Blind Love

by Kelly Elliott

  “Oh thank God! Your dog pooped!”

  Rushing over, I grabbed the paper towels and the cleaner from his hand and cleaned up the mess Hemi had made. I noticed how he had called her my dog. I’d let that go…for now.

  Tripp had already opened the windows to his office, and Hemi was sitting on one of the chairs with her nose up against the screen.

  “There. All better,” I said as I bagged up the trash and handed it to Tripp who tried to hand it to Steed.

  Lifting his palms, Steed took a few steps back. “Hard pass.”

  Tripp looked like he was about to come undone. “You listen here, this is all your fault.”

  “My fault?” Steed asked. “How is any of this my fault?”

  “Chloe! She’s your daughter, she dognapped Hemi and then hid her out in your office, and your wife guilted my girlfriend into taking the dog.”

  My heart soared when Tripp called me his girlfriend. I loved hearing that come from his lips.

  Steed stood there in silence before nodding his head. “I see your point, but—”

  “No buts!”

  “But,” Steed went on, “You were the one who left and didn’t make sure Hemi was in her crate.”

  Tripp balled up his fists and was about to let loose.

  “Steed, I think I can help Tripp from this point on with the clean-up.”

  “Oh, I didn’t come here to help him clean, he wanted to talk to me. Speaking of, what did you want to talk to me about?”

  Pushing Steed out of his office, Tripp said, “Never mind. Just get out of here before I punch you in the face.”

  Glancing back over his shoulder, Steed dumped a bit of fuel on the fire. “Now how would that look? Attorney running for mayor hits brother and kills dog.”

  “I didn’t say I was killing the dog.”

  “You did about ten minutes ago.”

  “Get out, Steed!” Tripp yelled. He slammed the door shut and then looked over to Hemi who was now sitting in her crate with one of her toys in her mouth.

  His entire body sank, and he let out a defeated sigh.

  “I can take Hemi to work with me from now on. I’ll keep her in my office and make sure I have a crate at both places. It’ll be fine,” I said.

  “She ate my favorite pair of shoes.”

  A slight chuckle slipped out, but I pulled it back in when his eyes snapped up to mine.

  When his mouth twitched with a smile, I returned one. His hands reached for me, and I let him pull me to his lap.

  “I’ve been thinking,” he softly said.

  “Oh yeah? While cleaning up dog poop?”

  His body shook when he laughed. “No, before that. I think I have an idea that will get you out of the clinic and into another one.”

  My brows pulled in tight. “Tripp, I used every bit of my savings on that clinic.”

  He nodded. “I think we take Gerald up on the offer to buy you out. Let him give you the money back that you paid Doc. He would have had to buy Doc out anyway. I’m pretty sure we can get him to pay the full price you paid Doc. He’s getting pissed and wants his place.”

  “Then what do I do?”

  He brushed a piece of hair back that had fallen from my ponytail. “Do you know how fucking sexy you are in these kitten scrubs?”

  I looked down at my scrubs and rolled my eyes. “I’m glad to see you’re easy to please when it comes to my clothes.”

  There was no denying Tripp was turned on, even though his office was a mess. I could feel his hard length pressing into me.

  “I want to make love to you.”

  I smiled. As much as I wanted to straddle him and ask him to take me right now, knowing he had been with Mallory in his office—probably on this very sofa—turned my stomach.

  “Then we should head to your house or mine,” I said, trying to keep my thoughts out of my eyes.

  He frowned slightly and then lifted the corner of his mouth in a slight grin. “Mine’s closer.”

  I stood and clapped my hands together. “Okay! Let me get this place cleaned up and…”

  Tripp pulled me to him. Cupping my face with his hands, he stared into my eyes. “Talk to me, Harley. You’re holding something back.”

  Swallowing hard, I closed my eyes and let out a breath. “I know you were with her here, and I can’t bring myself…” I gazed into his beautiful baby blues. “I’m sorry. I know it’s stupid and I have no right to feel that way.”

