Page 27 of Love Out Loud

“Want to tell me about what happened to you that makes you afraid of dogs?” she asked, pulling out the chair across from him.

“I will if you tell me why you are afraid of speaking to a group of people.”

“It’s apples and oranges,” she said. “I was born this way. It’s how I’m wired. An event did not precipitate my hesitance to engage with large crowds.”

For a while, he stared at her, then reached into his briefcase and pulled out some tidy, printed pages. “I wrote up a rough draft of a potential speech.”

For some reason, she couldn’t seem to keep her attention on his words, only his mouth, darn it.

“I’ve kept the speech as short as possible,” he continued. “We can go over it and change anything you don’t like or doesn’t feel right on your tongue.”

At that moment, she was thinking of lots of things that would feel right on her tongue, starting with the freckle under his lip. Why, why, why, after so long being content as things were, was she so attracted to this man? He was absolutely wrong. He didn’t even pass her first requirement and had skirted around the edges of the second. The third wasn’t even worth exploring. Getting serious with someone who didn’t like dogs was a no-no.

Inwardly, she groaned. Getting serious? The guy was with her because he was doing a paid favor for a friend of a friend. What in the world was wrong with her?

Him. That’s what. Him and some raging hormones.

“You okay, Fiona? Is something wrong?”

Yeah, you. You are all wrong.“No. I’m just tired. Brutus kept me up last night. Addison is taking her to the shelter until he’s ready for adoption, so I’ll be fine tomorrow.”

“I half figured you’d keep her,” he said.

“Oh, no. I’d love to. She’s adorable, but I’m very disciplined. Several stray puppies a month come through here, as do kittens and other random animals, and I can’t take them all in. It’s a hard line. Daisy and Otto are the perfect roommates. I don’t need anyone else.”

She realized she was doing that talking-too-fast nervous thing again—probably in response to the adrenaline dump from his mentioning her tongue, and then the subsequent fantasies that invoked. Maybe she’d been reading too many romance novels. Maybe she wasn’t readingenough.

“Addison’s shelter is top-notch, and with all the volunteers from the local high school she’s enlisted, Brutus will get more than her share of cuddles.”

He pushed the stack of papers toward her, and she noticed how nice his hands were. Long fingers with well-trimmed nails. He was in a suit, as usual, looking perfect, as usual. She decided she liked that. It wasn’t her thing for herself, but it looked good on him and didn’t seem overly formal or pretentious, like on some guys. He seemed as comfortable in a tie as she did in her scrubs. She looked down. As comfortable as she was in her purple scrubs covered in long, gold cat hair. Ugh.

“Tell me what you think of it,” he said. When her eyes flitted to his freckle under his lower lip, he added with a smile, “Tell me what you think of the speech draft.”

Busted.

She could feel her cheeks heat as she turned the papers to face her, not picking them up for fear she’d drop them. She read the first page, which was only a bullet-pointed cover sheet with facts about her and the award. Not the speech itself. She could feel him watching her. Really feel it, like one of those silly GIFs Caitlin included in her texts with animals and people with laser eyes, and it made it impossible to concentrate.

Then, her stomach rumbled. Not a regular, run-of-the-mill, short growl; it was a gastric symphony. Starting low, it got louder and higher pitched, and then, darn it, it went right back down the scale to a fade out at the end.

She placed a hand on her belly—like that would help—and he laughed. It wasn’t a mocking laugh. It was a full-of-fun kind of sound, and she loved it.

“I assume you haven’t had dinner,” he said.

“No. Days when Addison is here are really busy. We were still working when you arrived.”

“Would you like to go somewhere and get a bite?”

No, she’d already had a bite from a parrot and was covered in enough cat hair to knit a sweater. She couldn’t go anywhere like this. The lab coat was just a Band-Aid. “No, I’m fine, really.” She stood and began rummaging in the cabinets behind him. The dogs perked up from where they were lying like bookends near the door and immediately joined her to beg for treats. “Sorry, you guys,” she said, “granola bars are not on your diet.”

“They’re not on my diet, either,” Jake said. “And I’m hungry, too. Why don’t we go get dinner?”

That sounded way too much like a date to her hormones, which were bouncing around like kittens chasing a laser pointer. “I really don’t want to go out.”

He held his phone aloft. “I can work magic. Pepperoni, sausage, and bell peppers? Or veggie?”

“Veggie, extra peppers, no onions or olives,” she said. “If that works for you.”

He lifted an eyebrow in surprise.

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