Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(26)
He, in particular, was different in all sorts of good ways. The undemanding, accepting, not-too-many-questions kind of ways. A big part of what had convinced her to give this a try was the way he hadn’t acted entitled to know everything about her in exchange for his generosity.
He’d changed out of the sweatshirt he’d worn earlier and stood in the doorway dressed in jeans and a light, short-sleeved button-up shirt. Hope’s Crossing Kennels was embroidered in a circle over the breast pocket around the silhouette of a dog. After having met Souze last evening, she sort of thought it was probably a German shepherd.
German Shepherd Dog, she mentally corrected herself.
Whether she was going to stay or not, she wanted to remember to refer to the kind of dog by the proper breed name. It was important to her to have details correct.
Abruptly, she remembered he wasn’t a mind reader and would have no idea what she was so happy about. No need for her to get all excited at the sound of his voice, either. Even if he spoke with a rough sort of morning growl, the kind that sent tingles through her at the sound of it.
Brandon and Alex were her employers, and she needed to consider both of them with a certain level of professionalism. He was right; this was a good place to start the day over.
“Good morning.” She plastered a polite smile on her face as she met Alex’s gaze.
He gave her a friendly smile as he stepped forward to offer her his hand. “Glad you’ve decided to give us a chance, Elisa.”
He had it backward. They were the ones giving her the chance. It was more than a job, more of a new beginning. But she didn’t want to come across too cheesy. Instead, she went with another truth. “Yesterday’s work was interesting. I thought today might bring some good surprises.”
Alex raised an eyebrow, humor twinkling in his eyes. “Well, we do have a tendency to experience the unexpected around here.”
She blinked. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
He shrugged. “Do all things have to be classified as good or bad?”
Now there was a question. “Generally, things do fall under one or the other.”
“True, but then again, whether something is one or the other tends to depend on point of view.” Alex headed over to the desk and placed a fresh pack of pens on it. “I find I experience fewer nasty surprises if I just leave off on the opinion altogether.”
“Nasty?” She took a few steps toward the desk. It was ridiculous how glad she was to see an entire pack of matching pens. Then she paused again. They were purple.
Alex gave her a toothy grin, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ve done some traveling. What one individual or group might think is a good thing can be received as downright evil by another. It can result in some…unpleasant reactions.”
“Ah.” She considered him for a minute. Both he and Brandon were very fit. Yesterday, she’d accepted it as part of running kennels and training dogs. It was a fairly active profession, requiring them to be on their feet most of the day. Plus, Alex trained at Revolution Mixed Martial Arts Academy. There’d already been fighters getting in their early morning training when she’d left, and they had some impressive conditioning as far as she could tell. But it occurred to her that maybe Alex and Brandon were in excellent condition for other reasons.
Former police, maybe. Or ex-military. Maybe even reserves. They were in shape enough to still be involved in something requiring a uniform. Her mind did her the favor of conjuring up mental images of Alex in a succession of uniforms. Yum.
“Oh.” Alex rolled his shoulders in what seemed like a self-conscious move. “What do you think of the shirt?”
Whoops. She must’ve been staring while her mind wandered. Damn. He was going to think she was weird. “It’s nice. I hadn’t realized there was a…uniform.”
Must delete mental images.
Or at least tuck them away for some other time.
“There isn’t. Yet,” Alex responded with wry grin. “Sophie brought a few of these over this morning. It’s one of her ideas to make us look more businesslike or something.”
“Whoever Sophie is, she has a good point.” Elisa bit her lip. Might have been better to keep her opinion to herself.
“You think?” Alex didn’t seem irritated. The opposite, actually. “It’s not as comfortable as polo shirts, but I guess I could work in it. Sophie 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 Tshirts 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.”