She leaned down against him. “I don’t suppose you like horses, do you?”

  He opened his eyes, and, as she watched the light flare inside, he asked, “You do?”

  “I’ll tell you one thing,” she whispered. “I love to ride.”

  And she slowly mounted him, then set a pace that had them both crying out. When she finally exploded above him, she held on, as he flipped her onto her back and drove into her, once, twice, three times. Then they both exploded together.

  When he sagged down beside her, she chuckled, wrapped her arms around him, and tucked up close to him. She murmured, “If you’re this good with a bad ankle, I can’t imagine what you’ll be like when that ankle joint is fixed.”

  He burst out laughing. “I think I’ll tell Kat that’s why we need you to work for her.”

  “Oh God. Just so you can get a working ankle joint, and we can test it out?”

  “Absolutely,” he murmured. Tilting her head, he kissed her deeply. “I’m so glad you decided to come to New Mexico.”

  “I still have a mess here to deal with at my townhome,” she noted. “Still, I figured I should take a look at New Mexico and see if it’s a place where maybe I would like to live and work.” She batted her eyes. “I need to see for myself if there is a compelling reason for me to stay.”

  “Absolutely there is,” he declared, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head, “and I’m just one of them. It’s also a perfect place for Gracie.”

  She stopped and looked at him, then asked, “Do you have a house?”

  “I have a house, I have a yard, … a big yard, with acreage that backs onto a creek,” he shared. “It’s perfect for animals.”

  “What about a family?” she asked, looking up at him hopefully.

  He nodded and smiled. “It was always part of the plan. Somehow the plan didn’t quite work out.”

  “That’s because it wasn’t the right time,” she stated, kissing his neck. “You know what the universe is all about, … her time or no time.”

  He burst out laughing again. “Well, I’m really glad I’m on her time now.”

  “So you should be,” Rebecca said, as she laid her head back down again. “I always wanted three.”

  “Oh, I was thinking more like five.”

  She stilled, kicked her head back, and repeated, “Five?”

  “Sure,” he agreed, with a grin. “Five dogs and three kids.”

  She smiled. “Oh, I can get behind that.”

  “Good, then tomorrow we start the first day of the rest of our lives,” he proclaimed, as he pulled the blankets over them. “Our new life will be what we create. Exactly as we want it.”

  “That sounds perfect,” she murmured, “especially if Kat is okay with having me working for her.”

  “We won’t know until we ask. I suggest we do that as soon as we hit town. I need to report in anyway,” he shared, “so you can come with me.”

  “I don’t know,” Rebecca replied. “That might be putting Kat on the spot.”

  “You don’t understand. You don’t put Kat on the spot. She’s probably already figured out who you are and what you do, and she’ll snag you as soon as you walk in.”

  Rebecca chuckled. “I wouldn’t be at all upset about that either. … Work for me has been an uneasy place for a long time now,” she whispered. “Finding a place to call home sounds like just what the doctor ordered.”

  “And we’ll get there,” Delta said. “Let’s just sort it out, get you there for a first look, take care of the rest of this madness, and get you moved down there. I’m … I hope I’m not pushing you. Yet I am pushing,” he admitted, with a smile. “So, I’ll need you to tell me if it’s too much. I’m just so excited because we have a chance now to create everything we wanna create.”

  And, with that, they closed their eyes, tucked up tightly together, and slept. They had a great future ahead of them, and they were both eager to get to it.

  Gracie must have read their minds, as she gave a woof of agreement.

  Epilogue

  Kat grinned, when she opened the door to see Delta standing there with Rebecca. “Now, don’t tell me,” she greeted them. “You need an ankle joint.”

  Delta smiled broadly, genuinely happy to see her, and beginning to allow himself to feel the effects of the past several days.

  Kat continued. “You may be surprised to hear that I have some parts for you.” Then she looked over at Rebecca, smiled, and nodded, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Kat.”

  “Hi,” Rebecca replied shyly.

  Kat studied the pretty woman, who looked as if her life had been flipped upside down. Yet somehow she’d landed upright. “Rough couple days, huh?” she asked Rebecca.

  “You’re not kidding,” she murmured. “Yet it seems like all good things end well.”

  “And that’s what we count on.” Kat nodded and smiled as she eyed Rebecca. “I also hear that you’ve done some work on prosthetics.”

  “Yes, but on animals though,” she clarified. “So I don’t know how helpful that would be to you.”

  “Are you kidding? It’s already helpful, especially if you know your way around a wrench, a screwdriver, a hammer drill, and a few other tools.”

  “Yeah, I do,” she said. “All very necessary on the electronic circuit board side of things.”

  “Good,” Kat declared, with a huge smile. “Are you looking for a job or just looking to take a holiday?”

  “Well, a holiday for a little bit would be nice,” Rebecca replied, “and I still have to get some of my stuff moved out.”

  “We can just hire a company for that,” Kat noted, with a wave of her hand. “There are people in the world who do that sort of thing. We’ve got other things to do.” She heard her husband coming to join them and looked over at Badger, a big smile on her face.

  Badger walked up, introduced himself to Rebecca, and smiled. “How you doing there, Delta?”

  “I’m doing great,” he stated, as he wrapped an arm around Rebecca’s shoulders. “If I’d realized this is the kind of shit you guys were handling—”

  “You would have run in the opposite direction,” Badger stated.

