today—to gather allies.
Instead he found himself fisting his hands, trying his best to keep from touching her. Even as he wondered if she even cared that he’d blown her off.
“Thanks,” she said, finally deciding to take his paltry peace offering.
“Hey, Jagger. What’s up, buddy?” He knew talking to the dog instead of facing her was a cowardly move. “You look…terrific.” He scratched the dog behind the ears. “He cleans up well,” he said, straightening out. “And he’s filled out some too. So today’s the day, huh?”
“Maybe some of them will get forever homes.” She tipped her head toward the gated enclosure.
He couldn’t help but grin. “Just make sure you don’t accidentally adopt Bowie out too.”
“That would be horrible.” She did her little snort-laugh thing. “Can you imagine?”
“The repercussions of selling off your grandma’s best buddy?” He laughed. “Um, no.”
Taking a sip of lemonade, she said, “You’ve spent a lot of time with Jagger too. Anything I should pass along to a potential family?”
Cam’s stomach turned. He’d always had difficulty letting go of things. And he had to admit he was getting accustomed to hanging out with Jagger.
“Well, he’s a great dog,” he said as he bent to wrestle with him. “He’s very eager to please. He loves to watch TV. Especially ESPN. And he’s pretty good about not hogging the bed.”
“ESPN, huh? With me it’s HGTV,” she mused. “He’s a complete bed hog with me. And not that I’d ever admit to feeding him people food, but he does have a passion for Havarti cheese.”
Cam straightened up, a grin spreading over his face. “Cheetos.”
She made a face. “Ew, you eat Cheetos?”
“When I’m not training.” He’d slipped for a second back into his old life. “I mean, when I wasn’t training.”
He thought he saw a flash of concern in Hadley’s eyes, but then the same guy from before approached the booth, gave him a friendly nod, and started talking to Hadley. He was definitely checking Hadley out. In all fairness, who wouldn’t be?
The hair on Cam’s neck bristled a little. The guy had stepped right in without so much as an excuse me, and essentially pushed Cam right out of the conversation, something he was definitely not used to.
“I grabbed some business cards,” the stranger said, handing her a few. “I think the vet students at Rutgers would welcome the opportunity to perform spays and neuters for you. Under a vet’s supervision, of course. But it could be a win-win for you and the dogs and the students—and cost-effective too.”
“Thanks, Fuller. I’m really excited about this.” Hadley turned to Cam and gestured. “You know my old friend Tony Cammareri, don’t you? Cam, this is Fuller Mason. He’s the new vet in town, and he’s on the faculty at Rutgers’s vet school.”
Old friends? Ugh. That chest ache was starting to feel like a downright heart attack.
The guy vigorously shook Cam’s hand. “Great to meet you. An honor. I was just telling Hadley I think we can collaborate to help the pets who are up for adoption.” He turned back to Hadley and grinned. “I’ll stop by later and we’ll talk more.”
“Great. Thanks, Fuller.” She flashed him a wide smile right back, a move that raised Cam’s hackles even more.
“In fact,” Fuller said, “maybe we should discuss it over dinner. What do you say?”
Smooth. Had he no shame? Because he was trying to pick Hadley up right in front of Cam. Did this man not fear for his life? Because he should, the way the adrenaline was pounding through Cam’s veins. He practice-flexed his pecs just in case he had to crush someone.
“Sure, that sounds like fun,” Hadley said.
It sounds like a toothache, Cam thought.
“How’d you meet him?” Cam asked after the guy had finally walked away.
“He just moved here and we struck up a conversation over the dogs.”
Of course. Not very creative as a pickup vehicle either. “He’s single,” Cam said.
“He’d better be.” She smiled sweetly. “He just asked me to dinner.”
Cam frowned so strongly he felt a headache coming on. “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. He was…on the prowl.”
“On the prowl?” She laughed. Laughed. “That sounds like something my grandma would say.”
“You know what I mean.” Did he really need to explain? “He was doing this thing with his eyes, like nodding his head and pretending to be interested, then sneaking a peek.” He moved his brows up and down to demonstrate.
“A peek at what?” she asked.
Cam dropped his gaze to her breasts. And oh, wow, she did