by Liliana Hart
“Hi, Ryan. Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve got the papers here for you. Thank you so much for coming to pick them up. I had hoped to bring them down to your dad yesterday, but the day got away from me faster than I thought it would.”
He took the offered papers and smiled. “No problem. I heard you had some excitement around her lately. Everything from pulling dogs out of ditches to saving Francine Moller’s prized show poodle yesterday when you performed an emergency C-section to deliver her puppies.” He whistled. “I’ll bet she was a Nervous Nellie in the waiting room, huh?”
Lily smiled. She’d practically had to physically remove Francine from the surgery suite. The prized poodle and her two puppies were safe. It had been a good day.
“It’s been an interesting few days, to say the least,” Lily said, avoiding the topic of other people’s pets. “I didn’t think a small-town veterinary practice would be so action-packed, but it’s been a nice surprise.”
He nodded and smiled at her again and she got the feeling he was working up to something. There was a lot of smiling going on. “So, Lily, I was wondering if I could take you to dinner sometime?”
“Oh, uh—” She mentally swatted at the image of Carter’s face in her head. Why did he keep popping up there? She bit back a sigh and looked at Ryan. Maybe he was the answer. In reality, she didn’t want to date Ryan any more than she wanted to date Carter. But Ryan was safe. She wasn’t wildly aroused when he was around. She’d probably enjoy dinner out with him, without feeling like she might lose her heart the way she did with Carter.
Sadly, her mouth wasn’t on board with the plan, because she found herself politely declining and making excuses. “I’m sorry, Ryan, I’m not really dating right now. I mean, I’m just focusing on the business and trying to get settled in and that kind of thing.”
His smile didn’t falter in the least. “Sure. Maybe in a few weeks, then?”
“Maybe,” she said, returning the smile, but she had a feeling her heart wouldn’t be interested in a few weeks either.
Of course, that wasn’t at all how she felt three hours later when she and Carter had come back from dinner, and were getting Honey settled into his house. Lily not only had a wonderful time at dinner with him, she’d forgotten all of her objections to dating over the course of their time together. They sat side by side on the floor of Carter’s living room, watching Honey snuggle into the soft, cozy bed he’d bought her as Lily strained to remember all the reasons she was dead-set against this going anywhere.
She could do this. She’d just remember the words of all the men who had let her down before. Of all the men who’d disappointed her. All the men who’d left. I just don’t think this is going to work for me. That’s what Keith had said when he left her after a year and a half of living together. After all the words of love and promises together, a simple I just don’t think this is going to work for me was what she’d been left with.
Intent on saying goodnight, since Honey was clearly in good hands, she turned to Carter. She sucked in a breath and knew her lips had parted, despite her efforts to clamp them shut. Because Carter was watching her. And heated gaze didn’t even begin to describe the look in his eyes. A second later, when their mouths met, she was mortified to realize that it might have been her to initiate the kiss, not him. And here she thought she would be strong, fend off his advances, reject him. Instead, she had leaned in and closed the space between them, not only touching her lips to his, but also running the tip of her tongue along his lower lip. Tasting him.
He groaned as his arms came around her, and Lily lost her breath when he commandeered the kiss, taking it to another level entirely. Incendiary was the word that came to mind. Carter somehow pulled her closer, his body pressing to hers as he slanted his head and deepened their connection. He nibbled, licked, sucked, kissed, and teased moan after moan from her. She answered back, pushed herself farther into him, reveling in how hard his body was. She caught his lower lip in her teeth and tugged gently, loving the low growl she earned in response.
Though she hated to admit it, if Carter hadn’t pulled back, she couldn’t be sure she would have. That really ticked her off. She’d been so sure she could be strong.
“I don’t date,” she whispered as he watched her face.
“So you’ve said. I have to tell you, though, this is beginning to feel awfully date-ish to me. But I’m out of practice. Maybe we should try it a few more times. Maybe it’s not what we think it is.”
