Page 5 of Pugs & Kisses

I t had been a long time since something had taken Bryson Mitchell’s breath away in such stunning fashion, but that’s exactly what happened the moment he saw Evie Williams standing in front of him. It felt as if someone had reached into both lungs and yanked every bit of air from them.

“Evie,” Bryson said.

He hadn’t spoken her name in years. Just the feel of it on his lips sent an energized tremor catapulting through him. He was coping with an avalanche of emotions at the moment: shock, excitement, longing, regret.

More longing. Even more regret.

“Bryson,” she said, her voice soft, polite. Apathetic. “Hello.”

“Is that the world-famous veterinary surgeon?” Odessa Carter rounded the desk and captured Bryson in a bear hug.

“I don’t know if ‘world famous’ is accurate, but you got the other part right,” Bryson said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

“Oh, don’t you come around here being all humble,” Odessa said, giving him a playful tap on the arm. “Weren’t you just in Rome speaking at some fancy conference?”

Bryson glanced at Evie. That impassive expression was still there.

“It was Milan,” Bryson said to Odessa. “And I was only there for the food.”

“Nonsense.” Odessa gave him another slap. “You were there because everyone wants you as their keynote speaker.”

“You haven’t changed a bit, Odessa,” Bryson told her with a laugh.

“Neither have you. You still don’t like bragging on yourself.”

Barking broke out from somewhere beyond the lobby, and Odessa threw up her hands. “Let me go check on these dogs before they tear this place apart.”

“Well, you may not like bragging on yourself, but I brag on you enough for the both of us,” Doc Landry said.

“In fact, I just sent the write-up on you from Today’s Veterinary Business to an old colleague of mine.

” He patted his pockets, then looked around at the floor.

“Dammit,” he said, snapping his fingers.

“I left my phone in my car again. I’ll be back in a minute. ”

And just like that, Bryson found himself alone with Evie Williams for the first time in eight years.

An awkward silence fell over the lobby and his clothes suddenly felt too tight, too itchy. That long-forgotten sensation of feeling uncomfortable in his own skin had made an unwelcome return. It shouldn’t surprise him. He’d turned into a tongue-tied mess the first time he’d met her.

Bryson jammed his hands into his pockets and squeezed his fists tight, trying to relieve the tension in his muscles and the knot that had formed in his stomach.

Evie glanced his way, then quickly averted her eyes to focus on the dog in her arms. Rubbing her thumb on the crinkly spot between the dog’s eyes, she said, “So, how are you, Bryson?”

“Alive,” he answered with a grin. But the smile died on his lips when she didn’t return it.

His reply had been a running joke between them back when they both volunteered at The Sanctuary.

Whether it was after a late night of studying or, on the rare occasion, partying, they always answered the morning greeting in the same way.

Given the rigor of Louisiana State University’s Veterinary Medicine program, they’d felt lucky just to live to see another day.

Maybe she’d forgotten about their silly greeting. Or, more than likely, she was uninterested in tiptoeing down even the most innocuous parts of memory lane where he was concerned.

“What about you?” Bryson asked. “How are you doing, Ev?”

“Fine,” she answered with the cordiality of someone speaking to a complete stranger about the weather.

After all these years with zero contact, they were strangers.

They had only spent one summer together.

But they’d shared so much in those months, it was hard to imagine they would ever find themselves in a place where they could barely speak two sentences to each other, where this cloud of unease hung over them.

That regret-filled knot tightened in the pit of Bryson’s stomach.

Both he and Evie turned at the sound of Doc opening the front door. Its squeaky hinges screamed for a shot of WD-40.

“How have things been going, Doc?” Evie asked.

“Good, good,” his mentor answered with the exuberant gaiety Bryson always associated with him. True to form, Doc seemed oblivious to the tension hovering in the air.

“It’s been a long time since you’ve dropped by,” Doc continued. “I gather things have been busy over on Maple Street?”

Bryson flinched at the mention of Maple Street.

One of the reasons he’d pushed thoughts of Evie out of his mind these past eight years is because the thought of her working at Maple Street Animal Hospital with her boyfriend—no doubt her husband now—made him sick to his stomach.

Literally. He would need to find the nearest trash can if anyone so much as mentioned that asshole’s name.

“Things are always busy there,” Evie answered. “And at Barkingham Palace.”

