“You’re in an unusually talkative mood. Did you get laid or something?” he asks, and when I don’t immediately protest, Mason gasps with over-the-top shock. “Please, brother, tell me it was with a real human girl—or guy—and not one of your four-legged patients.”
“It was with a woman,” I deadpan. “Several times.”
“You dog. Finally, though. Who was it? Anyone I know? If it was Poppy, I won’t make any comments about getting sloppy seconds.”
“You’re disgusting,” I tell him and lean back, unable to keep the smile from my face. “You met her, but you don’t—”
“Josie.”
I blink. “How did you know?”
“Dude, you were giving her major fuck me eyes the first time you introduced her to me. It was so obvious even Rory noticed it.”
I roll my eyes, glad no one can see me. “It wasn’t that obvious.”
“It was. Good for you! But…she’s a client.”
“I know, but she’s…she’s different.” My heart feels all fluttery for a brief moment and I blink, seeing Josie on her knees in the kitchen with my cock in her mouth. Fuck, I want to see her again.
“You want some advice?”
“About women? From you? No, I don’t.”
Mason lets out a snort of laughter. “Fine, just don’t fuck this up. I got a good vibe from her.”
“I don’t plan to,” I tell him and save the document I was charting. I just have to do rounds and then can get a quick nap in before driving over and picking up my dogs. Well, assuming I don’t get called out on an emergency or something. “Talk to you later,” I say, and we end the call. I don’t want to fuck things up. Yet, in the back of my mind, it’s a lingering fear.
Not that I’ll necessarily be the one to make a mess out of things, but that it’s an inevitable direction any relationship I’m in is headed.
Chapter Forty-Three
JOSIE
“Time for bed,” I tell Everly, plucking the TV remote from her hands. “It’s late and you should have showered and packed your backpack for the morning already.”
Everly goes to protest but yawns instead. Both Louisa and I see it, so she knows there’s no point in arguing.
“Can I borrow something from your closet?” Ev asks as she starts up the stairs. “I’ve worn everything I brought a million times already.”
“You haven’t been in school for a million days,” I counter and turn my head as I sit on the couch. I’m exhausted and ready to crash into bed myself. “But yes, you can borrow something.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Everly hurries up the stairs and I take a mini break on the couch. I lean back, letting my eyes fall shut. I can hear Louisa in the kitchen, struggling to get the cork out of a wine bottle. I only have an old-fashioned corkscrew here, not a fancy electronic one like she has at home.
“Hey, Mom,” Everly calls from the top of the stairs.
“Yeah?”
“Why do you have Dr. Harris’ sweatshirt in your dirty laundry?”
My eyes fly open and I sputter, trying to come up with a lie. But we both came here with limited clothes and the fucking sweatshirt Jacob gave me has Dr, Harris, DMV embroidered on the breast. “He, uh, he took it off.” I wince at my own words. “When he was helping me with the auction horses.”
“That doesn’t explain why it’s in your closet,” Everly goes on.
“I, um, put it in my truck on accident and then was going to wash it and bring it back when I go pick up Pongo this week.”
Everly doesn’t say anything else and I don’t want to question if she bought my lie or not. She’s old enough to know about sex, but would she think Jacob and I had hooked up? Really, I don’t want to know. Mentally wincing once more, I turn on the TV and lean back.
“Funny that annoying yet hot as fuck vet, as you called him, took off his sweatshirt today when it’s much colder than yesterday,” Louisa says. “And it’s even funnier that I saw you come in the house wearing it.” She taps her temple. “A good lawyer has an eye for detail.”
I bite my lip, trying to literally hold my words back. I glance at the stairs, listening for Everly. The shower turns on and I wait for another beat, making sure she’s in the bathroom with the door closed.
“Fine,” I whisper. “I wore his shirt home because we had sex last night, okay? We had sex three times and then I gave him a blow job in his kitchen before I came home.”
Louisa’s jaw drops and she stares at me, blinking. “That was not what I was expecting to hear. I was just teasing you but—three times and a blow job? Since yesterday?”
I bury my head in my hands. “Yes. We shared a motel room and I got mad. I might have overreacted a tad like I very rarely do and I pushed him. Then he grabbed my hands, twisted us around, pinned me against a wall, and well, things went down from there. Like literally, he went down on me while I stood against the door.” I inhale, getting a little hot just thinking about it.