“Oh, my.” Summer grinned from ear to ear when Autumn’s new bodyguard walked into the clinic shirtless and carrying several paint cans.
Jackson basically took over the remodeling project and what a godsend he was. Smiling to herself, Autumn joined Summer in admiring his backside. It was nearly ninety degrees outside, and all he wore was baggy denim pants patched with fabric near the back pockets. It was more of a fashion look instead of actual rips in the denim and left little to Autumn’s imagination.
“Where on earth did you pick up that beefcake?” Summer licked her lips and a twinge of jealousy shot through Autumn’s body. “Is he the guy your father hired? Can he hire me a guy like that?”
Autumn’s cheeks heated. “He’s an old friend.”
Not really true since their relationship had gone from platonic to sexual within seconds. He spent that whole summer nearly ignoring her, and then suddenly he was inside her making her scream his name.
Autumn sighed remembering each and every time. He made her scream all right, and happened to be the only lover she’d taken who could. “And an ex-lover.”
Summer’s jaw dropped. “You had sex with him?”
Autumn chewed on her lip. “Years ago. We were just kids, and he left. Not too much to that story, and it’s best left in the past. Jackson’s a friend of my family’s and my father’s most trusted . . . whatever. Anyway, he’s here now to help.”
“Help give you a screaming orgasm,” Summer mumbled under her breath.
Jackson’s voice halted their conversation. “Ladies, if you don’t mind, I need you to move everything on this counter so I can take it out and put the new one in.”
Summer giggled like a schoolgirl. “Sure thing,” she replied. “Come on, Doc. He needs us.”
Autumn continued to stare at Jackson while he waited for them to clear the desk. The last guy she dated turned out to be a jerk. And there’d only been three lovers since Jackson, one being a one-night stand. The other two relationships ended in deceit and dishonesty. But none of them remotely held a candle to the “beefcake” standing in her clinic with his shirt off and sweat glistening his body. None.
“Who’s your friend, Autumn?” Jackson pointed to Summer.
“Oh, sorry. Jackson, this is my assistant Summer.” Autumn joined them in the effort to clean the counter while remaining organized as well. “We’re planning on opening a bigger clinic together once Summer completes vet school.”
“Yeah. I’d love nothing more than to kick Dr. Gallagher’s butt from here to the moon.” Summer stuffed files in a crate. “The little twerp doesn’t deserve the good name of being a veterinarian, and I’d love to put his stinky ass out of business. Especially after what he did to you.”
“Summer,” Autumn warned.
“What? The pompous little twit needs a good ass kicking. Though I’d rather do it with dollars instead of fists.” She smiled at her friend. “You took care of the fists part for me.”
Jackson turned completely around with a smile on his face, and Autumn did her best not to meet his eyes. “You punched the pompous little twit?”
Autumn struggled to stand still and focus on gathering her scattered files. The less said about that incident, the better off everyone would be. The last thing Jackson needed to know in detail was her relationship with Frank Gallagher.
“Punch? Hell no. She gave him a bloody nose and two black eyes. I told her to let him bleed out on the street, but Autumn wouldn’t. She’s too caring, even in battle. She gave him some damn Kleenexes to stop the bleeding before she drove him to the hospital. He cursed a blue streak for her breaking his nose.”
Autumn remembered that and smiled to herself. “Both of you know damn good and well I can take care of myself.”
And she could. Living with three brothers who serviced in the Marines and picked on her relentlessly, she had to know how to fight her own battles. And she won many wars because of it.
“Sure you can.” Jackson lifted a pile of folders and dumped them into her arms. “Take these to the back, Rocky, so they don’t get lost.”
Summer came close to dishing out more information than Autumn liked. It had been three years since the jerk separated from her and their past best remained concealed and locked away from the general public. She didn’t care how much she was supposed to trust Jackson, he didn’t need to know about every gritty detail of her life.
The puppies in the back barked for attention and Autumn couldn’t help smiling at the furry critters. Many times throughout her career, she wondered why she chose this field of work when it’d be so much easier to quit. One look at the puppies faces and she knew why. She was meant to, and no one, Gallagher included, would stop her from doing her job and doing it right.
She returned to the front to find Summer and Jackson chatting. Her best friend reached out to Jackson, touching his arm lightly as they both shared a laugh. Autumn took a deep breath and cleared her throat.