  Delta laughed. “I might have run, but only because I wouldn’t have understood.” He shook his head. “Now I understand, and that’s a whole different story.” He leaned over and kissed Rebecca hard on the cheek. “This would have made any trip perfect.”

  Badger chuckled, looked over at Kat, and teased, “So, I guess you got another successful matchmaking feather in your cap. What will you do now?”

  “Yep, I did, and I already know who I have in mind for the next job. But first things first.” She looked over at Rebecca and offered, “Why don’t you come into the office tomorrow, and we’ll see if it’s a match.”

  Badger’s gaze lit with interest. “You guys think you can work together?”

  Rebecca smiled. “I’m game, if Kat’s game. All I’ve heard about is this ankle joint of Delta’s.”

  That set Kat off into giggles again. Badger just shook his head. “I swear to God, these two? All they deal with is that ankle.”

  “But I was thinking blue steel would be cool, maybe with some filigree metal all through it,” Rebecca suggested. “That would be awesome.”

  At that, Badger looked at her with interest.

  Kat’s gaze lit up, and she nodded. “I really would like to get more artistic with some of this. That would be amazing.” And, with that, the two women headed off to have a chat.

  Badger called out to his wife, and Kat turned and looked at him. He asked her, “What about the next one?”

  “That’s all right,” she said. “I’ll get there. I already have Conall tagged for it.”

  He stopped, his hands on his hips, and asked, “Why him, for crying out loud?”

  She smiled. “Because he’d be perfect for it.” And, with that, Kat turned and walked into the kitchen, her arm wrapped around Rebecca, as they talked about ankle joints.

  Badger turned to face Delta, shaking his head. “Well?”

  “Yeah, well,” he replied, with a knowing smile. “Outside of an ankle joint, I could really use a beer.”

  Badger chuckled and slapped him on the shoulder. “Out to the pool then. That’s where the beer and the relaxation happens,” he declared. “That was a job well done, by the way. Now, if only Kat wasn’t thinking about Conall for the next one.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because he’s big, a little on the rougher-built side. Yet he’s all heart and a big marshmallow. If it’s a bad case, he’s bound to go to pieces.”

  Delta frowned at him. “I think you’re considering that from the wrong angle. If it goes bad, his heart will hurt, and then he’ll move on, stronger and better than ever. But that marshmallow? We need guys like that. Most of the world is too scared and too ashamed to show any emotions. Guys like Conall, they’re all emotion, but they’re also really good men to have behind you.”

  Badger nodded. “Agreed. So Kat was right, … once again.”

  This concludes Book 23 of The K9 Files: Delta.

  Read about Conall: The K9 Files, Book 24

  The K9 Files: Conall (Book #24)

  Welcome to the all new K9 Files series reconnecting readers with the unforgettable men from SEALs of Steel in a new series of action packed, page turning romantic suspense that fans have come to expect from USA TODAY Bestselling author Dale Mayer. Pssst… you’ll meet other favorite characters from SEALs of Honor and Heroes for Hire too!

  Conall is more than happy to head out after a War Dog has gone missing, leaving a wheelchair-bound military war veteran lost and alone. Yet what seems like a simple job takes an unsavory turn, when Conall comes face-to-face with darker undertones in that town.

  Bethany always wanted to have her own veterinary clinic, and she’s been doing a decent job of it, until so much of the town died that she finds it hard to get and to keep decent staff. Her temporary help suddenly embroils her clinic in a mess involving a missing War Dog, and then Bethany uncovers what else this young lady is involved in. None of it’s good.

  Conall refuses to back down or to walk away from the sudden hell Bethany’s life has become. No telling how ugly this can get …

  Find Book 24 here!

  To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.

  Author’s Note

  Thank you for reading Delta: The K9 Files, Book 23! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.

  Dear reader,

  I love to hear from readers, and you can contact me at my website: www.dalemayer.com or at my Facebook author page. To be informed of new releases and special offers, sign up for my newsletter or follow me on BookBub. And if you are interested in joining Dale Mayer’s Reader Group, here is the Facebook sign up page.

  Cheers,

  Dale Mayer

  About the Author

  Dale Mayer is a USA Today best-selling author, best known for her SEALs military romances, her Psychic Visions series, and her Lovely Lethal Garden cozy series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Broken But … Mending, Hathaway House series). Her thrillers will keep you guessing (Kate Morgan, By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life, a stand-alone novella; and the Broken Protocols series, starring Charming Marvin, the cat).

  Dale honors the stories that come to her—and some of them are crazy, break all the rules and cross multiple genres!

  To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields, with books available on résumé writing, companion gardening, and the US mortgage system. All her books are available in print and ebook format.

  Connect with Dale Mayer Online

  Dale’s Website – www.dalemayer.com

  Twitter – @DaleMayer

  Facebook Page – geni.us/DaleMayerFBFanPage

  Facebook Group – geni.us/DaleMayerFBGroup

  BookBub – geni.us/DaleMayerBookbub

  Instagram – geni.us/DaleMayerInstagram

  Goodreads – geni.us/DaleMayerGoodreads

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  DELTA: THE K9 FILES, BOOK 23

  Beverly Dale Mayer

  Valley Publishing Ltd.

  Copyright © 2024

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-778862-97-7

  Kobo Edition

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

 

 

  Dale Mayer, Delta

 

 

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