Lacey opened her mouth to say she could handle Scooby on her own, but the big SWAT cop had already knelt down beside the dog. Well, at least the Great Dane appeared to be content to sit there calmly for now. She might as well make use of the dog’s good behavior while it lasted. Grabbing her clipboard and stethoscope from her bag, she got to work.
Alex didn’t just have a way with calming down dogs, he had a way with them period. Scooby did anything Alex wanted him to do, including lying down and rolling onto his back so Lacey could palpate his stomach. The funny thing was, Alex barely had to say or do anything. The dog just seemed to know what Alex wanted him to do.
“Dogs seem to like you,” she pointed out.
He flashed her another grin that inspired some nice tingles here, there, and everywhere. “Maybe they’re onto something.”
Lacey braced herself, assuming Alex would almost certainly ask her out again after a line like that, but instead, he went back to holding Scooby still for the next part of the examination.
Huh. Well, if he wanted to play the strong, silent type, she was fine with that. She really didn’t feel like fending off any more advances anyway, she told herself as she turned her full attention to Scooby and his chart.
That plan lasted for a little while. Until she noticed how incredibly nice Alex smelled, and that the stubble along his jaw looked so soft and touchable that it was all she could do to not reach out and run her fingertips over his strong chin. Her gaze moved lower, focusing on the way his thigh muscles bulged in his jeans as he crouched beside her. The mere thought of the word bulge had her eyes wandering somewhere they really shouldn’t be going.
Okay, enough of that. She needed a distraction STAT!
“How did you know I was volunteering here today?” she asked. “Unless you expect me to believe this is just coincidence?”
His dark eyes met hers. “I ran into your friend Wendy, and she mentioned that you like to spend your free time here.”
“And why would Wendy tell you that?” she asked, even though she already had a pretty good idea.
“I don’t know. I guess she thought you might enjoy some company while you worked. She was the one who suggested I come and help.”
Lacey would have pointed out that her best friend was a conniving weasel, but Alex had already gotten to his feet and was leading Scooby back to his kennel. While he did that, she got the next dog out. The little Boston terrier was like putty in Alex’s hands. She leaned contently against his big, muscular leg as he kneeled on the floor, a happy smile pasted on her furry lips the whole time they examined her.
As she worked, Lacey kept expecting Alex to try to charm her like he had the previous times they’d met, but he didn’t. Instead, he was completely focused on wordlessly transcribing her findings and comments into each dog’s record and handing her equipment as she requested it. Lacey smiled as they slipped into a smooth routine. They worked well together. So well, in fact, that it took her a while to realize that he never asked her what any of the medical terms she called out meant or how to spell them. On top of that, he handed her certain pieces of med gear before she even asked.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had a medical background,” she remarked.
“I’m a licensed paramedic in the state of Texas and have some Marine Corps Combat Lifesaver training.”
“Oh,” she murmured, embarrassed to admit that his answer surprised her.
For some reason, she’d assumed a big guy like him would have more knowledge of guns and violence than about medicine. She blushed as she realized how shallow that was.
She waited for him to explain how a DPD officer in SWAT had come to possess—and maintain—the state’s highest level of EMS certification, but Alex didn’t say a word. Instead, he went back to helping her with the labradoodle they were examining, moving not just with efficiency, but with a level of gentleness that she would have never expected from a man his size.
They worked in comfortable relative silence for the next three hours. After checking out nearly twenty dogs, including a few with minor injuries that needed tending, Lacey decided to call it a day. With Alex’s help, she’d seen more pooches in a single day than she would have normally seen in a week. And to tell the truth, she was beat.
She was also curious as hell. Working this close to him had been more fun than she would ever have thought possible, and she found herself wanting to ask him a hundred different questions. Where had he developed this knack for handling dogs? How could he be SWAT and a paramedic? Had he been in the Marines long, and how had he gotten from there to the Dallas police department?
Those weren’t things she could ask as they stood in the middle of an animal shelter, though. Questions like that demanded a good meal and a glass or two of wine. But that would mean going out on a date.
The funny thing was, after today, she was finding it hard to remember why she’d been so obstinately set against going out with him. He seemed like a genuinely amazing guy. How bad would it be to go on one, teensy-weensy date? Only an idiot would keep standing on silly principle at this point.
“Okay,” she said as they left the shelter and stepped out into the late-day heat. “You win. We can go out to dinner sometime.”
He looked at her with what she was sure was faux surprise. “Win? Do you think that the only reason I came out here on a Saturday was to get you to go on a date with me?”
She lifted a brow.
His mouth curved. “Maybe you’re right. But I don’t want you to go out with me because you feel you owe me something. I want you to do it because you think it would be fun and because you’re interested in me. If that’s not the case, just say so, and we can save each other any embarrassment later.”
Lacey mentally cringed. Crap, that sounded like something she would say. But he’d hit the nail right on the head—and called her out at the same time.
“I am interested in you,” she said. “But to be honest, I’m not looking for a relationship right now. I can’t make any promises that this date will lead anywhere, not even a second date.”
Alex regarded her in silence for so long that she suddenly wondered if she should have tempered her words a bit. She hadn’t needed to be so blunt about the whole thing. She wouldn’t be surprised if he bailed. Who wanted to go out with someone who essentially just declared that the date was going to suck before they even went on it?
