I didn’t reply.
“Seriously, Kade. When was the last time you went on a date?”
I remained silent because I honestly couldn’t remember.
3
Annalise
Imet plenty of former military men at work—and had been introduced to many more over the years through my dad and brother—but none of them had ever garnered the kind of reaction that this guy did. He was about half a foot taller than me and muscular, with brown hair that was short on the sides and slightly longer on top, and grayish-blue eyes. He was gorgeous and purely masculine, which made those plump lips of his stand out even more since they were his only soft feature.
The scruff on his cheeks was more than just a day’s growth, making me wonder if he belonged to a special operations unit that had relaxed grooming standards. Or if that brace meant he was on convalescent leave.
My brain didn’t kick back in until I joined him in the room I had directed him to for our meeting. When I spotted the other man with him, I realized my assumption about the hot guy being my appointment was incorrect. Which I should have realized on my own since the information I’d reviewed about my next intake didn’t say anything about mobility issues.
Tearing my gaze away from the man who’d seized my attention, I smiled at his friend. “Hello, I’m Annalise. You must be Simon Lazlo.”
“I am. Nice to meet you, ma'am.” He gestured toward the guy who’d come with him. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought Kade with me.”
“Not at all. I’m glad that you did.” And not just because his decision allowed me to drool over his friend. “It was a good call on your part. We want you to be as comfortable as possible when you meet the dogs you might be paired with.”
“Good.”
My gaze darted toward Kade before returning to Simon. “Is it…ah…okay for me to speak freely in front of your friend?”
“Yes, ma'am.” Simon raked his fingers through his short hair. “Kade saw me at my worst when he helped rescue me. I’ve got nothing to hide from him.”
“Oh, wow. I hadn’t realized.” I knew the impact of whatever had happened to Simon from the information he’d provided during the screening process, but it included very few details about what had actually caused his PTSD.
“No reason you would’ve.” Kade flashed me a panty-dropping grin. “It’s classified.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” I lifted my hand and almost slapped my own forehead over how dense I was being. Dropping my arm, I took a deep breath as I grabbed Simon’s file from the desk. “Okay, so the thing to remember is…um…that our dogs are highly trained, but they’re not perfect.”
“Fine by me, neither am I,” Simon muttered.
I’d done at least fifty of these meetings since I started working here, so I knew the process inside out. I’d never gotten flustered before, not even my first time, but having Kade in the room had me stumbling over my words, blushing, and forgetting what I was supposed to do next.
Forcing myself to get rid of my jitters and focus on the task at hand, I explained, “The ones I’m going to introduce you to have all been trained to handle PTSD. They’re service animals, so they’re covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act and are allowed to accompany their owners without restriction. Having one of our dogs at your side provides so many advantages. They can guide you home if you get disoriented or help you get through a disturbing flashback. They can even wake you up from a PTSD-related nightmare.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t too sure about getting a service dog, but it didn’t take much convincing once my doctor explained how much they can do. Gotta admit I’m amazed by it all.”
I couldn’t help but notice Kade looked just as impressed as Simon. “Probably takes a lot of training to get ’em to that point.”
“A lot is an understatement.” I offered him a shy smile. “But the effort is more than worth it.”
“It’s a good thing we got the best trainer then.” Simon shot his friend a knowing look, but I wasn’t sure what was behind it.
“Definitely,” Kade agreed.
“Um…so, partnering you up with the right dog is really the most important thing. It’s more than just the kind of training the dog has received. They must be a good fit size and temperament-wise to meet your individual needs.” I flipped through the print-out of his responses to the intake questionnaire. “Based on what you’ve told us, I think a golden or labrador might be a good match for you, so I thought we’d start there.”
“Works for me,” Simon mumbled.
“Okie-dokie, give me a sec, and I’ll bring a couple of them in.” I got up and strode toward the door, pausing to look back at them with my hand on the knob. “Would you mind if I let one of our goldens do a practice run with you? Daisy isn’t ready to be paired yet, but the experience would be good for her training.”
After Simon nodded his agreement, Kade grinned and said, “The more, the merrier. It’s been too long since I’ve been around dogs.”
His excitement only made him more attractive to me since animals were such a big part of my life. Although my focus should have been on Simon while he met Milo and Cooper, the two dogs at the top of my list of potentials for him, my gaze kept drifting toward the sexy man who had moved to lean against the wall across from us so he didn’t distract the dogs from his friend.