says these are washable and stain resistant. She keeps our books for us and ambushes us with new ideas for the business.”
The button-up and collar put a polish on Alex, taking him a step away from muscular and ruggedly attractive to downright handsome. The light fabric contrasted with his darker skin tone, providing an accent against the bronze of his arms. The cut of the shirt and short sleeves complemented his broad shoulders and muscular arms. Close-fitting T-shirts suited him, too, based on what she’d seen yesterday and the other night at the ER, but she liked this look in a safer, sort of easygoing way. Tees were more casual but made him look ready for action. This look made him look ready to settle in for a day of work.
“It’s more professional.” She struggled to sum up what she thought without coming across as creepy. No need to let him know how much she wanted to see what he looked like in a suit now. “And uniform shirts make it easy to immediately differentiate the trainer from the rest of the class.”
He jerked his head in a quick affirmative. “See, I can get behind a practical reason like that. Just wearing a uniform for a uniform’s sake didn’t make sense to me.”
Pleased by his compliment—being considered practical was a good thing in her mind—she reached for something else to say to fill the conversational lull. “Just before we left, Greg asked me to remind you it’s your turn for parents’ night.”
Alex scowled and dragged his hand through his hair.
“Not a good thing, I take it?” She really didn’t like to be the bearer of bad news.
“No, no.” Alex waved away her concern. “All of the instructors and some of the regulars take turns to supervise. I just lost track so it snuck up on me. Besides, Boom loves it when I’m in charge of parents’ night at Revolution.”
“You’ve been doing a lot of favors on my behalf,” she said slowly. “Could I help, then?”
See? She could find a way to repay every one of them for the favors. Not just because they were kind but because she didn’t want to owe anyone anything.
She’d learned the hard way how things could add up and trap a person when they least expected it.
Alex was studying her. “Let’s get you settled in to work for the day and we’ll talk next steps this afternoon. I’ll try to think of a couple of extra things we’ve been meaning to do around here but haven’t had the chance to get to. If you could do a few of those, we could call it even.”
No anger, not even the stillness she was starting to associate with him controlling his temper. He’d taken what she’d said into consideration. The novelty of it triggered a slow swell of happiness in her chest, and she breathed in deeply, then smiled. “Okay, but I still want to know more about this night at Revolution MMA.”
* * *
The morning classes were significantly less chaotic than those of the prior day. Rojas was glad they’d moved the obedience training to the weekdays and saved Saturday mornings for more specialized classes. There tended to be a lot fewer single women with newly acquired dogs or borrowed friends’ dogs and more people who genuinely wanted to work with their companions.
Standing in the center of the agility course in his spiffy new shirt, he saw Elisa peeking out the window of the front office and gave her a wave.
Sean Cannon stepped to his side, careful to give him plenty of space and time to see him. Rojas appreciated the courtesy, though the caution wasn’t as needed on kennel property where he felt at ease. Cannon’s pug, on the other hand, rubbed against the side of Alex’s leg in greeting and sat on his shoe.
The other man crossed his arms, following his gaze toward the main building. “Some nice new scenery in your reception area there, Rojas. Sorry about this morning.”
Uh-huh. Cannon needed to tread carefully. Even if he’d been referred to these classes to train his rambunctious pug—Revolution and
The button-up and collar put a polish on Alex, taking him a step away from muscular and ruggedly attractive to downright handsome. The light fabric contrasted with his darker skin tone, providing an accent against the bronze of his arms. The cut of the shirt and short sleeves complemented his broad shoulders and muscular arms. Close-fitting T-shirts suited him, too, based on what she’d seen yesterday and the other night at the ER, but she liked this look in a safer, sort of easygoing way. Tees were more casual but made him look ready for action. This look made him look ready to settle in for a day of work.
“It’s more professional.” She struggled to sum up what she thought without coming across as creepy. No need to let him know how much she wanted to see what he looked like in a suit now. “And uniform shirts make it easy to immediately differentiate the trainer from the rest of the class.”
He jerked his head in a quick affirmative. “See, I can get behind a practical reason like that. Just wearing a uniform for a uniform’s sake didn’t make sense to me.”
Pleased by his compliment—being considered practical was a good thing in her mind—she reached for something else to say to fill the conversational lull. “Just before we left, Greg asked me to remind you it’s your turn for parents’ night.”
Alex scowled and dragged his hand through his hair.
“Not a good thing, I take it?” She really didn’t like to be the bearer of bad news.
“No, no.” Alex waved away her concern. “All of the instructors and some of the regulars take turns to supervise. I just lost track so it snuck up on me. Besides, Boom loves it when I’m in charge of parents’ night at Revolution.”
“You’ve been doing a lot of favors on my behalf,” she said slowly. “Could I help, then?”
See? She could find a way to repay every one of them for the favors. Not just because they were kind but because she didn’t want to owe anyone anything.
She’d learned the hard way how things could add up and trap a person when they least expected it.
Alex was studying her. “Let’s get you settled in to work for the day and we’ll talk next steps this afternoon. I’ll try to think of a couple of extra things we’ve been meaning to do around here but haven’t had the chance to get to. If you could do a few of those, we could call it even.”
No anger, not even the stillness she was starting to associate with him controlling his temper. He’d taken what she’d said into consideration. The novelty of it triggered a slow swell of happiness in her chest, and she breathed in deeply, then smiled. “Okay, but I still want to know more about this night at Revolution MMA.”
* * *
The morning classes were significantly less chaotic than those of the prior day. Rojas was glad they’d moved the obedience training to the weekdays and saved Saturday mornings for more specialized classes. There tended to be a lot fewer single women with newly acquired dogs or borrowed friends’ dogs and more people who genuinely wanted to work with their companions.
Standing in the center of the agility course in his spiffy new shirt, he saw Elisa peeking out the window of the front office and gave her a wave.
Sean Cannon stepped to his side, careful to give him plenty of space and time to see him. Rojas appreciated the courtesy, though the caution wasn’t as needed on kennel property where he felt at ease. Cannon’s pug, on the other hand, rubbed against the side of Alex’s leg in greeting and sat on his shoe.
The other man crossed his arms, following his gaze toward the main building. “Some nice new scenery in your reception area there, Rojas. Sorry about this morning.”
Uh-huh. Cannon needed to tread carefully. Even if he’d been referred to these classes to train his rambunctious pug—Revolution and
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