Page 15 of August Heat
“Guess you could say I feel some responsibility toward them. I found them, after all.”
“They certainly owe their little lives to you.” The vet shrugged her way back into a proper seating position. “I need to clear that place out, anyway. I got a call earlier today about a mama raccoon and her babies making a mess out of somebody’s house. Usually first thing people do after trapping them is bring them to me, and I cannot have raccoons and cats in the same room. Hell, I don’t want raccoons and bears in the same room.”
“Raccoons, huh? That sounds pretty badass.”
“What does?”
“You saving a mama raccoon and her little babies. You release them back into the wild?”
“Not usually.” A little grin tugged at Siobhan’s cheeks. She was somehow prettier when smug like that. “I save that for animal control. Or whoever is doing it these days.” She glanced down. “Uh, you’re letting the beasts loose.”
Krys felt the tiny beast stumbling over her foot before she saw it. Mr. Prominent M had broken free of his large cage, and the first thing on his to-do list was to march in Siobhan’s direction. Instead of snatching him up and returning him to his prison, Siobhan cocked her head and clicked her tongue. Two seconds later, he was willingly in her hands.
“So, uh… when should I take the little guys?” Krys asked. “I could take them with me tonight. Hey, might be a great way to pick up a date around town. You know how ladies are about fuzzy animals.”Especially if you don’t want to go out with me, Siobhan… might as well find someone to go out with around here.
Siobhan dropped the maternal visage when Krys said that. “They’re living creatures, Ms. Madison. They don’t exist for scoring dates and hot chicks.”
“Uh, I never said…”
The little boy in Siobhan’s hands mewled helplessly as she pressed him against her shoulder and carried him back into the exam room. “I know your type.”
That was all she said. It was enough to shock Krys where she stood, conveniently pressed in the doorway. Yet she was as helpless as that kitten to stop the little flood of mewling brothers and sisters coming out of the room. After Siobhan put the male kitten in the kennel, she rushed to grab the others and settle them down for another nap as well.
“Excuse me?” Krys said. “Is this what your problem with me has been?”
Siobhan attempted to shut the door in Krys’s face.Oh, no. I don’t think so.A woman did not slap her with such words and get away without explanation. Krys would jam the door back open and get to the bottom of this, and she didn’t care if Siobhan gave her a look of absolute death.
Chapter 8
SIOBHAN
What a blowhard.What an idiot.Siobhan had half a mind to ram her foot up Krys’s smug ass.She has got to be kidding me. Coming out all this way to lay the flirtations on me, and when I don’t respond? She wants to take these poor kittens and use them as girlfriend bait!If anyone tried to tell Siobhan that men were always worse than women in the slime department, she’d point to this moment and tell them to sod off.
Certainly, there were women who could be worse. Way worse.
“Did I completely miss something?” Krys snapped. Kittens cowered in their kennel. Siobhan turned off the light above their heads to give them some extra comfort. Krys continued to bring down the energy behind her. “Have I offended you in some way? I barely know you.”
You know me much better than you think.Siobhan locked the kennel and slowly turned to Krys, who barricaded the door with her muscular body and tough-girl demeanor. Siobhan didn’t know if she was frightened or turned-on. The indistinction did not give her much confidence, but the embittered rage that had been festering for the past few years did.
“Do you remember someone named Emily House?”
Krys went from offended to confused in less than a second. Siobhan used that opportunity to shove her hands in her coat pockets and stand up to a bully.
“What?”
Unbelievable. Feigning innocence. Should Siobhan be offended by that, or simply roll with it? “Emily House. I believe you used to date her for a hot minute, like you date so many women around here for such a short time.”
Slow realization dawned in Krys’s big, brown eyes. She lowered her guard – including her body that continued to barricade the door – and shook her head in apparent disbelief. “What are you on about? So I’ve dated a few gals. You got a moral problem with that? Lady, you’re living in the wrong area.”
“I don’t care that you date women.” A fine thing to accuse her of, since Siobhan wasn’t much better.She doesn’t realize I’m gay, does she?Did Siobhan no longer exhibit the right “vibes?” Oh, too bad. She had left her Double Venus necklace and lesbian flag-colored tank top in her closet. “I care that you don’t think twice about the women you do date.”
“I’m getting the feeling this Emily woman you’re talking about was someone off limits.”
Shuddering, Siobhan looked the other way. She wasn’t about to gaze into Krys’s fiery eyes when tensions rose and they hashed out the drama Krys apparently didn’t know existed between them. “Off limits? You could put it that way. She was my partner.”
A shred of sympathy appeared on Krys’s countenance, not that it mattered now.It’s too late. The damage is done.
“I’m sorry,” Krys said. “I don’t know who that is. The only Emily I know around here is the lady who helps run the supermarket. I also don’t make a point of dating unavailable women. Kinda takes the fun out of it when you know they’re cheating on someone.”
