Serendipity (Southern Comfort) (5 page)

“Come on,” he muttered, giving another aggressive tug on the leash.  “Let’s try to make a good first impression, shall we?”

When he’d basically pulled the animal over the threshold, Jordan took a look around the room.  Bags of animal food and supplies lined sturdy wire shelves along the back wall, and full color posters depicting the life cycle of the flea, the ravages of heartworms, and – to his mild horror and utter disgust – actual photographs of people who’d been infected by their animal’s untreated tapeworms decorated the walls. 

Apparently, Doctor Ava Martinez had never heard of Monet’s Water Lilies. 

“Well, let’s get this over with.” He depressed the service bell on the front desk.

AVA
cursed when she heard the little ding that let her know there was someone in the waiting room.  It always made her feel like a cheap motel clerk being summoned to rent a room by the hour.  But w
hen
Katie
was
out of
the office
, she’d yet to come up with a better solution.

Distracted, she stole a glance at her watch to realize it was time for her next appointment, and was rewarded by a swipe from one very large, very angry cat.

“Now, now.   That wasn’t very nice, Lambchop.”  The horribly misnamed feline glared back, docile as a hyena. She gripped him by the scruff of the neck, careful now to keep her other hand out of reach, and depressed the syringe into his hindquarters.

“There. All finished.”   She quickly and efficiently scooped the yowling animal under her arm before he could flay the skin from her bones.  “Let’s just get you back –”

The ring of the bell had her shifting Lambchop to avoid a wicked display of teeth. She called out, hoping she managed to keep the irritation from her voice.  “Be right there!”

If there was one aspect of her job that she hated, it was handling the owners of her patients with diplomacy.  Animals, at least, conformed to some fairly basic rules of behavior.  It was the humans you had to watch out for.

But if she wanted to grow her practice, she needed to polish up her ass kissing.

When the bell rang again, she gritted her teeth, and wrangled the feline AntiChrist into his cage.  Just because the idiot in her waiting room lacked both patience and manners didn’t mean she was entitled to tell him off.

No matter how badly she wanted to.

Burying her annoyance beneath a false smile, she stalked toward reception, coming up short at the sight of a tall man holding onto a blond dog
while
goggling at Jack’s eye patch.  Her lips twitched with genuine amusement until the man swung around.

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to rush you.  I was just so surprised to see the, uh, eye patch that I accidentally…”  His apology lost steam as he noticed Ava’s horrified expression.  “Hey, are you alright?”

Icy needles of panic pricked Ava’s skin.  How the hell had he managed to track her down? 

Her car.  He must have recognized her car.  Why had she parked it out front today?

Because she’d almost been late opening up.  She’d entertained herself by leading one of the goons in a big circle around the city
,
because their very existence was still pissing her off.

And now her little show of temper had come back to bite her in the ass. 

“Uh, I didn’t mean to startle you. My name’s Jordan Wellington.  I called and arranged for a twelve o’clock appointment?  My mom is a friend of one of your clients. Mrs. Phillips.  You came highly recommended.” 

Despite the ringing in her ears, some of what he was saying got through.

He’d made an appointment.  She remembered now that he’d called about an hour ago to see if she could squeeze him and his dog in.

A stray. He’d found a stray in the park.

And wasn’t that just an unfortunate coincidence?

Gauging his wary expression, Ava realized how inappropriate her reaction had been.  She snapped out of deer-in-the-headlight mode, hoping she hadn’t given anything away.

“Of course. I’m sorry.” And cursed herself for the nervous laugh.  “I just had a bit of an altercation with a demon masquerading as a housecat, and I’m afraid I forgot about your call.”  Better he attribute her behavior to being a jumpy female with a faulty memory than a guilty female with a memory she’d rather forget.  “But I recall now that you said you found a stray.” 

With reclaimed poise she moved around the counter.  “Is this the lucky guy?”  She bent down, let the dog lick her hand, utterly relieved that it didn’t tremble.

