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Maisie smiled. “Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll stay up a little while longer. Anne can help me get to bed later.” If push came to shove and she really couldn’t manage, whichshe could, she could sleep on the foldout sofa. Or she could remove her clothes and shift into her wolf and walk three-legged to her bedroom. That might be the best idea actually. Three legs were better than one.

Anne had returned to the kitchen to clean it up a little more.

Robert smiled at Maisie. “I’ll see you a little bit before eleven tomorrow.”

“That sounds good.”

When he leaned over and kissed her, Maisie was so glad. He didn’t give her just a peck on the mouth or the cheek. The kiss built up to the same passion they’d experienced on the island.

Maisie parted her lips for him, and he stroked her tongue with his and she did the same thing with him. Kissing him was like experiencing a slice of heaven.

When he pulled away from her, they saw her sister watching them from the kitchen, her mouth agape. Anne smiled.

“Thanks again,” Robert said, “uh, for dinner.”

“Thanks for staying with my sister and taking care of her on the island,” Anne said.

Robert glanced back at Maisie. “It was my pleasure.”

“Mine too,” Maisie said.

“I can tell,” Anne said, still smiling. “Oh, here’s Jude’s phone if you can find someone to access it.”

“I’ll sure try.” Then Robert left.

Anne eyed Maisie. “That didn’t look like it was your first kiss.”

Maisie felt her cheeks blushing profusely.

“And here you said he was just sweet. You neglected to tell mejusthow hot he is.”

Maisie smiled. Yeah, she did. On purpose.

Chapter 8

As soon as Robert arrived home, he headed over to the vet clinic. He needed to remove the pictures from the walls so Maisie could adorn them with her own animal photography, and he didn’t want her to know that he’d already decorated the clinic. Edeen had actually picked out the pictures and helped him hang them. He hoped he wouldn’t disappoint his sister when she saw the changes he was making. Though he suspected Maisie couldn’t take the photos right away because of her sprained ankle.

To his surprise, he heard Edeen say, “Knock, knock!” at the door of the clinic.

He left one of the exam rooms, carrying some of the pictures, and she frowned. “You’re redecorating the clinic at this hour? Are you planning to paint the walls a new color? I thought they were perfect—a light beige that isn’t as glaring as all white.”

Now he felt really guilty that Edeen had done all of this for him. “No, you picked out the perfect paint for the place. Maisie asked if I wanted her to photograph some of the animals that we take care of to put them up on the walls. Whatyou did was great, though, and if she hadn’t offered to do the photos for the clinic, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.”

Edeen smiled. “Aww. That’s a wonderful idea, instead of using the generic pictures we bought online. She probably could use the extra money and you have plenty.”

Both Edeen and Robert had inherited quite a bit of money from family, and with his income from his vet business also, he was doing well. He always tried to support wolf businesses whenever he could. “Yeah, between the MacQuarries, the MacNeill pack, and us, I already have a lot of animals I’ll be working with. Having photos of different breeds of dogs would be nice.”

“Veronica could frame them,” Edeen said. “You don’t think Veronica will mind that you spent time dancing with her at Christmastime and now you are spending time with Maisie, do you?”

“Veronica and I have never indicated to each other that we want to date. Though with Maisie, that’s another story.” He removed some of the pictures in the lobby.

“Oh?” Edeen took down the last of them in there.

“We decided we needed to do something that wasn’t so dangerous on our next get-together, so we are going to Heather’s shop for pies the day after tomorrow for lunch.” He moved into another exam room.

Edeen laughed and followed him in there. “That sounds good. How are Lady’s puppies doing? When Lachlan came home for dinner, he told me all about them.”

“They are all perfectly healthy, and so is Lady.”