Page 7 of Bad Boys Don’t Date Clumsy Girls

Chapter Four

There is something about the smell of the animal shelter that always lifts my spirits. I have a great association with the antiseptic smell of cleaner combined with the distinct mix of animal musk. I grin as I walk through the door and fill my lungs.

“Hey, Ava.” Chloe, the shelter’s manager, stands behind the main desk, paperwork spread across the work surface.

“Good morning.” I grimace. “Scheduling?”

Chloe taps the eraser end of a pencil on the sheet in front of her. “You know how much I loathe this task. Nobody is ever happy with the schedule.”

“Except me!” I grin.

“Well, you’re a volunteer, so technically you aren’t on the schedule.” Chloe waves the pencil at me like she’s scolding me. “I really don’t know what I would do without you, though. Weekends are the busiest, and if you weren’t here to take care of the animals, we’d be doomed.”

“Oh, you’d be fine! You survived without me before.”

“I’m serious, girl. Those poor animals are so much better off with you around. I can’t keep enough employees to get it all done. It’s literally not in the budget.” Chloe grins. “Trust me when I say, nobody wants to adopt a dog who peed in their kennel.”

“Speaking of, I’ll head back now.” With a bounce in my step, I point myself toward the kennels.

“We have a new volunteer today,” Chloe calls. “Looks like we’ll have him for a while, so I want him trained to help you out.”

“Oh, great! It’ll be nice to have someone to work with.”

I push through the employees only door. The new volunteer stands with his back to me, reading the bulletin board. His hands are stuffed into the front pockets of his jeans and his shoulders are so relaxed that he manages to look bored. There is something familiar about him.

“Hi,” I say. “You must be the new volunteer. I’m Ava and I’ll…”

He turns around and my words fall away as my stomach clenches. Dylan Scott. Oh no. Not him.

“Oh, hey. You’re the mud girl.” He chuckles and then squints. “I think. It’s hard to recognize you now that I can see you.”

“Oh good. You’re a comedian,” I grumble.

Dylan is trouble with a capital T. He skips tons of school, has been suspended a couple of times, and has a reputation as the school heartbreaker. Chloe indicating he’ll be around for a while probably means he’s serving court-ordered community service. Great.

Running into him in the office the other day was one thing, but having him show up here in my sanctuary with something to hold over my head is beyond upsetting. Suddenly, I’m less excited about being here.

“So, what is there to do around here?” Dylan pulls his hands out of his pockets and holds them out to the side to indicate the entire shelter.

“Let me just put my stuff away, and we’ll get started.” I store the lunch Sam packed for me in the refrigerator and shove my purse into a locker. Taking a mental deep breath, I don what I hope is a pleasant expression and turn to Dylan. “Did you put your jacket away? You’ll probably need it.”

“Nah, don’t have one.”

I look at his t-shirt, which I suddenly notice fits him really well, and simultaneously blush and frown. “You came like that? It’s like forty degrees outside.”

“What can I say? I’m hot.”

His sly grin tells me his double meaning was intentional. I roll my eyes and spin on my heel to march to the door. I push on the door, but it doesn’t budge, so I end up colliding with it, nose-first. My eyes water from the impact and I wiggle my nose a couple times to avoid sneezing. I’m glad Dylan is behind me so he can’t see how stupid I feel. I press on the release bar more carefully this time making sure I hear the catch release, and then push the door open. I hold it open for Dylan as he strolls through behind me.

Stepping up beside me, he scans our surroundings, taking in the large concrete slab enclosed by a chain-link fence.

“Each morning we start with the dogs.” I walk toward the dog run to the right of the patio. “They all need to be let out for exercise and a potty break.”

“Potty?”

I halt and turn to stare at him. He hasn’t moved to follow me. “Uh, yeah. Have you never heard the word potty?”

The corner of Dylan’s mouth curls into a half-smile. “I’ve never heard anyone use it voluntarily.”

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