  “You have every right. If I knew you had been with a guy in your office at the clinic I wouldn’t like it either. I’m sorry I was insensitive to that just now.”

  The corners of my mouth turned up. “I love you, Tripp.”

  Heat built on my cheek where his thumb rubbed lightly back and forth. “I love you so much, Lee. More than you will ever know.”

  His lips pressed to mine and I reached up to grab his arms. Tripp’s kisses always left me dizzy. When he pulled back, I let out a soft moan.

  “More?” he asked.

  “Always.”

  Hemi barked, reminding us we still needed to clean up the office.

  “Let’s get this place cleaned up,” I said, giving Tripp a quick kiss before setting off to clean.

  An hour later, the office was back to normal. I shut the window and was about to say something when Tripp’s office door busted open and Bobby Hansen burst in. Karen was hot on his tail.

  “What do you mean you’re not coming to the city council meeting tonight? You’re always there. You have to be there. You’re running for mayor! And speaking of, when are you going to be actually campaigning for the spot, Tripp?”

  “Bobby, I announced it a month or so ago. I’ve had a few things going on and some cases that have kept me busy.”

  “Well, are you an attorney or a…”

  Before Bobby could finish, Tripp interrupted him. “I’m a human being with a damn life. And if you’ll excuse me, you caught me during a meeting.”

  Bobby’s eyes swung over to see me standing there, Hemi in my arms.

  “A meeting? With your girlfriend and her dog?”

  “Our dog,” Tripp corrected.

  Karen and I exchanged glances.

  “What is the meeting about?”

  With her finger shaking in Bobby’s face, Karen lost her cool. “You hold on here, Bobby Hansen. You may have barged your way into Mr. Parker’s office, but it is none of your business who he is meeting with or what the meeting is about.”

  “He’s running for mayor, Karen. Everything he does now is the town’s business.”

  Tripp looked like he was about to blow his top. I walked over to Bobby and flashed him a big smile.

  “Mr. Hansen, your wife stopped by the vet clinic yesterday. Your Boxer, Bruce, is so adorable.”

  I knew from the way Mrs. Hansen had talked yesterday, Bruce was the apple of both of their eyes.

  “He is cute, isn’t he?”

  “We have to get Bruce and Hemi a play date when she has all her shots. I’m sure she is going to fall in love with Bruce.”

  His face blushed. “He is quite the flirt.”

  I ushered Mr. Hansen out of Tripp’s office while I kept talking about his dog. “Then let’s get something set up soon. I know Mrs. Hansen is dying for Bruce to meet Hemi and Lady.”

  “We will. For sure, Harley. It’s great having you back in Oak Springs.”

  “It’s great to be back. See ya soon!” I called out as I ushered him out and shut the door behind him.

  Turning, I saw Tripp and Karen staring at me.

  “The wrong person is running for mayor,” Karen mumbled as she headed back to her desk.

  I focused on Tripp. “I need my purse and Hemi’s blanket.”

  Tripp held them both up. It was pretty clear he was ready to leave.

  “How about if we leave your car here at the office. I’ll drive you back later if you want it or we can get it in the morning.”

  I had brought some clothes and toiletries over to Tripp’s after
it was clear I would be spending a number of days there at any given time. I wasn’t sure how Tripp felt about it, but he didn’t seem to mind. At least, he didn’t act like he minded. We lived in such a small town and no matter what we did, people were going to talk.

  When we walked into the house, I expected Tripp to attack me and drag me to his room. He didn’t. He took Hemi from me and told me to take a seat on the sofa.

  “There are a few things I want to talk to you about.”

  My hands wrung together as a million things crossed my mind. None of them good.

  “Is…everything okay?”

  He set Hemi down at his feet after he sat across from me. “With us? It’s amazing.”

  I let my shoulders drop in relief.

  “I’ve been doing some thinking about our future.”

  Tripp was always the planner. I wasn’t the least bit surprised he would be thinking about our future, especially since I was walking into the middle of one of his major plans.

