Animal Attraction

He’d been in bed.

Beneath her cheek she could feel his heart pounding hard and fast. She’d wondered what it would take to ruffle the unflappable Dr. Dell Connelly.

She’d found it.

Her.

Her safety. “You have a gun?”

“I get notified at the same time as the police when the alarm goes off. I saw your car in the lot. I thought-”

He’d thought she was in danger.

Still holding her against him, Dell reached into his pocket. “Need to call this in and tell them it’s a false alarm-”

Before he could finish that sentence, several squad cars came flying into the lot, lights flashing.

“Dude,” Keith said on a sigh.

The next morning, Jade was at her desk staring down at the newspaper. There were two stories of interest. The first one was front page. The guys robbing the vet clinics in the state had been caught in Boise when they’d tried to hit a twenty-four-hour emergency pet hospital. No one had been injured.

The other story was on page three.

Dr. Dell Connelly’s ex-fiancee and receptionist at Belle Haven catches their animal tech Keith Roberts In the Act. Of Sleeping.

Sighing, Jade tossed the paper aside. The police had been quite understanding of the mishap. Keith got over himself. Dell swore he wasn’t upset with her, but something had happened.

He’d pulled back. She didn’t know why.

After morning rounds, he’d gone into surgery and Jade spent the time reorganizing files and updating inventory. Dell was gone for a few hours, seeing pets at a vet hospital about an hour away. When he called her from there about some records he needed, he sounded perfectly pleasant.

And perfectly not himself.

“Dell,” she said after she’d told him where to find the records. “Are you okay?”

“Of course,” he said, then paused. “And you?”

An odd longing filled her. A longing for him, which was unsettling. She wanted… well, she didn’t exactly know.

And wasn’t that the problem.

“I’m peachy,” she said, and when he’d hung up she smacked herself in the forehead with her phone, castigating herself aloud. “Peachy? You’re peachy?”

“I think pineapple works better,” Adam said, walking through the reception area. “It’s prickly.” He flashed her a quick grin, making her laugh and shake her head.

“You on for tonight?” he asked.

Tonight was poker night. Dell, Brady, Adam, and Lilah were religious about the twice-monthly get-togethers. Dell hosted them at his place and these guys took their poker very seriously. “Yes,” she said. “I’ll be there.”

“Bring your cash and valuables,” he said.

Two weeks ago Jade had cleaned Adam out. He wanted his revenge. “There’s going to be an ass-whooping tonight.”

“Hmm,” she said. “I’ll bring my can of hair spray, too, in case it gets ugly.”

He reached into the candy jar on the counter that Jade used to bribe little children into behaving. “You can’t scare me like you do Dell.”

She went still. “Is that what I do, scare him?”

Adam flashed her a look of sympathy that she didn’t want. “Jade-”

“No, never mind.” Standing, she nudged him clear of her area. “Okay, out you. I have to close up.”

He managed to grab a handful of candy before she pushed him away. When she was alone, she looked at Gertie. “Men are annoying.”

Gertie cocked her head in agreement, but Jade let out a low laugh. “Oh, who are you trying to kid? The minute he shows his face, you’ll drop everything for him. Face it, Gert. You’re a Dell ’ho.”

Gertie grinned and drooled.

Jade sighed. She was a Dell ’ho, too. She finished closing up and got Beans into the carrier, surprised when she straightened to find Adam back in her space. “You didn’t have to wait for me. The bad guys have been caught.”

He shrugged. “Humor me.” He paused. “And about Dell. He-”

“You don’t have to explain him to me.” She pointed to a stack of phone messages from the day, which she’d already entered onto a spreadsheet and sent to Dell’s e-mail.

Adam picked up the messages and flipped through them. “Okay, Tina’s his housekeeper. Shelly’s a good friend of mine. She called me, too, wanting to know what to get the man of mystery for his birthday next month. I told her a kick in the ass. Amanda…” He lifted a shoulder and stared at that message. “Okay, that’s a new one,” he admitted, rubbing his jaw. “And probably not worth remembering.”

Jade sighed. “She’s a drug rep.”

“And you think Dell’s into her?”

“No,” she admitted. “He took her to lunch last week when she drove in from Boise, and since then she’s called twenty times, but he hasn’t gotten back to her.”

“And how many times has Melinda called?”

“Four, and there’s two hang-ups, which thanks to the magic of caller ID, are also hers.”

Adam just shook his head. “Christ, you two are a pair.”

Dell was slumped in his dining room chair as he gathered his cards in. He’d lost.

To Jade.

Fitting, he thought. Since he’d already lost her-a fact that had been slammed home to him last night. Only a few weeks ago, what had happened in the clinic last night would have paralyzed her with fear and insecurity. But the self-defense he’d taught her had bolstered her confidence and given her some belief in herself.

And now she was going to use that newfound strength to leave here.

Great job, Connelly. Well done.

Jade was smiling as she gathered all his nickels and dimes in close, making careful, perfect stacks.

“So you have what,” Lilah said to Jade. “A few weeks left?”

Jade didn’t look up from her winnings. “About.”

“Wish you wouldn’t go,” Lilah said. “We’re going to miss you.”

“You’re the only one who can keep the knucklehead in line,” Adam said in agreement.

The “knucklehead” didn’t speak because if he did, it would be to utter the two words that had been stuck in his throat for so long he was choking on them.

Don’t go.

“This was always a temporary situation,” Jade reminded them softly. “But I’ll miss you guys.”

“Me too,” Lilah said, and pulled Jade in for a tight hug, the full-body kind that only women could pull off. “You’re leaving me here with all this testosterone, it’s not fair.”

“I’ll visit,” Jade said.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Lilah sniffed and nodded and then composed herself. Jade did the same. And just like that, it was over and the two of them were smiling again.

Not Dell. He couldn’t have smiled to save his life. His throat burned. Fucking burned.

Lilah filled the silence, talking about flying to Chicago to visit Jade and shop, flirting with her husband-to-be, making fun of Adam for losing when he wanted to win so bad.