Axel puffs his cheeks out, looking up at the ceiling and then back at me.
“Oh, thank you, Tess! You saved him! Thank you, you’re the best!”
He starts to chuckle in happiness, the stress and pain sliding off his handsome face and before I know it, I’m in his arms, my feet hovering over the floor as he spins me around and then his lips are pressing down on mine and he’s kissing me long and hard.
I’m stunned into immobility and silence for a second and then I’m hugging him back. My lips go soft under his insistent ones and I can’t help but respond to his kiss with everything that I have and am as his tongue seeks entrance into my mouth.
He puts me down a few moments later and takes a step back, but doesn’t completely let go of me, his hands still gently clutching both of mine.
For a long minute we just stare into each other’s eyes and, amazingly enough, I realize I’m not the only one who’s blushing.
Axel clears his throat. “Um… that, I… I… thank you, Tess.”
Well, at least I’m not the only one who gets tongue-tied then.
I shake my head, fighting a smile, my heart and brain rushing in confusion at the maelstrom of feelings his one simple kiss awoke within me.
Be professional, woman!
Or… at least try.
I shrug. “It was… it was a team effort, really. We have an excellent staff here. And you definitely gave him a fighting chance rushing him here… had you waited for a rescue team, he probably wouldn’t have made it…”
For a moment Axel goes pale and I want to kick myself; I have the worst bedside manner sometimes with the ‘parents’ of my patients.
“But… he’s… he’s really okay now, right?” he asks.
I smile bigger, nodding. “Absolutely, your puppy is definitely out of the woods.”
“That’s great… though he’s not my puppy, technically…”
I frown. “He’s not?”
“I’m his trainer… Didar is a service dog or at least he will be when he grows up.”
He is a service dog trainer?
Could this guy be more perfect?
“Didar? What an unusual name! It’s beautiful…”
“It’s Arabic, it means ‘sight’. Didar really has all the qualities to make a great guide dog…”
At those words, my smile falls and I’m not fast enough to hide my reaction.
“What?” Axel asks, his voice husky and worried again.
I sigh. God, I really am mangling this.
I didn’t even share Didar’s prognosis with him as I should have.
In my defense, he just kissed me stupid.
Didar’s conditions wouldn’t be so bad if he wasn’t training to be a guide dog, but this changes things.
“Axel, I… don’t know how to say this… like I said, Didar is okay and will most likely recover fully the use of his left front and hind paws, but the injury to his head was pretty bad and it may have compromised his sight.”
“Fuck…” Axel mutters.
I squeeze his hands in mine. “We won’t know for sure until he wakes up though, and it wouldn’t be both eyes anyway. The CAT scan showed some damage near his right eye. So he would be able to see, only…”
Axel sighs. “Only he wouldn’t be able to be a guide dog anymore…”
I take a huge breath and move into his space, hugging him before I can talk myself out of it.
“We don’t know that yet… but yes: it is a possibility. I’m sorry…”
“Not your fault. When can I see him?” he asks, pulling me further into his strong, hard chest.
“He’s sleeping off the anesthetics we gave him so he won’t wake up for another couple of hours or so, but if you want, I can take you to see him in about half an hour.”
He cradles me closer still, kissing my temple and a shiver runs through my body. “That would be great, thank you, Tess.”
“Don’t mention it…”
I push away from him and stare up into his eyes. His face is still a little bit white.
“Why don’t I see if I can find you a clean T-shirt or something,” I say, pointing at the large stain of dried blood on his blue tee.
“That would be great.”
I smile up at him. “And… and maybe we can have a cup of coffee before we go in. There’s some stuff we need to discuss about Didar’s recovery.”
Axel once again cradles me to him, and I feel his nod against the side of my head.
–*–
Ten minutes later, we’re sitting at a small table in the hospital’s tiny cafeteria.
Axel is wearing a tight black tee that has a paw print logo on his right pectoral with the vet hospital’s name emblazoned around it in a circle; he’s holding a cup of coffee and I’m sipping some Earl Grey as we talk about Didar and the work he’s doing for Pawfect Friend and, all of a sudden, I realize the picture I had in mind of the type of man Axel could be, doesn’t really compare with the reality.
So, my sexy neighbor and I definitely have more in common than I could have ever hoped for.
I steer the conversation back to Didar’s prognosis and the next steps in his recovery’s process after he gets discharged from here.
“So when can I take Didar home?” Axel asks after a while.
I stare up at him in surprise. “You want to look after him yourself?”
He nods. “We’re understaffed at the foundation right now and besides, I’m pretty sure he’s gonna need to be under constant supervision and in need of one-on-one attention and he really trusts me: we have a special bond and I think he needs to be in a homey environment to get better right now. What happened was really scary and traumatic and I don’t want for that shit to mess him up…”
I smile. My God, he is almost more adorable than the puppy himself.
“That makes sense. He can only thrive from being taken care of by you… I mean… because… because you’re his trainer and everything.”
Good saving, Tess.
“That’s what I’m hoping for,” he says pensively.
“The next few weeks are gonna really tell us which direction to take when it comes to Didar’s future. Particularly if we want him to serve as a guide dog, special measures will have to be taken to ensure his full recovery.”
“That’s not a problem: there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. I won’t give up on him, I… I feel deep inside of me that there’s a child out there that this puppy is going to mean the world to, I have to make that happen.”
Aww.
“That’s… that’s wonderful, Axe, and to… to answer your question, you will probably be able to take him home in a week or so.”
“That long?” he asks, and I squeeze his hand.
Damn, he’s just so cute, all big and manly and yet so sweet and worried for the puppy.