Page 22 of Unyielding (Poplar Springs #3)

TWENTY-TWO

DECLAN

T hree times.

We’d managed to have sex three times before we fell asleep, thanks to a box of condoms that a blushing Shannon admitted she’d bought after I’d asked her out on our date.

My gratitude for that foresight had led directly to round two, after which we had gone to take a shower and clean up…

which quickly escalated into round three.

It might not have been my most dignified moment, hopping out of the shower with soap dripping down my skin to run to her room for another condom, but it had all turned out well in the end.

Very well. As I woke up to the first rays of light in Shannon’s bedroom, I realized that my morning wood might make it four before we got up for the day.

I’d had sex plenty of times in my life, but it had never been like this .

That first time, Shannon had wanted a simultaneous orgasm and she’d gotten it, with the two of us collapsing at almost the exact same moment.

Our sex was hot, sweaty, sweet, and dirty.

She went down on me again, I went down on her, and we’d tried a half dozen different positions as the night wore on.

I should be exhausted, but instead I felt energized and elated, ready to go another round or two with the sleeping beauty next to me.

I turned my head to watch Shannon dozing. She was perfect, with her auburn hair fanned out on the pillow and her skin glowing in the rays of sunshine creeping onto the bed. It looked like she was smiling, and I couldn’t blame her. We were at the beginning of something amazing.

Then the reality of what I was up against hit me.

We wouldn’t be able to continue anything between us unless I succeeded in getting Ruth to agree to sell me her practice.

The thought shook me to my core. I knew I needed to be in town for my parents, but now everything that was happening with Shannon made the need to stay in Poplar Springs that much stronger.

This wasn’t just a fling. This was important.

And that meant I needed to be as on point as possible to make sure that I’d be able to see this through, that I’d be able to stay.

Shannon stirred, stretching with her eyes closed so that the blanket slipped below her breasts. It took everything in my power not to lean over and kiss her pink nipple.

“Hi, you,” she said in a sleepy voice, eyes still closed. She reached over and placed her hand on my chest.

“Hey,” I replied, pulling her into my arms. She melted into me, sighing.

“I’m not leaving this spot ever ,” she said, placing a warm kiss on my neck.

“I wish we could stay right here… but I need to check the time. At some point we’re both going to have to get up.”

Shannon’s hand slid down my body and came to rest on my rock-hard cock. “Looks like somebody’s already up.”

I shifted, thrusting toward her hand. “Don’t tempt me.”

She started stroking me as I leaned over to grab my phone.

The second I flipped it over, my blood went cold.

“Damn it,” I said, trying to turn it on.

“Battery died. I need to check the time.” Shannon ignored me, her hand busy beneath the sheets.

It felt so good that in spite of my best intentions, I quieted and let her work my shaft for a few seconds.

Finally, I groaned. “Hold on, I can’t yet. Where’s your phone?”

“It’s plugged in to the charger in the sitting room,” she mumbled, more focused on getting me off then getting out of bed. “I plugged it in when I went to get water, remember? You can use my portable charger; it’s plugged in right next to it.”

I pulled away reluctantly. “That means I have to get dressed. Be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

Shannon’s lips quirked in a half smile, and she pulled her hand out from underneath the sheet and wiggled her fingers at me. “Maybe I’ll keep myself warm while you’re gone.”

“ Woman ...” I groaned at the thought of her touching herself. “You’re killing me. I can’t walk through your house with a hard-on.”

I paced around the room, breathing out of pursed lips, then slipped on my jeans, wincing as I zipped them up, and took a few more deep breaths before leaving. I figured I could pick up the shirt I’d left in the hallway on the way back.

Even though I wasn’t sure what time it was, I could tell by the way the light was streaming in that it was probably later than I wanted it to be.

It wasn’t like me to let my phone die, especially because things often blew up once the sun went down.

Animals didn’t keep to a 9 to 5 schedule.

If anything, they seemed to go out of their way to choose the worst, most inconvenient times to have issues flare up that required a vet’s visit.

I spied my shirt on the ground and was leaning down to pick it up when I heard footsteps.

“ Declan .”

I jumped. It was Josh, standing in the doorway of his office, looking at me in shock.

Suddenly I felt completely naked instead of just shirtless. I threw it on quickly, buttoning it haphazardly, feeling as if someone had written on it in permanent marker I just had sex with your sister . “Hey, Josh, uh…”

“Hey, I’ve got nothing to say to you, don’t worry,” Josh replied, holding his hands in front of him and looking at the floor.

“Shannon warned me to keep the hell out of her love life, and I respect that. She’s an adult, and it’s her decision who she wants to bring home.

But… I need to tell you one thing.” He raised his head to look me directly in the face. “Don’t hurt my sister. Got it?”

I swallowed hard.