“I bet they are. That boarding place has been all over the news.” Doc turned to Bryson. “Remind me to show you the video with the poodle and the French bulldog. What’s their names again, Evie?”

“Duchess and Puddin’,” Bryson answered at the same time she did.

Evie looked over at him, her brows arched high over eyes that were even more beautiful than he remembered.

“I should have known you’d seen that video,” Doc said. “I watched it over and over for a week. Couldn’t help myself.”

Bryson doubted there was a single person in the country who hadn’t seen the footage of those two dogs that went viral last year. He didn’t realize Evie worked at the pet daycare center where it had been taken. Interesting.

There was so much he didn’t know about her, which was a damn shame. At one time his every thought had been consumed by this woman.

“That daycare—what’s the name? Barkingham Palace?—it seems pretty popular,” Bryson said.

“It is,” Evie answered. “I’m lucky to work there.

” She turned her attention to Doc and, in a voice coated with ten times more warmth, said, “I had some free time on my hands and decided to drop in and see how things are going at The Sanctuary, but now I’m convinced fate brought me here.

” She smiled a genuine smile and kissed the dog’s head.

“As I just informed Odessa, I’m taking this little one home with me. ”

“She already named him,” Odessa said, coming back into the lobby. “Waffles. I think Sam is a better name, but what do I know?”

“This one has been a bit skittish,” Doc said as he gave the dog a head scratch. “But I think he’ll warm up to you in no time.”

“He already has,” Evie said.

Bryson stood there with his hands in his pockets, feeling awkward as hell as Evie and Doc chatted about her new dog. Should he remind Doc that he’d followed him back to The Sanctuary after their lunch for a reason, or should he slowly back away and follow up with his mentor later?

He could smash through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man and he doubted anyone would notice.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, where are the students?” Evie said. “There hasn’t been a single volunteer since I arrived hours ago.”

“Uh, we can get into that later,” Doc said. “Besides, I only had a few vaccinations to administer. I didn’t really need any volunteers today.”

“It was more than just a few vaccinations,” Evie said. “That’s what I’ve been doing all afternoon. I’ll finish them up before I leave.”

Doc waved her off. “Don’t worry about those.

I’ll get to them later. I have two of my best volunteers here.

This is a time for visiting, not vaccinating.

” He clamped a hand on Bryson’s shoulder and his other on Evie’s.

“Now that I think about it, we can do both. Since I’ve got you two here, I might as well put you to work. It’ll be like old times.”

Bryson noticed the way Evie stiffened, her shoulders going rigid in a clear sign that she’d rather do anything but revisit old times.

“Uh, Doc, I have to—” Bryson started.

“You can spare a half hour to help out,” Doc said. It wasn’t posed as a question. “Come on, you two. Let’s bring this little reunion to the treatment room.”

Doc started for the rear of the building, not looking back to see if either of them had followed. There was no reason to doubt they would. As happy-go-lucky as he appeared, Bryson was willing to bet that not one of Doc’s former students would dare defy him.

He motioned to Evie to go ahead of him. “After you.”

“Thank you,” she said, her voice lacking any of the warmth it held when she spoke to Doc or Odessa.

Was he surprised by her chilly reception? No.

Did it hurt? Fuck yes.

Would he give anything—the shirt off his back, his favorite coffee mug, his signed copy of S. A. Cosby’s Razorblade Tears —to have Evie greet him with even an ounce of the excitement he’d felt upon first seeing her?

Again, fuck yes.

But it wasn’t meant to be. Not that he could blame her. He was the one who’d messed up eight years ago. She didn’t owe him so much as a smile.

It doesn’t look as if you’ll get one either.

The stomach knot tightened.

Bryson followed her into the treatment room where they used to perform routine spays and neuters back when they volunteered here. He wasn’t sure what he expected after nearly a decade, but it wasn’t for this room to look exactly the way it had all those years ago.

Same faded posters of the canine muscular and skeletal systems. Same corkboard with various business cards and takeout menus tacked to it.

He squinted. Those couldn’t possibly be the same menus that had been there eight years ago, could they? The room was like a time capsule.

What were the odds that the first time he returned to this place that had one of the biggest impacts on his life, he would find himself here with Evie, the woman who’d had one of the biggest impacts on his life? The universe had jokes.