Page 70 of Sit, Stay, Love
Sera’s gaze travelled from the swinging door back to Toby.
They stared at each other, a clock ticking on the wall so loud that Sera felt every passing second hammering inside her skull.
Toby was the first to blink. He cleared his throat. Twice. ‘How was your lunch?’
Sera snapped her jaw closed. ‘Oh, no you don’t. No. No. Nope. Who… wasthat?’ She pointed at the door.
‘What? What are you talking about?’ He stalked past her towards the consultation room.
Sera coughed out a tight laugh. ‘What am I talking about?’ She followed him. ‘The woman that you’re ringing later.’
He shrugged. ‘Katherine. Kate. She’s a drug rep. She, uh, you know… comes by with drugs.’
Sera’s head was nodding continuously. ‘And you’re calling her later about a delivery?’
He stared at her. ‘No, Sera. I’m calling her later about having dinner.’
Her eyebrows made a mad dash for each other. ‘Oh. I… I.’ She briefly squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to get her act together. ‘I didn’t know you were… looking to date… anyone.’
Toby turned away. ‘I wasn’t. But she’s nice, and she’s…’ He stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, and said, ‘not exactly unattractive.’
Sera tutted and rolled her eyes. ‘If you like that kind of thing.’
He glanced over his shoulder at her. ‘What guy doesn’t likethat kind of thing?’
Sera looked down at her muddy, paw print-covered sweatshirt and dog hair-encrusted leggings and swallowed back an ickiness she really wasn’t liking.
‘Anyway,’ he said. ‘You’re dating James. Why shouldn’t I be dating?’
‘Oh. Ah. You should. I mean, of course you should. You definitely should. Why shouldn’t you?’ She was babbling like the idiot she suddenly felt she was, and wanted to crawl into a hole. She sucked in a breath. ‘So,’ she said, fiddling with some notes on Toby’s bench. ‘Where are you taking her?’
‘I was thinking about that Thai place on the beach.’
‘OurThai place?’ she blurted before she could stop herself, and her cheeks tingled.
He stared at her with a bemused gaze, his lips quirking up at the corners. ‘I didn’t realise that was… our place. Would you rather I took her somewhere else?’
She wanted to kick herself and wondered if she could do it quietly, without Toby noticing. Give herself a swift kick on the shins so she’d shut the hell up.
‘Of course not. Take her wherever you like. I just thought you might like to go somewhere a bit less… casual. She looks like she likes fancy.’
‘You mean, fancy like the place I took you last night?’ He smirked. ‘Thanks for the advice. I’ll take it onboard. Anyway, what’s up with the cat?’ He peered into the cage.
Sera was frowning so hard her brow encroached on her vision. ‘Maybe the flu.’
He nodded. ‘I’ll put her in quarantine.’
She tagged sulkily after him as he took the cat to the treatment room. ‘So, how long have you two known each other?’ she asked, then balled her hands into fists and thumped her thighs because the words had shot out of her mouth without permission.
He snapped on gloves, took the cat from the crate and put her into a special enclosure. ‘Kate’s been coming here for a few months.’
‘And is this the first time you’ve asked her out?’
He took a long beat, his gaze searing into her. ‘Are you seeing James tonight?’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘Why? Do you want to double-date?’
He barked out a laugh. ‘Jesus, no. Anyway. You’d better go. I’ve got a few things to do before I close up.’
