“Julien,” Leaf said politely, although he couldn’t help the grin when Julien backed up and gave him a once-over.
“Been a while.” The man seemed to be stuck on the purring tone, which amused Leaf even more.
“Has that ever worked with me, Jules?” he asked, and brushed past the vet to get into the front area of the building.
“No,” Julien said in a tragic tone. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong!” he all but wailed, and Leaf was happy nobody else seemed to be around right then.
All through the years and all his visits here, Julien had tried to get into his pants. Sadly, hot as the man was, Leaf had some morals he wouldn’t go against for just scratching an itch.
“Well, you haven’t gotten rid of my partner yet—there’s one,” he said, heading to clean his hands in the washing-up station. Nobody wanted to transfer any bugs into the puppies, after all.
“Sometimes I wished I was a much more murderous being.” Julien sighed the words dramatically, but smiled at Leaf after. “You here for the newbies?”
“You got it. Anything interesting about them?”
They went to the room where the momma and the puppies were held at the moment, and Leaf chuckled when the mom wagged her tail at them.
“She’s friendly, so that’s a thing.” Julien had dropped the act and was all animal-loving professional now. It made him more attractive in Leaf’s eyes, not that he’d ever tell Jules that.
“Hello there, girlie,” Leaf greeted the dog in a kind, low voice. “You’re such a pretty mama, aren’t you?” He went to sit on the floor by the large dog bed where she and the puppies were resting.
Julien sat on a chair nearby and observed them instead of crowding the dogs by sitting on the floor.
“They’re, what, five weeks?” Leaf asked, when first of the puppies noticed him and toddled closer on unsteady stubby legs.
“Four to five, yeah.”
One of the puppies slept, curled against the mother, but the three others thought Leaf was more interesting than rest right then. He sat cross-legged and picked up the first puppy to examine it more closely. The mother didn’t seem to care, but she kept an eye on him anyway. Two of the puppies were white like the mother, and two were brown.
“They’re gorgeous,” he said, glancing at Julien who nodded, smiling.
“They really are. Active too. They were taken care of to a degree.”
“They were valuable to the bastards,” Leaf said, again holding in the anger he felt for the dogs’ sake.
Yeah, Julien sounded pissed as fuck too. “Gonna take one home with you?” he asked, probably to change subject.
Leaf chuckled. “Not a chance. First of all, they’re too young, but the actual reason is, we don’t have time for a puppy. Seth works a lot and has long days. I’m not home half of the time. The pack is as it should be right now, so I wouldn’t want to rock the boat anyway.”
“Solid excuse.”
When Leaf glanced at Julien, he was smiling at Leaf. There was a certain almost-elfin quality to Julien. He had a smaller frame, fine bones, and large eyes. He was so not Leaf’s type, but if he’d been single….
One of the puppies mouthed at Leaf’s fingers then, breaking his inner musings. He tickled its belly and lifted it up to his chest, where it snuffled happily against his neck.
“So, you’re staying a few days?” Julien asked, very obviously trying not to fish.
“Yeah, but I’m gonna try to get back home as soon as possible, though. I was supposed to be home on Sunday, but I had to move the date.” Leaf couldn’t help the way his expression conveyed how he hated that, how much he wanted to be home with Seth.
“How’s the pack, then?” Julien asked, again changing the subject when things got too heavy.
Grateful, Leaf smiled. “They’re all fine. Missy is still simple, Husky is still his energetic and obedient self, and Grace is… Grace.”
“You want me to look them over while you’re here?”
“Why not? Free veterinary care is always welcome, even when nothing should be wrong.” Leaf grinned.
Julien sniffed delicately. “This is so not the way I wanted you to take advantage of me.” He got up and went to the door. “I’ll be here until five today, so just come by with the pack whenever.”
