All I Need

by Jennifer Van Wyk

  I hear the clicking of nails on the linoleum and turn to see Brutus lumbering our way. His little butt wiggles when he spots us, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. He plops down by my feet, laying down on his side.

  “Hey, Brutus,” I coo, kneeling down to scratch his stomach.

  “Look at that, you have all the McKinstry boys falling at your feet already.”

  “That she does.” I stand quickly at the sound of Walker’s voice then my breath catches at the sight of him.

  Can men be gorgeous? Is that even possible? Because holy crap. He is. And standing here in front of me in scrubs… I’m a goner. My stomach tightens and I have to lick my lips to make sure I’m not drooling.

  “Walker, hey!” I shout then clamp my lips together, wishing for a hole to crawl into. What the heck is wrong with me? Why am I basically tripping over myself over this guy?

  The corner of his mouth turns up and he gives me a half smile. It’s one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen. “I see Grayson started showing you around?”

  “He did. Just introduced me to some of your vacationers, he called them.”

  Are his eyes always sparkling like that? Did his muscles get bigger overnight? It looks like his biceps are about to rip the sleeves open of his blue scrubs. Why is that scruff covering his jaw so damn appealing? Is it hot in here?

  The heat from his gaze threatens to melt me right in my spot and I wonder if he can see right through me, to all the inappropriate thoughts I have flitting through my head. He blinks and licks his lips then he nods in his nephew’s direction. “Good. Grayson takes pretty good care of them back here but every so often Linda will help out. Feeding them, letting them out, that type of thing. When owners come to pick their pets up, though, you’ll have to come back here and get them so I would need to make sure you’re comfortable with that.”

  I nod my head and look at all the animals, really anywhere but at Walker since I was barely listening to him speak, just letting the deep timber of his voice wash over me. “I wouldn’t have a problem with that.” I mean, I don’t know what I just agreed to but I’m sure I can handle it.

  “Good. Someone has their pet skunk in the back that you can bring out front to greet his owners.”

  My head jerks to his, my eyes wide as a gasp escapes me and he bursts out laughing. “I’m kidding, Ellie. You seemed a little nervous and I needed to get you to relax.”

  “Telling me to carry around a skunk was supposed to be relaxing?” I ask, incredulously.

  He bites his lip to contain his smile as I hear Grayson mutter, “I’m outta here.”

  The air in the room seems to have escaped right along with Grayson.

  “Ellie,” Walker says to get my attention. My eyes meet his. “Come here.”

  How two words have such an intense effect on me is beyond my comprehension. My feet move before I can think better of it.

  I’m standing so close that I can smell the mint of the gum he’s chewing, see the small scar above his left eyebrow that I want to run my fingertip over, find out how it got there, a small hole in his left earlobe. “Did you have an earring?”

  My question takes him by surprise, and maybe makes him a tad embarrassed if the slight pink to his cheeks is anything to go by. “Uh, yeah. It was an unfortunate year during college after losing a bet.”

  I smile and bite my bottom lip. “The hole never closed up?”

  “It did but you can still see it. I have no idea why.”

  I press my lips together and he rolls his eyes, shaking his head at my struggle to contain my laughter. “Sorry. I’m just trying to picture it.”

  “You don’t think it would have looked good on me?” he asks, voice teasing.

  “Oh I’m sure it looked incredible.”

  He takes a step closer.

  “Yeah?”

  I want to tell him I can’t imagine anything that would make him not look incredible but I manage to bite my tongue and just blink up at him.

  A dog barks and startles us both. He looks over at the small black dog. “Chester, you just ruined a moment here.”

  My eyes widen and he reaches a hand out, grasping my hand in his. I stare at our joined hands before raising my gaze to his. “We’ll discuss it later. When you’re ready,” he murmurs.

  “Okay,” I whisper, though much like before, I have no idea what I’m really agreeing to. Mercy, I’m so screwed with this guy.

