Chapter 2

Elijah

Mike was seldom wrong. Hope he was right about the redhead. A whimper came out of my cut.

“It’s okay, boy.”

I heard the footsteps behind me and turned around. The redhead would have stopped anyone in their tracks. Cornflower blue eyes, ponytail flicking red hair to her shoulder, and kicking body in a cute compact hourglass shape, though she tried her best to hide it behind a lab coat. I forgot for one second why I was there.

She blinked slowly at me and took me in. She unlocked the door and let me in. Being a big man at six six, I was used to people being on their guard around me. Normally, I sit down to put me more eye to eye, but the hospital was too cramped for a waiting room. So I’d have to stand and tower over the petite woman. I looked around the small, almost cramped room with cabinets and a small medical table. Everything had its place, that’s for sure.

I’m also sure my Wild Wolves cut didn’t help either.

I saw her swallow and my thoughts started to wander in a nice little way. She cleared her throat.

“Can I help you?”

“If you’re Doc Hopson?”

“That’s me, but Quinn is just fine. So, once again, how can I help you?”

“It’s Gareth.”

“Gareth?” She looked around me, not seeing anything.

“Oh. Sorry, that’s my dog. He’s hiding right…”

Gareth stuck his goggle-eyed head outside of my jacket; surprisingly, he seemed to like Quinn and she didn’t even have treats for him.

When I reached into my jacket and pulled out the ten pound French bulldog, he practically jumped into her arms. Quick reflexes, she caught him. Once she grabbed little Gareth, she walked to the table, rubbing up against me as she did so. My entire body caught fire.

“Gareth. Like the Goblin King in Labyrinth?”

I smiled back at her. “Exactly. One of my favorite movies.” And just like that, she went from hot to lukewarm. Like a mask coming down.

“So,” she said, “what have you been feeding him?”

“I don’t know. It was the rally. Everyone was feeding him whatever they wanted.”

She laughed, huskily, like water over a brook. “Whatever they wanted. Right. Let me take a guess, lots of hot dogs, beer, running around in the grass, and now he won’t stop itching. Sound familiar.”

“Well, yeah,” I said, beginning to feel a little stupid. Come on, my first dog.

She poked and prodded Gareth until she seemed happy there was nothing else wrong.

“So how old is the little guy?”

“I don’t know. Got him out of a box at a strip mall a few of months ago.”

I can barely make a coherent answer. She’s talking to me and all I can see is her beautiful blue eyes. Gareth jumped up and licked her face. She laughed, surprised. Quinn has one of those laughs that comes from deep inside so you know someone is actually laughing and not just humoring you.

“Okay, Mr?”

“Elijah. Elijah Taylor. I’m the ranch foreman over at Cougar Creek. Weren’t you there earlier working with the livestock?”

“Maybe.”

She was still holding Garrick, and all I could think of was I wanted her to be holding me. She rummaged around a little bit in the cabinets behind her and pulled out a bottle.

“What our little guy here has is a classic case of allergies. Since he’s only about six months old, just to warn you, Frenchies get a lot of allergies. So I’m going to give you a bottle of hydroxyzine. Should help with the itchies. And since he was in the grass all weekend, he may need to have a bath as he smells.”

She handed Gareth back to me.

“As do you.”

As much as I was tempted to take a sniff, I decided to just man up and ask her what was on my mind.

“Say how about I take you out...”

“Sorry, I just don’t date…whatever you are, cowboy, biker…whatever,” as she waved her hands in the air.

Jesus, that’s harsh, I thought.

“How about I pay with some dinner? No date, just dinner. Maybe a beer.”

“And how about you write your address down here and I’ll send you a bill.” Tough nut.

As I scribbled my address on a piece of paper, I couldn’t help but notice how awesome she smelled. Don’t know if it was her hair, perfume, or just her naturally, but it was getting to me, that tingling feeling.

“You know it’s the MC headquarters. You should just come up and…”

She raised her hands and before I could get another word out she said to me, “There is no way in hell, I’m going out to the MC.”

I raised my hands in defense.

“Okay, okay that’s fine. I guess I’ll see you at the ranch.”

She handed Gareth to me and our hands touched. Don’t know if it was static electricity from my little Frenchy at work or if I was imagining things. Her eyes opened in surprise and she backed away.

So, I guess it wasn’t just me. I put Gareth back into my jacket and headed on out to my bike. As I put him into my sidecar, got him all strapped in, and his goggles on tight, I looked back at the animal hospital. The curtain fell back as I looked and I smiled. She may be a tough nut, but it was one I was willing to crack.