Page 22 of Buck (Diver Downeast #2)

Before Buck could make his way over to the neat pile someone had made of his shirt, jeans, and sneakers, Bobbie approached him.

“You okay?” she asked, cuddling her sweet canine.

“Are you kidding?” Now that it was over, Buck looked pumped. “This was the best op, ever. Rescuing four puppies and they’re all fine? I count that as a huge win.”

“Will you count this as a win, too?” she asked, growing bold. Before he could figure out what was happening, Bobbie moved close, grabbed his chin to tip his head down, and kissed him squarely on the lips.

It was meant to be a sweet moment, but…

“Ack!” Bobbie backed up in horror, practically gagging.

Buck looked gobsmacked, in more ways than one. “What…? Why…?”

“Eww,” she answered tartly. “You taste like onions.” She grimaced, scrubbing her mouth with the back of her free hand.

Buck started laughing, and…really?

She screwed up her face at him. He thought this was funny? She wanted an explanation. That was not how she’d planned on their first real kiss going.

“Yeah, I…”

Buck cracked up again, then sucked in a breath and started over, attempting to calm himself. “Here it is in a nutshell. The guy I bought the equipment from ate onions like they were candy, supposedly to fight off some imaginary, airborne, viral infection.

“The regulator I used must have been his favorite, because it was permeated with that unmistakable, pungent taste. I obviously didn’t know about it until I put the regulator in my mouth for our emergency, and by that time it was too late to do anything about it.

Obviously,” he reiterated and snickered.

“And now you are Mr. Onion-mouth.” Bobbie teased, sticking out her tongue. “Well, I’ll say this. I don’t regret the kiss, but I fully regret the flavor.”

Buck’s ears flamed, but he didn’t hesitate to give a come-back. “I don’t regret that you did it, either, and if you want to repeat things, I’ll make sure I’m onion-free next time,” he told her raspily. “I promise.”

“Good to know,” she smirked, giving him a sassy bump with her hip. “Now, however, I think you should get dressed.” She glanced down to where he was still shivering in his wet boxers.

Buck looked down also, and…

Relief filled his face.

Bobbie wanted to giggle.

Right. After that impromptu kiss, he might have been…

compromised, but thanks to the cold, he was only sporting a softy.

Clearly their connection hadn’t been long enough or deep enough to cause more than a stirring below, for which—considering the public nature of their surroundings—they should both be incredibly grateful.

After his brothers gave Buck some good-natured teasing about the whole thing—because they were filter-less when it came to family—they all waited for Buck to pull on his clothes.

They also let their dogs down to explore a little, and surprise, surprise, the black lab mix headed straight back for the water.

“Hey!” Spencer called out to the pup as the intrepid beast pranced into the drink until he was chest height. “Haven’t you had enough of that today?”

Spence reached the tiny troublemaker in three strides and scooped him up, looking incredulously toward the others. “Did you see that? You’d think he’d have a phobia or something, right?”

The dog looked happy, and yipped a sharp, puppy-like bark.

“You’re so brave,” Spencer crooned, using a baby-talk voice that had his brothers cracking up.

Bobbie laughed, too. “Uh, uh. Either brave, or your little guy thinks he’s a freaking duck.”

Spencer scratched the black beauty under his chin while regarding him seriously. “Yeah? You think you’re a duck, do you? Hey.” He snapped his fingers. “You know what? That’s not a bad name. Duck.”

The dog yipped happily again.

“You like that? I do, too. Duck. It fits.”

“Well, you’re obviously keeping him then,” Chief Ildavorg put in with a chuckle as he joined the group.

Spencer didn’t deny it.

“What about the rest of you?” the chief continued. “Are you all smitten, as well?”

Bobbie was the first to answer. “I am. This little girl is mine, and I already know what I’m going to name her. I just finished a book where the kickass Irish heroine’s name was Reyghan. And since this baby is an Irish Setter…” She trailed off. No other explanation was necessary

Buck tugged his shirt on over his head after struggling to pull his jeans up his wet legs, and looked over at his newest friend, cuddled down comfortably on the discarded quilt.

“I guess I’ve got myself a dog, too. I always wanted one, but being in the Coast Guard…

Well. Now I’ve kind of fished-my-wish, huh?

I’m not sure of a name yet. I’ll keep you posted.

” He turned to his brother. “And where do you stand, Mason?”

