breathing down his neck, touching his arm to get his attention, her perfume teasing him. It was damn embarrassing the way just hearing her laugh or her touching his hand as she gave him a nut and bolt made him hard. A guy ought to have some control of himself. Some pride.

It wasn’t just that she turned him on; the problem was he was beginning to lose his grudge against Kelli. Like yesterday, when he’d realized all of sudden that he was talking to her as if they were still together. As if he cared about Kelli’s problems with her drunk-ass mother, who in his opinion should stay as far away as possible from Kelli because she never did anything but hurt Kelli over and over and over again. The woman was selfish and—

Jake sighed. What did it matter what Kelli’s mother was like? Not. His. Problem.

“Okay, let’s go.” Kelli came sailing out of the house, carrying a plastic bottle. She’d changed into an old T-shirt and shorts, obviously expecting the process to go about as well as he did. She, however, seemed cheerful about it.

Jake stripped off his shirt and tossed it onto the porch. His exercise shorts didn’t matter, but that was one of his favorite T-shirts and he wasn’t going to get all the crud from the dog on his shirt.

“Whoa. Somebody’s been working out,” Kelli commented.

“Oh, my God, is that a compliment?” It was stupid that her words warmed him.

“Yeah. You’re looking really good. I mean, you always did, but I—um…” Kelli fumbled to a halt, her cheeks flushing.

And that made him feel even better. Jake hid a grin.

The dog jumped up and threw himself against Kelli as soon as she stepped outside. “No, boy, down.” Kelli patted him and crooned, “Yes, that’s a good boy.” To Jake, she said, “Come around back to the hose.” She went around the side of the house, the dog trotting at her heels, and Jake followed.

“There’s a hose here?” He glanced around at the empty dirt surrounding them. “Why?”

“Because houses have hoses,” Kelli said inarguably.

Jake squatted down beside the dog, who looked at him somewhat suspiciously. “Okay, Toby, it’s you and me.”

Kelli made a little growling noise low in her throat. “Would you stop with the Toby stuff?”

“You’re going to hurt Toby’s feelings,” Jake told her. “How can you not like Toby? Tobes… the Tobe… Tobester.”

“Seriously. What is wrong with you?”

“I wonder about that myself, given that I’m here about to hold down a dirty, flea-ridden dog so you can wash him.”

“I can hold him, and you can wash him,” Kelli offered.

Jake snorted. “Yeah, right.” He looped an arm around the dog’s back and looked into his face. “Toby, I want you to know that I am not the person who wants to inflict this on you. Holy crap, this dog stinks.” He looked over at Kelli. “Okay, turn it on.”

Kelli turned on the faucet and approached them, water running from the hose in her hand. She looked dubious. “You’re going to get all wet.”