Page 16 of The Sin Bin

"On a new day," Peg noted.

Lauren gathered her things up, moving to the next patient. Jax followed, but Peg moved on to other business.

"The doctor wants to see how you treat animals in their natural habitat, yes?" the Russian—Dmitri, she remembered—stage-whispered to Jax. "Like zoo documentary."

"Shut up, Dmitri," Jax muttered.

"I'm Oliver," the other man introduced himself, extending a hand to Lauren. "I've heard entirely too much about you."

"All lies," Jax cut in.

"Oh no, I believe every word," Oliver said with a grin. "Especially the part where Jax spent an hour practicing what he'd say if he saw you again."

Jax's ears reddened. "Don't you two have dogs to walk or something?"

"But this is much more entertaining," Dmitri protested.

"Go," Jax ordered, his voice dropping to that authoritative tone Lauren had heard before. "Now."

Dmitri sighed dramatically. "Come, Oliver. Let's leave lovebirds alone. Is better this way."

"I'll text Stephanie and tell her Jax is making excellent progress with his community service hours," Oliver said with a wink to Lauren. "Our PR director," he added in explanation. "She'll be thrilled to hear Jax is expanding his volunteer work to include wooing pretty veterinarians."

The pair retreated down the hall toward the dog kennels, their laughter echoing behind them.

"Sorry about that," Jax said, running a hand over his shaved head. "They're like annoying younger brothers."

"They seem nice," Lauren said, amused by the team dynamics.

"How was the road trip?" she asked, searching for neutral conversation.

"Two wins, one loss," he replied. "Could have been worse. Toronto's a tough building to play in."

"I wouldn't know," Lauren admitted. "Before last week, I'd never been to a hockey game."

Jax glanced at her, surprise evident in his expression. "Never? Not even in college?"

"I was too busy trying not to fail organic chemistry to care about sports," she explained. "And after that, well I guess I had some preconceived notions."

"About hockey? Or hockey players?" His tone was light, but she could sense the real question underneath.

Lauren hesitated, then opted for honesty. "Both, I suppose. I've always associated contact sports with a certain type of aggressive masculinity."

To her surprise, Jax nodded thoughtfully. "That's fair. There's definitely an element of that in hockey culture. It's changing, slowly, but it's there."

His candid response caught her off guard. She'd expected defensiveness, not acknowledgment.

As they walked down the corridor toward the medical area, a family with two small children rushed through the main entrance, letting the door swing wildly behind them. The door slammed back, nearly catching Lauren's shoulder, but Jax's hand shot out, catching it before it could hit her.

The movement was so quick and instinctive that Lauren barely had time to register what had happened. But the sudden warmth of Jax's body as he moved partially in front of her, shielding her from the door, sent a rush of heat through her chest.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice low near her ear.

"Fine," she managed, suddenly aware of how solid he felt, how safe it was in the circle of his presence.

He stepped back, giving her space, but his hand lingered briefly at the small of her back as they continued down the hallway.

Her next patient was an elderly cat who was ensconced in a spacious enclosure that took up most of the coffee table, her orange fur fluffed out as she dozed on a heated pad.

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