“Thank you for the recording, Spencer,” she said. “And for one of the best orgasms of my life.”

“But I didn’t even touch you,” he managed to say.

“I know,” she agreed. “It makes me wonder what will happen once you finally do.”

Chapter 10

“Oh, Spencer! Spency-boy! I saw your truck, so I know you’re home. You can’t hide in your room forever.”

Spencer glanced up from the romance novel he was reading—something called To Hook a Star. In all the bustle of getting Wheezy hooked up to his leash and dragging him away, Ruby had left her book behind. Since it had been well ensconced on Caleb’s side of the living room, Spencer had been forced to break his own rule to go grab it, but that hadn’t bothered him as much as it might have a few weeks ago.

While he still believed in the theory of symbolic rules as a way of keeping order, there was no denying that it had felt good to step over that line.

Really good.

“What do you want?” He got to his feet and poked his head out his bedroom door, the book still in hand. To Hook a Star wasn’t nearly as graphic as the erotic novel that sat half-read on his nightstand, but he liked it. More to the point, he liked that Ruby liked it. It hinted at a softer side he was only just starting to see. “I’m busy.”

“No, you’re not. You’re brooding alone in your room like you always do.” Caleb drew up to the edge of the line and made a big show of looking around the living room. “Where’s Ruby? She was supposed to wait for me.”

“She wanted me to tell you she’s going to finish the training session at home.”

“Goddammit, Spencer. What did you say to run her off? I was only gone an hour.”

He ignored this. To divulge any of the details of his interaction with Ruby would be to divulge all of them. How she looked as she’d removed her shirt, daring him to do something about it. The way her eyes had widened in shock when he’d accepted the challenge. The sound of her moans. The gyrations of her hips. The—

He cleared his throat and forced himself to think of expressing anal glands and removing embedded maggots instead. He had to go to the darkest side of veterinary care; Caleb would see through him otherwise. He’d never been able to lie to his brother.

“Maybe she has better things to do than sit around waiting for you,” he said as soon as he had a better handle on himself. The maggots helped. “You forget that most of us have responsibilities.”