they were. Lukas dumped him and cried his eyes out for days. He’d promised himself he’d never again compromise his happiness for a guy.
But fantasizing about John had seemed safe, in a way. There wasn’t a chance of John returning his feelings, so it really was just a fantasy.
It wasn’t until he was twenty, and finishing his vet tech degree, that he really saw John as more than just a really hot guy. When he’d shown up at Lukas’s parents’ house with a scraggily kitten for Lukas that he’d found under a dumpster at a worksite, Lukas’s heart had honest-to-god exploded.
The worried look on John’s face as he’d cradled Leeloo against his massive chest, and asked Lukas for help, had taken John from just another friend of his dad to someone real, someone who saw Lukas. Someone who cared about an abandoned kitten enough to try and find them help.
After that, he’d started actually paying attention to John, listening when his parents talked about him and putting together all the information he gleaned, until he had a more complete picture of the man. He obviously didn’t know everything about him, but the parts he did see and notice? Hardworking, considerate, funny… on top of being gorgeous?
Yeah, Lukas had been hooked.
Never had he entertained the idea that John would grow to care about him the same way though. He’d learned his lesson in high school: having crushes on straight boys only led to heartache.
But he couldn’t help but feel… happy at John’s words on Friday night. Even knowing John still didn’t see him as anything more than a nice kid who could cook well didn’t change the fact that it felt good to have spent such a nice evening with John.
All weekend he’d drifted through the days, finding himself smiling at nothing. He wasn’t getting his hopes up or anything—no, sir, that’d be silly—but he was enjoying just reveling in the feelings of joy and warmth and a touch of giddiness.
Even the fact that Hank had called three times over the weekend, not understanding why Lukas maybe wouldn’t want to spend time with him anymore after he’d laughed at Lukas needing help, hadn’t been enough to bring him down from his high.
“Um, Lukas?” One of the receptionists, Jenna, was standing in the doorway to the exam room he was in with a patient.
Lukas looked up from the laptop he was taking notes on about why the owner had brought their cat in and frowned at Jenna. “Yes?”
“There’s a call for you…” She shot an apologetic look at the frowning owner, her cheeks red.
“Tell them I’ll be just a moment, I’m with a patient.” He kept a bland smile on his face, but Jenna still grimaced as she backed out of the doorway and nodded. It was rare that he received phone calls on the mainline and not his cell phone. For her to be so upset, and to have come and gotten him instead of just putting the call on hold until he came out of the room gave him a bad feeling.
He apologized, finished the intake, then told Mrs. Greenhoe it would be just a few minutes before he brought the doctor in. As soon as he’d closed the exam room door, he dropped his smile and stalked to the front desk, his happy mood plummeting.
Raising an eyebrow at Jenna as he entered the area behind the reception desk, he grabbed a free phone but waited before selecting the blinking line.
She held up her hands. “This is the third time Hank has called this morning, sweetie. That’s not okay, and I figured you’d want to just deal with it rather than me having to tell Ben.”
It was his turn to grimace. Their office manager could be a real stickler for rules—one being no personal calls on the mainline. He didn’t want to get in trouble because Hank couldn’t take a hint.
He pointed at the phone. “Line two?”
“Yup,” she said, then greeted another owner as they walked in. The other receptionist, his best friend, Kevin, was giving him huge eyes as he listened to someone on one of the other phones.
He picked up the receiver and punched in the buttons for the correct line. “This is Lukas.”
“Hey, baby, I’m sorry for calling your work like this—”
“Stop,” he hissed, turning his back to the others and lowering his voice. “What are you thinking? You need to stop calling me, period.”
“Lukas, I said I was sorry. Why are you dragging this out?”
He wasn’t