They were halfway through their meal when Alex turned the conversation back to her. They talked mostly about how much she loved animals, especially dogs, and why she became a veterinarian. She told him the stories of playing vet with all the neighborhood dogs when she was a kid, both of them laughing as she described how she’d wrapped all of them up like little mummies only to have to chase them around to get the bandages off once they got tired of the game. She admitted that she dreamed about running her own clinic one day.
“If I were rich, that’s what I’d do with my money,” she admitted. “I’d open up a no-kill shelter for dogs. I’d save them all if I could.”
The next thing Lacey knew, she was describing her dream shelter with a huge place for the dogs to run and play, dozens of treatment rooms, and hundreds of kennels. Alex never laughed at her crazy dream. In fact, he helped her plan it out while they ate. Clearly, he loved dogs as much as she did.
As she nibbled on a piece of garlic bread, she marveled at how good he was at getting her to open up. If she wasn’t careful, she’d be telling him all kinds of secrets. Like that insanity from last night when she’d climbed a ten-foot-tall fence because she thought she could help the police catch a man involved in dogfighting. That probably wouldn’t be a good subject to bring up, especially to a cop.
“Hey, you don’t have a problem with your date trespassing, breaking and entering, and stalking, right? No? Cool, because that’s what I do on my day off.”
Nah, that wouldn’t go over well. Maybe she should stick to talking about how much she loved animals.
The SWAT team’s dog, Tuffie, came up in conversation a little while after that. She almost cried when Alex told her how he and the other paramedic on the SWAT team had saved Tuffie’s life.
“You actually stopped working on one of your teammates to help Tuffie?” she asked in awe. “That’s amazing. I can’t imagine he was too thrilled with that, though.”
“Xander?” Alex chuckled. “He barely got scratched. I think he was just trying to show off for the female SWAT officer on our team.”
Lacey laughed. She was having such a good time with Alex that she barely paid any attention to her dinner. She didn’t care. She hadn’t had this much fun just sitting around talking to a guy ever. Which was why she was bummed when Alex glanced at his watch.
She checked her own and discovered it was after ten already. “Do you have to work tonight?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s just that I set up something special for us to do around eleven.”
“Something special?” Her interest was piqued. “Like what?”
He grinned. “If I told you, it wouldn’t be special.”
Lacey looked at her plate of spaghetti, then back at Alex. She’d been having an amazing time with him, but if he’d set up something special, she hated the idea of not getting to do it. That didn’t seem right. Besides, she was curious.
“I’ll get this put in that doggie bag we promised Kelsey,” she told him. “I’m full anyway.”
“You sure?”
Lacey caught the waitress’s eye as the woman finished up at another table, then motioned down at her plate. “Definitely. I can’t wait.”
“Good.” He pulled out his wallet. “You’re okay doing a little walking in high heels, right?”
Okay, now she was even more intrigued. What the heck did he have planned?
Alex wouldn’t tell her though, no matter how much she begged. Lacey was confused when they turned into the deserted parking lot of the Dallas Zoo twenty minutes later.
“What are we doing here?” she asked. “They’re closed at this time of night.”
Alex pulled into a space and shut off the engine. “Yeah, they are. But it just so happens that I know the carnivore keeper here. She agreed to slip us in to spend a little time with one of their special guests.”
“What kind of animal?” she asked. “Lion? Tiger?”
His mouth twitched. “You’ll just have to wait and see. But I will tell you that it’s not one of the animals they normally have here on exhibit.”
Lacey ran through all the animals they had at the zoo, trying to figure out what it could be. She was so excited to find out, she almost ran toward the entrance, then she realized she had no idea where they were going, especially when they passed the front entrance and started around the side of the place.
Alex pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “We’re here, Hannah. Meet you at the gate.”
A few minutes later, they were met at a wood gate by a petite redhead wearing khaki shorts and a Dallas Zoo polo shirt. Alex introduced her as Hannah Wells, the person in charge of taking care of the zoo’s carnivores.
“Take your time,” Hannah told them before walking off and leaving them alone.
“She’s just going to let us wander around?” Lacey whispered as the woman disappeared around a corner.
