Which, okay, wasn’t exactly the outcome she’d been looking for, but no one had said this was going to be easy. That was how walls worked, right? Every time they came down, he had to rebuild them. Except he used stronger materials, better techniques.

He was learning. Like artificial intelligence gone rogue, he was becoming more powerful with each passing day.

With a sigh, Sophie took off after him. Although she’d hoped he might be a little more approachable after that kiss in the kitchen, it seemed she was out of luck. A hard, painful run it would have to be.

To be fair, it wasn’t the worst possible way to approach this task. For Bubbles to learn what Harrison’s low blood sugar smelled like, he had to have low blood sugar. And since his was so often caused by physical exertion, a long and carefully supervised jog was the best way to do it. They’d gotten his doctor’s approval and calibrated his continuous glucose monitor, which meant all that was left was the actual task of running.

But if he thought he was going to outpace her, he had no idea what was coming. For years, Sophie’s primary job had been puppy care. She fed the animals, cleaned up after them, taught them the basics. She also took them for runs—long, tiresome, rambling runs to build up their stamina and reveal their personalities under stress.

There was no better way to get to know someone—human or canine—than to gently push them to the brink of exhaustion and see how they reacted. Sophie already knew that Bubbles would keep going, even though her short legs and less-than-impressive physique weren’t built for long distances.

She was mightily curious how Harrison, with those formidable thighs and a body like a tree trunk, would handle it.

“I don’t want us to go too far from the house, since your safety is the most important thing,” she said as she pulled up alongside him. “So I mapped out a loop that goes through that patch of forest over there and down the field behind the house. It’s about a mile, so we’ll just put it on repeat as many times as necessary to get your levels down. We’ll keep an eye on your monitor, of course, but you’ll let me know if you start to feel faint?”

“I won’t feel faint.”

“That’ll certainly make things easier,” she replied without any loss of cheer. “You’re lucky to have such a nice place to do this. Normally, we’d have to take you to a track or a treadmill to get enough distance. But it’s so much prettier out here in the open air.”

“It’s all right.”

“That’s just because you’re used to it. Bubbles will like living out here. There’s so much space for her to roam.” She paused only long enough for them to turn out of view of the house. “I didn’t know you have an aunt. Is she your dad’s sister?”

“Yes.”