“Oh, perfect, we were just finishing assigning positions,” the organizer says, oblivious to us as she looks down at her paper. “The foster parents are fine as holders, and I think we have the front desk covered to handle signups, but…” She looks up, searching for something, and immediately brightens when her gaze locks on Nico. “Oh, Nicholas! There you are. How’s it going meeting the dogs?”
I quirk an eyebrow at him when he stops beside me.Nicholas?I mouth.
He shrugs, that damn dimple making another appearance. “It’s great, Mrs. Ross. I think I managed to introduce myself to everyone.”
“Perfect. In that case…” She turns her attention to me. “Would you be okay with helping Nicholas conduct interviews of our harder fosters?”
My brow furrows in confusion. “He’sinterviewingthe dogs?”
I turn when Nico chuckles beside me. “I’m just shooting some videos for socials. It’s basically a few minutes per dog, petting them, telling viewers about them, that kind of thing.”
I look back at the organizer. “Do I need to be on camera?” Because that’s a giant no.
She’s already shaking her head. “No, of course not, dear. We just need someone holding the camera.” She seems to finally clue in to my hesitation—I thought I’d be handing out papers or something, not spending more time with a client—so she adds, “Or I could put you at the front desk and ask one of the other girls to help Nico?”
“I’ll do it,” I blurt out. Too fast. “I mean, as long as I’m not in the video, I can help.” Suddenly unsure, I glance at Nico. “If you’re okay with that.”
His grin couldn’t be bigger. “More than okay.”
Why does that make me giddy?“Okay,” I whisper.
“Great,” he chirps, grabbing my hand. “Then I’ve got the perfect little puppy to introduce you to…”
A minute later, I’m staring down at the biggest dog I’ve ever seen. “Thisis a puppy?”
Nico nods as he squats down to pet what I’m assuming is a Great Dane. “Yup. Nine months. He’ll get even bigger, believe it or not.” Looking up at me, he smiles. “Wanna pet him?”
I’m doubting if I made the right call coming here. I’ve never been around animals, never had a pet of my own. I just always liked how people talked about their pets. I liked the idea of how they love their human unconditionally.
Nico must sense my hesitation because he stands up, sobering. “Here,” he says softly, reaching for my hand again. Slowly, he extends it toward the Great Dane. “Just let him smell you first. He’s a good boy.”
I wait with bated breath as the puppy sniffs my hand, seeming just as unsure of me as I feel about him.
“You can read their body language the same way you can read people,” Nico murmurs. “If their ears are back, or he looks tense, or too still, then I wouldn’t recommend petting them. But if they?—”
A giant tongue shoots out to lick the entire length of my hand.
I shriek and jump back, but the shout quickly becomes laughter.
“He likes you,” Nico says as I extend my hand again, this time to pet the dog’s head.
“I like him too,” I say with a soft smile.
It takes me a minute to realize I’m still petting the dog, and that Nico is watching me do it. Blushing, I pull my hand back.
“So… How do you want to do these interviews?”
Taking the phone from his back pocket—he’s wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, looking entirely too delicious—he unlocks his phone and hands it to me. “Just press record and aim it at me and the dog. I’ll do the rest.”
Perplexed, I stare at the phone. “Did you just hand a girl your unlocked phone?”
He grins at me. “Dig through whatever you’d like, baby. I have no secrets.”
My eyes narrow at him. “That’s a little terrifying.”
He shrugs. “I’m not interesting enough for secrets.”
“Well, we knowthat’snot true,” I mutter, swiping open the camera app. I don’t miss Nico’s chuckle.
