Chiara doesn't need complications. She has a veterinary practice, a client base she's spent years building, and a friendship with Cleo Conti that has recently expanded to include navigating the specific ecosystem of the Cosa Nostra estate on a fairly regular basis. Rafe runs the kennel. He also runs the security operation, trains the dogs with the focused patience of someone who has decided that animals are more reliable than people, and communicates in sentences that average four words... moreChiara doesn't need complications. She has a veterinary practice, a client base she's spent years building, and a friendship with Cleo Conti that has recently expanded to include navigating the specific ecosystem of the Cosa Nostra estate on a fairly regular basis. Rafe runs the kennel. He also runs the security operation, trains the dogs with the focused patience of someone who has decided that animals are more reliable than people, and communicates in sentences that average four words. She is not here for him. She is here for the dog. The problem is that Rafe notices things. Small things: when she's tired, when she's managing something she won't say out loud, when the professional warmth she gives everyone drops for a moment and something truer is underneath. And he doesn't say anything about what he notices. He just — adjusts. Quietly. As if it's the most natural thing in the world. It is the most inconvenient quality she has ever encountered in another person. Chiara is going to need a much better plan. Tropes. Enemies to lovers · Grumpy/sunshine · Slow burn · Found family · Animal lover hero · Single mother adjacent. less
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