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“Well, you did miss your run this morning,” Lia said in response to Sam’s question. “You’ll need the exercise.”
“I can always count on you to have my best interests at heart,” he quipped.
“Of course, I’m selfless like that,” she retorted with a serene smile, and he chuckled, tugging at her hair.
“Get us to the cabin quickly, sunshine. I don’t want to waste a second more in this car than we have to.”
“You’re a great dancer. I didn’t take you for the sort of guy who could fox-trot,” Lia said after they left the retirement home later that morning, and Sam grinned.
“Considering all the dance classes my mom made me take when I was a kid, it would be a disgrace if I didn’t at least know the fox-trot.”
“Dance classes? How long did you have to take them?” Lia asked, intrigued by that morsel of information. She had to admit, lifting the ban on personal conversations was proving to be fascinating. Especially when he revealed such diverting snippets about himself.
“From nine years old to sixteen. I was pretty proficient by the time I quit. Junior ballroom champion three years in a row. If I’m going to do something, I like to do it right. It helped that the girls were pretty and often wore leotards and tights.”
“Did you?” she asked wickedly.
“Did I what?”
“Wear leotards and tights?”
“Of course I did.” He nodded, then in typically arrogant fashion added, “I fucking rocked those tights. The girls couldn’t get enough of my muscled thighs and manly bulge.”
“Why did you stop?” she asked, ignoring his last comment.
“Well, I didn’t want to be a professional dancer, so I didn’t see the point in continuing. My mother enrolled me in the class because she thought it was a good skill for a young gentleman to have. My mother loves dancing. She’s great at it—she competed at a semiprofessional level for a few years. When she was between partners, she liked me to escort her to some of the high-end parties she often attended. And that meant not embarrassing her on the dance floor.” He grinned before continuing, “She’d inevitably meet her next man at one of those parties.”
Lia still couldn’t get over his easy acceptance of his mother’s constantly changing male companions. But she found it quite charming how much he seemed to adore his mother.
“You and your mother seem close,” she observed.
“Well, due to the transient nature of her relationships, in the end it always boiled down to just the two of us. I won’t say she was the ideal mother, she’s a little too neurotic for that, but she was fun, lovable, and supportive.”
“But how did you cope without a stable home life?”
“My mother was my stability. As long as she and I were together, we were home.” Lia pondered that answer for a moment. It was an incredibly sweet sentiment and completely melted her heart.
“So how are things going with Trevor?” she asked, deliberately changing the subject.
“He’s awesome. He’s been taking treats from me more regularly, and they’re moving his usual walk time today so that I can take him for a stroll. Apparently his on-leash skills are pretty terrible, and because of his temperament and his lack of discipline they’ve had trouble controlling him. Dr. Gunnerson-Smythe wants to see if I’ll have more luck with him.”
“You’ve already done wonders with him, Sam,” Lia said.
“I think he’s going to make someone an amazing pet someday. He just needs some time to learn to trust.”
Lia smiled, fighting to keep the concern from her eyes. Trevor was learning to trust Sam, and she was very worried that once Sam left, the dog would regress. She knew that everybody at the shelter thought that Sam would wind up adopting Trevor, which was why they allowed him so much leeway with the dog. Lia wasn’t sure if she should intervene.
“Do you think maybe he’s becoming too attached to you?” she asked tentatively, and he went quiet.
“He needs help,” he said, his voice cooling significantly. “I’m helping.”
“But—”
“He’s better off now than he was when I first got here. That’s amazing progress in just a month. Way I see it, that’s a good thing.”
“I’m just a bit concerned that he’ll backslide when you leave.”
“He’ll be fine,” Sam insisted.
He was out of the car seconds after she parked at the animal shelter.
“See you later, sunshine,” he promised before rushing off to see Trevor. He barely limped at all anymore, recovering some of the sexy, pantherlike grace that she remembered from their first meeting.
She followed him into the building at a slower pace, her thoughts still in turmoil. For now, she would leave him to work with Trevor. She hoped that he would get the dog to a point where Trevor would start to trust others as well.
The move into Daisy’s quaint little house right on the edge of town was much smoother than Lia had anticipated. It helped that the house was fully furnished and that Lia had little furniture of her own to move. The depressing fact was that she had managed to pack up thirty-two years of her life in just a few boxes. Seeing her scant personal possessions made Lia more determined than ever to remain on this path of positivity and growth.
