“Class dismissed,” Alex said. Frank, Stan, and their dogs headed inside while Sylvie lingered.
“Dinnertime?” she asked.
Alex raised his eyebrows. “Now?”
Sylvie frowned. “Um, yeah?”
“I just thought you might like to go home and change first.”
“Oh! Yeah.” She looked down at her uniform.So sexy. Not. “I’m on-call through midnight, so that’s not really an option.”God, why did I ask him to dinner tonight?
“So, you might have to cut dinner short, too?”
She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Yeah, that’s a possibility, too.” She looked at her feet then back up at Alex. “I didn’t exactly think this through.”
Instead of rolling his eyes at her—which he had every right to do—he gave her that dead-sexy grin. “I guess you were just hungry at the time?”
Oh, Lord have mercy.
“Something like that.”
Was that red creeping uphisneck now?
Mercy, STAT.
“Know a good place in town?” he asked, his voice a low growl. “I’ve been here a while, but I’ve mostly just been to bars with the guys. Probably wouldn’t do to go to one with an on-duty police officer. Depending on the bar, that’s kinda like bringing work to dinner. Or maybe dinner to work?”
That made her laugh. “Yeah, if you’re talking about that dive just outside of Longmont, you might be saving me a drive to my next call.” She thought for a minute. “There’s a great Mexican place in Lyons if you haven’t been there already.”
“Kyle mentioned it. Sounds good.”
She looked at Chewie, lying beside Mac. “I’ll have to leave my boy here. He’s not on patrol with me yet, obviously.”
“Hey, it won’t be long.” Alex’s voice had gone soft and deep. He laid his hand on her upper arm andzing! Electricity shot through her. “I mean it, you’re doing great.” Now he was back to an even lower growl and there was definite color in his face. “Let’s get these guys inside. I have to feed the others and let them run around for a bit, then I can clock out and we can go. Though I never really clock out, either.”
They called the dogs and started inside. “So you’re on-call too?”
“Twenty-four seven. What’s nice though is that I’m staying on the hill. My job provides a little house just outside of the gates so if there’s an emergency with one of the dogs, I can be here in five minutes.”
“A house. Nice bonus.”
“Especially around here, housing prices being what they are.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me.”
They entered the kennels where several dogs waited for dinner. The dog in the farthest kennel on the end looked like a monster compared to the others, mostly Malinois with a lab here and there. The name on his kennel said “Buster” and the name looked fitting. He was some sort of mix, maybe some pitbull, maybe Rottie. But he cowered like a frightened pup while Alex and one of his assistants, Jodie, took care of him.
Sylvie and Alex kept the subject to dog training and taking care of Chewie. With another person there, Sylvie felt self-conscious the whole time, which was completely unlike her. George and Cynthia had taught her from day one to take pride in herself and never feel intimidated just because of her previous circumstances, that she was the equal of anyone.
When they finished, Alex told his assistant to have a good night while Sylvie was giving Chewie extra pets before closing up the large kennel. She realized it was their first time apart overnight since she’d gotten the dog as a puppy.
“Everything all right?” Alex asked as he knelt beside her, his voice gentle.
“Yes. No.” She smiled sadly and shook her head.
He placed one hand on her shoulder and stroked Chewie’s head with the other. She moved her hand down to the dog’s ruff under his chin. Her good boy looked like he was in heaven—about how she felt with Alex so close. If only it were under better circumstances.
“He’s going to be just fine here tonight. He’s right up next to his buddy.” Alex nodded at Mac in the adjacent kennel. “I’ll leave Mac here tonight so that Chewie can settle in.”
