Read Online Stray Hearts by Jane Graves - Free Book Online

decided I prefer older men.”
    “Even if he’s divorced?”
    “Divorced? No way.”
    “It’s true.”
    Matt? Divorced? Kay hadn’t even considered that. But then, it only made sense. An attractive man like that couldn’t possibly make it to age thirty-two without some woman—
    Stop it, Kay. You sound like them.
    “I’m going to talk to him,” Ashley said. “Are you coming?”
    Mandy drew back. “Oh, no! I’d just die if he spoke to me!”
    Just then Matt turned and saw them at the doorway. He flashed them a brilliant smile and waved. “Hi, girls.” Both girls waved weakly, then ducked around the doorway and clasped each other in an attack of wild teenage euphoria. Ashley repeated her plea that they actually speak to Matt, while Mandy continued to insist that it was absolutely out of the question.
    Mandy finally won, dragging Ashley away and coaxing her to get another dog to walk. Kay ducked inside the supply closet until they left, then peered toward the front desk. Matt stood talking to Hazel who, as usual, had a crossword puzzle book in her lap.
    Kay might have thought twice about what she was getting ready to do, but because of the kitten incident she didn’t even hesitate. She left the Dog Room and walked to the front desk.
    “Well, hi there, Kay,” Matt said, that amused grin creeping over his face again. “How are things going today? Any more...sticky situations?”
    Kay smiled sweetly. “Why, no. Not at all. Things are going well. Thank you very much for asking.”
    Matt’s smile evaporated. Something was up, and he knew it.
    “So, Matt,” she said, brushing some imaginary dust from the countertop. “Tell me. Whose heart is going to get broken?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “You can’t have them both, you know.”
    Matt looked befuddled. “What are you talking about?”
    “Mandy and Ashley. The hormone twins.”
    His blank expression never wavered.
    “Come on, Matt. Haven’t you noticed them staring at you?”
    “Staring at me?” He looked down at himself, as if he expected to see catsup on his shirt, or his fly unzipped. “Why would they be staring at me?”
    Kay assumed a breathless, besotted teenage voice. “Because they like older, more mature men, of course.”
    It took a moment for light to dawn on Matt, and when it did, an expression of utter disbelief overtook his face. “Oh...you have got to be joking.”
    “Nope. And you’d better be careful. If you smile at those girls again like you did a minute ago, one of them is going to faint dead away. Then you’ll end up giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and before you know it she’ll be spray-painting your name on water towers and asking you to the prom.”
    Matt’s pained expression intensified. He was so clueless that for a moment Kay almost felt sorry for him. Then she thought of the kitten incident again and her sympathy vanished.
    “I thought you needed to know,” she said, dropping her voice dramatically. “I mean, what if some irate father storms through the door with a shotgun and asks you what your intentions are?”
    “Intentions? They’re sixteen years old!”
    “Precisely! There are laws against that kind of thing!”
    Matt had the glazed, wide-eyed look of a possum staring into the headlights of an oncoming truck. Kay couldn’t remember the last time she’d had more fun rubbing something in. At the same time, though, there was something endearing about the fact that he hadn’t had a clue those girls suffered from a major case of the hots for him.
    “Okay, Dr. Ramsey,” Matt said, still flustered but trying not to show it, “since you’ve so brilliantly diagnosed this problem, tell me what I need to do to treat it.”
    He was so dead serious that Kay almost laughed out loud. Instead she maintained a somber expression and leaned toward him.
    “It’ll take care of itself.”
    “Huh?”
    “Look, Matt. Teenaged girls swap their affections the way they swap their clothes. Give it a few weeks. One