  He releases my hand and I instantly want to pull it back to me. Thread our fingers together, watch as he lifts our joined hands to his luscious mouth and places his lips on my skin. I wish that those lips were on my own. Then I want to slide my fingers along his neck, up into his hair that looks so soft. Our kiss would be soft but full of passion. One of those life changing kisses that tells you that your forever is changed. Of course, I’ve never really experienced that kind before. Not with Michael. Definitely not with doorknob Gary. It’s probably not fair of me to always include an insult when I think of Gary, but it’s not as though he doesn’t deserve it. And while I’m totally over it, which is evidence I never should have been walking down the aisle to him in the first place, I still can’t get over the fact that he was cheating on me for so long. It hurts, whether I want him that way or not.

  “Ellie?”

  I startle at the sound of my name and raise my eyes to meet Walker’s, a knowing gleam in his eye.

  “Huh? What?”

  He chuckles. “You totally zoned out for a minute there. Should I ask what you were thinking about?”

  I feel my cheeks heat in response and know I basically just outed myself. I swallow hard. “Nah, I’m good.”

  He smirks and throws a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the door. “Let’s go out front. Linda is anxious to meet you and show you around and I need to check on my patient. Offer still stands—if the job isn’t for you, please tell me. No hard feelings. If you think you’d like working here, with me, the job is yours.”

  I don’t miss the fact that he added working with him into his little disclaimer. It probably should scare me off. Considering the attraction I’m feeling to him and how I can’t stop my heart from beating a little faster when he’s around, unable to keep the butterflies in my stomach from taking flight. I just can’t find it in myself to care.

  If he thinks that’s going to scare me off, he’s mistaken. “Thank you, Walker. You’re… amazing. Everything you’ve done for me the past few days… I don’t know what I did to deserve your kindness but I’m so grateful.”

  He stares at me like he wants to say something else but decides against it. I want to reach in and pull the words out of his throat.

  “You don’t have to thank me for being your friend, Ellie.”

  Friend.

  Right.

  Disappointment sours my stomach at his use of the word friend.

  I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve never felt so connected to someone, such desire to be around them. It’s just never been like this in the past. With Michael, it was more about lust. I was only eighteen when we met. I’m still not sure I was ever in love with him. Still, his betrayal hurt. Mostly because he knew what had happened when I was younger.

  It took me years before I was ready to date anyone after Michael cheated on me. Even when I met Gary, I still didn’t feel like I wanted to be with anyone. He pursued me for months. At the time, it felt good. I felt wanted. He was patient but persistent and over time, he wore me down. Looking back, he probably only had that kind of patience because he had a side piece in every town in the county. Asswipe.

  Looking back, I realize that I caved. I never felt the sparks but I figured that’s the way it is when you’re older. I was stupid enough to believe that chemistry didn’t matter. He was good on paper. Never again will I allow myself to accept less than everything again.

  “I’m glad you’re my friend, Walker.” While the word friend feels like not enough, it also doesn’t feel wrong. I do want his friendship. And that’s what I n
eed right now.

  Not sparks and butterflies or orgasms.

  Though, a few orgasms wouldn’t be totally awful.

  I TRY NOT TO WATCH her ass sway, but it’s not my fault the fabric of her long peach colored sleeveless dress fits her so damn perfectly. The color makes her deep golden skin shine and her hair look like the color of honey. Her toned arms are on display, the subtle curve of her hips make me itch to reach out, place my hands on them and pull her back against me.

  Probably not a good idea, though.

  Especially since she’s my newly single and, hopefully, new employee who lives with the woman who’s like a second mom to me.

  Still… I can’t stop my mind from traveling down a road it most certainly shouldn’t be venturing into.

  It’s a shame she’ll be wearing scrubs the rest of the time she’s working here. I wasn’t thinking when we discussed her coming in today, she probably feels overdressed and a tad uncomfortable.

  We round the corner into the front reception area and I almost breathe a sigh of relief knowing she’ll be in Linda’s hands now. Not only do I know she’ll convince her to accept the job offer, but I can move away from her for a few minutes and get control of these growing feelings—and the constant hard on I seem to have around her.

