“I bet you can.”
Devon never worried about how much he could burn. He had a treadmill in his office now, as well as a membership to his friend Ben’s gym. He ran a lot when the babies were on their way, and he didn’t have anything else to do. In fact, he spent a lot of time running.
He could probably be one of those scary marathoners. Maybe that was what he could get into, marathons.
He didn’t know. It sounded kinda hot. At least in his office there was a fan blowing on him all the time, so he could just be running. And the gym was climate-controlled.
And he didn’t have to worry about snakes or moose or bears because it was his office and there were veryrarely bears in his office. When he’d been into trail running a few years back, he’d encountered bears and mountain lions. Scary.
Of course, his friend Kynan was kind of bear-shaped, although really he thought that Andrew wore the pants in that family.
“Yeah. So it didn’t go great tonight?”
“Charlie has a history of going into labor early. And if you were in the bus with him, you know about his blood pressure and all.” He shrugged. “I hate when I can’t go start to finish.”
“Well, I appreciate that you took the hit and called in an ambulance.”
“Of course I did. I would never let one of my patients be in danger. Just because I want to be able to be there for the entire thing, doesn’t mean that I would ever allow them to be harmed.” Devon glared at Laird, his tired brain not wanting to be judged by this guy.
“Hey, I was honestly trying to be nice. I know I was over the top when Mhairi was in your place, but she’s my sister. And you did great.” Laird held his hands up at chest level, palms out.
All right, he supposed that was fair. After all, it wasn’t every day that a man was stuck dealing with his pregnant sister when her husband was out of town. “Fair enough. That’s very stressful. I know it is.”
“Yeah. And I can be an asshole when it comes to medical stuff.” Laird shrugs. “Hell, people call me Grumpy Cat at work.”
“You really don’t look like a cat.” He should know, he had cats. He had three. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis were his babies.
“No? Not even a pallas cat?” Laird slumped down onhimself and made a face, and suddenly he could see it. It was hilarious, and he had to hoot.
“Oh, listen to you. You have an amazing laugh, man.”
Devon blinked over at Laird. “Me?”
“Yeah. Like full-on and real. I like it.” Laird winked.
“Lumberjack, Laird?” Millie put decaf and creamer on the table.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Pancakes and green chile turkey sausage, Dev?”
“You know it.” She was a goddess.
“It’ll be up in a couple. You two just drink your coffee and chill.”
He wasn’t sure that he was up to “chill”, but drink his coffee? Absolutely.
Laird chuckled, and he realized he must have been making a face. “Not that kind of chill, honey.”
“Oh, right…” He blinked at Laird. “Sorry, it’s been a long few days.”
“No worries.” Laird gave him a look that seemed to heat up the room. “I wouldn’t say no.”
“Oh? You wouldn’t?” What the hell was Laird talking about?
“To chilling in the other sense, honey. I was just being too suave, obviously.” That smile threatened to turn him inside out, it was so unexpected.
“Oh. Oh!” He blinked at Laird. “Really? But you’re hot.”
