Chapter Six
An Unexpected Offer
Cal stood by the streetlamp near the end of the street and gazed across the road, watching the lone woman walking down the sidewalk with her dog.
It was the dog that struck him as odd. From where he stood, Cal couldn’t tell what breed it was, but it was quite huge, pulling Melissa as it tugged excitedly on its leash. The dog’s golden fur gleamed in the morning sun, its large tongue hung out of its mouth.
Cal’s brows furrowed slightly. For as long as he’d known Melissa, she’d never been much of a dog person. Then again, she hadn’t been a vet ten years ago either. So much had changed since then.
His attraction to her, however, had remained pretty much the same.
He licked his lips, eyeing her lithe figure as she walked down the sidewalk. Melissa had on a sports bra over pink shorts that clung to her body, giving him a tantalizing view of her figure. Her hips swayed with each step. She was in perfect shape; her legs toned from years of walking.
Looking at her, Cal felt his throat go dry.
He clenched his jaw, feeling a stirring sensation in his pants.
He came out this morning with a sole purpose: to ask for Melissa’s assistance.
He figured he’d catch her during one of her walks and talk to her, but so far, all he could do was watch her from a distance.
And what a view, he couldn’t help thinking.
He’d always been attracted to Melissa. From the day he met her at that restaurant, his body had always reacted the same way to her—his pulse quickening, that same tightening sensation in his pants, his mind leaping from one lustful thought to the other.
And right now, watching the jiggle of her butt in those pink shorts, he could think of several things he’d like to do with her, like prop her on his lap and claim that lovely mouth of hers with his as she ground against his erection.
Or slip his fingers between her legs, feeling the wetness of her arousal as she moaned and quivered against him.
She’d always loved the feel of his fingers, of his mouth, of him against her.
Cal couldn’t think of a time while they were dating that they’d ever been able to keep their hands off each other for longer than a few hours.
He certainly wanted his hands on her body now.
And hers on his, those delicate fingers curling around his length, guiding him into her. The thought alone was intoxicating.
Was she thinking about that? He thought he smelled her arousal the other day at the sanctuary. Unless he was wrong, she was still as attracted to him as he was to her. In ten years, that fact hadn’t changed.
But she was no longer his. Not after what she did.
You shouldn’t be thinking about her like that, he told himself. She broke your heart, remember?
Across the street, Melissa paused and stooped to pick something off the concrete, affording him a fresh view of her legs and perfect butt.
Cal’s erection throbbed almost painfully in his pants.
He stifled a groan. His ex-fiancée was the last person he should be feeling this way about, but some things were simply out of his control.
Still and all...no matter how badly he would like to peel those clothes off her body, his relationship with Melissa was over. She was still the same woman who looked at him like he was some kind of monster, the woman who’d taken off from their wedding without an explanation.
She wasn’t just the one who got away. The thought filled Cal’s mind, almost mocking. She was the one who ran away from you.
As far as reality checks went, this one was pretty effective. She belonged to his past. Whatever they had was over now.
Besides, he wasn’t here to ogle her. He was here to ask for her help.
Cal pressed his lips together. He wished he didn’t have to, but it wasn’t like he had much of a choice.
Just yesterday morning, Bryon and Henry had come up with five dead animals in Paradise Woods.
The wolf shifter’s words were still fresh in Cal’s memory: How many more animals must die needlessly before you do what needs to be done?
Try though he had, he couldn’t pretend Bryon was wrong.
Melissa just might be the only vet available in the whole of Downing.
Agreeing to hire her might not stop the attacks in the woods, but at least there wouldn’t be so many dead animals lying around.
Green Sanctuary needed all the help it could get.
And if he returned to the sanctuary without a vet, Bryon just might rip his head off his shoulders. A grim smile tugged at Cal’s lips at that thought.
Weeks—or even years—ago, he never would’ve imagined he’d end up working with Melissa.
In fact, the thought that he might bump into his ex-fiancée was laughable.
He moved far from Maine, far from anywhere he imagined he could possibly bump into her.
And for years, he hadn’t seen or heard a word about her.
She might as well have been gone forever.
Except now, she was right across the street from him.
Melissa had resumed walking, pushing her dark hair out of her face, the dog trotting ahead of her.
Cal straightened.
Might as well go for it now, he thought with a sigh.
And he jogged across the street after her.
***
Until she heard Cal’s voice, Melissa was having a pretty good morning.
It was warmer and quieter than usual today, the sun casting a bright glow over the town.
She got up as early as she could, and headed over to Dale’s, so she could walk Leto, as agreed.
So far, the dog was little more than a nuisance, sniffing the air randomly or trying to race after a nearby squirrel.
More than once, Melissa almost lost her balance holding onto the leash.
Just another morning walking the dog. She’d only been doing it for less than a week, but she already knew Dale was right: The dog was a handful.
Leto tugged on her leash, her large, wet tongue hanging out of her mouth as she sniffed the air again. As frustrating as the dog could be, looking after her wasn’t too hard . All Melissa had to do was feed and walk her, and she could spend the rest of her day looking for a new job.
“Easy, Leto,” Melissa said. “I’m going to end up flat on my face if you keep pulling me around like that. You’re already so huge, I can’t tell who’s walking who.”
The dog wagged her tail excitedly, then she stopped dead in her tracks.
Melissa frowned. “Leto, what’s—?”
“Hey—Melissa!” called a voice from behind her.
