Need You for Keeps (Heroes of St. Helena, #1)(22)

“Is that your way of asking me to do a sleepover?” she said.

Deputy Warren appeared from Estella’s yard and came up beside them, flashing Shay a smile that was too sweet to be trusted. “I’m willing to give you my stance on all things legal and illegal, over a nice dinner of course, if you let me stick my sign in your yard.”

Shay laughed. Jonah did not. He sent Warren a look that would have had most men taking a gigantic step back. Only Warren was either too stupid to pick up on the alpha male fumes rolling off Jonah, or he didn’t care.

“I bet you used that same line on every house on the block,” Shay joked.

Warren made a big deal about looking up and down the street, which was devoid of any declaration of support for either candidate, then flashed a practiced smile her way. “I came to your house first.”

“You came here because she’s running an illegal puppy mill out of her home. I’ve counted four or five just this week,” Estella corrected, marching across Shay’s lawn. “Look. She’s got another one.”

Jabba growled.

“Jabba is not a puppy. He is a mature dog who has been with me for a while, as you well know. And I’m not running a puppy mill, I run a foster-to-home rescue, licensed by the county,” Shay explained, sliding Jonah a confident smile. Only something in his expression had her internal alarm going on alert.

Then he took off his hat and—oh boy—he knew about the kittens. Knew she had more pets than allowed. And because Estella was pushing her weight around, there was no way this would end with him looking the other way.

“Mrs. Pricket claims you have too many dogs on the premises,” Warren said, and Shay could have sworn the man puffed out his chest the second Estella looked his way.

“Can one really have too many dogs?”

“According to the county, yes,” Warren said.

“Come on, Deputy. They’re cute little fuzzy animals,” Shay said casually. “Not worthy of a multiple-officers callout.” And when Jonah still looked constipated, she asked, “Tell me, did you run the sirens?”

“Shay,” Jonah said in warning, but it was already too late, she had riled the beast.

“This isn’t a joke,” Estella snapped, wagging a condemning finger in Shay’s direction. “You run a kennel in a residential area. They have rules. And you, Miss Michaels, are a rule breaker!”

“I run a foster-to-home rescue,” Shay repeated because kennels provided a temporary home, and Shay provided a temporary family. And she didn’t comment on the rule breaker part because it was totally true.

“You collect pets no one else wants and then when you get sick of them you pawn them off on people who are too nice to say no.”

Shay opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Was that how Estella saw her? How people in this town saw her?

Shay didn’t keep the animals she fostered because they didn’t belong to her. She knew that going in. She wasn’t sure how to be a part of a family, but after years of watching other families interact, she knew how to spot a good one. It was her superpower. What she was good at. And if she kept one of her babies, she’d have to keep them all, and then what would happen to the other animals she would have fostered?

“I foster them,” Shay defended quietly, surprised at how close to tears she sounded. “I get them ready for their forever family. And you, Mrs. Pricket, are rude and mean and a terrible dog owner.”

Estella’s hand flew to her chest, her facing creasing in horror. “And to think, I almost listened to Ida’s suggestion and reconsidered allowing you to come to Bark in the Park.”

Damn it!

“Okay,” Jonah said, inserting himself in the middle. “Let’s take a walk.”

Without waiting for Shay to answer, he took her by the arm to lead her away from the fuming judge’s wife. Only Shay refused to budge. She was afraid that if she walked away, Estella would show Warren her animals and he’d confiscate them.

He gave another little tug on her arm. Shay tugged back until Jonah let out a sigh.

“Are you arresting me?” she asked, because that was the only way she was going to leave her pets.

“Do I need to?”

Shay looked at Warren, who was getting an earful from Estella about obtaining a search warrant, even going as far as to offer to have her husband draft one up immediately. Then Shay glanced at her bedroom window, where she knew her kittens were waiting for her to come home and make their day right. Even thinking about losing her pets made her sick.

Jonah must have sensed her hesitance because he lowered his voice and said, “Nothing is going to happen today, Shay. So walk with me.”

She paused to look him over, gauge if he was telling the truth, which revealed nothing since the man was a ninja master at covering up his emotions. But he was reading her loud and clear. His expression softened and he gifted her a warm, reassuring smile that had her resolve melting, and added, “Just to the curb.”

“Fine. But I charge ten dollars an hour for my walking services.”

“And I carry a gun and cuffs,” he said in that authoritative voice that reminded her she was a woman. And she’d been far too long without a man.

“So you keep saying.”



When Jonah was confident they were out of eavesdropping range, he sat on the curb and waited for Shay to take a seat next to him. Partly because he was afraid she’d make a break for it. He knew damn well she was over the legal limit for pet occupancy. He just wasn’t sure by how many. And she might be tiny, but he knew that those little legs could cover ground fast, and he wasn’t in the mood for a foot chase today.