“I’d really love to, but I can’t.” She smiled up at him. “Like I said, my life is way too hectic right now. Thanks for asking, though.”
A sinking feeling like he’d never felt before settled in the pit of Alex’s stomach. Shit, it felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He cleared his throat, muttering something about it being no big deal, then quickly left the room with Tuffie. He did everything he could not to let anything show on his face, but on the inside, he was disappointed as hell. He was so bummed he barely remembered paying the receptionist, but since no one stopped him when he left, he supposed he must have.
Alex paused when he got to his pickup, still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. He looked down at Tuffie, but she seemed just as confused as he was. He’d never considered himself a smooth talker like Remy or some of the other guys in the Pack, but when he asked a woman out, he never got turned down. At least not since he’d gone through his change more than three years ago.
“Did I miss something?” he asked Tuffie. “She was flirting with me in there, wasn’t she?”
The pit bull mix didn’t say anything one way or the other, but the expression on her face seemed to indicate she agreed with him. Lacey Barton had been feeling him. The chemistry he’d been picking up on hadn’t been a figment of his imagination. None of that mattered though, because she’d shot him down without a moment’s hesitation. And damn, it stung like a son of a bitch.
Tuffie gave his hand a lick as he helped her into the backseat of his truck’s extended cab. “Thanks, girl, I appreciate it. Don’t worry about it. Dr. Barton’s probably a closet cat person.”
As he closed the door and climbed in the front, Tuffie’s brows rose, as if to say she seriously doubted it but that he could go ahead and believe it if it made him feel better.
Chapter 2
Lacey was wiping down the exam table when she felt eyes on her. She looked up to see Wendy Bell standing in the doorway. Since it was the middle of the day, Lacey would have known this was a work-related visit even if her dark-haired friend hadn’t been wearing her DPD uniform.
“I didn’t know you were here,” Lacey said. “Did you bring in another emergency?”
Wendy shook her head, her ponytail swinging back and forth. “Not really an emergency. I brought in a dehydrated rescue, but one of the vet techs put him on an IV a while ago. The little guy is going to be fine.”
Lacey breathed a sigh of relief. Even before Wendy had been assigned to the relatively new Animal Cruelty Squad, she’d brought in strays and the occasional injured dog or cat. Now that she was with ACS, there tended to be less of the former and more of the latter, with the injuries being much worse. In her line of work, Wendy had to deal with a lot of nasty people who treated animals like they were nothing but disposable forms of entertainment. It was nice to hear that this time the situation hadn’t involved some poor, horribly abused animal.
“You should have stuck your head in.” Lacey tossed the disposable towel in the trash. “I was just giving a checkup to the cutest pit bull mix one of your DPD coworkers brought in—a guy from SWAT named Alex Trevino.”
“Oh, I stuck my head in,” Wendy said. “Just in time to hear you blow the guy off when he asked you out. Why would you turn down a hunk like that?”
Lacey laughed. Wendy was always on her about her love life—or lack thereof. “If you think he’s so cute, why don’t you go out with him?”
“Are you kidding me? I’d be all over that if I got the chance.” Wendy leaned against the doorjamb and folded her arms. “But that’s never going to happen. Alex Trevino only had eyes for you.”
Lacey fought the urge to roll her eyes. “That’s crazy! We just met. I won’t deny that he’s certainly cute, but if he was as into me as you seem to think, it’s probably because he’s like that with all the women he meets, just like every other guy out there.”
Wendy frowned. “You are way too young to be so cynical.”
“I’m not cynical. Just realistic.”
Her friend probably would have argued the point, but one of the vet techs stuck her head in the door. “Lacey we have an emergency coming in—a dog ate a pair of panty hose. I’m getting the OR prepped for you.”
“I’ll be right there,” Lacey told the vet tech, then turned to Wendy. “It looks like this discussion of my love life is going to have to wait until later.”
And while she wished it wasn’t because a dog had eaten a pair of panty hose, she was glad she didn’t have to listen to Wendy nag her about her lack of male companionship.
* * *
Kelsey was on the couch doing homework when Lacey walked into the two-bedroom apartment they shared. While the TV was on, the sound was so low you could barely hear it. Not that her sister was paying attention anyway. She was too focused on whatever was on her laptop. Around her, books and papers covered nearly every square inch of available space on both the couch and coffee table. Poor Kelsey looked like she was about to be eaten by the huge piles stacked around her. Lacey knew her sister had loaded up on extra courses this semester so she could finish her degree program at Regional Texas College early, but this was insane.
Before Lacey could say anything, a black lab mix trotted out from the back of the apartment and did excited laps around her feet.
“Hey, Leonardo! What have you been up to today?”
She laughed, petting him as he got busy checking out all the other scents she always came home covered in. He must have found one particularly interesting, because he spent a long time sniffing her right hand with blatant curiosity. When he was finally done, he gave her hand a lick, then headed into the kitchen to get some water. Over on the couch, her sister looked up from what she was doing.
“Hey, you’re home.” Kelsey set her laptop aside and waded out of the paperwork maze. “How long have you been standing there?”
“I just came in,” Lacey said, dropping her purse and tote bag in the entryway so she could give Kelsey a hug.