“
YEAH
, this is Finn.”  Whom Jordan eyed with envy.  Now that the woman’s dark eyes weren’t swallowing her lovely face, he had a chance to appreciate the rest of the package.  And a tidy little package it was.  Delicate. Curvy.  The exotic coloring that brought to mind warm breezes, hot blood, painted women in red dancing like living flames.

Licking her didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

“I’m Jordan,” he repeated as he offered his hand.

“
AVA
.  Ava Martinez.”  No point lying about that, she thought, when her name was printed in bold black letters on the front door. 

  With her mask of composure fully in place, she returned his handshake, gestured with the other.  “Why don’t we head back toward one of the exam rooms and we’ll get Finn all checked out.”  She would keep the small talk to a minimum, make short work of what needed to be done.  And get this guy the hell out of there.

“I appreciate you seeing us on such short notice,” he said as he followed her down the narrow, vinyl-floored corridor that smelled of the bleach solution she’d used to clean.  “I’ve had my eye on this guy for a few weeks now, waiting to see if he belonged to somebody.  It doesn’t seem that anyone’s come around to claim him, and I couldn’t stand the idea of him ending up at the pound, or splattered by a car on the street.  My mom suggested that I have him checked out right away, since he’s obviously been on his own for a
while.”

“Sound advice,” Ava agreed. And damn if she didn’t feel a little tug in her belly because the guy was clearly a softie.  It made her feel a strange mix of guilt and pleasure that she’d pulled the big fool out of the car.  Stealing a quick glance at his cap, she wondered how his head was faring.

The guy – Jordan – noted the direction of her glance.  “You’ll have to forgive me for not removing my hat indoors.  I had a bit of an accident last week, and the cap reminds me not to scratch the stitches.  I’m afraid I’m not an ideal patient.”

“Ah, well,” Ava managed, surprised she hadn’t swallowed her tongue.  “Stitches can be uncomfortable.”

She opened the door to the small room, gesturing toward the metal table in the center.  “Let’s get Finn settled up here.”  As she went to one of the cabinets to pull out a pair of latex gloves, Jordan tugged the leash to urge his reluctant dog inside.  “Remember our pep talk,” he murmured.  “You just need to come in here and take it like a man.”

Ava smothered a smile as she snapped on the gloves.   

When he’d hefted the fifty or so pounds of struggling canine into position, Ava tried to keep her mannerisms, her tone, even her thoughts strictly professional.  She checked the dog’s ears and skin for signs of parasites, clucked over the condition of his coat, and nodded approval that his teeth seemed to be strong and healthy.

Jordan winced as she took a stool sample with ruthless efficiency.

She led Finn onto a scale, noted he was underweight for his size, and mentally calculated the amount of food he should be given, in decreasing amounts, until he’d rebounded. She readied the necessary shots, stroked and murmured to soothe the animal’s occasional tremors, and held onto her own nerves with rigid control.  She managed to tamp down the little licks of panic by focusing all of her attention on the animal.

The animal’s owner she largely ignored.

JORDAN
attempted small talk while Finn underwent his examination, but the pale, shaken woman he’d first seen had morphed into a cool-eyed professional.  She answered all of his questions pertaining to Finn with straightforward, helpful answers.

And deflected personal inquiries like blows.

Curious and intrigued, Jordan pulled a few weapons out of his not inconsiderable arsenal.  He was a reasonably attractive guy.  Knew how to hold a decent conversation.  And charm, like blue eyes, was just part of his DNA.

He was shot down like a lame duck.

“You’re lucky,” Ava commented as she rolled Finn over on his back to palpate her fingers along his belly.  “This guy’s already been neutered.”

“Lucky and neutered are two words that should never be used together.”

Her hands stilled, and when her lips twitched, Jordan thought
:
aha!

