Page 6 of Will Bark for Pizza (Bluebell Springs #1)

FIVE

BECKETT

When I spotted the redhead with a dog standing on a paddleboard in the middle of Ghost Lake, that should have been my sign to turn the hell around and go.

I’d lingered out at the cabin long enough, convincing myself that purchasing this cabin was the perfect way to put down roots in this town. Nana, whom I was talking it over with on the phone, grunted as soon as the words left my mouth.

“There’s a redhead on a paddleboard.”

I didn’t need to say more. Nana was there through two of the blowouts that occurred after my interactions with redheads in the past. Chaos and a string of bad luck always followed in their wake.

“It’s an omen,” Nana said, right before the woman fell into the lake.

“Yeah. Probably.”

I simultaneously ended the call and kicked off my boots, before stripping out of my shirt. Luke mentioned Ghost Lake was shallow compared to the larger Glimmerstone Lake, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t drown in it. And so far, Red hadn’t resurfaced.

A blond shepherd dog whined and paced on the paddleboard, pressing his nose into the water on each side. He didn’t seem eager to jump in, but he was definitely concerned.

The woman was still under.

Fuck.

No time to remove my jeans, I emptied my pockets and waded into the lake. I swam straight toward the board. The water was colder than I expected, but I blocked out the discomfort and focused on the mission at hand: save Red.

The dog wearing a bright yellow and black life vest silently paced from the front to the back of the board, looking down at me with big brown eyes, urgently begging me to do something about his human.

I dove under, the setting sun no fucking help in the darkening waters. I scanned the area, mostly with my arms, and came up empty. I refused to let panic set in, refocused my search, and dove back down.

There, on the opposite side of the board, a sea of red hair and long, bare legs gave her away. She was headed to the surface. Only when her head broke the water did I follow suit.

“Husker, you okay?” she choked out as she propped her elbows on the board, fear heavy in those blue eyes.

Despite her coughing and panting, her concern was more for the dog than herself.

That much was evident in the way she looked at him.

Had I ever met a redhead who came with a dog?

I quickly shook the question away. She already showed me she was chaos.

Having a dog didn’t change the redheaded curse I’d endured since the fifth grade.

The dog lay down on the board, his head next to hers, nosing her face in obvious concern.

“You okay, ma’am?” I asked from the opposite side of her board, announcing my presence as my foot found purchase on the slippery bottom. The water was just shallow enough that I could balance on my toes and keep my chin above the surface without having to tread water.

“Shit,” she sputtered, her eyes doubling in size when she spotted me. “Where did you come from?”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. You okay?”

“I’m fine.” She ran her fingers along the back of the dog’s neck.

The gesture seemed protective, as though she’d fight me if I threatened her dog.

I had to admit, in his doggie life vest, the pup didn’t seem all that intimidating.

The mama bear warning in her narrowed eyes made sense.

“Really, I’m good. Just a little wounded pride. ”

“You hurt?”

“You ask a lot of questions,” she fired back, understandable suspicion in her gaze.

I took a few steps backward, finding firmer footing. My aching toes thanked me.

“I saw you go under,” I explained, brushing water from my forehead before the droplets could roll into my eyes any worse than they already had. “You weren’t coming back up.”

“I’m fine.”

“You were under long enough for me to swim out here.”

“My foot got tangled in pondweed.” She looked at the dog. “Seems like it got us both, huh, Bubbies?”

“I can call someone?—”

“I appreciate your concern, but really, I got it from here.”

If I had any sense, I’d leave well enough alone.

Swim back to shore, hope like hell I had a towel to sit on until I could get back to the farm to change, and forget all about the frustrating woman anchored on the other side of a paddleboard.

But around redheads, I seemed to be a special kind of stupid.

“At least let me help you back to shore,” I insisted.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I’m not a serial killer or anything.”

“That’s something a serial killer would say,” she pointed out.

“Fair point.” I scanned the lake, the shoreline, the houses, the nearby tents. “If I were a serial killer—which, to be clear, I am not—there are too many witnesses. This would be a really bad place to murder you.”

