by T. K. Leigh
“Olivia! Great to see you!” Bethany exclaimed when Olivia walked in the front door of the brick building.
Bethany Jones had been single handedly running that shelter for as long as anyone could remember. Olivia had started volunteering when she moved to Boston for college, wanting to spend some time with animals. And once she returned to the city, she resumed her volunteer work.
“Of course. I couldn’t miss spending time with my critters! Do we have anyone new?” Olivia dropped her bags and followed Bethany toward the kennels, the sound of dogs barking and yipping filling the room. It brought a smile to her face.
“Yeah. We picked up two dogs over the weekend as well as five baby kittens, all in the same litter. We’re running out of room. We need to get some adoptions this week or…”
“Don’t worry, Bethany,” Olivia interrupted. “I can take a few home with me to make some space if I need to. Nepenthe won’t mind.” Nepenthe was a mangy eight-year old cat that Olivia fell in love with several months ago.
“That would be a huge help. We need to get some more foster parents trained and ready to take some of these critters.” She was right. The shelter would be getting into its busy season soon. Winter was always the worst time of year. They had so many animals and just didn’t always have enough room to shelter them all.
“Well, I’m going to take some of these guys for a walk,” Olivia said, motioning to the dogs in the kennel. She did all sorts of things at the shelter from feeding, to helping with adoptions, to playing with all the cats. But her favorite was taking the dogs for their walks.
The morning passed by relatively quickly as she made sure all the dogs in the shelter got some exercise. After a quick lunch break, she got ready to take out the last dog. She always saved Runner for last. Runner was a pointer-terrier mix and her favorite. He was a little older so he wasn’t on the top of anyone’s list for an adoptable dog. Everyone always wanted a puppy, which was unfortunate for all the wonderful dogs available for adoption.
Runner lived up to his name. He loved to run. She always tried to take him out last so they could run a few miles together and then head to the dog park where she would tire him out with a round of fetch.
Olivia quickly changed into a pair of running shorts and a tank top before grabbing a few tennis balls. She threw them into her pack and headed toward Boston Common, Runner taking the lead.
That day, Runner was giving Olivia a good workout. She just did a long run the day before so her legs were a little tired. They ran the mile up over to the Commons where there was an off-leash dog park. Without fail, Runner would always head straight there. They reached the area and Olivia let him off his leash. The dog ran free, sprinting up and down the gated area. There weren’t that many other dogs there, so the pair had fun playing fetch, just the two of them.
After about half an hour, Runner was beat and Olivia was even more so. She pulled out his portable doggie bowl and filled it up from a fountain. He laid down on the ground after slopping up some water. She joined Runner, lying down on her back next to her favorite dog. He snuggled against her and they just enjoyed their moment together, savoring the feel of the cool grass beneath them.
After a few minutes of a rest, Olivia decided to head back to the shelter. She would never forgive herself if Runner missed an opportunity to be adopted. She leashed Runner back up and started to walk back to the shelter. “Come on buddy. Time to go back home.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Alexander couldn’t believe his luck. He was going over case reports from the previous week, unable to focus, when he decided he needed to clear his brain. That envelope still hung heavy on his mind. He left his office building and wandered the streets of Boston. Before he knew it, he found his way to Boston Common and sat on a park bench looking out over the Swan Boats, replaying the previous day in his head, when he saw her. Again.
He watched with admiration as Olivia leashed up a great looking dog that she had been playing with. She leaned down and gave the dog a quick scratch on the head before she headed in his direction, smiling. He wondered if she would even see him sitting just a few feet away. All her attention seemed to be devoted to the white and brown spotted dog walking proudly in front of her with its tongue hanging out.
As Olivia walked Runner through the Commons, she felt a familiar electricity coursing through her body. It almost felt as if someone was watching her.
No one is watching you, Libby. You just wish he was here. That’s all.
She looked up from Runner and stilled when her eyes met with his, her heart racing from seeing those beautiful green eyes so unexpectedly. She headed in his direction, seeing Alexander’s smile widen as she walked toward the bench he was sitting on, the dog eagerly wagging his tail.
“Miss Adler. Why do we keep running into each other here?” he asked, standing up to meet Olivia.
“Alexander. I’m starting to think that you’re stalking me,” she joked, taking in his nice navy blue suit that he made casual, foregoing the tie. He looked amazing as always. “You are a professional stalker, so my point is valid.”
“I prefer the term security consultant,” he replied smoothly.
“I’ve heard it both ways,” she smirked playfully.
He grinned at her. “Touché, Miss Adler. You have quite a smart mouth on you.” He leaned in, closing the distance between them. “I can’t wait to have that mouth on me,” he whispered, his warm breath sending shivers up Olivia’s spine.
She gasped.
“Well, who do we have here?” he continued as if he didn’t just tell Olivia that he wanted her mouth on his body. How did he expect her to react to that? She could barely form a sentence in response, all her thoughts going to places that were probably not appropriate to be talking about in a public park with people walking by.