  Kicking off my shoes, I tucked my legs up under me. I replied with a simple, “Okay.”

  His eyes looked so sad, and for a minute I had the urge to get up and go to him, wrap my arms around him and tell him not everything in life had to be planned out. But this was Tripp, and I loved him. If planning our future made him feel better, then I would sit and listen.

  “For the longest time, I’ve lived my life by my agenda. I had it all figured out for both of us at one point, and then I kept on with that same plan, only adjusting a few things.”

  I glanced down at my hands. Guilt filled my chest and made my breathing heavier.

  “The last few weeks, though, since we’ve been together, everything seems to be changing. The things I thought I once wanted, no longer seem to be important.”

  Swallowing hard, I held my breath as I waited for him to drop a bomb on me. “What don’t you want?” I asked.

  “This life.”

  “This life?” I repeated, as a question.

  “I mean, I want this life with you, but the planned life I had laid out so carefully? I don’t want it anymore. I don’t want to run for mayor.”

  My jaw dropped. “What do you mean? Tripp, you’ve always wanted to get into politics.”

  He shook his head. “No, the twenty-one-year-old who thought he had it all figured out wanted that. I’m thirty-one now, Harley, and what I want is sitting in front of me. You’ve always been my dream. The one thing that stayed constant. I think I kept on with my agenda after you left because it was the only thing I knew to do. Stay the course.”

  “And you don’t want to stay the course anymore?”

  The corners of his mouth lifted into a wide smile. “No. I want to shake things up, and I know exactly how to do it. I had the beginning of the idea earlier, and then in my office today, the rest of it hit me.”

  “What hit you?” I asked.

  He got up and moved to sit next to me. “Just listen to me and let me get this all out before you say anything, okay?”

  I nodded.

  “There’s some land outside of town, not very far, that my father owns. Steed takes care of the taxes and manages the place. The only thing on there is a barn from on old ranch back in the day. I talked to Steed earlier to see if he thought my father would be interested in selling it to me. We didn’t get a chance for me to tell him why because of the whole Hemi disaster.”

  The intense way my heart was beating had me both nervous and excited. I had no idea what he was about to say, but I couldn’t wait to find out.

  “Here’s what I’m thinking. You let Gerald buy you out. We take that money and build a new vet clinic on the land.”

  “What?” I gasped, my eyes nearly popping out of my head. “Tripp, I don’t have enough money to start a vet clinic from the ground up.”

  “You have a good portion of money to get it started. You just need an investor.”

  “An investor? And who is that going to be?”

  “Me. Because there’s something in this for me as well.”

  The room started to spin, and I stood up, trying to let all of his words settle. “Wait. You want me to build a new vet clinic, let you invest in it, and there’s also something in it for you? What could there possibly be in it for you?”

  “A new office.”

  I stared at him like he was insane. “You have an office.”

  Tripp stood and made his way over to me. “Earlier when we were in my office, and I told you I wanted to make love to you. I saw it in your eyes. The idea of us being together in there made you feel physically ill.”

  “Tripp, I—”

  “Let me finish.”

  Snapping my mouth shut, I motioned for him to go on.

  “We’ve only been together for a few weeks, but I already know if you let me, I’d marry you today, Harley.”

  I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand.

  “I want to marry you. I want to have babies…as many as you want. I want to help you make your dreams come true and call me selfish, but I want to be minutes from your office so I can fuck you anytime I want to. And I sure as hell don’t want to be mayor. People getting into our business and telling me what I can and can’t do? No. That’s not for me. Not anymore.”

  Tears filled my eyes as my hand dropped to my side.

  “Tripp,” I whispered. “Did you say you want to marry me?”

  He tossed his head back and let out a roar of laughter. “Is that all you heard, Lee?”

  Shaking my head frantically, I replied, “No! I heard it all, but that part stuck out. That and the part about babies.”

  Tripp took my hands in his. “We can do this. You and me…together.”