“And you think a few more dinners will help us figure it out?”
“Absolutely.”
Lily laid her forehead on Carter’s chest and groaned. “This is bad. This is really bad.”
“Is it?”
“You know, one of those guys—Joel—told me he was done. We had been together for eleven months, and the one thing I’d always told him was that I needed him to promise, if things got rough, we’d work on it together before we gave up. He agreed. He said you always needed to work on a relationship, not just walk away when things got rough.”
She knew talking about her exes on a date was a huge no-no, but he was the one who insisted on making this a date when it wasn’t supposed to be. She was not dating him. Maybe talking about her exes would get that point across to him. “But I guess he and I had other definitions of working on it, because after eleven months, he told me he was done. I had no idea he was unhappy at all. He never said a word. When I asked why he wasn’t willing to work to try to save us, he told me he already had. He said he’d been working on it for a long time, that he’d tried everything he could think of. But I guess he forgot to tell me we were working on it.”
Carter ran his hand down the side of her face, a caress so soft and caring, she had to turn away from it.
Instead of being put off by her talk of her ex, he pulled her in and hugged her. Didn’t say anything. Didn’t try to kiss her again. Didn’t try platitudes or to end the non-date as awkwardly and quickly as he could. He simply held her. That made her feel foolish about everything she’d just blurted out. Here she was trying to shove him away despite the way her heart and mind were screaming at her to simply fall for the guy hard and fast And what did he do? Pulled her in tighter. He held her like that for a while before kissing her on the nose and walking her out to her car to watch as she climbed behind the wheel.
“Text me when you get home so I know you got there safe?”
Lily nodded before he shut the car door for her. She didn’t know where they were headed, but she knew one thing. That was the best non-date she’d ever had.
Chapter Eight
They had three more non-dates, each one with Carter casually taking hold of her hand or putting his arm around her, bringing them closer to real dates. Each time he dropped her off at her house, he kissed her senseless and she had to spend an hour reminding herself of all the reasons not to get involved with another man who could steal her heart. She was beginning to think it was a battle that wasn’t worth fighting. Because if they were doing battle, he was kicking her butt. She was falling hard and fast.
He’d brought her as his “non-date” to John and Katelyn’s wedding, and she’d had a hard time not picturing herself up there as the happy bride someday. No matter how many times her heart had been kicked, she still wanted that. She wasn’t surprised when it was Carter who flashed into her fantasy as the groom. She’d tried to push the images aside and just focus on the bride and groom of the day. Katelyn had been absolutely radiant, surrounded by her bridesmaids. John’s eyes hadn’t left her the whole evening and the smile on his face told the story of their love. Lily would be lying if she said she wasn’t utterly, completely envious of what they had.
“Hey guys, this is Lily Winn, the new veterinarian in town.” Carter had held his hand on her lower back while he introduced Lily to the bridesmaids and groomsmen, but her traitorous heart did a little belly flop. She realized it was because she was wishing he was introducing her as his instead of simply the town’s new vet
erinarian. “Lily, this is Laura and Cade Bishop, Ashley and Cora Walker, Shane Bishop, and I think you already know Danny Widen.”
Lily nodded and shook hands, once again mentally smacking the crap out of the stupid feelings floating around in her belly. “It’s nice to meet you all. I’m sorry I haven’t been around town much at all. I haven’t really had a chance to get out much with trying to get things squared away at the clinic.”
Ashley smiled wide. “We’ll have to come drag you out of there now that you’ve had a little time to settle in.”
“Girls’ night,” Cora said with a grin, and the men rolled their eyes, but that sounded perfect to Lily. She missed her friends from school and back home. Veterinary school was intense and didn’t leave a lot of time for socializing, but time with her girlfriends, even if it was only in study group, had been cherished. She hadn’t realized how much burying her head in work had been costing her until now.
