I groaned and dropped my face into one hand. “Betty, please.” I finished up with the pony and made arrangements to keep him housed in a free stable out back for a day or two. “We wouldn’t have worked anyway, Betty, so it’s a good thing you ladies got it all wrong. At least now we can have a good professional relationship.”
There was something about the way Betty arched her brow, or maybe it was the mischief that sparkled in the dark depths of her eyes, but her skepticism had me worried. “You think so?”
I would never show that kind of weakness, especially not to the wannabe matchmakers in town. “Absolutely.” My chest puffed out and I spoke that one word with the kind of confidence, the kind of smugness you just knew would come back to bite you in the ass sooner rather than later.
“Good for you.” With a sympathetic smile—the one polite southern women reserved for idiots and simpletons—and a pat to the shoulder, Betty left me, quite literally, holding the pony. She was out the door before I could come up with something else to say.
Stevie
I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take Scott’s torture. What the hell was wrong with the man that he couldn’t just be normal? Couldn’t just keep his distance and pretend like we never got naked and did the butt-naked boogie together? As much as my ego would love to believe that I’d rocked his world so thoroughly that he now couldn’t get enough of me, I wasn’t a complete fool. A man who couldn’t get enough of you didn’t scram out of bed before he got morning-after seconds. I was pretty sure that was an actual rule, written down somewhere and everything.
It was hard enough when he accidentally pressed in too close and I caught a whiff of his masculine scent that was an odd blend of sandalwood, leather, animals and… lemons. One whiff of that smell was usually accompanied by visions of his square jaw clenched tight when he was holding back his own pleasure until I drank my fill. Didn’t he have any idea just how hard I was working to resist him and to keep things strictly professional between us?
“Excuse me? I’m here to see Dr. Henderson.” Clara beamed a smile down at me that I was sure often got her whatever she wanted, from Broadway tickets to access to all kinds of clubs, premieres, and openings. “Does he have a free moment to see me?” She batted her eyelashes, keeping her spine straight to highlight her tiny waist and the perfectly sculpted curve of her tits. They were worth whatever they cost.
A damn professional, that’s what I am. I repeated those words to myself several times and slapped a smile on my face before hitting Clara with it. “Do you have an appointment?”
“I don’t. Unfortunately.” Clara giggled and instead of being annoyed, I was in awe. She somehow managed to make a giggle sound like a purr from a grown woman instead of a teeny-bopper. “But I’m hoping he’s willing to make time to squeeze me in.”
Someone needed to tell this chick that innuendo was best when used on the person you wanted to get naked with. Not his assistant. But since correcting her wasn’t part of my job, I flashed an even brighter smile and turned back to my computer screen and the scheduling software. “Let’s see what I can do. Now?”
“That would be ideal, but I’m flexible.” This was a woman who didn’t play around. I admired that she had no problem or shame going after exactly what she wanted. Or who. Today, Clara wore a hot pink dress that fit each and every one of her curves, showing off her cinched waist and long legs. It was proof she never said yes to carbs and exercised religiously. The woman was just about perfect and, unlike mere mortals like myself, she knew how close she came to the mark. “Very flexible.”
“Obvious, too,” Betty Kemp said, doing a terrible job of using her inside voice.
“Excellent. I’ll find the first free slot.”
“Thanks,” she said at the same time Scott’s deep voice growled.
“Free slot for what?” His deep voice tore me away from cataloguing all of Clara’s perfections while I found a fifteen-minute window for her to make her play for Scott.
“Clara needs an appointment with you for an undefined reason, and I’m searching the calendar to fit her flexibility.” I looked up at him and dared him to say one damn word. “It looks like you’re done with Betty, now could work.”
“Perfect.” Clara beamed and took two wide steps until she was at Scott’s side, one arm snaking its way around his bigger, harder one.
