Stray (3 page)

Ashleigh called me again before I even got to the ATM. The girl was beginning to be a serious pain in my ass, though the sex was something of a compensation. I reminded myself once more why I was with her, took a deep breath and answered.

“Babe, I’m on my way.”

“Don’t bother, I’m not hungry anymore. I’m getting my own room. Call me in the morning, and if I’m not still mad at you, I may let you take me to breakfast.”

“Aw, Babe, don’t be that way,” I complained, while mentally pumping my fist with a ‘yeah, off the hook!’ Okay, no sex tonight, but the upside was that I wouldn’t have to listen to her gripe about everything in her miserable, wealthy life. Jesus, there was no pleasing the woman.

“No, my mind’s made up, don’t try to talk me out of it. Maybe next time you won’t make such a fuss about some mangy dog.” She hung up before I could even answer her.

I went ahead and hit the ATM before heading back to the room anyway, and just to indulge in a little pettiness myself, drove down to Boulder for a burger and fries to replace the steak dinner Ashleigh had spurned. No fast food in Sunshine, but that was okay. It was perfect in every other way. Even more so, now that I’d met the new vet.

Man, she was a feisty one! I wasn’t sure why she’d been so hostile, but it didn’t matter. It made me want to tame her, in the most primal way possible. Even with her hair flying all over the place and in a stained lab coat that frankly didn’t smell all that fresh, she was a knockout. The snarky little brat at the front desk was hostile, too, but she was beneath my notice, just a kid. Was it because I got there after closing time? Too bad—the dog needed to be seen tonight, and at least the vet was willing.

Heh, it would be fun if she really was willing
, I thought, amused at my own double entendre. She was taller than average, which suited me fine. I was a little tired of kewpie dolls, especially Ashleigh. The vet had ash blonde hair that I could tell was thick and silky even though it was pulled back into a severe braid, and eyes that were kind of gray-green. And the face of an angel. An angry angel.

As I sailed around the curves in the mountain road, I barely saw the ribbon of asphalt in front of me. Instead, I was visualizing Dr. Erin Timms, DVM, naked and needy under me, my hand holding her wrists pinned above her head, her soft mouth pleading with me to fuck her, and fuck her now, while I teased and denied her the pleasure she sought so desperately.

I imagined the gray-green eyes darkening, tears of gratitude forming as I thrust into her ready and open pussy…whoa, shit! The vision dissipated as I barely dodged a deer that ran across the road in front of me. A dog was one thing, but a deer would cause some serious damage. I decided to save the fantasies for back in the room later.

Even though I had a nice home in Boulder, I had taken Ashleigh up to Sunshine for a ski week. It was the perfect cover for my real reason for being in Sunshine. Now I wished I didn’t have that complication and could pursue the interesting veterinarian.

Not for the first time, I kicked myself for getting involved with Ashleigh. At first, it seemed to play right into my long term plans. As long as we were dating, her dad gave me a pass on what seemed to be the haphazard way I was doing my job.

She was attractive, the sex was okay and the head was great, but it was like dating a blonde bimbo out of some comedy B-movie. Nothing was in her head but clothes, fun and sex, not necessarily in that order. I felt bad about stringing her along, actually. But, my goal was too important, not only to me but to the town of Sunshine, to let that stop me from using her to stay on her dad’s good side. Her desertion on the first night didn’t bode well for the rest of the trip, though.

At least I could think about Dr. Timms and indulge in some more daydreaming about how I’d erase that hostility. Okay, maybe I was being a little arrogant, but I knew my effect on women, and I had no time for false modesty. Some women just melted with no effort on my part at all when I turned on my swagger, but others resisted the alpha male persona. Those were the most fun to break, and they always broke.

Even Ashleigh, when she got over her pique at my insistence on taking the dog to the vet, would come crawling back. I knew it as truly as I knew my own name; it had happened before. Reminding myself that I needed to keep Ashleigh happy, at least superficially, for a few more weeks, I ordered my burger super-sized and ate it in my BMW X5 on the way back up the mountain.

