Chapter 3
"Oh my God," Corinne Rodriguez muttered as the smoke detector screamed from overhead in the shelter kitchen.
Seriously, who in the hell burns canned cat food, she wanted to scream? Of course, that scream would have been directed at herself. The microwave had to be possessed. That was the only way to explain the styrofoam plate currently on fire with a mound of burnt cat pate on top. Every time she put something in for thirty seconds, the microwave ran for three full minutes. Really, it needed to be replaced, but there weren't funds available and so far no one had bought a new one from their wish list.
"Cori, you need help in there?" one of the volunteers shouted from the kitten room. It was Tim, the late afternoon guy who worked in a library part time and played piano in Boy's town on Sunday mornings for brunch. He had a way with the cats. Big dogs terrified him, but cats loved the guy.
"No!" she shouted back. If anyone saw the current situation, she would never live this down. Like, not ever. Within seconds Tim would have live streamed the whole disaster to his forty thousand Instagram followers.
She hefted a chair and dragged it toward the smoke detector located above the wooden cabinets. Deft as a cat, she jumped up on the chair, stood on the counter, and reached as far as she could.
That damn smoke detector was about five inches out of reach.
"Son of a-" She jumped up as if somehow her short legs would become pogo sticks. "Come on!"
Another jump and she almost fell off the counter. Two metal pet food dishes clattered to the ground. Thankfully they were empty or there would have been a second disaster unfolding in the kitchen.
"Cori?" Tim shouted.
"It's nothing! I'm trying to get the smoke detector to stop beeping."
"Try not burning stuff. I've heard that works."
"Best volunteer ever, so helpful," she said through her teeth.
"Seriously, though, what is that smell, girl?"
Corinna decided not to answer. She jumped down from the counter and tossed the burning cat food into a garbage bag, which she knotted, hefted over her shoulder, and whipped outside into the alley Dumpster in hopes that would stop the beeping before her ears began to bleed.
She kicked the door stop into place to keep the back door open and air out the kitchen before the lingering smell of burning cat food killed them all. Thank goodness it was summer and not the middle of a Chicago winter, she mused.
When she turned around, a guy in a dark red jacket, baseball cap, dirty jeans and old work boots walked into the shelter kitchen.
"Holy crap!" she shouted.
He barely looked at her as he searched the room. Blue eyes shot up to the smoke detector over the cabinets, and without a word to her, the stranger smoothly stepped onto the chair, effortlessly reached up, and removed the screaming alarm from the ceiling.
"There," he said as he yanked the battery out of the back. He offered a wide, satisfied grin once he met her eye.
Corinna stared back at him, her brow furrowed. Words eluded her as she looked over the tall, broad-shouldered stranger with his dark hair down to his shoulders. He towered over her, which was no surprise since literally everyone in the city stood taller than her. Five feet of sass, Tim called her, although he was one to talk. Tim was her six-foot sass twin.
But this guy? There was something intriguing about his smile, a sort of sadness lingering beneath his expression. Maybe he was just tired, she thought to herself. Lots of people who walked through the shelter doors smiled through a bit of sadness as they looked for a new pet after losing a faithful dog or cat, searched for a missing best friend, or needed to say goodbye to a pet at the end of its life.
"Who let you in?" she asked.
The man placed the smoke detector on the counter next to empty cans of cat food and wrinkled his nose, most likely at the horrendous smell of burning wet cat food.
"The front door was unlocked. I heard the alarm and thought maybe something was on fire."
Corinna cringed. That was the second time in a month she'd forgotten to lock the door at closing time. Tim was going to flip the hell out if he heard the stranger say that.
As if on cue, Tim walked into the kitchen as if he were strutting down a runway. "Did you really leave the door unlocked again?" he said with a roll of his eyes.
The stranger turned and looked at Tim briefly, and before Corinna could say a word, Tim's expression turned from annoyed to intrigued by their unexpected guest.
"Lord have mercy, you can leave the door open any time you want," he said with a ridiculous grin.
"I'm sorry, we're actually closed," Corinna said to the stranger.
"I just heard the alarm. I didn't know," the man said. His work shirt underneath his jacket said Jimmy.
He didn't really look like a Jimmy-not that she had a solid opinion of what a Jimmy should look like. Were guys named Jimmy this hot?
Not that he was hot…
Okay, he was very hot. Both the sweaty kind of hot and the smokin' good-looking kind of hot.
And now she was definitely checking him out and he definitely didn't notice.
"We've got it under control," Corinna said.
"That's a lie. We never have it under control," Tim replied. He shot her a look like she was crazy for trying to dismiss this wayward, good looking man.
"What's that smell?" Jimmy asked.
"Our director," Tim answered. He pointed his thumb at Corinna. "Corinna Rodriguez. She typically smells like this."
"You're Corinna?" Jimmy asked as though he had heard of her.
Yep, that's me. Burnt cat food lady. Was it possible to fire a volunteer?
"Tim, can you check the laundry? I'm pretty sure the buzzer went off."
"Already did. And the buzzer is broken so you're clearly hearing things, my dear." He smuggly leaned against the wall and crossed his arms while still checking out the new guy.
"My boss told me to come talk to you," Jimmy said, ignoring their exchange.
"Who's your boss?"
"Javier."
