Everything was just peachy.
Her stomach sank a little deeper.
What the hell had she just agreed to?
chapter
TWENTY-THREE
“He’s gone from dopey and pitiful to resident howler,” Marco said, leading Wes and Rebecca to the back of the clinic. “The other dogs let him lead the chorus each night. I can hear him all the way upstairs. So I have to say, I’m glad he’s better, but I’m not sad to see him go.”
“Oh, fantastic,” Rebecca said, a hint of worry beneath her playful tone. “My neighbors are going to love me when I bring home a howler. How am I supposed to make sure he doesn’t do that?”
“Read him a bedtime story, and bring him a warm cup of milk,” Wes suggested.
“Shut it, chef.”
Wes laughed, amused by Rebecca’s nervous Nellie routine. She was acting like she was on the way to pick up a baby instead of a dog. “Don’t stress, Bec. Knight’s used to being wild and free. I’d howl, too, if I were locked up in a cage and had to stare at Marco’s ugly mug all day.”
Marco flipped him off without breaking stride.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine once you give him some room to run around,” Wes said, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. “He just wants his new mommy.”
Rebecca shot him a narrow-eyed look. “I’m not his new mommy. This is temporary. I am fostering him.”
“Uh-huh.”
She huffed. “Why does everyone do that when I point that fact out?”
“Because you’re secretly a softie. And a softie’s kryptonite is sweet, fluffy, sad-eyed animals.”
She rolled her eyes. “Marco, tell him that people foster pets all the time and are able to let them go when they find a permanent home.”
Marco glanced back. “Of course they do.”
“See?” she said petulantly.
Wes bent his head close to Rebecca’s ear. “Yes, but my brother doesn’t know you like I know you. I’ve seen sides of you he hasn’t. Very private sides.”
She pursed her lips and flicked her hand in Marco’s direction, her cheeks darkening. “Hush. Your brother is right there.”
Wes chuckled under his breath. He’d been talking about seeing the side she’d shown with the kids this afternoon. But he loved that the mere hint of something sexual could send her mind into that place and make her flushed and flustered.
Since his talk with Marco the week before, Wes had backed away from Rebecca a little bit, had given her some space—both to give her a chance to focus on her work and to give him a chance to prove to himsel
f that he wasn’t obsessed like Marco had accused.
He and Rebecca had seen each other once over the weekend and they’d talked on the phone a few times, but he’d dialed down the intensity. Nothing catastrophic had happened. He was a big boy. He could handle it just being a fling. He’d accept it when it was time to move on from each other. He had come to terms with the situation.
At least he thought he had.
But seeing her with his students today had stirred up more than he’d expected. The way she took the kids seriously and talked to them like adults, the genuine kindness she showed them, the easy laugh she rewarded them with when they were goofing off to get her attention. All of it had made him think things he shouldn’t. Feel things he shouldn’t.
And he was beginning to forget why he shouldn’t feel them.
“Here he is,” Marco said, breaking Wes from his ruminating.
A forlorn howl started up, ringing through the kennel and riling up the other animals.