Page 77 of I Hate You More

This confession did little to reassure her. Although she already stood like a beacon, she straightened and seemed to gain two inches in the process. “I swear on everything you love, Spencer, if you did anything to grease Wheezy’s wheels, I’ll never forgive you. I know you meant to be nice and that you thought you were doing me a favor by handing me a dog-show trophy, but if that’s the person you think I am, then—”

“You,” he said, unable and unwilling to let her finish that sentence. He knew how it ended:then we’re through, then I never want to see you again, then you aren’t the man I need you to be. Each one of those options made his blood run cold.

She blinked, clearly taken aback. “Me what?”

“You swore on everything I love,” he said. This was dangerous territory, but he had to say it. She had to know. “That’s you. You’re everything I love.”

Instead of being touched by this confession, Ruby put her hands on her hips. “Spencer, don’t.”

“Sorry. I know there’s a good chance you don’t feel the same, but I had to say it.”

“Well, don’t say it again. I’m here to win a dog show, not entrap one of the judges into doing my bidding.” She cast a quick furtive glance around the gym. Several people were watching them, some sidling close enough to overhear, so she leaned close and lowered her voice. “I don’t need your charity. I know my life isn’t the glamorous picture I made it out to be, but it’s mine. I’m sorry for lying about what I did for a living, but I’m not sorry for who I am. If you aren’t willing to hold Wheezy—and me—to the same high standards you hold for everyone else, then we have no place here.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m not one of the judges,” he said.

There was no way Wheezy could understand the conversation they were having, but the length of it was starting to make him feel neglected. He fell to the floor with a dramatic slump. Since Ruby was holding the other end of his leash, she slumped with him.

“Wait—what? Spencer.What?”

He smiled. He hadn’t been sure that such a thing was possible when so much between them was up in the air, but the look of incredulity she shot him demanded nothing less. His parents and Lawson had experienced similar reactions to the news, though Lawson must have sensed something was up because he got over it pretty quickly. And as for Eva, well, Spencer’s ears were still ringing with her response.

She’d been disbelieving and then outraged and then had burst into a flood of tears. Spencer had found that last reaction bewildering until Maury showed up with a box of tissues and a comforting arm. Early pregnancy always hit Eva that way. They had to issue a blanket statement at work that the veterinarian sobbing over every kitten’s perfect toe beans wasn’t a sign that the animal had to be put down.

Through those tears, Eva had called him every bad name she knew. Considering she was bilingual and had grown up with a father who hadn’t shied away from teaching his kids all the best Spanish swear words, they had numbered quite a few.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ve already been raked over the coals by Eva,” he said. “Several times, in fact.”

“Eva?” Ruby echoed with another glance around the gym. She didn’t find what she was looking for. Eva was busy backstage making sure that everything unrolled exactly as it should. Early pregnancy made her weepy, but it didn’t quell her energy levels in the least.

“She’ll probably come find you later, so you don’t have to worry. You’ll have plenty of time to abuse me behind my back. I can’t decide whether she’s angrier at me for giving up my judging post or being so stupid as to offer to throw the show for you, but I’m leaning toward the second one.” His smile faltered. “I didn’t realize what I was doing, Ruby. I mean, Idid, obviously, but not what it meant—not what an insult it would be to someone as strong and capable as you. I wanted to whisk you into my arms and kiss away every problem you have. Hell, I still do—and if I thought for one second it was what you needed from me, I’d do it. But I know now what a terrible idea that is. Caleb set me straight.”

This apology didn’t appear to comfort her. Her mouth flattened to a thin line.

“Take it back,” she demanded.

“What? The fact that I love you? I can’t.”

“It’s not true,” she countered with an angry wave of her hand. “The thing you really love is this dog show. You know it as well as I do. The rules and the neat little rows of animals, the way all of them do exactly what they’re told.”

“I can still love it without being a judge.”

She seemed perilously close to stomping her foot at him, but Spencer knew she wouldn’t. Ruby was no stranger to maintaining her composure under pressure. “Spencer, it’s not any better. Don’t you get it? Whether you’re offering to hand me a trophy or resigning from the judging panel, it all boils down to the same thing. I don’t want you to change your principles for me. I don’t want you to change anything.”

His heart gave a lopsided thump. “You wouldn’t change anything? Anything at all?”

A small grunt of irritation escaped her lips. “You’re a stubborn, judgmental, competitive neat freak, but that’s what I love about you. Loved,” she corrected herself hastily, but it was too late. The word had escaped. It was in the air now, pulsating between them, stripping every other human and animal in the room away.

“You’re such a bastard, you know that? You were supposed to be the one man who didn’t give me a free pass because of how I look, who didn’t smooth my path because you wanted to sleep with me. For the past two months, I’ve woken up every single day determined to make the most of every minute—to beat you at your own game, to force myself to match you stride for stride. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve felt that way? Since I’ve been anything but resigned and bored with my life?”

He shook his head. “No. Tell me.”

That pushed her even closer to the brink. Tucking a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, she took a step toward him. It was a step of intent and challenge, and it made every nerve ending he had vibrate at once. “Ten years. Ten long, flat, wasted years.”

“They weren’t wasted,” he said and meant it. “I think you’re pretty amazing just the way you are.”

“No.” She flung a hand up and stepped back once again, but the distance didn’t matter. His nerve endings hadn’t stopped reacting to her presence. She didn’t want to change him. She liked—no,loved—him the way he was.

Spencer Wilson, veterinarian and former dog-show judge, a little stiff upon first meeting but not a bad guy once you got to know him.