Page 97 of Maverick

"I didn't think I needed to before, but other things are becoming more important to me now. I have other priorities." I hold her gaze until she realizes I'm talking about her. A rosy flush travels up her neck, and immediately all I can think about is making her flush like that again, but all over. The contrast between her rosy skin and the crisp white sheets would be incredible.

She clears her throat and idly plays with the handle of her fork. "Other priorities are good. Really good. I'm discovering I have other priorities too. But how would you really feel about giving all that up?"

"I've been thinking about starting a not-for-profit to handle those kinds of cases. A place people can go to for free support."

She makes a soft sound and scoops up a bit of potato. "Don't programs like that already exist?"

"Yeah, but they're pretty overwhelmed."

"Well if it's really important to you, then you should do it. But just saying, it's not easy to build something from the ground up. You might be trading one time-consuming thing for another."

"I would hire help. Other people can run it for me."

She gives me a look that’s encouraging, but all too knowing. "Sounds like you have it all figured out."

I do, don't I? I've run a business, and I know what it takes to be successful. Of course, I have eight other men in it with me. I also know that I can hire someone great to manage it day to day, so it's hands-off ninety-nine percent of the time. Money comesin, money goes out, hopefully less than comes in. That's business in a nutshell. At least that's how The Escape runs. But finding another Trixie won't be that hard, will it?

"Okay, so maybe it's not all figured out, but I'll get there."

"I have no doubt you will. You seem like the kind of man to put his mind to something and make it happen, no matter what."

"It's easy to make stuff happen when you have a bank account as big as mine is."

She chuckles and points a forkful of roast my way. "There is that." The little moan she makes as she chews makes me shift uncomfortably in my chair. Everything with this woman is an exercise in restraint. Eating dinner with her? Tight pants. Watching her bend over to pet a dog? Tight pants. Fucker's decided to stand up and salute her every time he senses she's near.

I can't blame him, but it means I do a lot of standing behind counters and folding my hands in front of me.

The table's hiding what's going on in my pants this time, so I lean back in my chair, swirling the beer in my bottle. "If you had all the money in the world, what would you do with the rescue?"

Cadence's eyes narrow, and she gives me a suspicious look. "Why are you asking?"

I hold up my hands, chuckling. "Whoa, easy there. It's just a thought experiment. I promise I'm not going to write a check tomorrow to pay for your dream or anything crazy like that." The day after, maybe. But I'm not going to tell her that.

She still looks skeptical. "You swear?"

"Cross my heart," I say, drawing my finger over my chest like we did when we were kids. "I'm just genuinely interested. I want to know what you'd do if there were no limits."

Cadence takes a deep breath, her eyes growing distant as she considers. "Well, if I'm dreaming big... I'd love to move therescue outside the city. Somewhere with wide open spaces, you know?"

Not without me.The thought is instinctive, coming from deep in my gut. But I can't go to the country, can I? I don't know how to function without honking cars and a Starbucks on every corner. I'm city born and bred.

But still, if she picked up and left, could I really stay behind?

No fucking way.

"I'd have more room to rehabilitate the harder cases," she says, her voice growing animated. "Right now, I just don't have the space or time for the tough ones. But with a bigger facility, I could really focus on training them and giving them the time they need to become adoptable. I'd have staff running the day to day, and on call teams trained to pick up animals in the city."

Her face is so animated, it's clear she's thought about this, a lot. Daydreams.

Daydreams I could make a reality in minutes if she'd let me.

"We'd have separate areas for different types of dogs," she continues. "A quiet space for the anxious ones, a high-energy zone for the working breeds. Maybe even a small farm animal sanctuary for the occasional pig or goat that needs rescuing." She frowns, an adorable wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows. "I've never actually seen a pig in real life, but it can't be that hard to take care of them, can it?"

"They don't like being picked up. They scream like they're headed to slaughter."

She plants her hands on the table, frowning. "How do you know that?"

"Um…there was this one time we came across a petting zoo." What are the chances she's going to let this drop?

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