“I can walk him.”
“I believe you.”
Raum watched the over-excited animal trying to leap to freedom in a five-by-ten patch of mud. “Can I take him now?”
“Sure.” Caro unclipped a set of keys from her ring, handing them over. “When you get back, put him back in his cage and I’ll give you the rest of the tour.”
He took the dog down the back alley and onto the street, part of him disbelieving that Caro was actually paying him for this, and another part disbelieving that he was stupid enough to take the job.
He and Tiny walked around for a good hour, giving Tiny the chance to work off some energy. Half the reason he was so out of control was because he had no outlet for it.
As they turned back on the block for the shelter, Raum tipped his face up to the sunshine and realized he was actually enjoying himself. He liked the simplicity of animals, and he liked the sense of purpose he got from helping them.
People were complicated. Animals made sense.
As he lowered his gaze once more…he caught sight of a woman watching him.
Not just any woman.Her.
She stood at the edge of the narrow alley between the shelter and the building beside it, peeking around the brick. When their eyes met, hers widened as if she hadn’t expected him to notice her.
He missed a step, and she lurched back, though not far enough to hide behind the brick.
“Hey,” he called out before he could stop himself, but he didn’t raise his voice enough to be sure she heard.
He didn’t know why he wanted to talk to her so badly, but he did. Enough that he increased his pace. It took everything he had not to run. He had a sudden feeling that if he didn’t catch her now, she was going to disappear again.
He was right. She jumped like a startled rabbit and then ducked behind the brick out of sight.
He couldn’t help it; he started jogging, Tiny wagging his tail like this was the greatest shit to ever happen to him.
When they reached the alley, it was empty.
Raum came to halt, frowning. He spun around, seeing nothing. Where had she gone?
As he walked further down the lane, his eyes caught on a fire-escape door in the side of the neighboring building. She must have gone through there. It was some kind of medical office—he’d seen from the sign out front.
Maybe she worked there. Maybe she was on her lunch break, and she’d seen him and been as surprised as he was that their paths had crossed again.
So he’d shouted and run at her like a fucking creep.
He groaned. Why had he done that? Yeah, he hadn’t gotten laid in a while, but he wasn’tthatdesperate. She was just another human woman—a supremely hot one, but still—and there was no reason for him to get so worked up.
Tiny looked up at him like he didn’t understand it either.
“Don’t start with me,” he mumbled to the dog. “I already know.”
* * *
When Raum gothome that night, everyone was out. Iris had taken Faust with her too, and when he opened the door, no excited hellhound came bounding over to greet him.
But he wasn’t expecting to find the kitchen empty too.
“Bel?” he called out, surprised. Belial rarely left the house these days. He usually even managed to offload the grocery shopping onto others.
“Yeah.”
To Raum’s surprise, the responding grunt came from the living room. Ditching his coat, he crossed the room and stared incredulously at the sight of his seven-foot-tall brother stretched out on the sofa.