“That sounds perfect,” she said with an answering smile, and the group went on to chat about where she’d come from and how her grandfather was handling retirement. Throughout it all, Carter stayed close, and that stupid flip-flopping heart of hers starting doing a goofy little tap dance. Not what she wanted. Not at all.
And yet… Darn, there was that phrase again. She seemed to be thinking and yet an awful lot lately as she questioned herself at every turn. So she stopped questioning quite as much and tried to live in the moment. After getting to know several more people at the wedding reception, she let Carter take her out on the dance floor for one of the slower songs. His version of dancing was wrapping her up in those big arms of his and swaying to the music, his body pressed to hers. She didn’t exactly have a problem with that. She wasn’t a skilled dancer herself, and his way felt good. Really good.
She stood now in the back of her clinic and faced the truth. She was loving every minute spent with Carter. Except for the few awkward moments the night before when Ryan Crawford had seen them together in a restaurant. The angry looks Ryan had given her were hard to miss. It was all Lily could do to keep Carter from confronting him. She understood what Ryan was feeling. She’d told him she didn’t date and seeing her out with Carter a short time later had to feel crappy. Maybe she could explain.
She nibbled on her bottom lip as she put a kitten back into its cage with a little scratch behind the ears. As she turned away from the kitten to scribble a few post-op notes in its record, she decided she should run over to Alton Crawford’s law firm to talk to Ryan. If she explained she and Carter weren’t really dating, he would understand, wouldn’t he?
Lily’s phone rang, breaking the uncomfortable train of thought. “Hello,” she said after pulling it out of her scrubs pocket.
“Lily? It’s Mary.”
The other woman’s hushed tone sent a prickle of unease up her spine. “Um, hi, Mary. What’s up?”
“I just talked to a few people who have heard about the dog-racing ring. They told me it’s set up like a rave. People get a text an hour before a race will start with the location. It’s always someplace new.”
Lily actually felt her shoulders deflate. “So finding where they’re being held is next to impossible.”
“Not necessarily,” Mary said. “I’m trying to find out the names of some of the people that attend. If we can find a name, we might get lucky and hear something about one of the races. Then we watch that person and follow them.” She was whispering again and Lily understood why. What she was talking about was crazy. Crazy dangerous. Crazy stupid. But she had to admit, it might be the only way to put an end to this thing. And it sounded like it could work. If they could get a name, and if they heard any rumors about a race taking place on a certain day. Those were big ifs.
“Maybe,” Lily said, not wanting to commit just yet. “I guess see what you can find out. Carter is still trying on his end. Maybe he’ll be able to do something.”
They had only just said their goodbyes when Carter walked into the back area of the clinic, making Lily jump. She hadn’t expected to see him today. He was on shift all day, so when he showed up in the clinic in the middle of the afternoon, her gut clenched. She hoped he hadn’t overheard her and Mary talking—he would no doubt flip if he thought she might follow someone to a dog race to gather evidence. She also had a feeling he wasn’t bringing her good news. His expression was too grim for that.
“Is everything okay?”
“Can we go to your office, Lily?”
She nodded and led the way, closing the door behind them.
“We found another site where we think someone was racing dogs. I don’t know if it’s the same group, but I suspect it is. They’d already cleared out, but we found paraphernalia and evidence of racing. Evidence they’re keeping rabbits.”
“Rabbits?”
His jaw was tight when he answered her. “Bait, sweetheart. They use live bait for the races.”
Lily put a hand to her chest as she listened to him, feeling sick over what she was hearing. What kind of monsters would set a pack of dogs after a live bunny like that?
“Any injured dogs?” She knew he would have brought any injured ones to her, so she was essentially asking if they’d found any more dogs shot in cold blood.
“No.” He shook his head and ran his hands up and down her arms as though trying to soften the blow. “None this time. I have a feeling they’re just moving from site to site quickly to keep one step ahead of us. It’s possible they know we’ve started checking abandoned properties.”
His explanation matched Mary’s information—a new site for each race, the location texted to attendees at the last minute.