Husker looked at me, his head tilted at an angle that shouldn’t be physically possible. Add in those big brown doe eyes and pointed ears large enough to pick up a radio signal, and I strongly suspected this dog was good at wielding his cuteness to get anything he wanted.

“Witnesses?” Red sputtered a laugh that ended in a coughing fit. Her eyes watered, mascara smudges running.

I wished I could take away the taste of lake water in her throat. Fragile was the last word I’d use to describe this mystery woman, but a near-drowning scare could rattle even the toughest of people. Something I knew all too well. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

“This place is deserted,” she added. “It’s perfect serial killer ground.”

“There are two tents over there,” I said, pointing to the family camping just on the other side of Karl Hayes’ property line.

A fire roared, and laughter carried across the lake.

“Two adults in that family. Both have been watching since I swam out here.” I waited as her gaze snagged on the campsite.

She released an exhale, her shoulders dropping the slightest.

In case it wasn’t enough, I went on. “Across the lake, there’s a couple in their garden. Been there for hours. Green house with the kayaks tied to the boat ramp. The woman’s been off her knees since you went in the water. I bet she’s even called someone by now.”

“What are you, some kind of secret service or something?”

“Or something.”

I’d always been observant, a survival skill I honed at a young age, thanks to an alcoholic father. My military training only sharpened those skills. I couldn’t turn it off if I tried.

“You think she called someone?” Red’s expression was less the relief I expected and a whole lot more like dread. I needed to get this woman and her dog back to shore so I could leave with a clear conscience.

Before I did something reckless, like ask her out.

It didn’t matter that I swore off the opposite sex after my last incident with a redhead cost me a solid job and uprooted my comfortable life.

My brain went stupid around these women.

All the more reason to steer clear of the entire female population until I was comfortably established in my new life.

Even then, I might get a dog before I entertained getting tangled up with a woman again. Or maybe a plant. Wasn’t that the first step in proving you had your shit together? Make sure you can keep a plant alive for a year, or something like that?

“I bet the police chief is on his way,” I said, to reassure her and get my head on straight. Dana Wilcox’s fender bender probably took a back seat to a potential drowning. Once I got Red and her dog back to the shore, I’d shoot him a text. “I’d be arrested before I could dispose of your body.”

“Police chief,” she mumbled, a flash of panic in her eyes.

“Wait, you’re not a serial killer, are you?”

One corner of her mouth lifted so subtly I wouldn’t have noticed it if I weren’t staring.

Fuck, stop staring!

“Not a serial killer.”

“I hope that if you’re lying, you’ll let me live on account of me swimming all the way out here to save you.”

“I’ll take it into consideration.”

A hint of a full smile danced across her lips, but it was the shivering that most caught my attention.

The water couldn’t be more than sixty-five degrees, and the sun had already dropped behind the mountain range.

It’d be dark within the hour. Probably sooner.

Though it might take a while for hypothermia to set in, I didn’t want to test the theory.

“As long as you’re feeling generous, can we please head back to shore before my family jewels shrivel up and disappear?”

“The water’s not that cold,” she scoffed playfully, a full-body shiver giving her away.

“Tell that to my future children.”

I gripped the nose of the board and tugged it toward the shore. Husker popped to his feet and stood at attention, as though he were the one steering us to dry land. Red held on by her elbows, pushing the board from the opposite end.

I focused on the red Jeep parked near the boat dock.

The one with Nebraska plates. The name Husker made sense now, but not why she was out here in the first place.

I hadn’t been in Bluebell Springs long, but Luke was pretty adamant: Ghost Lake was a private lake.

How did she even know about it? The turn off the highway to Karl’s property wasn’t announced.

It was overgrown, and littered with no trespassing signs.

Hell, I drove past the turn the first time.

“Can you grab him until I can get his leash?” Red asked, wringing out her long hair that went past her shoulders, before she stepped out of the lake.

Noting the handle on the back of the doggie life vest, I slipped my hand through it. Not that he needed the anchor. Husker stayed still, watching his human with an unbroken stare as she retrieved the leash from the dock.

“Actually, give me just a second.” She hurried to her Jeep, threw open the passenger door, and reached in. I shouldn’t stare at those long legs, but damn .