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“Yeah, but that's good for any girl. Sully-Boy is her heart animal, and a good cry can clean out all the pent-up feelings. It's a good thing he's been neutered, or she would never be able to keep him in the house.”

Riley grimaced. “The news isn't always going to be good. He likes to be outside too much. Don’t you worry about that?”

“That's not a today-problem. Our job is to take care of their furballs, their fur babies, and their little loves so we can send them home. Motivated tomcats are especially hard to keep inside, especially when you live on a farm. It's not like they got him as a kitten. He came with the house. Since they got him neutered, at least, he doesn’t sit at the windows and cry for pussy.”

Riley snickered and then circled the transfer cart, identifying and counting everything before pushing it to the side. “Do you ever think about moving south to New Port Orleans? You could probably make more money in a bigger city.”

“Maybe, but I like my life here, and you like your job. Shannon does, too. And it's enough.”

Enough was perfect, wasn’t it? The familiar, lying twinge returned. There wasn’t more out there. Not for me. Willow Creek was my perfect life.

Sully-Boy’s eye popped open and closed again. The cat wasn't awake enough to try to get off the transfer table, but he was stable, and he'd finish coming out of anesthesia in the recovery cage. Then he’d be his spitting-at-everybody-but-Callie self.

Riley pushed the cart out of the surgical room, and the same wheel squeaked as it always did. We never remembered to oil it before we needed the damn thing.

Before stepping in the waiting area, I straightened my scrubs and checked for any blood or any lingeringresults of performing leg surgery on the feline. “I'm going out to let them know, and I'll send her back to Sully-Boy in a few minutes.”

“Sure thing,” Riley answered over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner.

The metal swinging door swished back and forth behind me, and the girl and her mother both looked up with matching wide eyes, though, Callie’s eyes were twice as big as her mother’s, and it looked as though the ten-year-old expected the worst.

“Sully-Boy is fine. He's going to make a full recovery—” I began.

The sensor on the front door beeped, and Logan Blackwood rushed in, shaking his damned catnip all over my waiting room.

CHAPTER TWO

emma

Why the hell don’t I have time for a relationship again?

Bright blue eyes caught the afternoon light flooding my waiting room, and his wide shoulders and chiseled chest filled out his work shirt. His sleeves were rolled up past his elbows, a leather belt cinched his waist, and heeled work boots gave him a sexy swagger as he came to a stop beside me. He smelled of freshly cut pine, high-dollar cigars, and smoked whiskey.

My mouth watered, my jaw slackened, and maybe I stared a little too long. Friday nights would turn into whole damn sex weekends with that guy. Logan Blackwood was the most gorgeous, panty-dropping man I’d ever seen, and it pissed me off that I didn’t have time for him.

He scanned the room until he located Callie, and he immediately crouched down in front of her, taking her hands in his. “I’m so sorry, Callie. I came as soon as yourmom texted me. I don’t know how he managed to get out.”

“Youlet Sully out?” I repeated and scowled at the man, glad for a reason to be irritated with him. It distracted me from the fantasy playing on the projector screen in the back of my head and the growing irritation that Callie’s mom, Sheila, was probably dating the hottest guy who had ever been interested in me. “Don’t you know how to be a responsible pet owner? You shouldn’t let him anywhere near the door.”

Slowly, Logan turned around, frowned up at me, and then straightened, leisurely, dramatically. When he drew himself to his full height, he towered over me. He must have been at least six foot five inches tall.

He tucked his fingers in the belt loops on the hips of his work pants. “Sully-Boy is determined to get out of the house, and there’s not much we can do to stop him.” He paused, and his gaze narrowed as he looked me up and down. “But I don’t think I was talking to you.”

I raised my eyebrows and tipped my head to the side. “Well, I’m the vet here, and Sully is my patient, so I think I’m involved in this conversation.”

“Oh, I know whoyouare.” His words held the weight of a lot more negative commentary behind them, and the corner of his mouth pinched while he studied me.

I blinked as I processed his tone. “Do you have a problem with me?”

“Maybe I should ask you that question.”

A rude response might have been appropriate in any other place than in my waiting room, standing in front ofCallie whose eyes had been bouncing back and forth between us like she was glued to a tennis match.Fuck offwasn’t at all what I wanted to say to the guy, though. Iwantedto say:Yeah,I have a problem with how hot you are, how busy I am, and basically how I want to find a way to have a no-strings-attached fling with you… But you’re with Sheila.

“Well?” he pressed.

Sheila put her hands up between us. “Whoa, whoa, leave my vet alone, Logan. No need for either of you to get snippy.” She turned to me and gestured to Logan. “Emma, meet my cousin, Logan. I’m sure Sully’s escape was an accident.”

“I’ve seen him around town,” I said, keeping my arms crossed and my face straight despite the elation over the word “cousin.” It meant they weren’t a couple.