Page 13 of Single All the Way

“This is my planning period. I’ve got about forty minutes left.”

“Let’s not waste time then.” I looked at Monet’s underside and confirmed he was a male, then took him to the exam table and started a routine kitten exam. “Saturday night at Chance’s, you didn’t mention adopting kittens,” I said.

“Saturday night at Chance’s, I didn’t have any intention of adopting kittens,” Max countered. “Then yesterday, some asshat abandoned these two in a cardboard box at the edge of my yard.”

I clenched my jaw and shook my head at the callousness of people. “So you’re keeping them?”

Max chuckled. “Between Harper and Danny, I didn’t stand a chance. When I called your office at seven thirty, Colby said she could work us in before your first appointment. I thought you should check them over, make sure they’re healthy.”

“They look pretty good on the outside, like someone’s been taking care of them.”

“We gave them a bath last night. They were a little ragged, but their appetites are voracious. They like tuna.”

“Human tuna?” I asked.

“It’s all we had. I’ll pick up cat food today.”

“We sell it here. Save yourself a trip. I don’t suppose the asshats left a note saying whether these two were vaccinated?”

Max scoffed and shook his head.

“We’ll give them full dosages to be sure. I’ll also do a blood test to rule out the bad stuff. I don’t see any fleas, so they must’ve been kept inside.”

Max stood on the other side of the table, up against it. He tried to hold Mahomes still on the surface, but the orange kitten insisted on climbing Max’s sweatshirt and perching on his shoulder.

“Danny must be in kitten bliss.” I knew exactly the spot Max had found himself in with baby animals thrown in his lap and a toddler’s instant love. It would do my friend some good to have these two feline menaces running the household.

“I’ve never heard so much infectious giggling.” Big, tough football coach Max had a goofy, happy grin on his face.

I wouldn’t say he hadn’t smiled before Harper, but his grins were wider now and made his eyes light up. He’d loved Danny from the start but had been uptight. From where I stood, it seemed like Harper had lightened Max up good.

“Kittens’ll do that,” I said, laughing at the big-eyed look Monet gave me as I palpated his abdomen.

“How’d move-in day go?”

“It was sheer chaos, but we got it done. Or rather the movers got it done.”

Max shook his head. “I still can’t believe you spontaneously offered to take in four more souls in need.” He’d been giving me shit about my “rescue syndrome” since I adopted the llamas.

“I could say the same to you.” I held up the kitten in a cheers-type salute, then gestured for him to trade cats with me so I could check out Mahomes.

“I guess your point is valid,” he allowed. “To think two years ago, I lived alone in a quiet house…”

I laughed. “This is better though, right?”

“This is so much fucking better.” He grinned like a man infatuated with both his boy and his fiancée. I had a feeling he was halfway there with these kittens too. “You should try it.”

My traitorous brain flashed to Emerson, but I shut it down immediately, just as I’d done last night after our talk in the kitchen. Instead I forced a laugh. “My life is full to overflowing, man. You just said so yourself.”

“Your responsibilities are full to overflowing. Not the same thing.”

I went quiet while I listened to Mahomes’s heart, acting too focused to respond.

“Don’t you want a partner in life? A woman to love?” Max persisted. “Emerson’s good-looking. Any attraction there?”

I shook my head, but there wasso muchdamn attraction. I couldn’t admit it out loud. It was bad enough I’d let those thoughts climb into my head, making it that much harder to shut out Emerson’s allure.

I needed to slam down on it with a vengeance. Hell, it was day two of her staying with me, and I’d already slipped up and brushed her hair back this morning in an intimate way that didn’t exist between us.Couldn’texist between us.

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