Chapter Four
The instant Bjørn stood,people started introducing themselves. His neck still burned from the way Will had gone on and on about Bjørn’s flying. He didn’t want everyone thinking he was some narcissistic jerk. Was he confident in his flying? Sure, he could thread his Annie through a needle if he had to. Didn’t mean he wanted everyone to think he wasn’t just your average Joe.
He especially didn’t want the brown-eyed beauty across the room to get the wrong idea about him. Wasn’t he just thinking how he needed to work on that getting married item on his to-do list? She wasn’t some summer temp or just passing through, either. Her roots were deep in the Alaskan soil.
Here was someone who checked a lot of his boxes when it came to potential wife material. Adventurous? Check. She had to be on some level to volunteer for SAR, which also checked off giving. Family-oriented? Check. He stifled his smile at the memory of her and Violet bursting into the meeting. The Wilde’s had a lot in common with the Rebel’s. Beautiful? Double check with bright red ink. Her high cheekbones and long neck, along with those dark brown eyes, flashed like a beacon guiding him home. He’d had a hard time keeping his attention off her and on Will’s debrief, which wasn’t like Bjørn.
He craned his neck above Kemp’s head to see if she’d already left. She chatted with her dad on the other side of the room. Good. Or was it? Did he want to get involved with the boss’s daughter? Sure, it was all volunteer, but if things didn’t work out, it could make SAR uncomfortable.
Geez, Rebel. Get a grip.
He didn’t even know her name, and he had a list going of pros and cons? He needed help, like a punch in the face kind of help. Was she even available? She could be married, for all he knew. Though, by the way she was staring at him, he hoped she wasn’t. Maybe she’d been staring because his fly was down or something. Bjørn slyly checked just as Violet skipped over.
“You have a little problem with your hair.” Kemp pulled on the tuft that stuck out of her buns from her sister’s knuckle treatment.
She swatted his hand away. “I like it that way. Gives my style a unique twist.”
“I’ll say.” Kemp crossed his arms as he laughed. Was there something going on between them? “Makes you look like a tufted duck.”
Bjørn snorted, then stifled it as Violet’s eyes narrowed. She sputtered and threaded her arm through his, turning her back to Kemp, who still laughed.
“Come on, Bjørn. I want to introduce you to my sister.” Violet pulled him through the crowd.
She didn’t have to pull hard, since that was exactly where he wanted to go. Being introduced to the sister was a good sign, right? He did a quick recon as they approached. No ring. Another good sign. She smiled at him as Violet led him closer. One more clue for the go ahead.
“Bjørn, this is my sister, Sadie.” Violet stepped back and waved her hand between them. “Sadie, this is Bjørn Rebel.”
Violet said his name oddly, like there was a secret bouncing between the simple words he wasn’t privy to. He ignored how it made the back of his neck warm and stuck out his hand, smiling to cover the discomfort. Sadie’s handshake was firm and confident in his, adding another check off the list he hadn’t even realized was an itemized element.
“It’s really nice to meet you.” Sadie pushed her hands into her jeans pockets. “It’ll be good to have you on the team.”
“Glad to be here.” He mirrored her stance by shoving his hands in his vest pockets. “So, your dad was telling me you own a kennel and train service dogs.”
Sadie’s entire face lit up with pride and excitement. Bjørn’s heart thumped in his chest like rotors gearing up for takeoff. His mind blared warning signals of approaching danger. She was even more incredible up close.
“It’s amazing.” Sadie pulled out her phone, ran her finger across the screen, then flipped it around to a picture of adorable white puppies with brown faces. “We just had our first litter, and they are all already spoken for. Until now, we’ve just been focusing on the training part, but with these cute little nuggets and our plan to breed our Belgium Malinios next year, we’ll be on our way to providing people with dogs specifically bred and trained for protecting and saving lives.”
Her enthusiasm infected him with an electric buzz of energy. Was she always this excited, or was it just this jump in their business? They had to be good entrepreneurs for the puppies to be sold.
“So, is your business more focused on the breeding side or training?” Bjørn knew a little about dog breeding with his brothers Gunnar and Tiikâan dog sledding. They’d spent lots of years building the kennel to what it was. Gunnar had even helped while he’d been in the Air Force, having regular calls with Tiikâan to talk dog.
“Oh, no. These puppies won’t go to their owners until they’re around two years old.” Sadie slid through more pictures, turning it to him to show two shaggy-haired, brown dogs. “We’ll take the first two years and put them through rigorous training so they’re ready to go into the field. The owners will come to the kennel four times a year for training themselves until the dogs are set to go home.”
“That’s cool.” Bjørn wrapped his brain around this concept. “So, you put them through basic, then throw them into advanced individual training.”
“Oooh, I like that!” She smiled up at him like he’d just given her the world. “I’m stealing that.”
He cleared his parched throat. “Steal away.”
“I actually wanted to ask you something.” Her cheeks blushed a pretty pink.
Bjørn stepped closer in anticipation. Yes. The answer was yes. It didn’t matter what she asked.
“Shoot.” He relaxed his shoulders to ease his tension. He didn’t want to scare her off by being too eager.
“I’d like to train my older dogs to get used to flying.” She shoved her phone in her back pocket, then talked with her hands. “A lot of the rescues we go on require a flight in, and if the dogs aren’t trained for that, the stress will make it hard for them to do their jobs. I’m hoping I can get your help with that.”
“Yeah, sure.” Bjørn nodded. The request wouldn’t be hard and would give him more time to get to know her.