Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 123171 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123171 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
“And by that, you mean the animals or their human owners?”
“Fuck you.”
Mason lets out a snort of laughter and grabs his beer from the bartender. “You hungry?”
“Always,” I tell him. I ate dinner at my desk and, by dinner, I just mean leftovers from Silver Cafe that I heated up in the microwave along with a cold cup of coffee.
Mason motions to the empty table in the back and then nudges me. “The hot blonde from the other night is here.”
“She's a client,” I chide.
“What about the hottie with her? I'm thinking you should go with a brunette over a blonde anyway,” he says, with a shrug. “Is she new in town? I know I'm not around as much as you, loser, but I definitely would remember that woman. Fuck, look at her tits.”
Anger instantly flashes through me when I hear Mason talk about Josie like that. I mentally check myself, reminding myself that it doesn't matter. I have no claim over Josie and she's free to do whatever—or whoever—she wants. Even if that is my idiot brother.
“That's Josie. She is new in town, and she is a client. Unfortunately,” I grumble.
“What's wrong with her?” Mason asks, taking a sip of his beer. “She looks fine to me.”
“That's about where her redeeming qualities stop,” I say flatly, slowly shaking my head.
“What? Is she some sort of animal hoarder or something?”
“No, not quite.”
“Then what's her deal? Because, unless you tell me she has a puppy mill in her basement, I'm making my move. She has that innocent thing working for her that is probably all a ploy to keep you from knowing that she's a total freak in bed.”
“She's… she's…” I shake my head, not quite sure how to put it into words. “She's one of those people that doesn't want to take medical advice,” I sum up. “Which is going to lead to a shit storm later that I'm going to have to deal with.”
“I can handle that.” Mason takes another swig of his beer. “At least for the night.”
The thought of anyone touching Josie makes my blood boil. The fuck is wrong with me? I take a big drink of my beer and look back at Josie. She does look good tonight in another dress, and this one has a low neckline showing off her perky, round breasts. Her brunette hair hangs down around her shoulders, curtaining her pretty face. As if she can sense me looking at her, she looks up from her drink, eyes meeting mine for half a second. A bit of color rushes to her cheeks and she quickly looks away. She must have said something to
Poppy, because now Poppy is turning around and beacons for both Mason and I to come over.
“Didn't you just hire a couple of new vets that start next week?” Mason asks, already knowing the answer. I have an ongoing group text with my siblings where we fill each other in on what’s going on in our lives. “Assign another vet to take over and then neither of those chicks would be your clients, in a sense. Then you can fuck them both tonight.”
“Neither of the two vets I hired does horses,” I deadpan.
“I would hope not,” Mason retorts with fake shock. “And are you admitting that you do horses?”
“My God, you are so immature,” I sigh.
“Look, I get it. Don't shit where you eat and all. Sex can complicate things—I know, I know,” he says rolling his eyes. “Though it's not the actual sex that complicates things, rather the expectations that come afterward. Make your intentions clear from the start. No strings, no attachments, no harm, no foul. It's worked for me.”
“That you know of,” I counter. “It's different when you stay in the same town every day. You move all over the place. Half of the people you sleep with never see you again.”
“Which is a part of my job that I never thought I would ever appreciate this much.”
I got out a snort of laughter and accidentally meet Josie’s eyes again. Poppy is still waving at us, and I can't pretend like we didn't see her now. There's already animosity between Josie and I, and blatantly ignoring them in public like this won't help. There's nothing wrong with saying hi, or even joining them at the table for a bit of conversation. Unlike Mason, I have self-control, and I am not sleeping with Josie Walker.
Though the thought of having her in my bed sends a rush through me. Dammit.
“Funny seeing you here again,” Poppy says with a big smile. She scoots over and pats the space on the bench next to her. “This is my friend, Josie,” she introduces to Mason. “And this is Dr. Harris’s brother.” She bats her eyelashes a few times, eyeing Mason up and down. “He's an FBI agent.”