Caught, Scott glared at me and I knew he and I would have words later, when the office was empty. For now, I was determined to enjoy his discomfort. “I guess we can take a look now. Where’s Ivory?” Scott looked around, along with both me and Betty, and found the little yapping monster was nowhere in sight.
Clara laughed. “I figured we could do a quick consult. I’ll tell you her symptoms and you tell me if she needs to come in. If so, I’ll bring her in later.” The heat in that last word was enough to singe my eyelashes, yet Scott seemed wholly unimpressed.
“You do consults now, do you, Scotty?” The amusement in Betty’s voice was like a palpable thing in the air. “Wait until I tell the girls.” The glare he sent her had no effect, other than making her laugh even louder and with her whole body. “So long, guys. Be sure to take good care of that pony, because I’m sure Mikey will want to see him soon.” With a quick finger wave, Betty was gone, leaving the tense exchange down to three players.
Clara cleared her throat and pressed her body up against Scott’s. So, do you have time for me now?” She batted her eyelashes expertly and even I wasn’t sure how Scott hadn’t already fallen completely under her spell, especially when she did that practiced bite-down on her bottom lip. It was pure sex appeal. “It’ll only take a moment. I promise.”
Scott’s gaze landed on me, as if I held some power to extract him from the situation. His glare was heavy enough that I felt the burden of it on my shoulders before he turned to Clara. “Sorry, but now isn’t great. I just got a pony and I have to find a place to lodge him for a night or two.” A big fat lie, since there were stables and other enclosures out back just in case we needed to keep animals for observation. Before she could talk him out of it, Scott stalked away.
Weird. “You want me to put you on the books, Clara?”
She glared, like it was my fault he wasn’t catching what she was so obviously tossing out. “No. I’ll catch him around. He can’t run from me forever,” she said ominously and left.
Finally alone with my thoughts, I sat there for at least a full minute, maybe twenty of them, wondering what in the hell had just happened. Scott seemed like he wanted me to be jealous and was upset that I wasn’t, and was turning down a gorgeous sure thing who was, let’s face it, right up his alley. It didn’t make sense and trying to figure it out was giving me a headache, until I remembered none of this was my problem and I got back to work.
It was amazing just how busy a small town vet’s office was from one day to the next. It wasn’t just for things like vaccinations and birth control, which I’d expected, but people brought in cats with colds, dogs with diabetes, and birds with a possible gluten allergy. I was busier than I ever thought I would be at the clinic, and that was just how I liked it.
Especially now.
“That wasn’t funny.” His big body cast a dark shadow across my keyboard and computer screen before his words interrupted my train of thought. “You know, just in case you thought it was.” I didn’t need to turn around or lean back to know how close he was; I could feel his nearness, his warmth. The invisible pull he seemed to have over me.
I let my gaze climb his body slowly, taking my time to look my fill of his narrow waist and straight hips, those wide, capable shoulders and his massive chest. It was hard to pull my eyes away. When my gaze landed on his face, I looked away quickly, refusing to get snared in his web.
“What wasn’t funny?” There was something about Scott that brought my inner child to the surface, and I couldn’t help but poke at him. Constantly.
“That thing you pulled with Cara.”
“Clara,” I corrected
automatically. “And don’t even think about blaming that on me. I have no idea what you do with your free time, and it’s not my job to know. She wanted an appointment and my job is to book your appointments.”
He leaned down low, resting on his forearms until his face was inches from mine. “You’re a bad liar.”
I shrugged. “Maybe I am. Or maybe you’re a suspicious person? You never stopped to consider that, did you?”
He laughed and it was good laugh, rich and well used, deep and sincere. “I did, actually. But that doesn’t turn you into some world-class liar. Do you make it a habit of pushing your conquests off on other women?” His arms were folded and there was a smile on his face, but the burning intensity in his eyes said my answer mattered to him.
Conquests? I couldn’t help but laugh at that old-fashioned phrasing. “No. But I am also not in the habit of turning into a crazy woman over a man who clearly is not interested. If that’s your kink, I think Clara might be more up your alley than you realize.” The woman looked like she wouldn’t be above boiling a bunny or engaging in a little light stalking if it got her what she wanted.