But the moment was gone when she headed toward the trashcan, putting the better part of the room between them.  “Well, other than the grooming, Finn’s good to go.”  She pulled off her gloves, tossed them in.  “My assistant usually handles that, but since she’s not here
at the moment,
I’ll take care of it myself.”

“So you’re here alone?”

“Not entirely alone.  There are clients in and out, and
of course One-E
yed Jack.”

“One-eyed… Oh, the cat out front. I guess that explains the eye-patch.”

“Mmm.  Well, I’ll just take Finn to the grooming area and make him good as new.  It shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes.  If you’d like to wait out front –”

She wasn’t brushing him off that easy.  “I’ll tag along.  Just in case you need a hand.”

“I can assure you I’m perfectly capable of dealing with this by myself.”

“Then you can instruct me on the proper way to do it.  I’m a dog grooming novice.”  He wrapped his hand around Finn’s leash, laid the other on Ava’s shoulder.

IRRITATION
began to edge out the panic Ava felt when she’d first seen him in her waiting room.  Who did this guy think he was?  She simply wasn’t used to being… maneuvered.

A few choice words, Ava thought as they headed down the hall, his hand burning in
to
her shoulder.  And she could have the presumptuous idiot back in his place. 

But this was one man
with whom
she couldn’t afford to lose her temper.  So in the interest of self
-
preservation
,
she thought it was best to hold her tongue. 

When he deliberately brushed his knuckles across the nape of her neck before releasing Finn from his leash, she had to hold back that tongue with both hands.

The look she sent him could have cut glass, but he countered with a mild-mannered grin.

She guessed the dimples were supposed to be charming.

Too bad they damn well were.

Reigning in frustration, she selected a shampoo and clippers for Finn and then focused on the task at hand.  Allowing Jordan Wellington to get to her was a very bad idea.

JORDAN
watched the little bursts of irritation shoot out from her like angry darts.  Had he actually thought this woman was delicate?  Aroused and amused, he reconsidered his initial impression.  It wasn’t like him to have been so off base.  But her reaction in the waiting room had thrown him for a loop.

Maybe it was his imagination, but she’d seemed a good bit more than startled. 

Of course, that may have had nothing to do with him.  Perhaps, like she’d said, she was reeling from a run-in with a vicious cat.

But she certainly didn’t seem to be having any trouble handling Finn.  Even when he bared his teeth and snarled a warning as she zoomed clippers over his matted fur.  She simply looked him in the eye, laid a finger on his nose, and told him sternly to behave.

The kick-your-ass tone had vague visions of velvet handcuffs dancing in Jordan’s head.

Huh.  The woman was a puzzle.  He loved puzzles.  It gave him a great deal of satisfaction to mess with all of the pieces until they fit.

He had a feeling he’d get a great deal of satisfaction from messing with Ava Martinez.

“So, Doctor Martinez, is there a mister Doctor Martinez waiting for you at home?”  He’d already checked out the ring finger, found it bare, but figured it best to test the water before he dove in.

AVA
ignored the second little tug in her belly and kept her eyes on Finn’s coat.  “No.”  Don’t elaborate, don’t encourage.  Don’t say another word.

“Any lovers, boyfriends, older brothers with strong protective instincts that need to be hurdled over or knocked out of the way?”

Dammit, dammit, she was not going to smile.  Okay, dammit, yes she was.  “There’s no need for any hurdling, Mr. Wellington. I have no interest in… track and field events.”

Jordan’s lips quirked.  He hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans and rocked back on his heels.  “Yeah, me neither.  Baseball’s my sport.   I never saw the appeal of jumping over obstacles when it’s so much more fun to just round all the bases and slide yourself into home.”

As far as sexual repartee went, Ava decided that it wasn’t half bad.  And she decided that Jordan’s grin should be considered a lethal weapon.  Top it off with those drop-dead eyes, a killer body, and just enough cocky charm to make him dangerous, and Ava figured she should be a corpse by now.  Her blood began to hum under her skin.