Chapter 12
Viper
Wham!
Wham!
Wham!
I smashed the nail into the piece of wood with enough fury behind my actions I dented the piece. At least it was near the roof of the building. One more piece and I’d finish this side. Maybe in the next couple of weeks, I could give the clinic a fresh coat of paint.
That was if the veterinarian of the building, the infuriating dog doctor allowed me. Or if she could pick a color.
Maybe I’d choose one for her.
One more nail. Then one small piece to add at the top.
Wham!
It felt good to be taking out all my aggressions before I had to leave for work.
Another parachute jump higher on one of the mountain ranges followed by a four-mile run to return to base with a heavy pack.
I was fit and prepared but given the various attitudes I’d been exposed to the day before, I wanted to come in first. It would seem everything was a competition with the Zullies.
And with having blue balls from the afternoon before, every muscle was stiff, my blood boiling. That’s exactly what she did to me. She drove me nuts.
While she had every right to toss me from her room, the line in the sand bit about us being only friends wasn’t going to work. How was I supposed to keep my hands off her when she paraded around in a skimpy see-through thong?
Granted, she’d put on a pair of shorts and a crop top later, but they weren’t much better. The top’s material was thin, her gorgeous nipples poking through. And the shorts? Way too short to be in the company of a famished man.
Wham!
Another nail and it went straight in, maybe a little too far.
While taking a deep breath, I used my vantage point to scan the ranch.
Grace certainly had some beautiful land, including a body of water I could just catch a glimpse of.
Along with another structure in the distance.
Maybe if I got back from work in time, I’d do some exploring.
I hadn’t been able to stop imagining her all night long, dreaming of her lips wrapped around my cock.
Or what she’d felt like writhing underneath my big, heavy body.
Or the sounds she made when experiencing an orgasm.
Christ. There weren’t enough pieces of lumber in the world to help me work through my sexual aggravation.
I wiped sweat from my brow, hearing a noise in the distance.
Someone was driving down the driveway. I waited as the driver slowed, the dark truck parking a little far from the clinic.
Maybe I was nosy or just curious, but I needed to make a cut on the final piece.
After climbing down, I grabbed the towel I’d brought out, remaining where I was while a guy stepped from the cab.
The stranger obviously didn’t see me, taking his time to scan the ranch just like I’d been doing.
Only I didn’t have a good feeling about his reason.
While his back was turned to me, I walked a little closer, remaining as quiet as possible.
When I was only a couple of feet away, I noticed he had his phone in his hand and was taking pictures.
“Can I help you?”
I was a damn good observer of people’s reactions and body language. While his body stiffened from being caught, he wasn’t the kind of surprised most people would be at some stranger appearing just behind them. With him wearing a ballcap and sunglasses, it was tough to see his face.
He took a deep breath, sliding his phone into his left pocket while I’d come from the right. As if I hadn’t noticed.
When he turned, he pulled a single but unusually intense look all the way to my boots. There was no doubt he hadn’t expected to see someone else. Particularly a man.
“I have an appointment with Doctor Monroe, but I’m a little early, so I was just enjoying the view. My wife and I are thinking about buying a little ranch like this. I hope you don’t mind, but I took a couple pictures.”
“Not my place.”
“Oh,” he said, as if thrilled to hear it. “Well, it’s gorgeous.”
I continued wiping my hands, nonchalantly studying him but gathering a sense of who he was.
He was trying to appear as if he was one of the locals, including wearing a tee shirt from a bar in town I’d passed by on my way here.
His jeans were straight out of LL Bean and while the knees were covered in dirt, I had a feeling it wasn’t from working outside.
Maybe because of the forty grand he was wearing on his wrist.
Yeah, I knew my watches.
“She’s still in the house. I’ll be happy to go get her for you.”
“That’s great. You’re working on her property?”
“I am.” He wasn’t going to get any additional information.
I walked away, noticing there was a dog in the truck with him, the dog barely large enough for me to see his head.
As soon as I walked inside, I was hit with her perfume, which she hadn’t been wearing the day before. I don’t know why that bothered me.
I’d never been jealous but seeing her in a dress instead of the jeans that I’d seen when I’d met her bothered me. Maybe that was because after our incident in her bedroom, instead of avoiding me altogether, she’d purposely walked by me dozens of times.
