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"Hey, you know I run on caffeine, sarcasive up sex," Spence said Okay, yes, his latest project required his 24–7 attention and he hadn’t had time to connect with anyone But quick hookups weren’t really his thing anyway What was his thing at theareas where they were nearly nonexistent Meds and alsodoctors to renose andfor the at weather patterns, for one The security, for another-- sure pirates couldn’t intercept and steal the h-stakes priority And then there was the ratio of the changing weight of the cargo to getting enough battery charge to hts, not to le to stay connected noclose, very close All he needed was time, uninterrupted ti after my phone"

"The one you just killed dead?" Elle asked

"I’ll bring it back to life"

"You’re a genius, Spence, not a reat" to Joe "Now I’ve issued soe to his "

The truth was, Spence could rebuild his phone in his daet this project up and running Maybe a part of his problem was that it happened to be for Clarissa’s One-World charity and he’d proer broke promises

He took the stairs because he hated the elevator, and when he stepped out into the courtyard, he stilled for a beat He’d grown up hard and fast and without a hoed all that for hiht of the fountain, the cobblestones, the building itself with its aether to lighten his day

But when he hadn’t been looking, Christreen entwined with twinkling white lights in every doorway andframe On top of that, all the potted trees that lined the ays had been done up like Christ winter in San Francisco, specifically the district of Cow Hollow, the foggy afternoon air burned his lungs like ice He grabbed his phone from the coin-filled fountain, dried it off on his pants, and shoved it into one of his pockets to restore later

"Spence!" Willa called out from the pet shop that opened into the courtyard She ran a pet day care out of her shop and someti her clients for her

She gestured to the large dog snoozing in the sunspot with a cat on either side of hi was a regular client named Daisy Duke, and she ca over the cats in sheer joy as she headed right for hiot to hi to lick his face Spence calmed her down somewhat, hooked her up to the leash, and hit the courtyard with her, heading toward the wrought-iron gates so he could walk her to doggy Disneyland--the park

But Daisy Duke wasn’t a walker She was a runner More accurately, she was a 125-pound bunny, bounding with enthusiastic energy, tugging at the leash

"Hold your horses, Daze," he said "Save it for the park" He muscled her to his side, his ht, he wasn’t exactly on his game when a black cat appeared out of nowhere

With an excited bark, Daisy Duke broke free to charge after it, heading back toward the fountain and the wo there, suitcase at her side, ared to dodge the wo forward at warp speed, she clearly saw the problem at the last minute because she let out a bark of surprise She was probably mostly Irish setter, but Spence was pretty sure she was also part Wookiee She was huge and uncoordinated, and a few crayons short of a full box She did drop her head and try to stop, but her forward momentum was too much Her back end slid out fro into the woht into the water

Jesus "Stay," Spence said to Daisy and lurched forward as the wo and sputtering "Are you okay?"