“Unfortunately, it’s going to take time to catch them in the act, Lily. We don’t have the budget for a big undercover sting for something like this. It’s horrible, but this has to take a backseat.”
Lily’s temper flared. “Dead animals don’t rank up there with, what, burglaries? What is it that’s pulling money away from finding some sick bastard who’s letting dogs tear live animals apart for sport?”
He didn’t rise to her bait, and that ticked her off for a minute, too. She wanted to fight something, but he cut her argument short with his answer. “I’m sorry, Lil, but there have been a string of arsons on the other side of the county. A lot of resources are diverted there now. There are other crimes. We might not have the murder rate of bigger cities, but we do have our share of murders, assaults, things I can’t pull resources from. Maybe when John comes back next week, I can talk to him and he can help me make it work, but as of right now, I’m limited in what I can do.”
She bit down on the inside of her cheeks to keep from crying or yelling or lashing out in some way. It wasn’t Carter’s fault and he was right. Arson is serious, and she was no idiot. She knew it could lead to death too easily if someone got caught in the crossfire. But she couldn’t stand the thought that there were dogs and rabbits out there being horribly mistreated. Who knew when they might decide to shoot another dog? Or hold a race and put rabbits through a horrific death for a night of gambling and so-called entertainment.
She nodded at Carter, but couldn’t say anything. If she spoke, she’d end up crying in his arms, and she needed to keep it together to get through the rest of her day.
He squeezed her arms and bent to meet her eyes. “You okay, Lily? I promise, I won’t give up. It’s just going to take some time.”
She nodded again and found her voice. “Yeah. I know. I’ll be okay. At least Honey is out of their hands.”
He grinned. “She’s doing great. You need to come over and see her soon,” he said and she smiled.
“I will. I promise.”
“I have to work the next two nights, but can I cook you dinner Wednesday night.” He brushed his mouth back and forth across her lips, teasing the answer he wanted from her.
She sighed into his kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Yes. Dinner sounds great.”
He pulled back and melted her with one of those smiles he
seemed to know she couldn’t deny. “So it’s a date?”
She had to laugh at his raised brows and the challenge in his look. Another sigh. “Yes. It’s a date.”
As Carter walked away, Lily watched him, pulling her phone out when he’d made it through the lobby and out the front door.
See if you can get a name. She hit send and waited for Mary to reply with an okay before pocketing it again. Just because Carter’s hands were tied didn’t mean she and Mary couldn’t do all they could to stop the people responsible for this. If she could get him the proof he needed, he could take action.
Chapter Nine
When Mary called two days later to say she had a lead, Lily swallowed down the naysaying in her head. Carter had been clear. He needed evidence that rabbits were being killed, and more importantly, that gambling was taking place. He’d told her that the gambling was what would most likely lead to a successful prosecution. It was the more serious of the crimes being committed.
It sickened her to think that gambling might take precedence over the inhumane treatment of animals, but she could at least take action to make sure these people were stopped. So Lily didn’t hesitate. Well, not for very long, anyway. Mary couldn’t slip into one of the races without being noticed. People around here knew her, and they knew she lived for rescuing dogs. It wouldn’t be safe for Mary.
But not many people in town knew Lily yet. If she threw her hair up under a hat and put on heavy makeup and a tight miniskirt, no one would peg her as the town veterinarian. So it was, that four hours later, she found herself at a roadside bar fifteen minutes outside of town. Not a place she would normally go, and not a place where she felt remotely safe. She tugged again at her skirt while she avoided the attentions of yet another guy in a dirty shirt with bad hair and teeth. Unfortunately, she couldn’t leave. She was waiting for the man nursing a beer in the corner to get a text. Mary had told her Sonny Daigle was supposedly one of the most frequent attendees of the underground dog races. She’d heard this from a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy, and so on. Mary swore to Lily that this was good information, and a race was taking place tonight.
