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“Hey, Chris, how’s it going?”
“Hi, Lexi. Not bad. Busy today, Emma didn’t make her shift.”
“Why, what happened?”
Chris shrugged thin shoulders, his eyes darting to the ground by her feet. It was as if he couldn’t look her directly in the face.
“She went to her sister’s wedding yesterday. She feels bad but said the world won’t stop spinning.”
Lexi grinned. “That is what happens when you drink too much.”
Chris tossed a look Kane’s way, eyes widening when he took in the sight of him. He tried unsuccessfully not to sound intimidated.
“Are you a friend of Lexi’s?” He sounded almost challenging when he asked it, clearly feeling threatened.
“Yes,” Kane answered. “We’ve known each other for a while.”
Chris stared at him, then back to Lexi, trying to figure out the exact nature of their relationship, which was none of his business. Kane stared him down. While he sympathized with Chris’s issues, he wasn’t going to make an exception for him, and if the kid decided to be rude, he would have no choice but to set him straight.
“Is anyone covering for Emma?”
Chris shook his head reluctantly, dragging his gaze from Kane. “No one else is available.”
A frown creased Lexi’s brow as she took in the length of the room and all the kennels inside.
“You’ll never finish cleaning all of these by yourself.” She hung her bag up on a hook on the wall and rolled up her sleeves.
“What are you doing?” The question slipped out of Kane.
She arched a brow at him. “What does it look like?”
“You’re going to clean the kennels? I thought it’s mostly fundraising that you do for them?”
“It is, but you heard him. No one else is coming to help today, and these cages still need to be cleaned out. No one wants them lying around in their own filth.”
She crossed over to Chris’s cart, removed the extra broom. “Of course, this will go a lot quicker if there were three of us doing it…”
She sent him an impish smile that caused dimples to appear on her cheeks. The impact was like a punch in the gut. She looked so damned adorable, but this wasn’t what he was here to do and she knew it. He couldn’t say anything without blowing his cover, so he chose to glower instead.
“Imagine if it was Bud in one of them…” she continued ruthlessly. Not playing fair at all.
Bud chuffed in what sounded suspiciously like laughter, earning a glare from him. His dog responded by issuing a long, loud yawn, letting him know just what he thought of that. Blowing air out of his nose, he circled the ground, then promptly laid down.
“Well, you can forget those marrow bones.”
Kane’s threat was met with a closing of his dog’s eyes.
It was ridiculous.
He’d fought terrorists with his bare hands, but couldn’t seem to win a battle against his own dog.
“Since I am here, I guess I could help.” He growled the reply ungraciously, ignoring the triumphant smile on Lexi’s lips.
“Start with the terrier closest to you. She’s completely tame and won’t be a problem, but leave the ones on the far end to us — they’re a lot more nervous around strangers so they’ll need someone experienced who can handle them,” Chris informed.
There was a superior note in his voice that Kane chose to ignore, mentally reminding himself that he had trodden on the kid’s ego.
He entered the kennel beside him. The kid had been right: the terrier was a gentle dog, playful and not the least scared of him. Overjoyed by the company, she danced around him yapping and bouncing with so much energy that he thought she would exhaust herself.
