If she was rehomed, there would be a file attached, but there was nothing to it. The dog sat in the corner, wagging her tail, and Maddie frowned. “I must be wrong.” Even though she was doing everything the previous dog had done.
She turned toward Bull, aware of him watching her. “I’m sorry, I need to check on something.” Maddie made her way toward the main reception where they kept files on all their rehomed animals.
“You’re not ugly or fat,” Bull said.
This made her turn toward him, a little shocked about what he was saying. “You don’t need to say that. I’m a big girl, I know the truth.”
“Then clearly people have been lying to you, Maddie, because when I look at you, I don’t see an ugly, fat woman.” He took a step toward her. “I see a very sexy, very desirable woman, and any man she looked at should consider himself grateful.”
She couldn’t believe what was happening when he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in close. His lips were a mere breath away. All it would take was an inch of movement, and then he’d be kissing her, but Maddie froze still, shocked by his actions, unsure what to do.
He was so close.
His rock-hard body was against hers. She knew he was a muscular man, had seen them from a distance in the shop as he unloaded deliveries, but this was new. He held her with those muscles.
Heat flooded her body.
“And I wasn’t offering you dating advice to help you. I was using it as an excuse to get you to myself.”
She stared into his green eyes and had to wonder if she was sleeping. Dreams were strange places and they made people do weird things.
Her mouth was so dry. She tried to ignore what his touch was doing to her, but as he held her tightly, it was hard to ignore.
Maddie opened her mouth, closed it. No sound came out.
“Prez, you got a minute?” Pat asked.
She glanced over at Pat, feeling a little grateful for the reprieve.
Bull slowly let her go, and he looked a little annoyed with the way his brows drew together and the slight pinch of his lips.
Maddie made her escape, going to the main reception.
Hellen, one of the other volunteers, was at the front desk, doing a crossword puzzle.
“Hey, Hellen, where do we keep the rehoming files?” she asked.
“They’re in the back. You’ll see it. It’s labeled.”
“Thanks.”
Disappearing into the back room, Maddie switched on the light and glanced through the cabinets. They were all labeled, and as she came to the rehoming section, she saw they were also categorized by date. She found the ones for last year and started to look through all the details, coming to the one she remembered.
They had named the dog Rose, seeing as she liked to lie out near some of the rose bushes.
Opening the file, Maddie saw the picture of the dog, but there was no other information in the file. She closed it, pushed the cabinet shut, and walked back out to Hellen, but she wasn’t alone. Bull was there.
She had no idea what she was doing when it came to him. Never in her life had she been teased or desired and yet, according to Bull, he wanted her. Or did he?
Shaking off her confusion, she went to Hellen. “One of the dogs at the fighting ring, we had her before. It’s Rose.”
“What?” Hellen got to her feet, taking the file from her.
“What’s going on?” Bull asked.
“We document all adoptions for the safety of the animals. There are times that people try to adopt an animal and they’re not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.”
“Rose is back?” Hellen asked.
Hellen had been in the process of trying to adopt her herself, but George had made her jump through all the necessary channels until one day, they had come in to find Rose was gone. George said a family had taken the dog, and that they’d been in the process of doing it for days.
Maddie hadn’t questioned it, but Hellen had been distraught. They all felt a connection to these dogs, but it was one of the reasons Hellen stopped going into the main kennel. After Rose, she had decided she got too attached and needed to take space.
Hellen asked where Rose was, and Maddie told her.
“What is it?” Bull asked.
She gripped her shoulders and looked back out the door that led to the kennels. “I’m wondering how many of the dogs you brought here were originally taken.”
This wasn’t going to end well. Maddie knew the only person who could allow any of the dogs to be taken was George.
****
“Do you want to talk about it?” Rusty asked, grabbing a chair, spinning it around, and straddling it.
Bull looked up from his beer at his brother. The kennel had taken twenty dogs, leaving him with thirty to house.