Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(82)

Besides, it took skill to stuff a chocolate cupcake with cookie dough frosting, dusted with sugar, in one bite. A man needed to practice once in a while to make sure he could still manage it.

And it was a necessary skill as far as Forte was concerned. His friend Sophie tended to bring her own baked treats to Hope’s Crossing Kennels every weekend. If she caught him partaking of other sweets, she’d never let him hear the end of it. Thus the entire bite-and-inhale technique. Because she had a knack for popping up out of nowhere.

Now, if it was about dating, she’d never had a word to say about any of the women he saw or one night stands he indulged in now and then. He’d bumped into her once in a while in Philly on the weekends. They both dated and it couldn’t matter less to her who he chose to spend his time with, but take a taste of someone else’s baking and he was in for a world of hurt. Which made it more fun when he took the risk and did it anyway.

Of course, he had a long history of crossing paths with Murphy’s Law, and apparently this was his day for it because who should be walking down the street but the very person he was just thinking about?

Sophie Kim was five feet two inches of nonstop energy, and she was heading out of a small art gallery with a large paper shopping bag. The woman had expansive peripheral vision and excellent spatial awareness. Which meant she’d spotted him and changed course immediately toward his direction.

Forte swallowed hard.

She must’ve come directly from work because under her very sleek trench coat, she was wearing a sharp matching pencil skirt. Three-inch red heels popped in contrast to the severe black of the rest of her outfit. Which did all sorts of things to him. Naughty things.

The kind of things that were so good they were really bad. Especially when a woman was off-limits.

“Hey! Is that the new guy?” Sophie slowed her approach, keeping her gaze locked on Forte’s face.

She’d been around tiny dogs all her life. But she’d spent enough time at Hope’s Crossing Kennels over the past couple of years, while he’d been establishing it, to have learned how to meet the much bigger dogs in his care. Training working dogs were his thing. Or, in Haydn’s case, retraining.

Always a work in progress. And she’d been there when he’d come back after being too battle-weary to continue deploying. Trouble was, he still wasn’t sure if he belonged. What mattered more was there’d been no question about where he’d end up. He always came right back here.

His mind was wandering on a sugar high; and there was Sophie, her bright smile fading as she waited for him to answer.

“Yeah.” Forte brought them to a halt and murmured the command for Haydn to sit.

Instant obedience. Despite his injury, surgery, and current need for recovery, the dog was as sharp as he’d been on active duty. The mind was eager, ready to work. The body, not so much.

Sophie’s smile renewed, the brilliant expression stopping his heart, the way it had every time he’d seen her since they’d first met way back in school. She came to a stop in front of them, barely within arm’s reach. “He must be doing well if you’ve got him out here for some fieldwork.”

Haydn remained at ease as Forte and Sophie stood there, unconcerned with her proximity. Curious, even, if Brandon was any judge of body language. And he was. For dogs, at least.

Forte shrugged. “Easy going with Haydn. He needs a lot of light walking, over different kinds of surfaces, to get a feel for his prosthetic. We’re not out for too long. I don’t want to tire him out or put too much strain on his legs.”

Sophie nodded in understanding. “Glad to meet him though. I thought I was going to have to wait until I stopped by this weekend.”

While they spoke, Haydn watched them both. Then he stretched his neck and sniffed the back of Sophie’s hand, which she’d been holding conveniently within reach.

Introductions were simple with dogs. Stay relaxed, let the dog know the approaching person wasn’t a threat via body language, and give the dog time to investigate on his own. Her body language was naturally open and nonthreatening. Sophie had learned from Forte not to look his dogs in the eyes. The dogs he trained tended to be dominant, aggressive, and they required a more careful approach than the average pet on the street.

Usually, Forte preferred if a person asked to be introduced, but this was Sophie. If he’d been anyone else, she’d have requested permission to say hi to the dog. Instead, she spoke to him and took it on faith that he’d tell her if she needed to keep her distance. But then again, he also wouldn’t bring a dog out into public that wasn’t ready to be socialized.

It was all in how well she’d come to know the way he worked in the last few years.

“What’s your plan for him?” Sophie glanced down at the dog, now that he’d sniffed her hand. “Haydn, right?”

Forte gave her a slight nod and she ruffled the fur around his ears. The big dog’s eyes rolled up and he leaned his head into her hand for more enthusiastic scratches.

Definitely no problems socializing. Then again, in Sophie’s hands, most males turned to Silly Putty.

Or…he needed to stop thinking about what could happen to him in Sophie’s hands.

“Yeah.” Forte cleared his throat. “He’s got a couple of weeks of physical therapy first. Then we need to coordinate with the Air Force on his adoption.”