Keeland glanced back at Dom, then nodded toward the back of the clinic. “My office is back here. We can eat in there.”
Dom couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he followed Keeland to the back of the clinic. He was a little surprised when they reached Keeland’s office. The rest of the clinic had seemed so clean and organized, yet Keeland’s office looked as though a hurricane had blown through it.”
“I’m still moving in,” Keeland said as he moved some of the books around and created a clean space on his desk. He waved his hand toward the chair, which had books on it. “You can just put those on the floor.”
Dom set the picnic basket on the table, then moved the stack of books so he could sit down. He pulled his jacket off. While holding Henrietta with one hand, he hung his jacket on the back of the chair, then sat down.
“I hope you’re hungry.”
Keeland wiggled his eyebrows. “Depends on what you brought for lunch.”
“Hoagies.” Dom opened the picnic basket and pulled out the food he’d prepared for them. He’d made them himself, hoagies stacked with meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. He’d even made a garlic aioli to go with it.
He carefully set everything on the desk—the sandwiches, a container of sliced fruit, drinks, napkins, even a bowl of soft kitten food for Henrietta. “I hope you like ice tea.”
Keeland nodded. “Love it.”
“I would have brought beer, but with you being at work and all…”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t have been good. Clients tend to get a little upset if I treat their pets while I’m tipsy.” A small blush flushed Keeland’s cheeks. “I don’t drink much. I tend to try and crawl everywhere because I’m afraid of falling.”
Dom chuckled. He could see that being an issue, although he wouldn’t mind seeing Keeland when he was tipsy. That had to be an interesting sight.
He set the empty picnic basket on the floor, then put Henrietta and her bowl of food inside of it. In the week he’d had her, he’d learned she was quite the curious cat and could get herself into a lot of trouble if not supervised.
For a few minutes, silence hung in the air as they both ate, with the occasional moan tossed in. Dom’s eyes widened when he felt a burp coming. He quickly covered his mouth, praying he could swallow it down.
Keeland thumped his chest with his fist, a long burp coming out of his mouth. “Damn, that was good.”
Dom chuckled. He hadn’t been expecting that out of the cute little man. He burped loud enough to make a lumberjack proud.
He wiped his mouth with a napkin, then settled back in his chair. He didn’t know exactly how long he had before Keeland booted him out, so he planned to make the best of the time he did have.
He also wanted his curiosity appeased. “What was with those guys who were leaving when I got here? They didn’t seem like the pet type.”
“Yeah, it was really weird.” Keeland’s brow furrowed. “They were asking a bunch of questions about animals I might have treated.”
Dom tried not to let his alarm show as he asked, “What kind of questions?”
Keeland let out a little snort. “Wild ones.”
Dom lifted his brow. “Wild questions?”
“Well, yeah.” He chuckled and shook his head. “They actually wanted to know if I’d been called out to treat any wild animals.”
“Do you treat wild animals?”
“Not usually, but I do get called in occasionally if someone finds an injured animal or something.”
“Were they from the Fish and Game Department?”
Keeland shrugged. “I actually am not real sure. They mentioned some organization, but honestly, I stopped listening once they started asking me if I had ever treated wild predatory animals.” Keeland picked up a business card and held it in the air. “They asked me to call them if I treated any large felines, but what they were saying was so outrageous…”
Keeland tossed the business card into the garbage can. “After that, I was just trying to get them out of my office so I could go back to work.”
Dom almost forgot to breathe. “What type of large felines?”
Keeland snorted again. “Panthers. Can you believe it?”
Dom could, and it made his blood run cold.