Autumn knew she could deny it all she wanted. She didn’t want another woman, a prettier woman touching him. Out of nowhere, a pang of jealousy speared her as she watched the two turn quickly as if they’d been caught doing dirty deeds.
“Isn’t there work to be done?”
Summer made her way to the far corner of the room, cleaning up the front office and shifting all the paperwork to the back. Jackson stood before her reading her perfectly.
She turned her back to him. “I need you to help me with some of the dogs if you don’t mind. They’ve been locked up all day and probably need to stretch their legs and relieve themselves.”
“You look upset.” He moved in behind her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
She wanted to lean back a little and feel his body pressed against hers. She wanted him to laugh with her, the way he laughed with Summer. She wanted all the things she knew he couldn’t give her and her heart ached because of it. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she was still in love with him. Those same heartbreaking feelings surfaced two days after his arrival and she was hooked. Fourteen years of bitterness and separation didn’t stop her from falling victim again. She still loved the one man who would never love her back.
“Remember that trust thing we talked about?” Jackson leaned forward, his breath fanning against her ear. “We were just having a nice conversation about her boyfriend.”
“Dr. Callahan! Dr. Callahan!” Autumn met Jackson’s eyes, then turned to see a young boy running toward the front door. “Dr. Callahan, come quick. Dodo got loose and is going crazy!”
Autumn pulled away from Jackson’s and ran out the door, following the boy. Jackson and Summer were close behind. Just outside the clinic, the pit bull named Dodo snarled and growled at two little girls, Mary and Sasha, backing them against a brick wall. Attached to the dog’s neck was a metal chain and from where Autumn stood, it was embedded in the dog’s neck.
“Dr. Callahan,” Sasha cried. “Dodo’s scaring me.”
“Summer, please get a bag of doggy doodles and a syringe.” Autumn licked her lips and guided two kids, Malcolm and Marty, to the side, out of the way.
“Doc, you’re not going to go out there are you?”
“Somebody’s got to.”
She waited until Summer returned with the item, grabbed a syringe and walked calmly toward the dog. “Dodo, what’s wrong, girl?”
Malcolm, the boy who owned the dog, stood to the side with Marty, the informer, simply staring at the dog.
“Mary threw a rock, and it accidentally hit Dodo in the back. Now she’s gone crazy,” Marty said.
From memory alone, Autumn knew Dodo was a ten-year-old pit bull that was slowly losing her eyesight and hearing. She’d been coming to her office since Autumn opened the place up five years ago, and while a once soft-mannered dog, Dodo simply didn’t understand her surroundings anymore. Now, each and every unexpected movement threatened her whether it be sound or touch. She recommended the dog be put down if occurrences like this came about, but Malcolm’s parents refused.
“Whatever you kids do, do not scream, cry, or run,” Autumn warned. “Dodo feels threatened, and we have to remind her none of us will hurt her.”
She inched toward the dog, drawing its attention toward her instead of the kids. “Dodo, come here, girl.” She held out her hand and wiggled her fingers. “Would you like a treat?”
Dodo gave Autumn her full attention and continued to growl. Her white fur was now coated red around her neck where the chain had broken the skin. Autumn’s heart raced. It’d been too long since she had to deal with deranged pets, and she didn’t like it then. Jackson stood to the side, looking like a cat ready to pounce.
She tried to soothe the dog with nonsense chatter. The main goal was to get Dodo away from the children. So far, the dog’s attention stayed on Autumn and didn’t return to the kids. After a few minutes, the dog let her close enough to feed it a biscuit. “That’s a good girl, Dodo. See? We don’t want to hurt you.”
She petted the dog’s head while it chomped on the biscuit. Dodo really was a sweet pet. As one of her first clients, Autumn had developed a special bond with the animal and her owners. She hated the fact that her temperament took a downturn along with her senses. It put everyone in danger just as much as the family. But the dog didn’t need to be around kids unsupervised.
“Dr. Callahan, Dodo’s bleeding,” Malcolm said.
The gash in her neck still contained part of the chain that the family tied her to. The blood around the wound started to dry leaving the dog’s coat looking more brown than red, with tender pink flesh beneath.
“I know, Malcolm. I’m going to take care of her as soon as I gain her trust. Where are your parents?” Autumn fed her another biscuit and then another, slowing working her hand along Dodo’s back.