“Never. I swear it.”

It seemed to satisfy Josh, who nodded and retreated back into his office without another word.

I speed walked to the sitting room and found Shannon’s spare charger. Then I winced when the second I plugged in my phone, it lit up with texts and voicemails from Ruth. I started sweating as I scrolled through them. There was no need to listen to the messages.

I already knew that I’d fucked up, big time. I scrolled through the texts to get the gist of things and to let the phone get enough of a charge to unplug it and hurry back to Shannon’s room. I dialed Ruth as I jogged down the hall.

“Where the hell have you been?” Ruth barked at me as a way of saying hello.

“I am so sorry, Dr. Wilcox,” I replied, reverting to her title. “I didn’t realize that my phone died. I’m really sorry that I wasn’t there for you.”

I walked into Shannon’s room with my face grim, scanning the walls for an open outlet to plug the charger in. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the way her smile faded when she realized that something was wrong.

“You’re supposed to be taking over yet there I was, treating a tribe of goats with acidosis at Roundabout Farm at two in the morning. It wasn’t pretty, and now my back is acting up again,” she fumed.

Roundabout was one of the farms on my wooing hit list, a massive working and tourist establishment that had a menagerie of animals that ranged from horses to tortoises.

I’d interned at a small zoo during college and had experience with exotics, which would make me a home run choice for the place, as long as I could make nice with the owners.

Now I probably looked like I wasn’t reliable, forcing Ruth to haul herself out there in the middle of the night instead of me.

It was too much to hope that she’d made up a fib to cover why I wasn’t there.

She was honest to a fault and from the tone of her voice, she was currently furious with me.

“I’m so sorry. It’ll never happen again,” I said as I paced around the room. “And I’ll head over there now to follow-up with them. Would that help?”

The line went silent while Ruth considered my offer.

“Yes, they could probably use a recheck. That would be fine.”

“Okay, I’ll leave right now. Dr. Wilcox, I’ll make sure to keep an extra charger on me from this point on. I’m truly sorry I dropped the ball. I feel awful about it.”

I could feel Shannon watching me from the bed.

“Okay, all right, stop apologizing,” Ruth grumbled. “These things happen. Once . Got that?”

“Got it. Hey, how about if I bring some apple cider donuts back to the office after I finish up?”

“Well now, you sure do know how to make up for a mistake. I’ll take you up on it. Now get going!”

She hung up before I could answer.

“What in the world happened?” Shannon asked, finally pulling her robe from the end of the bed and getting up.

“I missed a night call out to Roundabout Farm and Ruth had to go herself. She’s obviously not happy with me.”

“Oh no, I’m so sorry.”

“I need to run,” I answered, already plotting out what I needed to do once I arrived at the farm. “I’m going to have to do some major ass kissing to make up for this.”

I rubbed my hand across my eyes and sighed.

“Hey,” Shannon said, padding over and wrapping her arms around me. “It’s going to be okay. It’s one mistake.”

“I hope so.” I nodded and kissed the top of her head absentmindedly. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

During the drive to Roundabout, I thought about what Shannon had said. To her , it might seem like it was just one mistake and not that big of a deal, but I knew that something bigger was going on, something I’d been afraid of since our first kiss.

The passion.

I’d given in to it, against my better judgment, and look what had happened.

Poor Ruth was supposed to be settling into retirement, yet I’d forced her out of her bed in the middle of the night because I got too caught up in…

that . I knew better than to shift my focus away from my work during such a critical time.

If I wanted to buy the practice, I needed to focus on the job, not mess around with Shannon.

I couldn’t afford to build a practice from scratch.

The cost of equipment alone plus the space rental and supplies were well beyond what I had in savings.

Plus, I’d be competing with whoever Ruth sold to instead and Julia Lett’s practice.

If I didn’t get my act together, I wouldn’t be Ruth’s chosen successor, and then my relationship with Shannon would be doomed anyway.

It wasn’t like I could ask Shannon to leave her family’s ranch and her mother’s horses behind.

We could try for something long distance…

but no, long distance worked best when it was temporary.

I couldn’t ask Shannon to commit to someone who wouldn’t be living and working nearby and who had to be on call 24/7 in a new practice.

I squinted into the sunlight as I crested a hill. Of course I didn’t have sunglasses with me because I hadn’t expected to be out all night. I gripped the wheel tighter.

From this point on there was no room for mistakes.

My goal was buying the practice, which meant that I needed to watch myself with Shannon.

I could already feel how easy it would be to fall for her, to the point where I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else.

Passion would shift my attention away from what I needed to do.

I couldn’t let that happen, couldn’t be like my parents.

Nothing was going to stop me from taking over Ruth’s practice, and it didn’t matter how much passion I felt for Shannon.

From this point on, the only thing that mattered was the work.