His expression changed, darkened. “I don’t want Clara.”
“Interesting.” My tone said I wasn’t interested at all, but I was. I really, really was.
His green gaze intensified, and I felt it all the way down to my tingling toes. I swallowed hard, grateful to be sitting down. “There’s someone else who has snagged my attention.”
“Interesting,” I said again, because what the hell else could I say? “Maybe you should be telling her this, not me.” My heart raced and even though he hadn’t given me confirmation it was me, my lips fought my willpower to keep the coming smile at bay.
Scott’s own smile flashed as wide as the sun and his big hand landed in a hard smack against the desk. “You know, maybe I will.” Then he turned and walked away. Whistling cheerfully.
What in the hell had just happened?
Scott
“It’s my day off.” Stevie tried to scowl up at me, but the squint from the sun shining in her face over my shoulder ruined the effect.
My gaze roamed her body on its own, taking in hard nipples before making its way to perky breasts hidden behind a thin tank top that gave way to a slender waist before her hips flared out, tempting me. The shirt ended just high enough to tell me she was also wearing black panties. “Is this how you always answer the door?”
Stevie’s gaze shifted from my face down to her body and then back up with a shrug. “Everything is covered. What do you want?”
Loaded question. “What are you up to today?”
“Why?”
Seriously? “Just answer the damn question.”
Surprisingly, she rolled her violet eyes and let out a put-upon sigh before she answered. “Nothing, okay? I’m going to sleep in and maybe go for a walk. Enjoy my day off.” My lips twitched and her scowl returned. “Something funny, Scotty?”
“Nope, not at all.” I don’t know why I found her so amusing, but it certainly explained why I was standing on her doorstep early on a Saturday morning. “Feel like taking a drive?”
She blinked and folded her arms across her chest, which I really wished she hadn’t done because it put her breasts on full display. “With you?”
It was my turn for the eyeroll. “No, the captain of the football team asked me to ask you in homeroom, but I figured it couldn’t wait.”
Her lips twitched and I knew I had her. “Yeah? Who is this captain guy?”
“Me.”
Her gaze went dark and glazed over for a second as she took in my body, as if seeing me for the first time. “I figured you for a high school jock. Where are we driving, and is this a one-way trip for one of us?”
I blinked, twice and frowned. “What?”
“You’re not planning on taking me on a long walk off a short pier, are you?” Stevie arched her eyebrows, expression deadly serious, and I took a step back.
“What? No!”
Her shoulders fell dramatically. “Okay. If you say so,” she said, so sarcastically I wanted to make her squirm. I took a step forward. A big step. “So, where is it, exactly, that you want me to go with you?”
“A friend’s farm. I’d like to show it to you, and then we’ll have lunch with them.” That was almost the whole story.
Stevie looked at me, suspicion burning in her eyes, but I saw the moment she gave in. “Is this a work thing, or can I wear regular clothes?”
“What you’re wearing is perfect to me.” A little too perfect, if the tightness in my jeans was anything to go by. “But I’m no fashion expert.”
“What time?”
“Thirty minutes?”
Another put-upon sigh. “If I’m ready by then, I’ll go.” A perfect non-committal answer, if I ever heard one.
I accepted it, because I wouldn’t let Stevie get to me. Not today. I wanted her to see… hell, I didn’t really know what I wanted her to see, but I wanted her to see me, dammit. She could put up walls all she wanted, but it hadn’t helped me stop wanting her, and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t help her stop wanting me, either.
I showed up twenty-five minutes later, hopeful. “Ready?”
“You’re annoying, you know that?”
“I know you don’t mean it, so my feelings aren’t hurt. And because I have iced tea and croissants stuffed with cheese in the truck.”
“You should have led with that,” she said before turning away and pushing the door closed.