  She glances back at me, her eyes twinkling with mischief as those hips I was itching to touch earlier sway back and forth a little more dramatically the last few steps it takes to get to the front desk.

  The little minx.

  She knows exactly what she’s doing to me—but if she thinks I didn’t notice the way her eyes heated when she first saw me this morning, she’s sadly mistaken.

  I know I affect her—maybe even as much as she does me. Though, I’m not sure how that’s possible. But whether there’s an attraction between us or not doesn’t matter.

  Not when the wounds of dipwad Gary’s betrayal are so fresh. He’s got to be some kind of moron to cheat on Ellie. Obviously, I’ve never seen the woman he cheated with but it wouldn’t matter. I can’t imagine there’s anyone better than Ellie. Lucky for me, he’s a moron and didn’t realize what he had.

  Good thing I’m smart.

  “Dr. Mac will see you and Mr. Buttons here next Thursday,” Linda says into the phone while keeping her eyes trained on Ellie.

  I’m not a good actor—and Grayson is a blabber mouth—so when I talked to Linda about Ellie coming in today, she didn’t miss the fact that I was excited for more reasons than just her stepping into Linda’s shoes. If she doesn’t take the job, I’ll have to start looking for someone else. That not only sounds like no fun, I also, despite knowing it’s probably not the best idea, really want her around every day, in my business and my life.

  “Aww, thank you. That’s very kind of you to say but I’m pretty sure Dr. Mac will be well taken care of. I’m going to miss being here also but the change will be good for our family.” She pauses briefly before, “Okay, bye bye, now.”

  She places the receiver back into the holder then comes out from behind the desk to stand in front of Ellie. Linda smiles then glances quickly my way before returning her eyes to Ellie.

  “Well, since Dr. Mac here isn’t going to introduce us, I guess I’ll do the honors.” She pauses just long enough to smirk when she sees me roll my eyes. “I’m Linda.”

  “It’s wonderful to meet you, Linda. I’m Ellie.”

  “The pleasure’s all mine. Now, Walker, run along. I’ll take good care of your Ellie, I mean, Ellie.” She’s not even trying to hide her smile over the not such a slip of the tongue comment. “You go check on Copper after his little snip-snip.” She takes Ellie’s hand in hers then shoos me away. Ellie looks at me with wide eyes before giggling and following Linda back behind the front desk where she pulls up two stools in front of the computer.

  “What are you still doing here? Don’t you have work to do?” Linda asks without looking up at me. I shake my head, chuckling lowly.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m going. Just…”

  “Walker,” she admonishes, “I know what I’m doing. I’ll show Ellie everything I do here—which, let’s face it, is everything,” she teases with a wink, “and convince her to work for you.”

  “You make it sound like such a hardship.”

  “Dealing with you and your moodiness every day? Of course it is.”

  “My moodiness?” I almost shriek.

  She grins. Little shit knows just how to push my buttons.

  “See? You just proved my point—so moody,” she chides.

  I take a deep breath. “You’re the worst.”

  “Yet you’re going to miss me.”

  “That I am, Linda. That I am. I’ll leave you ladies to it. I have to run out to the Sanders’s farm at the end of the day to check on a few of their pregnant cows. Ellie, if you’d like to come with, you’re welcome to.”

  I have no idea why I just said that. It’s not as if Linda has ever come with me when I do house or farm visits. Which is probably why Linda’s eyebrows are kissing her hairline right about now.

  “Cows? You do those, too?”

  “Uh, yeah. Well, I don’t do them, but I work with them. I’m a large and small animal vet. Farm animals, house pets, whatever I need to.”

  “Reptiles?” she asks, her nose adorably scrunched.

  I chuckle. “Not many reptile owners around here, can’t say I’m upset about that. Snakes aren’t my thing, though turtles are weirdly cute. A friend of mine bought one for his twin boys several years ago, they’re out of the house now but the turtle is still around.”

