Burn Out (16 page)

Evan tried to
ignore the irritation that accompanied her comment. He’d been her boyfriend,
her lover. He didn’t want to be just her friend. Forcing a tight smile, he
offered his hand to the woman behind the desk. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Bernice.”

“You as well, Mr.
Spencer.”

“Please, call me
Evan.”

“Okay, Evan.” She
came around the desk and crouched down in front of Skipper, allowing him to
sniff her until he tired of the exercise. “I’ve always loved Irish Setters.
They’re such beautiful dogs, aren’t they?”

“That they are,”
Evan said. “Do you need me to fill out some paperwork before you take Skipper?”

“Actually, we can
take care of that at the end of the day, Evan,” Erika said. “Just remember, we
close at eight.”

“You leave at
eight as well?” he asked, turning to face her.

“Uh, I try to be
out of here by six, unless there’s an emergency.”

He grinned as he
bent to pet his dog. “In that case, I’ll see you at six, Doc. Have a great
day.” He could feel her eyes on him as he walked through the store. For the
first time in a long time, he whistled as he stepped out in to the early
morning sunshine.

***

When Evan walked
through the door promptly at six that evening, looking every bit as gorgeous as
he had when he left, Erika had to admit she was beginning to believe he was
trying to change.

“How was your
day?” he asked, leaning on the counter.

She caught a hint
of his familiar scent and wanted to lean in closer… to bury her face in his
neck…

He laughed. “Your
mind somewhere else, Doc?”

“Sorry, I was…”
Just
thinking about taking you back to my office and…

“How’d your
meetin’ go? Productive?”

“Yeah.” She took a
deep breath, hoping she appeared more composed than she felt. She knew she was
doing a terrible job of hiding her attraction to him, but when he was
attentive, Evan Spencer was difficult to resist. “It was good.”

“You ready to call
it a day?” he asked, watching her collect her coat and purse.

“I am.”

“You wanna take
the dogs across the street to the park for a bit? I want to talk to you about
something.”

“Um…” She knew
spending any more time with him outside of her clinic was a bad idea, but the
thought of going home to an empty house and boxed dinner held even less appeal.
“I need to grab a bite to eat. I haven’t had a chance to slow down all day.”

He frowned. “You
skipped lunch?”

“Yeah, I guess I
did.”

“Why don’t you
grab the dogs? I’ll meet you at the park in ten minutes.”

“But…” Before she
could protest, he was out the door. Sighing, she made her way over to the store
to collect their canine companions. “Hey, Tracey,” she said, smiling at the
high school girl she’d hired to cover the evening and weekend shifts.

“Hey, Dr.
Carlton,” she said, setting aside the cloth she’d been using to wipe down the
counter. “You here to pick up Chloe?”

“And Skipper.”

“Mr. Spencer’s a
friend of yours?” She giggled as she waved a hand in front of her face. “I
don’t usually go for older guys, but he is seriously hot.”

Erika could laugh
at her accurate assessment because she knew Evan would never look twice at the
teenager. “I can’t argue with that, but when did you see him?”

“I had a spare
period this afternoon, so I came in to cover for Bernice while she went to the
dentist. Mr. Spencer came in to check on Skipper and pre-pay for his daycare.
He took the six month package, so it looks like he’s going to be a regular
fixture around here.”

“Hmm,” Erika said,
trying to pretend she wasn’t the least bit interested in Evan’s plans. “That’s
nice. He works long hours, so it’ll be nice for Skipper to have some company during
the day.”

“So…” Tracey said,
propping her chin in her hand as she leaned her elbow on the counter, “has he
got a girlfriend, or what?”

“Not anymore.” She
knew it shouldn’t hurt to say that, but he had been
hers
for so many
years, it still stung to admit he was a free agent now.

“So, are you guys,
you know, hooking up?”

Had another one of
her employees asked that question, Erika would have been offended, but she knew
the innocence of youth motivated the question, so she let it go. “No, we’re
just friends.”

“Awww, that’s too
bad. Guys like that don’t come along every day, Doc. And if they do, they’re
always married.”

Erika didn’t even
want to know how the young girl had so much insight into the opposite sex. She
tried to refrain from getting involved in her employees’ personal lives. “How
was Skipper’s first day?” she asked, hoping Tracey would take the hint that the
subject of Evan was officially off limits.

“Bernice said he
had a great day. Apparently, he and Chloe have been inseparable.”

Great, her dog
was falling in love.
If
only she could make her understand it was bound to end in heartbreak. “That’s
nice. Would you mind getting them for me? I have to meet Evan across the street
in a few minutes.”

“Sure, no
problem.”

Erika wandered
around, admiring the neatly stacked, colorful items. The retail store was her
idea, and it was a huge success, nearly doubling their revenue in the first
year.

“Here are the
lovebirds,” Tracey said, giggling. “Look at them. How cute is that?”

Chloe reached up
to nuzzle Skipper’s neck and he seemed more than willing to oblige. “Yeah,
adorable.” It gave her flashbacks of the last time she’d been intimate with
Skip’s master. “Have a good night, Trace.”

“You too, Doc,”
she said, waving.

Evan was sitting
on the park bench, smiling as he watched two Labrador puppies chase each other
around the wide open space.

The puppies’
owner, a pretty brunette, said something to Evan and he threw his head back and
laughed, making Erika’s gut clench. Women had always bent over backwards to get
Evan’s attention. It never bothered her before because she knew he was hers,
but the rules of the game had changed and she had to figure out how to adjust.

