“I don’t think your truck is quite big enough,” she commented when he was sitting in the driver’s seat.

“I like big things,” he told her with a wink.

“Are you making up for something?” she muttered.

Instead of scowling at her as she’d expected, his eyes twinkled as he hit her with that killer smile before turning the key and having the engine roar to life.

“Sugar, you have a firsthand account that there’s nothing small about me. Just in case you’ve forgotten, all you gotta do is ask to have another peek,” he said as he threw the truck into drive and began pulling down Cooper’s long driveway.

Much to her irritation, Lindsey’s cheeks flamed as she folded her arms and wisely decided to stare ahead of her. She hadn’t bothered asking where they were going. She knew she was at the mercy of Maverick.

There was a real sort of freedom in letting go, in letting the man take over for a few minutes, or more likely a few hours. For some reason she knew he wasn’t going to lead her into danger. He wasn’t even going to lead her into something she couldn’t handle.

When they pulled up to a large building and stopped, Lindsey was confused. She looked around but couldn’t exactly figure out what they were doing. Where was he bringing her?

She was . . . disappointed. She really shouldn’t have had any expectations about the day, and she didn’t—not really. She hadn’t allowed herself to even think about it. But she hadn’t expected him to bring her to the city.

“Ready?”

Lindsey hadn’t even seen Mav get out of the truck, but there he was with an eager smile holding open her door.

“For what?” she asked as she allowed him to assist her out of the monstrous truck.

“For our first official date,” he said as he closed the door and took her hand.

She tried tugging away from him, but it was useless. She gave up.

“This isn’t a date,” she informed him. “It’s an outing.”

If she could possibly sound any more proper she didn’t know how. Mav wasn’t bothered by her coldness though. He just threw back his head and chuckled before tugging her along.

Lindsey was even more confused when they came up to a building with a large sign on it saying “Animania.” It had different animal paws adorning its windows. Mav walked up to the door with her trailing behind.

“Do we have a pit stop?” she asked as he pulled her into the large lobby filled with people, furniture, animal toys, and laughter.

“Nope,” he said, excitement practically beaming off him.

Before she could say anything, a perky, petite blonde came rushing forward and threw her arms around Mav before standing back.

“You’re late. I think Benji is about to gnaw his way out of the cage,” she said before turning her full attention to Lindsey. “You must be Lindsey, it’s great to meet you. Mav said he was bringing you in today. I’m Cindy. Your companion is going to be Princess.”

“My companion?” Lindsey asked.

“Yep. Princess has been sad this week so she will really love a little extra-special attention,” Cindy said as she began moving toward a door.

Apparently they were following the girl, because Mav tugged on Lindsey’s hand and they went through the door and down a hall, then out another door that led them to a breezeway.

“What is this place?” Lindsey asked as they kept moving. It was huge.

“This is Animania, the best animal shelter in all of Washington. Mav here is the founder, and he comes in at least once a week if not more when time allows.”

“You own this place?” Lindsey didn’t know why she was so surprised. He seemed to be a sucker for lost causes.

“No. It’s a nonprofit. I just started it,” he said as he looked away, seeming uncomfortable.

“I . . . uh . . . wow,” she whispered, a little too awed by him at the moment to form words.

“It’s not a big deal, sug. I love animals and too many people don’t. So if they have to be boarded up, I figured they deserved a nice vacation home,” he said, getting his groove back as he winked.

“What are we doing here?” she asked. She’d long since stopped trying to pull her hand away.

“We’re taking a couple of the dogs out on a walk to the park. We have lots of volunteers who walk the dogs, but the more hands the better.”

They entered another large area where a huge field was fenced and several animals were running around. There were also clean, roomy areas where several animals were resting.

In the middle of the structure, they came up to a cage where two dogs were eagerly gazing out. One had his tail wagging a mile a minute, and the other was peeking up before looking back down again, its tail twitching a little bit as Mav bent down and spoke.

“Hey Benji, it looks like you have a new pretty companion,” Mav said in a silly voice.

Benji looked to be a cross between a poodle and a lab and maybe even a boxer. Lindsey didn’t know much about animals, but he wasn’t the prettiest animal she’d ever seen. He appeared to be about forty pounds, ten pounds of which had to be fur. Princess was smaller, probably only about fifteen pounds, and looked like maybe a cross between a Chihuahua and a beagle. She was cute with her silver fur and shy eyes. Could dogs have shy eyes?

Lindsey found herself sitting down on the floor as the door to the enclosure was opened. Suddenly her throat was tight as Princess slowly moved toward her, frightened. Lindsey instantly wanted to protect this puppy.