Page 53 of Avenging Azalea (California Made Men #2)

Chapter

Forty-One

FAWN

I honestly didn’t know it was possible to be this happy. It was like walking on clouds, and suddenly that old cream cheese commercial was running through my head. Titus sitting on a cloud with only a pair of wings on his back was hot as hell to imagine.

“I’ll pick you up at five?”

“Actually, I’m only working a half day. Steph and I are going shopping. I wanted to get a few new things, including a dress for dinner tonight.”

Leaning closer, I did something that I’d never been allowed to do in the past. I breathed in deeply, loving the rich scent of his cologne, and under that, his addictive body wash. He chuckled and cupped my cheek when I went to pull away.

“Normally, only my dogs sniff me for betrayal,” he said, smirking.

“Have you betrayed me?”

His lips hovered over mine. “Never, you’re the only woman I want.”

Little butterflies stormed around my stomach in a wild torrent of excitement as we kissed. Every time was the same. The rush, thrill, and blood-pounding need that engulfed me as time stood still.

“Alright, I’ll see you tonight,” Titus said, his voice soft as he broke the kiss.

Smiling, I got out, hitched my bag up onto my shoulder, and waved. I’d left Sheba and Winston at home today since I’d made the arrangements with Steph. She would’ve let them in her car, but we only had a couple of hours to shop, so it saved time to head straight to the stores.

Doreen’s car was in the parking lot, so I used the front door of Little Paws. The smiling older woman greeted me warmly.

“Well, hello there, dear. How are you today? You look like someone lit you up from the inside with a thousand-watt bulb,” she said.

Heat crept up my neck, and I was sure I was blushing.

“I’m doing amazing and so is Winston.”

Doreen clasped her hands together.

“That is great news. God bless you for taking him. He really needed a loving home.”

“Although that’s true, I think the biggest influence on him has been the other dogs. When he stepped into the house and all five of the girls welcomed him into their pack, he just turned a corner.”

“That boy knows when he has a good thing…he has himself a right old harem,” Doreen said, making me laugh.

“Is Dr. Taylor in yet?”

Doreen nodded. “Sure is. He was here before me, but he’s been in the back the whole time. Real quiet today. I’m not sure if something is wrong or not. He’s definitely not himself.”

“Okay, good to know. I hope he’s okay,” I said, but swore in my head. I had a feeling that I knew exactly why Matt was out of sorts, and it was all my fault.

Walking into the back, I put my stuff into my locker and then went on the hunt. Matt was in his office at the computer. I knocked on the door and lifted my hand in greeting.

“Hey, Doreen said you’re out of sorts today,” I said.

“You could say that,” Matt answered, his voice cool as he turned back to the screen.

I needed to make this right. Matt’s head snapped in my direction when I stepped into the office and closed the door.

“What are you doing,” he asked, his voice almost panicky.

“I wanted us to have a private conversation. I know why you’re upset, and I just wanted to say again how sorry I am.”

The anger and hurt in his eyes seemed so out of place after he wished me well yesterday.

“I don’t think saying sorry for sending your guard dog after me is going to cut it, Fawn.

I asked you out because I thought we had a connection.

You’re smart and beautiful, and I thought I’d finally found someone with the same passion for the animals, and this life of heartbreak, and midnight emergency phone calls.

But you said you couldn’t, and I respected that. There was no need to escalate things.”

“What are you talking about?”

My brows drew together as I stepped closer to Matt’s desk.

Confusion was clouding my thoughts as I tried to piece together what he meant.

What guard dog? Titus and I had dinner, and then after two hours of mind-blowing pleasure, we passed out.

I was the one who woke Titus up this morning by sneaking under the covers. So…what the hell was going on?

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what happened. You had to have said something for…well…for him to show up at my condo in the middle of a night like a lunatic.”

“Who the hell is him? I have no idea what you mean.”

Matt pushed away from his desk and stood. He pointed at the door.

“Get out.”

“But—”

“No, Fawn. I’ll train you as promised because you’re an incredible student and have so much promise, but we are no longer friends.

