“No, you’re not.” He leaned in close, whispering in my ear, “You love the swoon. In fact, you’re already thinking about how to get me naked the second we get home.”
“Shut up,” I said through a giggle. He wasn’t too far off base with that one though. My mind was considering the backseat of the car, but I’d keep that to myself.
He laughed and placed a soft kiss on my lips. “You won’t have to try very hard.” His nose rubbed mine and his voice dropped to a whisper. “With me, you’ll never even have to ask.”
Like I said, swoony motherfucking bastard.
God, I loved him.
I should’ve known things weren’t going to go smoothly the minute we stepped into the vet’s office. Few words were spoken in exchange with the receptionist, but as soon as we mentioned we were there to pick up Walter, utter panic consumed her face. She muttered something about getting Julie and then strode off without another word. A bad omen.
Fifteen minutes and a brief video on veterinarian-office safety later, we were standing in front of the crate of a Great Dane named Stan. I knew that video wasn’t standard procedure.
“We’re actually here to pick up Walter,” Kline instructed. “Walter is a cat.”
Julie pointed to the cage. “Yeah, well, Walter is actually inside there.”
We looked at one another, confused.
“What do you mean he’s in there?” I asked.
“He’s really taken a liking to Stan and quite adamantly refuses to be anywhere but curled up next to Stan’s back.”
“He’s taken a liking to this giant dog? This giant, male dog?” Kline questioned, eyes wide.
“Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Julie admitted. “They seem very attached to one another.”
“Christ.” Kline ran his hand through his hair, visibly disturbed by the whole scenario.
I leaned toward the cage, peering inside until I saw the fluff of multicolored dark and light fur that was Walter. “Holy moly, he’s really in there.”
“Yes, he really is,” Julie said, exasperated.
“Well, let’s get him out so we can take him home.” It was obvious Kline was ready to get home and relax. Being on a plane for over thirteen hours tended to do that to a person.
“That’s actually easier said than done, Mr. Brooks,” Julie replied, turning to look at both of us. “Your friends didn’t tell you what happened when they tried to pick him up?”
“No.” I shook my head. I had a feeling Cassie left out the important details for a reason—like making sure we suffered through this without warning.
“What exactly happened?” Kline asked, tone hinting at irritation.
Thatch would definitely be getting an earful later. Kline Brooks wasn’t the kind of guy you sent in blind. The fallout would probably be entertaining to watch, though.
“Walter gets very…intense whenever we try to remove him from Stan’s cage.”
“Intense?” My eyes nearly bugged out of my head.
Julie nodded. “Violently intense.”
This doesn’t sound good.
“With all due respect, Julie, my wife and I have been on a plane all day. I’d really like to just get Walter and head on home, so what exactly do we need to do to make that happen?”
“I’ll get suited up, and we can give it another shot,” she said, turning on her heels and striding through a door toward a back room.
“Suited up?” I asked, my concern growing by the minute.
Kline just sighed, shaking his head. “Fuck if I even know what that means, but I don’t fucking like the sound of it.”
Yeah, my husband was pretty much done with this entire scenario, and I had a feeling we hadn’t even really seen anything yet. When he started throwing around f-bombs, I knew his ironclad patience was on its last legs.
Julie came out of the back room with a lot more clothing on than she started with. She looked like she had wrapped herself up in a mattress and thrown on some type of heavy-duty, protective clothing over top. Her hands were covered in giant gloves, and a hard hat adorned her head.
“You have got to be shitting me,” Kline muttered to himself.
“Uh…Julie? You need that much…gear? Just to get our cat out of the cage?”
“Yes.” She nodded, face determined. “You’ll see.”
You’ll see? Talk about ominous. This just got worse and worse.
She stood in front of the cage and took a deep breath, mumbling something to herself. She looked like she was preparing to exchange gunfire with terrorists. Her hands shook as they unlatched the door and reached inside to nudge Stan off to the side.