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Lucas froze.
“Doesn’t that feel good, sweetheart?” Bryce went on.
A moaning sound came in response.
What thehell?Was Bryce having sex in an animal shelter?
“Bryce? It’s Lucas.”
There was a scrambling sound from inside, and then the door opened, and there was Colleen, her hair tumbled, cheeks pink.
A white-hot knife of jealousy slid between Lucas’s ribs, and for a second, he couldn’t see straight.
“Hey,” she said calmly, though her eyes widened a bit.
“Colleen.”
She raised an eyebrow at his tone, then looked behind her. “Your cousin’s here, Bryce,” she said.
“Hey, Lucas!” Bryce called. “I’m covered in slime. Be out in a second.”
Colleen came into the waiting room, closing the door behind her. “We meet again. How are you, Spaniard?”
It was her old nickname for him...she had often said he looked like a Spanish pirate.
“I’m fine,” he said tightly. “What exactly were you doing in there?”
She cocked an eyebrow, then grinned. “Sounded like sexy time, didn’t it? But no. Just Bryce expressing the anal glands of a very cute little dog.”
“I—okay, I’m speechless.”
“I know. There’s just no good comeback for that.”
“Is life so quiet here that this is what passes for fun?”
“Don’t sell it short. Want to watch? He’sreallygood.” She grinned, and Lucas felt a responding smile start in his chest.
“So your dog required some, um, special treatment?” he asked.
“No, that would take the New York Giants and a very, very brave vet. It’s Mrs. Tuggles, one of Paulie’s recent acquisitions. Rufus over there is my baby.” She pointed, and Lucas glanced over to where a gray, cow-sized dog lay on its side as if dead.
“Are you a good boy, Rufus?” Colleen asked.
The dog’s tail thumped twice in confirmation.
“So these anal glands,” Lucas said. “Your way of getting Paulie and Bryce together?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“How romantic.”
“Hey. It’s working. You see, Lucas, a lot of men don’t appreciate what’s right in front of them, so they have to be shown. In twelve-foot neon letters. With arrows pointing to it.” She paused to let that sink in, lest he miss the innuendo (whatever it was). “Also, Mrs. Tuggles was blocked and kept scooching her butt across Paulie’s rug. You get the picture.”
The exam room door opened again, and there was Paulie, holding Mrs. Tuggles, a rotund little dog that looked extremely satisfied at the moment, her wide mouth grinning, tongue lolling. The dog yawned and closed her eyes.
“Looks like she could use a cigarette,” Colleen said. “Bryce, what did you do to her?”
“I aim to please,” Bryce said, drying his hands on the paper towel. “Hey, Lucas! You know Paulie, right? We went to high school with her senior year.”