I stopped it before it closed completely and stepped inside. “Food is more compelling than my company?”
Stevie froze and looked over her shoulder, one dark brow arched questioningly. “Did I invite you in?”
“Not directly, but you left the door open.” In more ways than one.
“Did it take you all morning to think of that?” she asked, shoving her feet into a pair of purple canvas sneakers.
“Nope. Just now, in fact.”
Stevie grabbed a colorful wallet with geometric shapes all over it, oddly out of character, and stared blankly at me. “Congratulations.” When she shooed me out, I took advantage of the space and smiled. Stevie was tough when she wanted to be, but her response now gave me hope that today might help me crack the shell she’d put around herself. “It smells incredible in here.” She grabbed the bag and jumped into the truck, ignoring my outstretched hand in favor of the bag’s contents.
“Yeah, no problem,” I mumbled to myself unnecessarily. I should be happy that she doesn’t stand on ceremony like that, but for some reason, it annoyed me. “You don’t like letting people help you, do you?”
My question stopped her movements and she stared at me, a little crinkle of confusion forming between her black brows. “When I need help, I ask for it.”
There was no point arguing the point because I realized she probably didn’t even realize I was trying to help her, so I started the engine and we got on the road. “Sure would be nice to eat that croissant while it’s still warm.”
“I know,” she said around a smiling mouthful. “You probably should have eaten yours before you started driving.” I turned and stared at her in disbelief for as long as I could safely keep my eyes off the road. Her laughter rang out and echoed inside the car. “Goodness, that look was totally worth the risk.” She chuckled to herself before breaking off a piece and holding it up to my lips. “Open up.”
I ignored her playful sing-song voice and opened my mouth, swiping my tongue across her fingertip when she lingered a little too long. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” she bit out, hoping her anger would disguise the desire.
“It’s okay to feel it, Stevie. I feel it, too.” It was a risk, but that swift intake of breath told me more than the silence that followed.
“You know people who live here?”
“I’ll try not to take offense to your tone.”
She shrugged and ducked to take in every detail as we passed. “The Peace Commun
ity? You are definitely not the crunchy-granola-hippie type and, considering your reaction to me, I can’t imagine you’d think of them as friends.”
I hated to admit that she had me there. “This is a unique friendship that was born out of necessity.” We both stepped from the car and I watched her as she took in the farm, eyes darting from the flower garden on the sunny side of the house to the horses in a pasture in the distance.
Just then, Star stepped out onto the wide widow’s porch that I’d helped her paint one summer a few years ago. She looked every bit the crunchy-granola-hippie type Stevie had pictured, with her waist-length blond hair that now had more gray in it and a paisley patterned dress that fell straight to the ground, highlighting her rail-thin frame. “Scott, it’s so good to see you again. It’s been too long.”
I opened my arms and accepted Star’s hug. The woman was affectionate with everyone, though as beautiful as she was it was always maternal. But I still enjoyed the flash of jealousy I glimpsed in Stevie’s eyes. “It’s good to see you too, Star. Still getting too lost in painting to remember to eat, I see.”
She laughed and turned to Stevie. “I’m Star, and this is The Peace Community. Welcome.”
“It’s gorgeous. A lot of work, I’m sure.”
“Tons, but it’s rewarding to know that all of our sweat, and sometimes tears, is going towards nourishing our bodies and the community around us.”
I held my breath and waited for Stevie to mock Star the way I once had, but she merely shrugged. “Admirable. Do you notice a real difference in your energy and stress levels?”
Star’s eyes flashed with hope and happiness as she stepped closer to Stevie. “Absolutely. I’ll tell you all about my own transformation, but I’ll tell you what I tell everyone. Give it thirty days and if you feel good, give it another thirty. Keep going until it stops working for you.” She threaded her arm through Stevie’s and turned to me. “You brought a friend.”
“I did.”
Misters of Love: A Small Town Romance Boxset Page 40
