Busting Loose Read Online Free

sidewalk. He doesn’t like to be cold.”
    â€œI’d guess he doesn’t like to be embarrassed either, but it’s too late.”
    She scowled, then turned on her heel. “I’ll just leave you to play cleanup, then.”
    â€œNo, wait. I’m sorry. He looks cute in booties. Just come back and help me, please, I beg you.”
    He sounded so lost and frazzled she couldn’t say no. “Scoop some of that up and then I can put him down.”
    Morgan reached into the closet and grabbed a broom and dust pan, then haphazardly swept up stray kibble kernels until the floor was passably clean. Bea set Milton down. Without the food to inhale, he stuck to her like glue.
    â€œCan you just go down the row of cages and read out what the cards say on each one, so I get the serving sizes right without running back and forth?”
    She headed to cage one, which held a duo of what looked like basset hound mixes. “Oh, aren’t you two cute?” She reached in and scratched one behind its long ear. The other bounded over and flopped on his brother, scrambling for her attention. They licked at her fingers, rubbed against the metal fencing, jumped, and pounced on each other to gain the advantage.
    â€œBea, the card?”
    â€œOh, sorry. This one is two half servings.” She glanced down at Milton, who sat patiently at her side. “Not jealous of the attention I’m giving these guys?”
    Milton stared at the two pups in what could only be canine disgust. His look all but shouted have some dignity, fools.
    â€œThat’s my boy,” she murmured, then moved down the line, reading out cards. At each cage, she had to stop and share some love, though she didn’t open anyone’s door. Too risky with Milton. All dogs that were up for adoption were temper tested before being considered. She remembered that from reading the paperwork that came with Milton. But still, it was never a great idea to mix two dogs on short notice. And some of these guys were three times his size.
    After cage ten, the last one not designated for vet clinic patients, she looked around. “I think some of these guys are still here from when I adopted Milton. How sad.”
    â€œYeah. It’s getting harder to handle the influx. We’re the only shelter for nearly forty-five minutes. And now that my hopes of having a partner fell through—”
    â€œPartner?” Bea’s head snapped around.
    â€œYeah.” He rubbed a hand over his neck, a weary gesture that made her want to walk over and rub his shoulders. “I had set up an interview with another vet, and she was supposed to come in and help pick up some slack. Would have given me a chance to expand the shelter work a bit more. But she balked at the rural area.” He grinned at her, but his eyes were more solemn. “Some city girls just can’t adapt like you.”
    â€œPlease,” she muttered, but was stupidly pleased at the compliment.
    Morgan brought over the last dog’s food, then slipped it in the small slot designated for food delivery and headed back to clean up the food prep area. “So we’re back to where we started, just me and my merry band of helpers, doing what we can to save the world one fuzz butt at a time. And so many ranches still don’t bother to spay or neuter their dogs. They figure it’s no big deal if they have pups, since every ranch needs a working dog. But when you get a litter with twelve pups . . .”
    â€œNot all are going to be needed.” She sighed, understanding his frustration. He had such a great mission started, and she loved his caring heart.
    And now she was going to squish him by turning down the job, just like the unknown vet who had stood him up on the partnership. Dammit. How was it, no matter how hard she tried to avoid being cruel, life seemed to set her up to be the Coldhearted Bitch anyway?
    â€œMorgan, I . . .”
    He grabbed her