Wanting to get to know this fascinating creature, he wiped his mouth with his napkin and asked her, “How’d you get into dog walking?”
“I kind of fell into it, actually,” she explained, setting her burger down and wiping her hands. “After high school, I wanted to become a vet.”
He added a dollop of ketchup to his plate. “But that didn’t work out?”
She shook her head. “Going through school to be a vet is expensive, and I didn’t have that kind of money. Once Phoenix gave me some financial freedom, I quit waitressing and opened my own business walking dogs. I still get to be around animals. It’s pretty special, and I love what I do.”
He unpacked all she said, and all the things she didn’t, focusing on one part of what she’d told him. “You didn’t have any family to help you pay for school?”
Her gaze fell to her plate, and she went unnaturally still. The way she always went whenever he asked about her past. “Not really, no.”
He pressed, albeit gently. “Is that your choice or theirs?”
A soft laugh escaped those pouty lips as her head lifted, a strength there steady and holding. She pointed playfully at him. “Don’t use your sneaky cop ways to find out all my secrets, Hunt Walker.”
He lifted his hands in surrender. “I wouldn’t dare think of it.” In fact, he now wondered if that was part of her hesitation when it came to him. “I’m not playing games with you, Lottie. I just want to know you a bit better. Is that such a crime?”
She watched him closely. Too closely. He swore he could read exactly what she was thinking.You won’t like what you find if you know me.She eventually looked back at her plate, reaching for a fry, and shrugged. “I wouldn’t have ever used my parents’ money for my own purposes.”
Interesting statement. “You wanted to prove yourself on your terms?”
“Something like that.” She ate a fry. “And no, I don’t talk to my family anymore. We’ve never been close.”
“Does that hurt you?”
“No,” she said harshly. “I’m a better me without them in my life.” Before he could dig deeper, she swiftly switched the subject. “How’d you get into the force?”
“It’s all I knew, growing up,” he explained, letting her turn the spotlight onto him. He took a long swig of his beer, his cheeks tingling at the hoppy aftertaste. “I come from generations of cops. The force is bred into my bones.”
“Did you ever think of doing anything different?”
“Nah, never. Being raised by cops, the lifestyle becomes all you know. People I called aunts and uncles weren’t blood relatives but were my father’s cop buddies. To serve my community, to protect, I couldn’t imagine ever doing anything different with my life.”
“That’s honorable,” she said.
He winked, loving how she laughed softly. “I’m glad you think so.” His mind took him back to what she said earlier. Not quite ready to let it go, he asked, “After you joined Phoenix, you certainly could have afforded to got to vet school. Why didn’t you?”
“I actually still plan to,” she replied, “but it’s slow to fruition. I really want to open my own clinic, so I figured my best bet for now is to save as much as I can while I’m at Phoenix.”
Interesting. “Are you thinking of ever leaving Phoenix?”
“Oh, no, never,” she said quickly.
A little too quickly. Hunt pressed, albeit gently, to ensure she kept talking, “Are you only at Phoenix for the financial aspect?”
She laughed softly. “I mean the financial gift is enticing and setting me up for all my dreams to come true, but it’s not the only reason.”
“Have you always been adventurous in your sex life?”
“I’d say I was pretty unadventurous until I met Andy,” she said, brushing her knee against his under the table. “He opened an entire new world for me.” A menu snapped shut behind him as she asked, “What about you? You’ve always been adventurous?”
Hunt nodded. “Always. Of course, things didn’t really heat up until I was in college and met the right people.”
“This city does open up many possibilities.”
He nodded in agreement, taking another long drink of his beer, taking in how she talked about New York City. She didn’t talk like a native. She spoke like someone who moved here because she’d fallen in love with it. He wanted to keep things light, but he’d never got her talking so much, he couldn’t help himself. “This aversion you have to dating. Can I ask what the root cause is?”
She froze midway to eating a fry. “What do you mean, aversion?”
