Page 60 of I Hate You More

The look between the two men intensified until Gizmo grabbed one half of the ripped paper and ran off to enjoy his ill-begotten gains. They all watched the Chihuahua’s furtive movements to conceal what he’d done, but only Spencer laughed. It wasn’t, as Caleb and Lawson suspected, the laugh of a man who was about to lose the last of his reason.

It was the laugh of a man who’d finally found it.

“It’s a small-time dog show, you guys, not the Olympics. Wheezy making an appearance isn’t going to break us.”

Caleb lifted a hand and placed it against Spencer’s forehead. As Spencer expected, his brother’s palm felt exactly the same temperature as his skin.

“I’m not sick. I haven’t lost my mind. I’m not hopelessly in love.” He hesitated. “Well, I’m not so sure about that last one, but you get my point. Is it unethical to knowingly allow a non-purebred dog into a dog show? Sure. Of course. I think we can all agree on that. But it’s equally unethical for a judge to allow his twin brother to train some of the entrants, and I’ve been doing that for years. And let’s not even get started on a judge being in a relationship with a handler.”

“Are you…in a relationship?” Caleb asked. He didn’t voice the rest of the question, which went more along the lines of:Are you in a relationship, or is it just sex and you’re reading way too much into it?

It was a fair question. There was always a possibility he was reading too much into things because that was what he inevitably did; overthinking was his stock in trade. He looked extensively before he leaped, kicked every tire on a car twice before he bought it.

For once in his life, however, he was letting his emotions take over. He liked Ruby and he liked how Ruby made him feel—and those were the only things that mattered.

“Let’s not even get started on a judgefuckinga handler,” Spencer amended. “Does that make you feel better?”

Lawson choked. Caleb grinned.

“Muchbetter,” Caleb agreed. He cast Spencer a curious glance. “So, that’s it, then? You’re just going to let Wheezy in the dog show? Against the rules? Knowing he’s ineligible and likely to make a fool out of all of us?”

Spencer looked to Lawson for the answer. He already knew what Eva’s thoughts on the subject would be. She’d walked into her house late on Sunday evening, seen Spencer and Ruby standing next to one another, and guessed the truth with a squeal and hug for both of them. She’d also been sending Spencer her top wedding-venue choices all week. Any rule-breaking done in the name of romance would get her full approval.

“It’s your show, too,” Spencer said. “If you’re uncomfortable with it, I’ll remove Wheezy from the list and talk to Ruby this afternoon.”

Lawson lifted both his hands and laughed. “Not on my account, you won’t. How much damage could one poorly trained, ill-bred dog do? No, don’t answer that. I keep forgetting I’ve met the poorly trained, ill-bred dog.” Gizmo brought Lawson the torn, shredded remains of the letter, and he sobered almost immediately. “Seriously, Spencer. It’s no problem. If you want me to forget I ever sent Wheezy’s DNA in, it’s done. I’ll take it to my grave.”

Spencer knew he meant it. He was the sort of man you could call to help you bury a dead body, no questions asked. It was a thing Spencer had always known about Lawson, but he’d never had anything approaching a dead body on his hands before.

Allowing a mixed breed in his dog show wasn’t as bad as murder, but it was close enough to count. And Spencer regretted nothing.

“Then it’s decided. We’ll keep this to ourselves, got it? As far as we know, Wheezy is a perfect specimen of a golden retriever. Ruby’s worked so hard to get him this far. We might as well give her a chance to see it through.”

Both men nodded their agreement. They also both allowed their expressions to fall into enormous grins. Spencer did his best to ignore them, to maintain a dignified upper hand, but there was no use.

“You couldpretendto be shocked at my lack of morals,” he said.

“We could.” Caleb slung an arm around his shoulder and squeezed. “But where would the fun be in that?”

Chapter 16

“I don’t see why she couldn’t just bring him along to the orgy. It was the least she could do after all those orgasms he gave her.” From the other side of the living room, Mrs. Orson clucked her tongue. “Ruby, dear, don’t you agree?”

Ruby, who had been trying her best to discreetly slip into the book club meeting, gave a sudden start. “Agree with what? I’m sorry I’m so late. I was supposed to get off shift an hour ago, but Harry made me—”

“Multiple orgasms,” Mrs. Orson interrupted. Her stern look, leveled at Ruby over a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, made Ruby feel instantly guilty. These poor women had to deal with Harry on a daily basis; the last thing they wanted was for her to introduce him into the book club. This was a place of discourse and literature, of serious discussions about—“Wouldn’t you take your gentleman friend along with you to the sex club after that? Or would you leave him home alone to recover and rehydrate?”

Ruby glanced around the room, where half a dozen sweet, elderly women watched her expectantly. Darla Templecombe went so far as to wink.

“Um, I don’t take people to sex clubs under any circumstances,” Ruby said. “I wouldn’t know where to find one.”

“Private homes, mostly.” Sally York, a stout, pink-haired woman hooked up to an oxygen tank, gave a decisive nod. “The movies always make it look like they operate out of seedy bars, but they’re really more like a dinner party than a night out on the town.”

The other women agreed as though this made perfect sense—which, Ruby was willing to acknowledge, it probably did.Shemight not know much about the world of swinging and group sex, but these women had come of age in the 1960s. Their collective knowledge would have made the Marquis de Sade blush.

It would also make Spencer blush. Ruby found herself chuckling inwardly as she imagined telling him about this later. Sharing funny stories from work wasn’t something she often did, since few people realized that underneath the laughter lay a deep and unreserved love for the residents, but Spencer would get it.

At least, hewouldget it if she could work up the blasted nerve to tell him the truth.