Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(11)
He’d take that. It was actually a fairly positive attitude. At least she wasn’t afraid, and wary was smart. “I can’t promise they’ll like you, but I’ve found dogs are generally good judges of character.”
“Huh.” She drew in a breath and let it out. “Then they’ve got better instincts than I do.”
There went her confidence again. Not too long ago, she’d been determined to give herself a chance to judge people correctly. The moment he thought he had a solid read on her, she shifted gears.
“I don’t know about that.” He didn’t go closer, but he did lean in until he caught her attention and drew her gaze back to him. She had to look up through long lashes to do it, and if she’d lifted her chin, she’d have been within easy reach for a kiss. But he was not going to think about that and focused instead on how she was making eye contact more readily now. Good progress for a day. Bad manners on his part, thinking about totally inappropriate things, no matter how pretty the curve of her lips was. He tried what he thought might be an encouraging smile. “You gave this job a shot and survived the day. It could be a good fit.”
She gave him a small smile in return, her sweet lips curving even more temptingly. “We’ll call it a work in progress, then.”
Someone or several someones had done way too much damage to this woman. Whether she decided to stay on for the job or not, he wanted to offer at least one reassurance that she’d believe.
“Well, I’m pretty sure about one thing.” He tried for every drop of articulate skill he had. “What comes next is your choice and no matter what you decide, it’ll be the right thing for you.”
Chapter Four
Elisa stared at him as his words sank in.
He hadn’t tried to convince her to trust him, or even any of the people she’d be working with. And somehow, it made her want to. Trust him, at least.
Alex Rojas had no way of knowing what she’d escaped from, but she wasn’t delusional enough to imagine a perceptive person like him couldn’t figure it out. She hadn’t had enough time to work through her reactions and get them under control yet. Too little time and too many experiences fresh in not only her mind, but her muscle memory.
Perceptive, intelligent men were a threat to her. She should leave before she was too tempted to stay. This was how she’d gotten into trouble in the first place.
Practicality made her grab that reaction and get a handle on it. Well, that and a hint of courage. She was standing in the middle of the most unpredictable place she could think of. She needed a job, and this one had a lot of benefits to it. It was a veritable sanctuary if she had the protection of these employers and their dogs. And her hands itched to dive into their paperwork and put some organization into the way this place was run. She could always leave if it started to go down the familiar path.
My choice.
Steadied, she returned her attention to the dogs. One in particular stood out to her. He hadn’t come right up to the kennel’s door, wagging his tail, but he was watching her. His eyes had tracked every movement she made, and it might’ve creeped her out but he’d just been lying relaxed in his kennel. He gave her the impression of polite interest. Not too scary and not too friendly, either. Reserved.
“I’d like to meet this dog, please.” She stepped toward the kennel. The way the big dog’s ears came up was encouraging, a good sign in dogs like him. At least, she thought so. Eyes and ears focused in her direction. Not dangerous, just…intense. The impact of being the center focus of his attention hit her in the chest. Wow. He still hadn’t risen from his relaxed spot on the cool kennel floor.
Alex joined her, standing close but not crowding her. “Okay. Can you step back so I can bring Souze out?”
Souze. It was an unusual name. She did as asked, mulling over the dog’s name as she did and moving a few feet away.
Alex took a long leash off a nearby hook, and she noted that every kennel had a similar hook with a leash handy. When she’d first come in, she hadn’t noticed them, but she guessed it was a lot more convenient than storing them all at one end of the row of kennels or another.
Opening the kennel’s door, Alex murmured a few words. His tone was calm, firm. Not sweet or coaxing, the way she’d heard some people talk to their dogs in public parks or stores. And Souze’s attention was completely on him, where other dogs in her experience were too busy looking at everything around them to pay attention to their owners.
Souze rose to his feet and crossed the few steps to Alex, then sat in response to another quiet command. The big dog even turned his head slightly so Alex could easily hook the leash to his collar. A moment later, Alex was leading him out into the hallway area.
“Why don’t we all walk over to the training field?” Alex jerked his head, indicating a direction over his shoulder. “Plenty of room, no distractions, and the others won’t get jealous.”
So considerate. It hadn’t even occurred to her that the other dogs might be jealous of seeing attention given to one of them and not all of them. But then, her mom’s friends had a pair of little Dachshunds that spite-peed any time a person picked one up and not the other. It was probably wise not to inspire such behavior in bigger dogs.
Had to be a lot of pee.
She followed Alex out of the kennel hallway and across a yard. There was another fenced area, probably the training field. It was a wide open expanse of grass, clear of trees and shrubs. The fence took her by surprise, though. “I’m guessing having a fenced-in field is important when you’re training dogs—maybe to let them off their leashes or something—but it’s taller than me. Why build the fence so high?”