When I got back to the room, the suite actually, Ashleigh was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t bluffing this time, obviously, but then again she had only taken her small bag. The rest of her clothes were still hanging in the closet next to mine, so she obviously meant to come back. I wondered whether it would be in the middle of the night again, like last time, or whether she’d make me wait ‘til morning. The thing was, she needed sex more than I did, or rather more than I did with her. When this was all over, she was going to hate me, and I’d probably have to punish myself for being a jerk.

I stripped and got into the king-sized bed naked, splaying my legs out to occupy the whole bed. If Ashleigh came back in the middle of the night, she’d find me exposed and waiting for her to tease my cock into her plaything. She’d probably start with a blowjob; she liked those, and I had to admit waking up to one wasn’t the worst thing in the world. That was another compensation for being with her, but not enough to put up with her bullshit if I hadn’t had other reasons. Mr. Wonderful twitched at the thought of a blowjob. He had no standards. Well, he’d have to do without for now.

How about that vet, though? Even with her lips pressed together in disapproval of me, I could tell they’d be soft and luscious. Maybe she’d like giving head, too. I started rolling my fantasy in my mind again, this time paying more attention to the way those generous breasts would look. With that coloring, the nipples would probably be pale, pale pink, but darkening to mauve in the center when they tightened up into little buds… Thoughts of seducing the vet carried me off to sleep, sporting a boner that I decided not to deal with for myself. Maybe Ashleigh would be back before long.

Once I
’d showered, I felt like a new woman. It was true that the clinic was a mess, and without Megan to help the next morning, I was going to have to get up early to clean the OR as well as sterilize those examining rooms. I set an alarm on my cell phone, knowing that I’d never wake up in six hours if I didn’t. During my internship and residency, I was known for being difficult to wake up. Sometimes my alternate on call would have to resort to flicking cold water on my face before I’d awaken. Fortunately, I had a thoroughly obnoxious, retro j-pop ringtone now, that never failed to make me jump out of bed and try to kill the phone. It was pretty effective.

Before I lay down to sleep, though, I went in the panties and bra that I would be sleeping in to check on Max. His vitals had returned to normal before I took my shower, but he went straight from anesthetized to a normal sleep. His paws were twitching, letting me know he was dreaming, when I looked in on him for the last time. An adorable little snore accompanied each indrawn breath.

I knew I was in trouble as I put my hand through the wires of the kennel and touched him. My favorite breed, a stray that desperately needed help; I knew my lame duck rescue gene was going to kick in, and I had no room to keep a Golden in my apartment. It was going to be easy to find him a home when we had him cleaned up, but tough to let him go.

Satisfied that my patient would be okay until morning, I finally took my rest. When I’d had a lot of stimulation like tonight, I often found it difficult to fall asleep, so I would turn over the events in my mind until my brain was convinced all the meaning had been extracted from them. That’s what I did tonight as I let my thoughts drift from the logistics of keeping a dog in the clinic to the man who’d brought Max in.

I couldn’t figure him out. He obviously had money; but the only people I knew of who carried that much cash were drug dealers. Okay, so I was going by a pop culture impression of drug dealers. But I didn’t think they wore high-quality but conservative clothes like that, and I was almost certain they wouldn’t take time out of a busy Friday night to rescue a dog they’d hit with their flashy car. He’d said his name was Jon. Jon what, I wondered, and then wondered if I was mentally spelling it right.

Maybe he meant John, like John Doe. I doubted I’d see him again, which made it safe for me to begin playing what-if in my mind. What-if he were really a nice guy, and the dog was just an accident like he’d said? What-if I had a boyfriend with those looks and that body? He’d had a generous mouth, with well-formed lips, made for kissing, and my fingers still itched to get hold of those dark curls. Damn, he was fine! But arrogant, I could tell that just from the way he’d held up his finger to hold me in check while he talked to his girlfriend.