Her entire body went rigid at the sound. That voice...
She knew exactly whom it belonged to. She’d heard that voice call her name hundreds of times.
After a brief hesitation, she slowly turned around. Sure enough, Cal was jogging down the sidewalk toward her. He had on a white wife-beater over jeans and boots, his blond hair tousled like he’d just hopped out of bed.
He came to a stop a few feet away from her, chest heaving.
“Melissa,” he breathed, his gaze washing over her.
Her body’s reaction was instant. She felt her pulse quicken, her nipples hardening like diamonds. Embarrassment swept over her. Why had she worn a sports bra today of all days?
In her defense, she didn’t figure on bumping into many people, least of all Cal Stein. What was he doing here?
“Cal...” She swallowed, trying to steady her breathing. “I thought you—”
A sudden growl to her right nearly made her jump. Next to her, Leto’s teeth were bared, her hackles raised. The dog faced Cal, looking like it was ready to pounce.
What the hell?
Cal didn’t back away, but scowled back at the dog, his jaw clenching. For a second, Melissa thought he might growl as well. She glanced from him to Leto, perplexed at the dog’s reaction.
“It’s okay, Leto,” she said to the dog, stroking her fur. Then to Cal, she said, “She’s not going to hurt you.”
He lifted an eyebrow, and she couldn’t help wondering whether she shouldn’t be worried about the dog’s safety instead. To her relief, Leto stopped growling, although she still kept her eyes on Cal.
The man’s jaw relaxed. “Real friendly dog you’ve got there.”
“She’s not mine,” Melissa explained. “I’m walking her for her owner. Guy named Dale. You know him?”
“Since when do you walk dogs? Aren’t you a vet now?”
She frowned at him. “I am, but seeing as I needed a job and you refused to hire me, I went for the next best thing.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. His eyes roamed over her, and she sucked in a breath, folding her arms across her breasts to cover her distended nipples.
She couldn’t believe she was standing face-to-face with him again.
Worse still, they were pretty much alone on the street.
Somehow, that was just as bad as being in the same room as him.
The sight of him sent a quiver into her belly that traveled all the way down to her knees.
What else is new? It was the Cal Stein effect.
Just being around him was enough to do things to her that no other man ever could. For a time, Melissa hadn’t minded it. Now, it was almost a kind of hell. She was still as hopelessly attracted to a man she shouldn’t want, a man that was clearly bad for her.
It was part of why she’d taken off all those years ago, knowing there was little she could do to quell the desires he aroused in her. The best thing she’d ever done was put hundreds of miles between herself and the man whose presence made her heart ache, and her insides melt.
The man who was standing only five feet away from her now.
As if to make matters worse, Cal took another step forward, not once taking his eyes off hers. The air was suddenly warmer, and Melissa suspected it had nothing to do with the sunrise. She’d figured she’d bump into him again at some point since they both lived in Sylva now, just not so soon.
She swallowed again and cleared her throat. “What do you want, Cal?”
His gaze burned into her. “I need you.”
There was complete silence for the next couple of seconds. Melissa could’ve sworn she felt her knees buckle. She blinked at him, unsure she’d heard him correctly.
“Wh-what?”
“At Green Sanctuary. We need your help.”
“Oh.” Heat rushed into her cheeks. “I...I thought you didn’t want me there.” The fact that he was even standing before her now after what he’d said the other day was beyond bewildering.
“I still don’t. But you’re probably the only vet within thirty miles. It’s not like I have a choice.”
“Ouch.”
“We’ve got a problem at the sanctuary. Animals are being attacked in Paradise Woods. I’ve seen more dead deer in the past couple of weeks than I have in six months.”
Melissa recalled the man from the salon who’d warned her about entering the woods. His claim hadn’t been false after all. Her brows furrowed, her curiosity piqued. “What’s attacking them? Some kind of monster?”
She thought she saw him flinch at the word. He shrugged. “We don’t know yet. But we’ve got a better chance at saving these animals with a vet on board. We need your help.”
“I’m not so sure...” She glanced at Leto. “I’ve got other responsibilities now.”
“You’d pick dog walking over saving lives?”
When he put it that way, she couldn’t help feeling a wave of guilt.
She was a vet, after all. Treating animals was literally in her job description, except right now, she’d found employment elsewhere.
What was she supposed to do, quit taking care of Leto and go to work at Green Sanctuary with the man who’d rejected her services just days ago?
Even so, this problem of his sounded mighty important. And Cal wouldn’t have come to her of all people—and so early in the morning, for that matter—if he weren’t desperate.
Not to mention you rejected him first a decade ago, said a voice in the corner of her mind.
Before she could dwell on that, Cal asked, “Are you going to help or not?”
Melissa stared at him for a long moment, then sucked in a breath. “Fine, but I can’t just quit my current job. I’ll just take Leto back to Dale’s and then come down to Green Sanctuary to see if I can help for a few hours. How’s that?”
He nodded. “Works for me.”
“Right.” She tugged lightly on the dog’s leash. “See you in an hour or two...Mr. Stein. Let’s go, Leto.”
Without another word, she turned and resumed walking with the dog.
She felt a rapid flutter of excitement in the pit of her stomach, and wasn’t sure whether it had to do with the prospect of returning to Green Sanctuary or the possibility of getting to the bottom of whatever was going on in Paradise Woods.
Or the fact that she’d be working with Cal, even if just for a few hours.
“I just hope I’m not making a mistake,” she murmured.