She’d driven me absolutely crazy, so much so I’d masturbated after I’d gotten into bed. Even now, as my eyes fell on her long legs, I was forced to take a deep breath.
The pups were enjoying breakfast, barely lifting their heads from their bowls.
“You have a patient. He’s early.”
“Oh, thanks. I’ll leave the coffeepot on.” She didn’t even look me in the eye before walking past.
“I don’t like the guy.”
My comment stopped her in the doorway. She spun around, planting one hand on her hip. “You don’t like… My client?”
“Nope.”
“Why?”
“I have a bad feeling about him.”
She narrowed her eyes and every time she did, her lips drifted into a pout. I wondered if she knew she was doing that. “Let me get this straight. You have no clue about my clientele, but you don’t like him based on what, a feeling?”
I could tell her the guy had been taking pictures, but I didn’t want to scare her. Besides, maybe he was telling the truth. “That’s right. I’m a good judge of character.”
When she opened her mouth, I sensed she had a spicy retort, but she snapped it shut while looking away. Since when had she experienced any difficulty tossing out a snide remark? Only when I was standing naked in front of her.
“Are we talking about a guy with a ballcap?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
She dared take a step closer but stopped herself, especially since she offered a salacious look that provided another sweet sight of a deep rose blush on her face.
“His puppy was shot by some jerk and I just wanted to make certain the little guy was doing okay. There’s nothing to worry about so you can just… mind your own business.”
I’d never seen anyone work so hard to ignore chemistry. Well, so be it.
“That’s fine. I gotta head to work anyway.”
“Good,” she murmured, but her eyes remained locked on mine.
“Yeah, good.”
“Great.”
How fascinating she was even more nervous than she’d been before. If she only knew the vivid and sinful things I’d tossed around in my mind the night before.
Good dreams were hard for a boy like me to find.
We stared at each other, and she tried a different tactic, smiling in a way that would remain with me for the remainder of the day.
“I didn’t get a chance to tell you thank you for hanging the sanctuary sign. That was very sweet of you.”
That’s not what I expected. “Sure. Ellie May should be honored.”
Grace could drive any man crazy with her subtle actions, the slight hand gestures and the way she wrinkled her nose when thinking about something. “My mother used to tease me with that name when I was a kid. One of her favorite characters in a television show had that name.”
“The Beverly Hillbillies, only her name was spelled slightly differently.”
“Yeah, you’re right. How did you…”
“It was my mom’s favorite show. She used to make me watch reruns.” Not a memory I needed.
“Like mine,” she whispered. “I wanted to honor my mother’s memory. Anyway, thank you. That was a wonderful surprise. Be safe at work today. Okay?”
“Sure.”
With a nod and another quick glance, she moved out the front door. I trailed behind her, watching from behind the screen door while she greeted him.
He gathered the dog from the passenger seat, his back to me.
I might not know much about animals, but I had a feeling dog people all reacted much like Grace.
With TLC and kid gloves when an injured or sick animal was involved.
He couldn’t care less, keeping the dog six inches away from his body.
Awww… He didn’t want to mess up his clothes.
He stopped just before heading into the door of the clinic, turning his head toward the house and where I was standing.
No. I didn’t like the asshole at all, which was why I decided to take pictures of his truck and his license plate.
A guy couldn’t be too careful.
* * *
Grace
I never imagined I’d be doing house calls, but maybe it was an arm of my business that would bring additional clients. Plus, the sweet older lady had made me cookies on top of paying me. How could I resist?
At least her sweet poodle had simply had a tummy ache. I laughed as my thoughts drifted to how little Bonbon had growled at me. Not at first but it rarely happened. My guess was her dislike had more to do with the pedestrian scent of two labradors, who were likely beneath her.
With three clients earlier in the morning and Ms. Wettinger and Bonbon, the day had turned out to be much more productive than I’d thought. Plus, I had a decent schedule for the next two weeks. Word on the open clinic was growing.
Now, if I could get my ad finished for the local newspaper, even better. Maybe that’s what I’d work on when I got home.
As I made a turn, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Well, look what we had here. A Super 8 Motel. Not a. The.