I had no use for arrogant men, not since Greg. I’d put up with his attitude for a long time—four years, to be exact. We were in our respective medical schools when we met, though he looked down on veterinary school and constantly reminded me I wasn’t a ‘real’ doctor like he was. The last three years we were together, though, he was doing an extended residency while I’d finished mine and found a job that somehow ended up supporting both of us.

We had moved in together at the end of our first year as a couple, and it was supposed to be a fifty-fifty split of the living expenses. Whenever it was time to pay the rent, though, his car needed repair, or he had some other excuse for not having it. I always paid, assuming that once he was able to join a medical practice, he’d pay me back in some way.

Like many women who supported their men through medical school, I had a rude awakening shortly after he secured a position in an upscale plastic surgery practice. I was good enough to support him for three years, but not good enough to be his wife, or even his girlfriend now.

He explained it all to me quite logically as he packed his bags and walked out of our apartment for good. He needed someone who ‘complemented his position.’ Someone who might have been giving a dog an enema in the afternoon wasn’t the person to accompany him to a posh evening entertainment at night. Bastard.

I should have known better. I’d watched my father put my mom down for years, before she finally divorced him when my little sister turned eighteen. We were all grown and out of the house when mom grew a backbone, hired a society lawyer, and took dear old dad for half of his net worth. Not that he was extremely wealthy; far from it. In fact, I think the lawyers ended up with more than either of my parents did. But it was heartwarming to see my mom in her element now, looking years younger and even dating younger men, while my father spluttered and told us kids that we couldn’t expect any more financial help from him because of what mom did. I didn’t care, I had my degree and a fledgling career, but I felt bad for my sister. She still needed to get through college.

I must have drifted off to sleep at some point with all these thoughts and memories circling in my head. I dreamed about a beautiful man throwing a stick for a sleek, healthy Golden, and of me being wrapped in the arms of a tall stranger with dark curly hair and brown eyes with flecks of amber.

~*~

There wasn’t much traffic in the clinic the next morning, probably because Dr. Simmons, Megan’s dad, hadn’t ever kept Saturday hours before. The only reason I did was to make more money so I could save to buy the clinic, but I was aware that I was establishing an expectation that was going to keep me working on Saturdays until I could afford to hire a second vet myself. In any case, the town wasn’t used to having it open, so they didn’t think to come in on Saturdays. I kept those hours for walk-ins, no appointments. In between the few people who came in with their pets, I spent all the time I could with Max.

I was going to get him groomed as soon as possible, would have done it myself, except that it was going to take some time and even though traffic was light, there were still enough patients that I didn’t have time for grooming. In the light of day, Max looked some better than I’d thought the night before. Part of the matted fur around his neck came away when I took off the filthy scrap of bandanna that I could now see underneath. It left an open sore that pissed me off. .

How could someone abandon a dog at all, much less with crap tied around his neck that would do this? I knew the clinic would have to advertise his presence, but if someone came forward to claim him, I was going to have my say.

Noon finally came around, and I locked the door before starting to run the day-end report. About fifteen minutes later, a banging on the door interrupted my work and I looked up. There, peering in through the glass, was Jon. What was it with him, couldn’t he ever come during open hours? I yelled, “We’re closed!”

Jon stepped back, stopped banging and formed his hands into a prayerful gesture. “Please,” he mouthed,

Even though I liked him begging more than giving orders, I was exasperated. I hoped he wouldn’t be this much of a pain in the ass for the entire time Max took to recover, because it was going to be a matter of weeks, not days. I got up and went to let him in.

“Sorry I’m late,” he rushed before I could say a word. “Something came up.”

Oh, I could imagine what had come up. Probably his dick, for ‘Babe.’ Not an appropriate observation, though, so I said nothing.

“How’s Max?”