  Her eyes light up. “I’ve never been up close and personal to a real turtle before.”

  “I’ll talk to Andy, see if we can stop over sometime to see it.”

  “Really?”

  “Why not? Harry is pretty awesome.”

  “They named a turtle Harry? Umm, I kind of love him.”

  “What’s not to love about Andy?” Linda interjects. “He’s a sexy little number.”

  “Linda!” I almost shout.

  “What? You think I don’t have eyes in my old age?”

  “What would your husband think if he heard you?”

  “Oh please. Like he doesn’t know a girl can look. Besides, a person’d have to be blind not to see how attractive Andy is.”

  I shake my head because… really, what else is there to do? Instead I turn to Ellie, suddenly very grateful for Andy’s very taken status.

  “You’d love him even more if you met his little girl, or his wife that owns a coffee shop.”

  Linda giggles, knowing exactly why I included that little tidbit of information. Ellie, bless her, doesn’t even blink. Or give me shit about it. “Wow. I think you’ve been holding out on me. A friend who owns a coffee shop?”

  “Dreamin’ Beans. Best coffee around, and she makes incredible pastries. She has desserts at a local restaurant, too.”

  “You had me at coffee and dessert,” she teases, placing a hand on her chest.

  “Okay, okay, enough, you two. Now, Ellie, let me show you around. You,” Linda points to me, “get to work. I’m not gonna tell you again.”

  “Such a slave driver. Whatever will I do when you’re gone?”

  “Cry.”

  I wink at Ellie as I lean over and kiss Linda on her cheek. “You know it.”

  I saunter away, knowing Ellie’s watching me leave. I figure after the show she gave me earlier, payback is necessary. I’m not cocky, but I know what I look like. And I can see the heat in Ellie’s eyes when she looks at me.

  I make my way into the room Copper’s recovering in. My vet technician, Angela, is checking on him. The brown and white terrier mix is sleeping what seems to be rather peacefully.

  “He doing okay?”

  “Sure is.”

  “Good, good.” I check his incision. “Let’s get a collar on him for when he wakes up and call his owners to let them know it went well and they can pick him up after 4:00.”

  “You got it. I
’ll make sure we have his meds and after care instructions ready for when they come.”

  “You’re the best. When you get done here, make sure you head up front. Linda’s working with the woman who’s likely going to be replacing her. It’d be good for you two to meet.”

  She nods. “Sounds good. I’m going to miss Linda around here. It’s like the end of an era.”

  “Like she’ll stay away.” I grin.

  “True,” she murmurs.

  “I have to leave a little early today to go see the Sanders’s. If you can make sure Copper’s taken care of when they come, I’d be grateful.”

  “No problem.”

  “Thanks, Angela.”

  I leave her to finish what she’s working on and take care of a few other things before my next appointment. Over the next few hours I do my best to focus on the animals, even though I continually hear Ellie’s sweet voice filter through the office. Knowing she’s here is a blessing and a curse.

  I take a look at my schedule and notice that we have a nice lull in patients before and after lunchtime so I send a quick text to Grayson who’s been busy working in the back barn that we have on the property for larger animals.

  Me: Hungry?

  Grayson: I thought you said there were no stupid questions.

  I chuckle at his smartass response.

  Me: Tone down the smart mouth. Can you order some lunch for the staff? Maybe just some sandwiches from the freaky fast place.

  Grayson: What’s the special occasion? You never buy everyone lunch.

  I almost growl at how well he knows me.

  Me: It’s not that shocking. Just do it. Use my card that you pretend not to have the number memorized.

  Grayson: **sideways laugh emoji**

  Grayson: On it, boss.

  I decide against replying again and leave him to it. He’s a smart enough kid to know how to order food for the staff that everyone would like. Plus, if I continue to text him, he’ll only put more questions in my mind about why I’m ordering lunch for everyone. Not that I’m stingy and never treat them, however, it’s usually more planned out.