Corinna's eyebrows shot up. Her brother literally never sent her anyone decent to volunteer at the shelter. He was notorious for sending her teenagers from the neighborhood who had interest in helping out for a few days before they realized volunteering wasn't so much petting kittens as it was cleaning litter boxes and spraying down cages. Of course Jav had to send down some gloriously good looking dude on a day when she was covered in dog hair, bleach, and cat food.
Not like that wasn't every day, but she could have at least taken her hair out of a ponytail and put on some lipgloss if she knew this fine specimen was walking through the doors.
"We do new volunteer orientation on Wednesdays," she explained, trying to keep it cool.
"It's Wednesday, hun," Tim pointed out. He took his cell phone out of his back pocket and aimed it at the new guy, who was most likely going to be on Instagram within seconds.
"Morning," she clarified. "We do new volunteer orientation on Wednesdays at nine."
"No one showed up. Why don't you just do it now?"
Tim, bless his heart, was doing everything in his power to keep the eye candy around a little longer.
"Because I don't have anything prepared," she answered pointedly.
"I can come back," Jimmy offered. He looked from Tim to Corinna and shifted his weight. His right hand was held in a tight fist, his left hand flexed and released several times beneath a dark gray work glove, which caught her attention much longer than necessary. "I need something to do during my lunch break," he added.
Corinna snapped her gaze up to meet his. Blue eyes stared back at her briefly before he looked down at his left hand and frowned. Without looking at her, he slid his hand into his jacket pocket and took a step back.
"What most interests you in volunteering?" Corinna asked, attempting to salvage the impromptu meeting. Despite his good looks, Corinna was fully aware they were in desperate need of good volunteers to keep the shelter up and running. Most of the college kids had already left to return to campuses until winter break rolled around. Most of the senior citizen volunteers weren't up to the major tasks of repairing dog kennels, moving cage banks of cat cages, and other daily operations.
He shrugged. "What most interests me? Staying busy, I guess."
"Dogs or cats?"
"Either."
"Past experience?"
"Army."
That wasn't the answer she expected, but she nodded. Honestly, none of his answers fit the typical person to stroll in looking to work with animals. Some teens lumbered through the door in search of college credits or because they needed to volunteer for school. Senior citizens wanted out of the house, and everyone in between had their own myriad reasons for wanting to help animals.
"Did you mean with animals?" Jimmy asked. "I had a dog once. A long time ago."
"Are you handy at all?"
A smile touched the corners of his lips. "Very," he said. He sounds proud, but not arrogant.
"Can you come back tomorrow at noon? I'll be more prepared to walk you through."
Jimmy nodded. "I'll do whatever you need."
"Ooh, we like the sound of that," Tim said before he turned and walked out of the room. He looked over his shoulder and winked at Corinna, who did her best to ignore him. The phone in the lobby rang, and a few seconds later she heard Tim answer it.
"I'll put the smoke detector back up if you want," Jimmy offered. His smile returned, but his eyes were still filled with sadness.
"I would appreciate that," Corinna replied. "I can't reach it anyways."
"Does this count as volunteering?"
Corinna chuckled to herself. "Yeah, we will consider saving us all from being beeped to death as volunteer work."
Bucky felt Corinna examine his every move as he stepped onto the chair and stood on the counter again. Do not fall off the counter, do not fall off the counter. Do not look like a complete idiot.
He put the 9 volt battery back into the smoke detector and snapped it back into place. When he turned, he found Corinna standing with her arms crossed, her gaze immediately focusing on the open door rather than him. He figured she was probably studying his gloved hand again, which came as no surprise. Admittedly it had taken him quite a while to get used to his new arm and he couldn't blame people for staring.
"Thanks," she said cheerfully. "I appreciate you doing that."
"No problem." He moved from the counter to the chair and jumped down onto the floor, smooth as a cat.
They stood in awkward silence for a moment.
"So, noon?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'll walk down on my lunch."
"How's Jav treating you?" she asked.
Bucky shrugged. "He's okay. You know him?"
"A little." She flashed a wide smile, which showed off the dimples in her cheeks. "We may or may not have grown up in the same house for eighteen years."
Bucky's expression sobered. "He's your brother?"
"Unfortunately." She smiled again, and Bucky looked her over, searching for any resemblance he'd missed between Javier and Corinna. She turned away to close the door leading into the alley and he stole a glance.
She was petite, probably barely over five feet tall with thick, dark hair and caramel highlights. Despite her short stature, there was something still intimidating about her, like she could kick some ass if needed.
"No one ever guesses we're related. I tell him all the time our parents found a grizzly bear in the woods and mistook it for a baby."
"He's a nice guy," Bucky said absently.
Corinna shrugged and motioned for him to follow her. "He can be a real pain in the ass, but he's a good guy. Takes care of his kids and wife."
Well, there was something he didn't know at all. Judging by his blank office walls and empty desk, Bucky didn't think the guy had a family. Of course, it wasn't any of his business, either.
"I just started," he replied.
"I doubt most of the guys who have been there for ten years know he has kids. Jav doesn't talk about anything to anyone."
Bucky could relate. The less people knew about him, the better.
"What about you? Kids? Wife?"
He shook his head as they walked down the hall toward the front of the building. "Neither."
Again she smiled. If he hadn't been so out of practice with women, he would have almost thought she was flirting. Almost.
"Well, then we will see you tomorrow at noon."