My anger melted in response to him remembering what I’d named the dog. “He’s doing well. Not out of the woods by a long shot, but he’ll make it, and I think the leg will be fine, too. He might have a limp,” I babbled. Why was I suddenly acting like an idiot? This man wouldn’t care whether the dog had a limp, it was nothing to him. But, he surprised me again.

“Is there something you can do, like physical therapy or something, that would help him walk normally?”

“Well, there are canine physical therapists, but none here in Sunshine. He’d have to go to Boulder, and I don’t know how I could manage that.”

“Could I take him? I feel terrible about his injuries.”

I thawed a little more toward him after that. Maybe I’d misjudged him, or maybe his girlfriend had made him see how his carelessness had affected an innocent animal. Women were always more tenderhearted than men, weren’t they? From his side of the conversation last night, I thought she was giving him a hard time for taking so long at the clinic, but maybe I’d been mistaken. Whatever, if he was willing to take the dog for physical therapy, I couldn’t object. It would reduce Max’s pain and help his recovery.

“Sure. But, he’s going to need to stay here for several more weeks, and PT should start sooner rather than later. Do you live here in Sunshine?”

“No, I live in Boulder. I’m just here for a ski week. But, I could take him home with me, or I could come up and get him, then bring him back. It’s only half an hour.”

Now I was really confused. I’d met owners who claimed to love their dogs like their children that would whine about a round trip like that to help an injured animal. This Jon guy was coming up in my estimation, which kind of pissed me off. I hated being wrong.

I led the way back to the kennel where Max waited for me to appear. No thump of the tail this time, and he shrank back when Jon reached for him.

“Let him make the first move,” I said, the order sharp even in my ears.

“Hey, boy,” Jon said in a wheedling voice that seemed to reassure Max. “I just want to see how you’re doing.”

The very tip of Max’s tail flicked his interest. Jon kept speaking softly, a look of tender care on his face that would have been hard to miss. If a man that looked like him ever gave me a gaze like that, I’d probably strip for him instantly, no matter where we were. I straightened with a gasp, drawing a curious glance from Jon before he returned his attention to Max. What the hell was wrong with me? This was a guy who’d carelessly hit a dog, and beautiful face or no, I didn’t need a complication like him while I was establishing myself in the town. Besides, he didn’t even live here. To stop the inconvenient fantasies that kept pushing into my brain whenever I was around him, I thought of Mrs. Padgett’s sick cat. That ought to do it.

Once Jon finally left, I was free to get on with my weekend. My plans weren
’t all that exciting, but I had been looking forward to my time off. I had errands to do in Boulder.

I was still learning about Sunshine, though there wasn’t much to learn. I’d been making an effort to get to know the people who worked in the dozen or so small shops, attractions and the museum, starting with the shop the furthest out from the clinic and visiting one each Saturday. This would help me meet my new neighbors and pick up any gossip that might help me understand the townspeople and their animals. So far I’d been well-received except for Megan’s obvious dislike.

I thought that getting to know people outside the clinic would help them trust me when their animals needed vet care, and it had paid off from the first week when Mrs. Padgett, who owned a cattery, was my first conquest. I had no idea how she turned a profit with a business like that in this tiny town, but it turned out that hers was a breeding operation, quite famous in the region for her Persians, Siamese and Burmese lines.

Today I needed to break my routine, though, because after a month I was out of a number of things that I could get at Walmart, saving enough over local prices to make the trip to town economical.

Before I left, I checked to make sure Max was comfortable, fed him and refreshed his water bowl. He still couldn’t get around much, so I carried him out back to relieve himself, and back in when he was done. Much more of this and I was going to develop superhero muscles. He looked at me with expressive eyes, accusing me of something, leaving him lonely I suspected.

“I’ll be back tonight, boy,” I promised.

A few people waved at me as I drove out of town. I thought I was going to enjoy living in a small town, in spite of my mother’s warning that in a small town, everyone knows everyone else’s business. The good thing about that was that, like in the old sitcom Cheers, everybody knows your name. I didn’t yet know what the bad part was, but I would learn soon.