wrapped his arms around her and held her for a while, then pressed a few kisses to her face, dodged her tongue, and stood. “Let’s go get you some food, huh? It’s way past your dinnertime.”
She bounded away, her terror already forgotten, and he smiled. She’d lived with him for a year and had made dramatic strides in trusting him, but when he got upset or raised his voice, she still hid like she had the day he’d brought her home from work. Of course, that day she’d had a hard time getting under his bed since she’d still been wearing a cone to stop her from messing with the couple of stitches on her ear and lip. She’d been brought into the veterinary office he worked at by someone who claimed to have found her on the side of the road, but they took off before anyone had been able to get any more details.
Despite what had probably been a very traumatic beginning of her life, she’d been so sweet to everyone at the office, and Lukas had fallen in love right away. They’d put a notice on their Facebook page about a lost dog being brought in, but when no one came to claim her, he’d gotten to keep her.
When he arrived back downstairs in the kitchen, he chuckled at the sight of Ruby and Leeloo both waiting for him in the kitchen. Leeloo had been a raggedy, underfed kitten when he’d adopted her six years ago, after she was fished out of a dumpster. By John. He shook his head, refusing to get sucked into thinking about how sweet John had been that day.
After living with Lukas for so long, Leeloo weighed in at over ten pounds, and her coat was as sleek as any cat around. Pitch-black, except for her one white paw, she was a funny juxtaposition to Ruby’s mostly white fur. Ruby had a few black splotches on her body and head—one of which looked like a heart, a feature Lukas pointed out to everyone Ruby met. He couldn’t help it. He was a proud papa.
Leeloo waited patiently on the opposite side of the small kitchen from Ruby, her tail twitching a little as she sat and stared at Lukas in a way that said very clearly, Feed me now, human.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m working on it.”
After getting them both situated, he headed out to the living room and put on a random episode of Psych while he scrolled through social media on his phone. He wasn’t sure what else he should do while John was working. When an hour had passed since John had disappeared downstairs, he began to worry but decided to hold off on going down after him just yet.
Another hour went by.
He paused his TV and listened but couldn’t hear any clanking or cursing to indicate John was still working. He didn’t want to seem like he was hovering or didn’t trust John to do a good job. When he was a kid, he’d always hated how his dad would stand over the shoulder of any repairman or installer who came to their house. It had given him secondary anxiety just trying to imagine what it must be like to try and do a job with someone watching and judging you the whole time.
Just as he was standing from the couch—Ruby already jumping to the floor in anticipation of Lukas moving—the front door of his house opened, and John called, “Hey, Lukas?”
Ruby barked and went tearing toward the door, butt wiggling in excitement.
“Hey, pretty girl.” John was crouched in the doorway, petting Ruby, who had flopped on the floor to get her belly rubbed.
Lukas was kinda jealous.
“Why are you back at the front door? Get lost down there?” He eyed the wet hem of John’s pants, and his heart warmed when he realized John was intentionally staying on the porch and not tracking in water.
John chuckled as he rose, and Lukas ignored—with a steadfastness that came from years of experience—how tall and gorgeous he was. The man was almost a head taller than Lukas, had massive shoulders and a matching chest, and a nice cuddly midsection that Lukas knew he was a little self-conscious about, having heard him grumble about it over the years. “No, I’m all set. I was able to use the portable sump pump I keep in my truck to get most of the water out. Set up some fans down there tonight or in the morning, and