Without Reservations

there in silence for several minutes, Chay holding him, squeezing tight. “I love you, Bit.”
    “Love you too, Chay.”
    “You’re going to be really careful, right?”
    He nodded.
    Chay kissed his shoulder. “Don’t want to lose you.”
    Tears stung Keaton’s eyes. He didn’t want to lose Chay either. He was truly happy for the first time in a long time. He was home, he had a family and a place he belonged. “Not going anywhere.” He dragged the arm Chay had around him up so he could kiss Chay’s hand.
    “Good.”
    It got quiet again. Chay’s softening prick slid out of him. It almost tickled. He smiled. He should get a rag to clean them up, but he was too damned happy and didn’t want to leave the circle of Chay’s arms.
    “You little shit! That was my pillow, wasn’t it?”
    Keaton giggled and jumped up. On second thought, maybe it was time to go clean up.
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    Without Reservations

Chapter Fourteen
    Chay was having the shittiest day imaginable. When he’d walked into work this morning, he’d had three patients waiting for him and there had been a steady stream since then. He was worried about Keaton. His receptionist kept giving him dirty looks. Tina, his assistant, kept wandering room to room like she was lost. He caught Tommy, his other vet assistant, studying him more than once.
    After lunch when it finally slowed down, he went to his office and called to check on Bit. He’d convinced Bit to call in sick, but damn it, he was still at home alone and someone was out there trying to kill him.
    Chay pushed the last button. It took four rings for Keaton to pick up.
    “Hello?” Bit gasped.
    Chay frowned. “Why are you out of breath? What are you doing? You are supposed to be resting, not playing with the dog or cleaning the damned house or whatever the fuck it is you’re doing.”
    There was complete silence on the other end of the line.
    “Well?”
    “I’m trying to decide whether to hang up on you or ask you what has you in such a mood. Right now I’m leaning toward hanging up.”
    “Uh-huh. You’re guilty. What are you doing?”
    Bit chuckled. “If you start bitching at me, I’m hanging up on you. I’m cleaning out the garage.”
    He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Damn, his head hurt.
    He took a deep breath and let it out. It did absolutely nothing for his mood, so he tried it again.
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    “What are you doing?”
    “Trying to decide whether to let you hang up on me or to calm down and ask you how you’re feeling.”
    Bit chuckled again. “Well, do you want me to hang up or do you want to know that I feel fine?”
    “Why are you cleaning out the garage?”
    “You said yourself that we needed to clean out the garage, so I’m doing it.”
    Chay felt like banging his head on the desk. “‘We’ means me too, Bit.
    ‘We’ is more than one person.”
    “Pita is helping. That’s more than one person.”
    Chay grinned. His Bit did sound like he felt okay. In fact, it sounded like Keaton was in a great mood. He wished he were there with Bit instead of at the office being scrutinized by his employees and patients.
    Well not his actual patients, the animals didn’t seem to have an issue, but their owners. “Pita is a dog. He’s not a person.”
    Keaton snorted. “Tell him that. He’s actually been a lot of help. I give something to him that he’s big enough to carry and he carries it out to the trash can.”
    He blinked. “You have the puppy throwing things in the trash?”
    “No, he can’t actually reach the trash. He’s making a pile beside the trash.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    “Nope.”
    Chay chuckled. “I’ll be damned. I’m impressed.”
    “Don’t be. I have to play tug-of-war with everything I give him before he’ll let go of it and put it in the pile.”
    Chay laughed at the image and relaxed. He felt better than he had all day. Leave it to Bit to cheer him up. “How are you feeling, babe?”
    “I’m fine. A little of a headache when I woke up, but I took something for it and now I’m fine. Just bored. I’m cleaning out the garage, that way 146 www.samhainpublishing.com

    Without Reservations
    I can park my new car in here. Speaking of which. After you pick me up from work tomorrow—”
    Chay groaned. Damn. That meant Bit was going back to work tomorrow. “You won’t take another day off?”
    “Nope. I don’t need another day off. It’s not like my job is