And, honestly, I don’t feel comfortable being alone in this office with you.

Please leave. Doreen will give you your schedule to scrub in and participate in surgeries, and you’ll be free to ask whatever questions you want, but other than that, we won’t communicate. ”

“Matt, I?—”

“Fawn, I’m telling you to leave because I’m uncomfortable. Please respect that and just go.”

Shocked, I stood there blinking stupidly for a few more seconds before turning to the door and grabbing the handle. I looked over my shoulder into Matt’s eyes and could see he was serious. Whatever happened last night had hurt him.

“Whatever you think I’ve done, I didn’t, but I’m sorry anyway,” I said, and walked out of the office.

His words stung, not only because I loved my job and the people here had become a second home, but because I thought we were real friends. He wouldn’t even tell me what had happened, so I could try to fix it.

Walking back to the kennels, I looked around at the mostly empty cages. It just felt cold in here now, like a harsh slap in the face from a sharp northernly wind in winter.

This had to have something to do with Titus, or maybe Dimitri, but I had no idea for sure who or what they’d done.

Regardless, they had no right to interfere with my work.

Unsure what else to do, I got to work feeding and looking after the animals that were counting on me.

They had nothing to do with the drama that had just unfolded in the office.

The morning had flown by, and before I knew it, my shift was over. Steph was outside waiting for me. Grabbing my bag, I headed for the lobby but stopped at Doreen’s desk.

“Hey, Dr. Taylor didn’t say any more about what was wrong, did he?”

“Sorry, dear, he didn’t. But he did ask me to pass this revised schedule on to you.”

Doreen held out the paper, and my heart fell as I stared at my name on the sheet.

He’d made sure to schedule the shifts so that we were never here alone.

In fact, I no longer had any opening shifts when we might bump into each other, and the nights I closed, it showed that he’d be gone an hour or more beforehand.

This was crazy. I needed to get to the bottom of this.

“Thanks, Doreen,” I said, pushing open the door. It was uncharacteristically cool today, and I was happy that I’d brought my sweater.

“Hey girl, why so glum,” Steph asked as soon as I got into her car.

“I had the weirdest shift,” I said.

“You’re going to have to give me more information than that.”

Sighing, I smiled at my best friend. “How about I don’t and instead tell you about the million and one orgasms Titus has given me in the last few days.”

“Shut up,” Steph said, then screeched at the top of her lungs.

She bounced in the seat beside me like a wind-up toy set loose on the world. Just like that, she managed to wipe away the insanity and questions that had plagued me since my conversation with Matt. Everyone needed a Steph in their life. It should be mandatory.

“Seriously,” she asked, smiling wide.

“Seriously. He is…OMG, better than I ever imagined.”

Steph reached out and grabbed my hand.

“What are you doing?”

“This is a singing moment. We are going to sing,” she said, raising our joined hands up and out of the top of her sunroof as Whatta Man came on the car system. We belted out the Salt-N-Pepa song at the top of our lungs and drew stares from other cars when we stopped at the lights.

“…he’s got the right potion. Baby, rub it down and make it smooth like lotion,” we sang and batted our eyes at one another before bursting into another fit of hysterical laughter.

Reaching out, I switched off the radio, and Steph made a pouty face.

“I just need to tell you that you’re the best friend anyone could ask for and…I love you. Thank you for being my friend, Steph. You mean the world to me.”

Her eyes filled with tears, and she quickly wiped them away as they began to fall.

“Don’t do that. Now I can’t see to drive,” Steph said, making me laugh. “But I love you too, Fawn.”

We gave one another a smile that said more than we could say with words alone.

We would always have each other’s backs and be there for each other, no matter what.

It shouldn’t be so hard to have girls who were great friends who built you up and loved you for all your crazy, but it was.

Steph was as much my sister as George was my brother, and it didn’t matter that we didn’t share a single drop of blood.

I flicked the radio back on and we sang out the rest of the song.

Time to shop and pick out something amazing to wear for dinner tonight. Something that would blow Titus away. There was no wiping the smile from my face as we bopped along.