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I stepped inside of Pine Paw Prints and headed straight for the kitchen to grab some plates. I filled a bowl of water for Archie, then went to look for Lewis. He was checking Beau’s stats in the recovery room and jumped when he saw me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” I said.

His face lit up as his gaze traveled to the pizza boxes I was holding. “You brought food.”

“I did. I figured you’d be hungry.”

He smiled. “Starved, actually.”

I put the boxes down on the desk in the corner and put a slice on each plate. We sat down on a couple of plastic chairs.

“This is probably not what you had in mind when I mentioned having dinner together,” he said in between bites.

“What do you mean? I love pizza,” I said with a wink. “This is perfect.”

“Just like my ball,” he said. “I mean, the one you gave me. Made out of crystal. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for that gift.”

I laughed, almost choking on a piece of pizza. Classy. “I’m happy you love your crystal ball. I love playing with mine when I’m feeling stressed.”

Lewis’s eyes grew wide, and then he started laughing uncontrollably. He slapped his piece of pizza down and bent over, holding his shaking stomach.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes, but still, I was amused. “Oh, come on, Lewis. It wasn’t that funny.”

Tears streamed down his face, and I couldn’t help but join in. For an entire minute, we cracked up laughing. Every time I thought I’d regained my composure, he looked at me, and we started all over again.

“No more talk of crystal balls, okay?” I said.

He bobbed his head up and down. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had someone to laugh with like this.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” I said.

“It is.”

“Come on, a guy like you?”

He wiped away a few tears with his fingers. “I never told you why I left England, did I?”

“You did,” I said. “Alexander Kline was ready to sell, and it was the perfect opportunity for you to run your own clinic.”

He folded his hands. “That part is true, but there’s more to it.”

“Oh?”

His eyes searched my face. “Are you sure you want to hear about this?”

“Of course I do,” I said, throwing him a warm smile. “I want to know everything there is to know about you, Lewis.”

Chapter Fifteen

Lewis

Itook another bite of the pizza Olive had brought with her and munched it slowly before speaking. “My big move was not just for professional reasons,” I started. “There was a woman involved as well.”

Olive’s soft gaze found my eyes and made my insides burn with desire. “I figured as much. She must’ve hurt you pretty bad to push you across the ocean.”

I flinched, thinking about Sue. “She did. You see, we worked at the same vet clinic. We often worked on cases together and performed surgeries side by side. Basically, we were spending lots of time together, sometimes even weekends and overnight. We grew to like each other, but I knew dating a coworker was unacceptable. I mean, I was her supervisor. It seemed unprofessional to me. Sue, however, was always pushing me to take it further. She convinced me to start a secret relationship.”

Olive drew in a breath. “She must’ve been madly in love with you.”