Alexander bent down and let Runner smell his hand. Runner obviously approved of him so he let Alexander scratch his head. Olivia was floored. That man had on a rather expensive looking suit, but he seemed to have no problem petting Runner, getting dog fur all over him. Alexander Burnham was a conundrum.
“This is Runner,” Olivia said, finally finding her voice. “I was just tiring him out before having to take him back to the shelter,” she explained, gesturing to the dog that was leaning into Alexander’s hand, obviously enjoying the attention he was getting.
“To the shelter?” Alexander asked, straightening up and admiring Olivia’s obvious affection for the dog.
“Yeah,” she replied as Runner rolled over, hoping to get a belly rub. “He’s been at the animal shelter for the last few months. No one has adopted him yet. Everyone always wants a puppy. No one wants a four-year-old hound. It’s sad, really.”
“So you work at the animal shelter, too?” He took a step closer, surprised at the many different layers of Olivia.
Olivia’s breath caught, the proximity of Alexander to her overwhelming her once again. For a minute she forgot all about the dog rolling around in front of her. “I volunteer there,” she finally replied, returning to the present. “I take the dogs on walks, play with the cats. Stuff like that. I just love spending time with all the animals. Speaking of which, I really should be getting on. It was wonderful to see you again, Mr. Burnham,” she smirked as she gave Runner a biscuit.
Alexander grabbed her soft hand and kissed it as he always did. “The pleasure was all mine. I look forward to tomorrow evening, Miss Adler.” Olivia started to walk away. “And I do hope you can find a good home for Runner.” He winked.
“So do I.”
Alexander watched as Olivia walked away from him, her hips swaying in a way that excited him. When she disappeared from his view, he grabbed his cell phone, needing to make an important call.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Thank goodness you’re back!” Bethany shouted at Olivia as she walked through the door with Runner. They took their time returning to the shelter, mainly because Olivia’s head was in the clouds after her chance encounter with Alexander.
“Sorry it took so long. I ran into a friend at the dog park. What’s up? Is something wrong?” Olivia was worried they had gotten an order to destroy some of the animals due to lack of space. That was always her biggest fear.
“No. Nothing’s wrong. Someone called a little while ago. They saw Runner on the website and asked to see if he was still available for adoption. They’ll be here within the half-hour to fill out the paperwork.”
“That’s fantastic,” Olivia replied, her lack of enthusiasm showing. She was a little disappointed, knowing that she would miss her Runner. He had been in the shelter the longest out of all their dogs. Olivia and Runner had formed such a strong bond.
She grabbed his leash, pulling him along behind her down a long corridor toward the kennels. “I’ll go get him cleaned up then. He should have a nice bath so he looks good for his new family.”
“Libby,” Bethany said, placing her hand on Olivia’s shoulder. “This is a good thing for Runner.”
“I know, I know. I’m just going to miss him,” she replied, her sadness about never being able to see Runner again evident.
Olivia took Runner into the back and started to run him a bath. Most dogs hated baths, but for some reason, Runner loved them. He loved water. He would make a good dog for any family, Olivia thought. She just hoped that whoever adopted him would be active.
Ten minutes later, she put the finishing touches on Runner’s bath, tying a cute doggie bandana around his neck, when Bethany peeked her head in.
“He’s here, Libby. And wow is he handsome.” Bethany fanned herself. Olivia couldn’t help but laugh. Bethany was pushing seventy, but she had no problem flirting with any good-looking man who came in.
“I’ll bring him out in a minute,” she replied. After giving Runner one last hug, she took a deep breath and walked down the hallway toward the large doggie playroom. As Olivia approached, she could see Bethany speaking to Runner’s potential new owner through the large glass windows. The man was tall and dressed in a pair of jeans and yellow polo shirt. His silhouette looked rather familiar to Olivia. Surely, it couldn’t be…
“Here’s Runner,” Bethany said as Olivia entered the playroom, nearly tripping over a squeaky football. The man turned around, causing Olivia to stop dead in her tracks, a look of surprise across her face. Her stomach fluttered as she took in his beautiful body yet again. She didn’t think she would ever tire of looking at him, even with his clothes on.
“Libby, this is Mr. Alexander Burnham. He’s looking to adopt our Runner here.” Olivia just stared at Alexander, unable to form any coherent thoughts. She snapped out of her daze when Runner darted for Alexander, pulling her with him.
“I see that you two will get along famously!” Bethany exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Well, I’ll leave you to do the paperwork with our Olivia here,” she said, walking out of the room.
When she heard the click of the door, Olivia turned to Alexander. “What are you doing?”
“I’m adopting Runner. I’ve been wanting to get a dog for a while and there’s something about Runner that I love.” He bent down to give Runner a quick scratch on the head. Olivia unclipped Runner’s leash and he immediately rolled over, giving both of them an open invitation to rub his belly.
“Silly hound,” Olivia said, stroking Runner. Alexander bent down to rub the dog, meeting Olivia’s eyes. There was that spark again. Olivia didn’t know what to make of it. He wasn’t even touching her, but just being in the same room as him gave her an overwhelming feeling of contentment.