Waiting for a
break in the traffic, she ran across the street, struggling to keep both dogs
running at the same pace. It was a difficult feat for Chloe, because of her
short legs, but she made a valiant effort.

“There you are,”
Evan said, getting to his feet. He smiled as he walked toward her.

The woman who’d
been chatting him up frowned as she herded her dogs off in the opposite
direction.

“I wondered what
was takin’ y’all so long.”

“I see you managed
to pass the time,” Erika said, glancing at the woman’s retreating figure.

He laughed. “Yeah,
those dogs were pretty cute, weren’t they?”

“So was their owner.”
She cursed herself for sounding jealous and petty, but sometimes she found it
difficult to control her impulses where he was concerned.

“Really? I hadn’t
noticed.” He grinned when she slapped him on the chest.

“Liar.”

“Okay, I’ll admit
she was cute.”

Biting her lip,
Erika led Chloe to the bench where Evan had been sitting. Since it was an
off-leash dog park, Erika set her little charge free to roam. A paper bag sat
at the opposite end of the bench and she tried to ignore the heavenly scent
wafting through the air.

Evan set Skipper
free to chase Chloe and held the bag out to Erika. “I made a pit stop at the
sausage vendor down the street. I know you love these.”

She loved them,
but her waistline hated them. “Greasy take-out two nights in a row?” she asked,
eyeing the bag. “I don’t know if I should.”

“You look as
gorgeous now as you did at twenty-three,” he said, opening the bag and
extracting a juicy sausage with all the toppings wrapped in a toasty bun.
“Besides, you can always jog a couple of extra miles on the weekend.”

“Fine,” she said,
her mouth watering as she accepted his offering. “But it’s back to chicken and
salads for me tomorrow, so don’t even try to entice me.”

His gaze traveled
over her body before he said, “I told you, my days of tryin’ to entice you are
over.”

That shouldn’t
disappoint her, but it did. “Glad to hear it,” she said, taking a bite of her
dinner.

They sat in
silence for a few minutes, eating, as they watched their dogs chase each other,
before Evan said, “So listen, I wanted to pitch an idea to you.”

“Sure,” she said,
wiping her mouth with a napkin before throwing her garbage into the paper bag.

“You know how we
have those fundraisers a few times a year to raise money for local charities
and get our artists involved in helping a cause they care about?”

“Sure, I
remember.” She’d attended more than her share of those events when they were a
couple. “What about it?”

“We’re plannin’ an
event in a few weeks and things kind of fell apart today.” He deposited his
garbage into the paper bag and tossed it into a nearby receptacle.

“What happened?”

“Believe it or
not, one of the directors is bein’ investigated for embellizin’ money from the
charity. Needless to say, we have no intention of donatin’ a few hundred
thousand dollars to their organization only to have some dirt bag take off to
parts unknown with it.”

“Understandable,”
she said, wrapping her arms around herself to ward off the early evening chill.
“So, what are you going to do now?”

He slid closer,
wrapping his arm around her. “I was hopin’ you could help me with that.”

Thinking clearly
with his thigh brushing against hers was difficult. She knew he was just trying
to help her stay warm, but her core temperature rose the second he touched her.
“Um, what can I do?”

“You could step in
and become our charity of choice.”

Her mouth fell
open as his offer began to filter through the lust clouding her brain. She had
started the charitable organization Second Chance back in college. It helped
fund foster care and veterinary care for sick and abandoned animals. “Are you
serious?”

“Of course I’m
serious. Plenty of our artists are pet owners. They’d love to get involved with
a cause like yours.”

She’d worked so
hard to try and get celebrity endorsements, knowing it could make the
difference, but garnering celebrity support when so many worthy causes vied for
their time and attention wasn’t easy.

“Evan, that would
be incredible.” Without thinking twice, she threw her arms around his neck. “Oh
my God, thank you.” She pulled back to look him in the eye and his eyes fell to
her lips. Without thinking about the consequences, she inched closer, inviting
him to do the same.

He framed her face
with his hands and looked her in the eye.

Erika didn’t know
if he would kiss her or let her down gently, so she held her breath, waiting.
She licked her lips, hoping to entice him. She knew it worked when she heard
him groan and move in for the kiss she’d been craving.

It seemed to go on
and on before they finally had to come up for air. She didn’t know about him, but
she felt breathless and a little disoriented.

“I didn’t intend
for that to happen,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“I didn’t make the
offer because I expected you to show your gratitude. I did it because we’re
lookin’ for a great cause and you happen to have one.”

“I know,” she
said, clenching the front of his coat in her hands. She wanted more than
anything to haul him down for another kiss, but she didn’t have the nerve after
his speech on the beach. “I didn’t kiss you because I’m grateful. I kissed you
because I wanted to.”

He set his hands
on her shoulders and eased back on the bench. “Before you get too excited,
there’s a catch.”

She glanced at
their dogs chasing each other several feet away. “I’m listening.”

“We have the venue
and everything in place, but making the required changes in such a short period
of time is going to require a lot of work. I’m talkin’ invitations, an auction,
speeches…”

“So what do you
need from me? I’ll do whatever it takes.” She knew an opportunity like this
wouldn’t come along again and she didn’t intend to let it slip away.

“We’re gonna need
a few pretty intensive plannin’ meetings. I have event planners who usually
take care of this, but they’re all over me, tellin’ me there’s no way we can
pull this off. They want to cancel, but I told them to give me a week before we
do that. I thought if I do most of the work, they’ll quit bitchin’ and moanin’
about it.” He grinned. “They’re the best in the city, but believe me, they’re
little divas.”

“Okay, I’ll help
any way I can.”