Page 136 of Claimed At First Sight

“No, no, it’s okay,” Ari murmurs somewhere ahead. “I’m trying to help you.”

Relief crashes through me so abruptly it almost makes my knees weak. Without thinking, I reach for Maximo’s hand and squeeze.

“Ari,” I call, hurrying toward the sound of her voice.

A second later, we round the corner behind another building and find her crouched beside a stack of wooden pallets. Beneath them, a small gray cat shivers against the cold while Ari attempts to coax it out.

The cat hisses, and Ari murmurs something soothing in response.

Seeing my sister with my own eyes, I press my palm to my heart, willing it to slow down now that we’ve found her.

“Ari,” I say again, and she looks up guiltily.

I rush to her side, pulling her against me.

“Oh my God, bug, you can’t just run off in the middle of downtown Chicago!” I say, holding her a little tighter.

“The cat’s hurt,” she replies, as if that would explain everything.

“You scared ten years off my life when you disappeared.”

She isn’t listening to me, her focus on the cat that’s hissing weakly. There’s blood on one of its paws.

Ari’s face crumples. “I think someone kicked her.”

Maximo steps forward, and the cat retreats deeper beneath the pallets.

“Don’t scare her,” Ari says anxiously.

Maximo pauses. Then, to my complete surprise, he crouches.

The movement is controlled and deliberate, his attention fixed on the trembling animal. For a man who commands rooms just by entering them, he seems remarkably careful not to take up too much space.

Well, that’s new.

“She’s frightened,” Ari says.

“Yes,” he agrees, his voice lowered, while the cat watches him with huge, wary eyes.

For a moment none of us speaks. The wind rattles something metallic overhead while melting snow drips from a pipe nearby.

Maximo removes one of his gloves and slowly extends his hand. The cat flinches but doesn’t bolt.

Ari looks stunned. Frankly, I’m right there with her.

Maximo studies the animal before his attention settles on the injured paw.

“Likely glass,” he says.

“You can tell that from here?”

“Yes.”

My eyebrows climb. It seems Don Maximo collects skills the way normal people collect hobbies.

Architecture, urban planning, kidnapping prevention, injured stray cats. It all goes together, doesn’t it?

His eyes lift to Ari. “You frightened your sisters.”