  I didn’t need time to think about any of it. It all felt right. “Do you think we can make it all work?”

  “I do. It’s fifty acres of land. If you wanted to, we could even build a house on it.”

  Chewing my lip, I glanced around the living room. “But I love this house. It feels like…home.”

  Tripp’s eyes felt like they were burning into my soul. He crashed his mouth to mine and picked me up. Walking us into the bedroom, he gently laid me on the bed. “Are we doing this?” he asked.

  I nodded, my chest rising and falling with each breath.

  “Will you marry me, Harley Carbajal, and let me try to knock you up while building a new vet clinic and a law office?”

  Squeezing my eyes shut to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, I let out a squeal of delight and stomped my legs like a crazy woman.

  Tripp cleared his throat. “I’m not really good at this, but was that a yes?”

  I opened my eyes and sat up, throwing myself at him.

  “Yes! It’s a yes to everything!”

  “What do you mean you’re withdrawing from the race?” Charles, my campaign manager, said.

  The ten men and women who sat in my office stared at me like I had lost my damn mind.

  “I’m taking myself out of the race for mayor.”

  “But why?” Mrs. Lords asked. She was the owner of the Oak Springs Gazette and one of the city council members.

  “I decided that I want to go a different path. I’m focusing on my future with my fiancée and making her dreams come true.”

  “Her dreams?” Bobby Hansen asked.

  “I know you all know about Doc’s brother. He was making life difficult for Harley, but he finally bought her out last week. I’m buying some land from my father right outside of town and Harley’s building a new vet clinic.”

  “A new vet clinic! Oh my goodness, this is so exciting!” Kenzie Lewis said. She was already writing like crazy in her notebook. “Is this something we are keeping under wraps or can we publish this in the Gazette?”

  Kenzie…always wearing her reporter hat. “You can publish it with an interview showcasing Harley as the new town vet. Give her a chance to talk about what the new clinic will have.”

  Bobby let out a huff, acting like he was more upset than he really was. “I guess if we
have to have you pulling out of the race, it’s for a good reason.”

  “Thanks, Bobby. I also want to focus on my law practice. It’s been growing steadily the last few years, and now that I’m moving my office next to the vet clinic, I think it will be a nice change.”

  All the women in the room gasped.

  “Oh, this just turned into a happily ever after piece,” Kenzie said. “I want to interview both of you. Featuring the new vet clinic and why you’re moving your office.”

  “Umm, me? You want to interview me as well? Why?”

  Kenzie and Mrs. Lords both looked at me like I had asked the dumbest question ever. “Tripp Parker, you are a major influence in this town. Not to get caught up in the gossip, but it is part of my business. Everyone knows the story of you and Harley. Besides, the whole second chance romance thing is beautiful. We can focus on how the town is growing by you expanding your law firm and Harley doing the same with the vet clinic. I think it would be best to leave the drama out of why Harley is building a new space. Let’s keep it on the growth of the town, with the twist of the happily ever after Kenzie mentioned.”

  “Do we announce the withdrawal separately?” Lori Durham, another city council member and owner of the one and only grocery store in town, asked.

  “We need to take care of that today,” Charles said. “I’ll call a press conference for around three. Does that sound good?” He scanned the room for objections. I was a bit surprised he wasn’t putting up a fight about it, but I think a part of him always knew my heart really wasn’t in the race.

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  As they stood, I pulled Lori back and asked to speak with her. Once the room cleared out, I sat down on the edge of my desk as she took a seat in front of me.

  “Lori, there’s two things I wanted to discuss with you.”

  “Okay, shoot.”

  Lori wasn’t that much older than me. Her grandparents had opened up The Springs Grocery back in the early forties. It had been passed on to Lori’s folks and now to her. They also owned a small ranch a few miles outside of town that housed a barn worthy of the king of England’s prized horses. Lori was an avid horse lover and had pretty much shown horses her entire life. Harley and Lori had been good friends when they were younger, both into the horse scene.