Mason was still cradling the petite dachshund, looking like he wasn’t letting go anytime soon. “Yeah. Me, too. You all know Everlee is a soft touch as well, so we’ll be keeping him.”

As if Mason, at the moment, wasn’t exactly the same kind of push-over.

Mason continued. “Ever won’t mind having this little guy around.

” And his toddler daughter, Reilly, was going to be beside herself.

“If I can wrangle it, I’ll get him some rescue training with our friend Harvé Pangler.

I’m sure Harvé’s dog Muddy will take this little guy under his wing, then I can use him for SWAT business. ”

“Cool. But…paw,” Buck corrected with a grin.

“Huh?” Mase looked confused.

“Muddy will take him under his paw ,” Buck reiterated.

“Smart-ass,” Mason rebutted with a snort.

“Any idea on names?” Bobbie asked Mase.

“Nah. I think I’ll let Everlee take care of that.

She’s better with that kind of stuff than I am.

I’d just end up calling him Axel or Gunner or something tough sounding, and I have a feeling that might not fly with her.

I’m gonna head home right after the vet and hash it out.

If that’s okay with you, Chief? My shift isn’t officially over yet. ”

“Not a problem,” Ildavorg assured him. “You’ve already put in enough overtime this week to break the bank.”

Apparently, Mason was an over-achiever.

Buck interrupted.

“Okay. I’m dressed,” he told the group as he scuffed his feet into his sneakers before bending over to sweep up his pup and the quilt. “We can go. Let’s get these bedraggled bundles checked out at the vet.”

Bobbie agreed, then paused, looking back at the chief after having taken a few steps up the embankment. “Umm, will we still be meeting with you this afternoon?”

Chief Ildavorg shook his head, standing his ground, below. “I think the window of opportunity on that has passed. Why don’t you take care of the dogs, I’ll keep an eye on the investigation here, and we’ll meet up tomorrow afternoon. How does that sound?”

Bobbie figured that would be okay. Friday was normally a busy prep day, but she could go in early, then Melo could keep things under control for an hour or two while she was gone. Besides, given another opportunity to see Buck? That was a no-brainer. She wasn’t going to pass that up.

“Works for me,” Bobbie responded.

Buck readily agreed. “Me, too. What time?”

“Two?” the chief sent back.

“See you then.”

Bobbie preceded the brothers up to the road, her arms full of little Reyghan, and now that the excitement had died down, her mind went back to the earlier conversations she’d had with both Buck and the chief.

Buck had given up his school money for her. He’d paid off her boat loss and the hardware store damages even though he hadn’t been responsible. She glanced back to where the man was now murmuring comfortingly to the little white dog he held.

Buck was something else; a wonderful man and a nurturer. She’d screwed up and completely misjudged him. Well, she’d been led to misjudge him by her brothers, but it still hurt to know she’d done it.

Now, to figure out if it really was her brothers who’d done the crimes.

Once Bobbie and Buck’s conversation with the chief was wrapped up, she’d have more facts, but from her standpoint, there was no one else who could be guilty except her two siblings.

Drew and Jeff were clearly the rotten apples here.

They’d deliberately scuttled her boat, left incriminating evidence in the hardware store to implicate Buck, then pocketed Buck’s hard-earned money afterward, leaving her in the dark.

The audacity of the pair was enraging.

And to make matters worse, they’d then—with utter contempt disguised as magnanimity— lent her a small amount of money for a new boat, after which they’d co-signed a loan for the balance which had left her tapped for a long time. She’d only finished paying off the Small Dream last year.

Not only that, the pricks had eventually done the same for her business; making her indebted to them and the bank, for frigging ever.

God knows what would have happened if Roberto’s Catering hadn’t been such a success. As it was, it took her until six months ago to amass enough money to move out of her dysfunctional family homestead; a place of hell for every one of the fifteen years that Buck had been gone.

Her siblings owed her now, big time.

The question was, how did she move forward with this? How could she make sure Buck didn’t go ballistic once the chief revealed all the facts, and that Buck didn’t do something awful that would end up getting his ass thrown in jail?

Maybe…

Yup. It might be best to have a preemptory conversation with his brothers.

In the vet’s waiting room perhaps, if she could finagle being alone with them.

Especially helpful might be that Mason was an officer of the law, and could steer them into the best way to move forward without putting themselves in legal trouble.

Armed with facts, maybe Mason and Spencer— when Buck finally joined the conversation—could keep him from flying off the handle.

Her mind made up, she sat back and waited to find the perfect time.