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large, brightly coloured balls and hoops were scattered here and there.
    “Alexi?” Cai called, “is anyone home?”
    “Right here,” a male voice replied and the trainer stepped into the light with a tiger on either side of him. I had never been so close to a wild animal, not even on the farm back home. I gasped, stepped back and grabbed Cai’s arm out of instinct.
    “Hold still and watch Alexi work his magic,” Cai said and placed his hand over mine. He turned slightly towards me so we were almost facing each other in the brightly lit training tent. I watched Alexi give the big cats commands, they obeyed with precision, and in all honesty I wasn’t that terrified at the moment. Still, I didn’t want to pull my hand away, didn’t want to admit that my heart was pounding at his touch, not the tigers, and didn’t want our intimacy to end.
    I finally realized the little performance had come to a halt and reluctantly took my hand back. I could feel the weight of his hand on my flesh, signaling like a fire in spite of my lack of feeling...somehow his touch got through.
    Get ahold of yourself Liv , I thought, not understanding where this lack of control was coming from. I wasn’t prone to flights of fancy in the real world, had the Cirque drawn me into some alternate reality where I was considered normal and had daydreams about kissing the boss’s son?
    “Now we test your mettle,” he said and shot me a sly smile. We walked to the centre where Alexi had the two tigers, each on a round platform. He was standing in between the cats in what appeared to be riding breeches and a black shirt. He was shorter than Cai, but a little taller than me. He had sparkling blue eyes, grey hair and a barrel chest. His face was lined with wrinkles that indicated he’d lived a life full of humour.
    He smiled, bowed, shook Cai’s hand, and turned to me. “Pleased to meet you,” he said, “I am Alexi. These are my animals.”
    “They are gorgeous,” I replied, “and my name is Olivia...Liv for short.”
    “What a whimsical name,” Alexi said, “charming.”
    “Thank you,” I replied, “are all the animals yours?”
    “Yes,” he said, “I bring them all with me. I trained in Moscow and came to Canada twenty years ago to be a plumber, but couldn’t get the circus out of my blood. Ten years ago Cairo’s father took a chance on me and I’ve never looked back.”
    “That seems like a long time to be traveling around,” I said but saw a certain appeal. I myself hated commitments, as evidenced by Jason being my longest relationship and that had only been a few months. And we all knew how that ended, him and my best friend humping like dogs in heat when they thought I was at work.
    “It is, but it’s the life you want, or the life you’re not used to. Either way the first few months makes or breaks most folks.”
    “That’s actually why I brought you here,” Cai said, “to see how you reacted around the tigers. Well, that and to have a reason for you to grab onto me and gasp like a nineteen fifties film starlet.” He reached out and stroked the ears of the nearest big cat, it dipped its head in complete submission to him. I was impressed at how subdued they were around him, as though they recognized him as alpha.
    I also hoped he didn’t notice my blush this time, but I went even redder when I caught Alexi’s raised brow, watching me watching Cairo. “So did I pass?” I asked.
    “Definitely. You’ll do well working here. You wouldn’t believe how many people panic next to the big cats. You’ve done well, we need people who are good with the beasts.”
    “So basically if I don’t pee myself or get my face eaten off, I’m hired?”
    “Pretty much,” he laughed and gave me a sidelong glance. “You’re funny, I like funny.”
    I’m funny, and he likes funny. I felt a little thrill of pleasure course through my body. Strange how just a word from him made me feel so goofy.
    I followed him as we left; Alexi