Page 16 of Moore to Love

His lips curved into a grin that had butterflies swirling in my belly. “I just wanted to check in and make sure you didn’t have any questions for me about putting the adoption paperwork from this weekend into the computer system.”

“Nope.” I shook my head, hoping it would clear the dirty thoughts circling in my brain. “Joshua walked through it with me before he left to study.”

“Good.” His smile widened. “And no issues with my notes on the patients I’ve seen so far this morning?”

“Not even the ones you wrote down instead of typing them into your tablet.”

“I know I should do better with that. My only excuse is that a lot of my clinical rotations were done on paper-based medical record systems, so when I’m feeling rushed, I tend to go old-school with pen and paper again.” He tapped the stack of folders in front of me. “You didn’t have any problems reading my handwriting? It’s Joshua’s number one complaint when I dump these on his desk.”

Having spent an hour transferring visit notes to patient records, I understood Joshua’s complaint. “It kind of resembles a chicken scratch, but I’ve been able to make the notes out so far.”

“I wish I could say that isn’t a fair description, but I sadly cannot.” His deep chuckle sent a delicious shiver down my spine. “Please don’t hesitate to ask if you run into something that you can’t decipher on your own.”

“I’ll be sure to let you know,” I promised.

“I guess I’d better for my next round of patients now that there’s only ten minutes left of our lunch break. I’m sure my one o’clock appointment will come knocking on the door soon.” He glanced at the insulated carrier I’d brought with me. “Cute lunch box.”

The heat in my cheeks deepened. “Dinosaurs are apparently not cool enough for second grade, but I figured you guys would appreciate them.”

“You were right.” He straightened, jerking his thumb over his shoulder toward the front door. “I don’t treat a lot of reptiles, but if someone walks in here with a dinosaur, do me a favor and jump them to the front of the line.”

“No way. I’ve seen those movies way too many times. You’ll be stuck listening to my screams as I run to my car while you figure out what to do about the dinosaur.”

“I might not be a paleontologist, but you can be sure I’d protect you from a rogue dinosaur just the same.” His laughter trailed him as he strode toward his office.

“I bet I know where your mind wandered to,” Meghan murmured after the door shut behind him.

“Pardon?” I asked, not sure what she was talking about.

“You told Finn that your mind had wandered when you asked him to repeat his offer to help you with the computer system. And I practically had to bite my tongue to hold back my retort until he was gone because I didn’t want to embarrass you,” she explained as she tucked her purse back into the bottom drawer of her desk. “You know…there isn’t a rule against office romances.”

I jerked my gaze away from the door to Finn’s office and pretended that I didn’t know exactly who she was talking about. “Joshua is a sweet kid, but he’s not my type.”

Meghan laughed and shook her head. “That ‘sweet kid’ is only a year younger than you.”

“It’s amazing how much older motherhood makes you feel.”

“You’re preaching to the choir on that.” Her knowing look made it obvious that I wasn’t fooling her. She knew I was trying to divert the conversation away from my attraction to our boss. Which she proved when she added, “But we both know he wasn’t who I was talking about.”

I realized there was no use trying to bluff my way through this conversation when she’d clearly caught onto my attraction to our boss, and my shoulders slumped. “Am I that obvious?”

“Nope,” she assured me. “It took me until today to notice the sparks flying, and I’m a woman with a keen eye who has spent hours around the two of you.”

My gaze darted toward Finn’s door as I considered the possibility that the chemistry I was feeling wasn’t one-sided. “Sparks?”

“Combustible ones.” She dropped onto her chair with a nod and rolled it closer to me. “Seriously, watching you two circle each other is even better than enjoying my soap operas in the break room while we’re closed. I might have to change up my normal lunch routine and eat out here instead if you guys are going to keep giving me a show like that.”

One of the perks of working at the clinic was that Finn shut down for an hour every afternoon for lunch. It gave all of us the chance to eat without worrying about people and their pets waiting for us in the lobby. Although I tended to scarf down my food quickly so I could get some work done since Finn insisted on paying me for the full five hours I was at the clinic.

We even had a pharmaceutical sales rep who brought in a catered meal on Friday while they pitched a different brand of heartworm medication with flea and tick prevention to Finn. They’d brought in so much food that I’d had enough for dinner with the kids when he insisted that Meghan, Joshua, and I take the leftovers home. Benjamin and Madison had been impressed by the idea of a six-foot sub sandwich, and when I looked online to see how much they cost at Walmart, I decided I had the perfect menu for his seventh birthday in a few months.

“I hadn’t realized we were circling each other. I thought it was all on my side,” I confessed. “But it doesn’t matter because I can’t start anything with him, even if he really was interested in me like that.”

Meghan slumped in her chair with a heavy sigh. “Did you miss the part where I said there isn’t a rule against office romances here?”

“There are so many reasons that I don’t know where to begin.” Ticking off a finger for each point, I listed, “I’ve only been divorced for almost two years, plus my ex likes to yank my chain on a regular basis by dragging me to court to try to get his child support and alimony lessened. I have two young children who need pretty much all of my time and attention because my ex doesn’t come close to pulling his weight. I’m already trying to juggle being a single mom with going back to school and my new part-time job here, so adding a guy into the mix would just be another ball in the air that I would probably drop. Except maybe if he was really into house or car repairs because both of those are falling apart around me, and my parents are in Florida so my dad can’t help with any of it.”

“Okay, I have to concede—you’re dealing with a lot right now.” She reached over to pat my knee. “Feel free to tell me to mind my own business, but I was wondering why you didn’t buy a house in Stuart when you moved back home?”

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