Autumn noticed the way the kids glanced at the other.
“Uh, Momma’s at work,” Malcolm said. “We’re not supposed to be here. You’re not going to tell her, are you?”
They left the dog tied outside for the entire day? Autumn continued to stroke the dog’s head pushing her own thoughts and opinions aside.
“Who’s supposed to be watching you?”
Malcolm glanced at his friends. “Ms. Beetlebutt.”
The kids snickered and Autumn glanced back to Summer and Jackson. If Autumn had to guess the true identity of “Ms. Beetlebutt,” she would pin the title to Ms. Lancaster, the little old churchgoing lady who babysat for everyone’s kids. The woman could seriously open a daycare with the amount of children she took in, but obviously she’d taken on more than she could handle.
“Summer, would you call Ms. Marjorie Lancaster? Tell her Malcolm, Mary, Sasha, and Marty are at my clinic and need to be picked up immediately.”
“Oh, please, Dr. Callahan. Please don’t call her!” Marty whined. “She’s mean and makes us eat brussel sprouts.”
Dodo nudged Autumn’s hand seeking more doggie doodles. She gave her one. She glanced over at the children. “Guys, we’ll talk about this in a minute. I need to get Dodo inside and take this chain out of her neck.”
Jackson handed her the bag of treats. “Can we do this without a muzzle?”
Autumn nodded. “With a wound in her neck, I’m going to give her the shot in her back. Talk to her. Get her attention on the food.”
Jackson mimicked Autumn, talking to Dodo to focus her attention on the biscuits. Autumn knew she had one shot and a few seconds before the drug took effect. She took a breath and timed it just right. When Dodo filled her mouth with two dog biscuits, she stuck her. Autumn jumped back while the dog snarled, bits of food flying from its mouth. Dodo hunched down, ready to attack.
“Autumn,” Jackson commented, with unease. “Please tell me that drug is going to work.”
Autumn silently counted in her head. Dodo’s demeanor changed, though her shiny canines gleamed in the sunlight. She stumbled to the side like a drunk before falling to the ground.
“Thirty seconds!” Autumn exclaimed going to the dog to check its pulse. Dodo wasn’t completely knocked out, but the growling stopped and her eyes closed.
“You didn’t kill her, did you?” Malcolm asked coming up behind Autumn.
“No. I’m taking her inside. Please tell your dad to come pick her up when he gets home.” Autumn stood and brushed a stray hair from her face. “I’ll go get the portable bed. Stay with her.”
Autumn entered the clinic with one thing on her mind. Although the place was a mess, she was still a doctor and her patient would be treated with utmost standards.
“I just got off the phone with the babysitter. She didn’t even know the kids were missing.” Summer came around the corner of the counter. “She said she couldn’t come get the kids.”
“I’ll send them with Jackson while I work on Dodo.” She grabbed a portable bed from the back room and pushed it toward the door. “I’m probably going to have to stitch her neck. The chain agitated the skin when Dodo tried to get loose. Can you man the front while I’m in surgery?”
Summer nodded. “Of course.”
Autumn pushed the gurney toward the front. After she and Jackson loaded up the dog, she pushed her into the clinic and to the back surgical unit.
“I need you to take the kids to the babysitter.” She scooted Dodo to the surgical table. “And make sure you give them a lecture about running off and getting into trouble.”
Jackson watched her. “I will. You okay with this?”
She started to set up the anesthesia and grabbed the supplies to intubate. “It’s my job. I do it all the time.”
“It’s not just a job to you. You really calmed that dog down when it could have potentially hurt you or those children. That’s pretty brave and admirable.”
“I grew up being brave. Admirable is a matter of opinion.”
Jackson brushed a strand of hair from her face when she turned and bumped into him. “I suppose so. Either way, it was pretty impressive.”
Jackson left her to take care of the kids. Something stirred inside her that she didn’t understand. She glanced out the window at the picture he painted. All four of them, climbed into his truck as if it were the most natural thing in the world for them to do. The callous man of fourteen years ago wouldn’t have come within ten feet of four rowdy children, and here he was strapping them in seatbelts. She even saw a small smile on his face when one of the kids talked to him. No matter how many times she reminded herself nothing would come of them being together, the hope still remained.
Turning back to her patient, she took a deep breath. “Let’s get this over with.”