Page 7 of Sit, Stay, Love
Ading-dongannounced that someone had entered the reception area.
Tia put a hand on Sera’s shoulder. ‘Stay put. I’ll get it.’
Thirty seconds later, the young woman returned with eyes like saucers, her face flushed.
‘Ethan James is here,’ she whispered. ‘Oh my god.Ethan. James.’ She clutched at her heart. ‘He wants to see you.’
Sera lifted her dropped jaw off her desk and nodded. She closed the email from the funeral home, and attempted to wipe the dog hair from her shirt as she followed the blushing Tia down the hall to the shelter’s reception area.
Ethan leaned against the reception desk, long legs crossed at the ankles with black motorcycle boots poking out from under his jeans. His hands were casually tucked into his pockets and his tight white t-shirt clung to every single muscle in his torso.
When he spotted Sera, he straightened up and beamed.
Sera beamed back, her face annoyingly warm again. ‘Ethan. Hi. Is everything okay? Don’t tell me there’s another dog.’
He tossed his head back and laughed, pure sunshine radiating out of him. Sera heard Tia breathe out, ‘Oh my god,’ and had to stop from whispering, ‘I know, right?’
‘No more dogs,’ Ethan said. ‘I was in the neighbourhood, and I wanted to see how our friend is doing. Did you find his family?’
‘Oh. That’s… um. Wow. That’s lovely of you.’ She was trying her hardest to focus on his eyes and not the expanse of his chest, or his toned arms or how his thighs stretched the denim of his jeans. ‘Sadly, he’s not microchipped, so we don’t know where he came from. We’re getting his photo out there and we’ll hold off homing him for a week in case his owners show up. But they probably won’t.’
Ethan nodded, his ridiculously broad shoulders rising and falling with a deep breath as he glanced around the shelter reception area. It was spotlessly clean, with an overstuffed couch covered in a shaggy brown blanket, a coffee machine with a pile of Sera’s grandmother’s china beside it, and an entire wall covered in polaroid photos of all the animals Rose’s Rescue had saved. Every happy, furry face – the reward for all the hard work Sera and her team put into the rescue.
‘You saved all of those pets?’ he asked as he wandered over for a closer look.
‘My team did,’ Sera said, attempting not to look at his arse, and failing. ‘Your guy will be up there soon. Tia, can you please get Ernie for me?’
Tia remained motionless, her jaw hanging, gaze fixed on Ethan.
‘Tia,’ Sera whispered from the corner of her mouth, gently elbowing her in the ribs. ‘Ernie. In my office.’
Tia blinked. ‘Oh. Sorry,’ she said with a whole lot of breath. ‘I’ll go get him.’
‘Ernie?’ Ethan asked.
‘Toby likes to call all our rescues after characters from TV shows. Apparently we’re doingSesame Streetright now. He named the kittens I saved yesterday Grover, Snuffy, Bird and Grouch.’
‘Creative. You two… make a good team.’
‘Yeah, we really do.’
Ethan nodded. ‘And you live here? At the shelter?’
‘The back of the house is my place, the front is for the rescue. The kennels and cattery are around the side. There’s a barn too, and an exercise area.’
Ernie and Tia burst into the room, and Ethan took two hasty steps backwards, stumbling on the corner of the couch before colliding with the wall.
‘Here he is,’ Tia gushed.
‘He looks fine.’ Ethan pressed back further. ‘Good. Great.’
Sera took Ernie’s leash. ‘I’ll take him Tia. Do you want to see to the other dogs and check on the cats for me? We can sort out this guy later.’
Tia’s shoulders dropped. ‘Oh. Sure.’ She turned to Ethan with heart-eyes and her hand outstretched. ‘It was wonderful to meet you.’
‘You too, Tia,’ he said, one eye on Ernie as he shook her hand. ‘Ernie is lucky to have you taking care of him.’
Tia’s blush spread down her neck as she looked from Ethan to Sera, then back to Ethan. ‘Would it be okay if I got a selfie?’ Her words exploded in a rush.