“Well, normally I like to make sure you’d be a good match before approving an adoption,” Olivia said, remembering she had a job to do. “But I think we’re all set here. And plus, I know where you work so I know where to find and hurt you if you ever mistreat Runner here.” She looked up, smirking.
“Good point.” Alexander grabbed a tennis ball and threw it across the room. Runner immediately ran to catch the ball, bringing it back to Alexander but refusing to drop it on the ground.
“Oh. Runner doesn’t understand fetch with just one ball. You’ll need more than one if you expect that hound to drop the one in his mouth,” Olivia explained.
Alexander smiled. “I think that can be arranged.”
After they were finished with the paperwork, Olivia walked Alexander and Runner outside. “Now,” she said, turning to face Alexander. “Runner needs lots of exercise so take him on your runs with you. He loves the dog park and…”
“I know, Olivia. He’ll be fine,” he said, brushing an errant curl behind her ear. “I’m going to take great care of our boy here.” He winked.
I can’t believe he referred to Runner as our boy! Olivia thought. Those two words were full of so much hope.
“And you have an open invitation to come and visit him anytime you want.”
“Good. I’m going to hold you to that,” she said, bending down and giving Runner one last kiss good-bye.
“You better,” he replied before walking down the street, leaving her standing outside the front door of the animal shelter.
“I’m falling in serious like with that man,” Olivia said to herself.
CHAPTER NINE
TOO MANY COINCIDENCES
LATER that evening, Olivia returned to her house. After her hectic weekend, she wanted to unwind and have some much needed time to herself. As she prepared her dinner of tofu stir-fry, she kept glancing at the flowers Alexander sent her over the weekend. Feeling bold, she picked up her cell phone and sent him a text.
Olivia: How’s Runner?
Across town, Alexander was speaking with his sister, Carol, on the phone in his home office about Simon’s arraignment.
“I don’t know, Alex. There’s something about this guy that seems off. I don’t want you to read too much into what I’m saying. It’s not her. She’s gone.”
“I know that, sis, but I’ve been spending time with her this weekend and there are just so many coincidences.” His voice dropped as he stared at the dark walls in his office. “Too many, really.”
“I understand that. The name. The age. Her background. Losing her parents. I understand everything you’ve told me. So tell me this. Why would Dad say she died at the hospital? And why would he change her name?”
Alexander knew all too well why his father would do such a thing. He was unaware of it at the time, as he had just turned nine, but now it made sense. In fact, he had helped people fake their own deaths too many times to count in order to protect them for their safety. And he also knew that if it was true and her identity was ever uncovered, he could lose her again. He vowed to make sure that did not happen.
Just then, a text from Olivia came through over his cell phone. A smile crept across his face when he saw it, eager to get off the phone with his sister so he could respond.
“Alex, are you listening to what I’m saying?” Carol brought him back from his thoughts about the beautiful woman that had been occupying his mind lately.
“Sorry Carol, what was that?”
“All I’m saying is that something’s not right about this Simon guy. His financials came back and he has no money. Nothing. He qualified for a Public Defender for crying out loud. But he’s got an attorney. An expensive one at that, too. And someone posted his bail, which was set at a quarter of a million dollars. I’m going to do some more snooping around, get in touch with the bail officer, and see who posted it. It’s just unusual is all.”
“Well, what do you want me to do?” Alexander was worried. What if Simon came back after Olivia? He was surprised to realize he had such strong feelings for her, even though he had only met her a few days ago. It was such a foreign idea to him. He never wanted to protect someone as fiercely as he wanted to protect her.
“I don’t know. He doesn’t have any criminal record. None at all. He has a clean work history, strong family ties in the area. No one had anything but exemplary things to say about him. So why did he attack the girl? And what did he mean about the job he
had to do?”
“It is a bit worrisome,” Alexander admitted as he sat at his desk looking over the family photos adorning the walls, wondering if the little girl smiling next to him in most of them was the girl he met just a few days ago.
“Well, just keep an eye on her, Alex. That’s all you can do. I called her office earlier, but she wasn’t in. I’ll alert her when I speak with her about what she should do.”
“Thanks, sis. I must go. Love you.” Alexander hung up his office phone and turned to his cell, eager to reply to the beautiful Olivia.
As Olivia finished preparing her dinner, she heard her phone beep. Her heart immediately swelled when she saw the picture Alexander had sent of Runner. He looked so happy, curled up in a ball on a little doggie bed, surrounded by all his new toys.
She texted him back.
Olivia: He looks so happy.
Alexander: He is. But he misses you… So do I.
Olivia giggled at Alexander’s response.
Olivia: I miss you, too. And Runner. Give him a big hug and kiss from me.
Alexander: I will. Do you have a big hug and kiss for me? ;-)
Alexander Burnham just used the winky sign! Olivia exclaimed in her head. She grinned from ear to ear, unable to hide her enthusiasm for her growing attraction to that man. She looked down at her cell, eager to continue flirting via text, and typed out a quick response.