“Who is she?”
“My boss, Dean Whitfield.”
He gave her a not a chance look and pulled the T-shirt higher. “You’re on sabbatical. And I’m on a mission.” He kissed her belly.
“She wouldn’t call unless it’s important. Hold that…” She brought the phone closer. “Oh. Yeah. Hold that.”
She cleared her throat and tapped the phone. “Evie Hewitt,” she said in her most professional voice, despite being one hot kiss from naked and completely horizontal.
“Joan Whitfield,” the dean’s familiar voice came through the phone. “How is your sabbatical going, my friend?”
She smiled at Declan, who was tracing a line on her leg. “It’s…” His finger disappeared under the edge of the T-shirt. “Incredible. That’s…I mean, it’s…been perfect.” She glared at him, but he chuckled and tortured her by inching his finger higher.
“Good, good. Well, I’m not calling to cut it short, so you can relax about that.”
She couldn’t relax about anything when his hand was…there. “Glad to hear it, Dean.” She emphasized the title to remind him this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill girlfriend calling.
He dipped his head to kiss the very skin he’d been touching, using his tongue to make her crazy.
“So things in your little town are going well?”
“Really…well.” She bit her lip as he nibbled her thigh. “The whole experience has been simply…breathtaking.”
She fisted some of his hair, tugging lightly.
“Oh, really?” Joan laughed, and Evie tried to picture the silver-haired sixty-year-old who loved patterned scarves and red wine. But she failed. The only silver she could see were the threads at Declan’s temple when he turned his head to kiss the other thigh. “And here I thought you were just taking care of your grandfather and his house.”
His lips pressed on the most tender part of her, making Evie want to drop her head back and whimper in delight. “I’m doing a lot more than that,” she said, working to keep her voice steady.
He peeked up with a question in his eyes. Evie smiled and pushed his head down. “I can multitask,” she told her boss…and her boyfriend, whose shoulders moved with a silent laugh.
“I know you can,” the dean said. “Better than most. Which is why I’m calling with some very big news.”
“Oh?”
Declan stilled at the sound of that single syllable, as if the interest in her voice piqued his.
“I’m taking the job as head of the College of Vet Med at Cornell.”
Evie gasped and not because Declan found another sweet spot. “Joan! Congratulations. Cornell has an amazing program! And their teaching hospital is one of the best in the world.”
“I know, and I’m stoked for the job, but I wanted to call and tell you personally.”
“Thank you for that,” she said, vaguely aware that she’d inched away from Declan. “You’ll be missed,” she said. And, if she’d already told Declan her news, she’d probably spill the beans to Joan right now. But she didn’t want him to find out that she’d decided to stay like this.
He paused and watched her, taking her cue to slow down the fun as she got more serious.
“Cornell is lucky to get you,” she said, thinking of the strong and fair hand that Joan used at NC State. It was no wonder she’d go to Cornell, one of maybe three schools in the country ranked better than their own for veterinary medicine. “Do you start in the fall?”
“Actually, I’m going this spring, which has the powers that be in a tizzy around here.”
“I can imagine,” she said, holding Declan’s gaze as he abandoned his teasing to let her finish the conversation.
“Be right back,” he mouthed, pointing to the bathroom.
She nodded and blew a kiss. “What do you think they’ll do?” she asked Joan, her mind whirring through the school’s options. “Interview from outside?”
“Nope.”
Evie switched the phone to her other ear as she watched Declan disappear into the bathroom. “Oh?”
“Come on, Evie. You know what I’m going to say.”
A tight tendril of something like twisted hopes and fears wound around her chest. “I’m not sure…”
“You’re the first choice. Would you consider taking the dean position? You’d need to come back a few times before January to pound out the details, but you don’t have to end your sabbatical.”
“Me.” It wasn’t a question. It was the way her career had gone from day one. Every promotion, every time.
Then why didn’t her heart soar with success like it had with all the other steps up the career ladder? Because she was about to jump off that ladder and land in Bitter Bark. But…dean of the vet school?
It’s different for women.
She could hear Declan’s comment and remembered her gut-level reaction to that. But was it different for women? For this woman?
“Oh, they’ll go through the usual hoops and contracts and lawyers,” Joan continued. “But you’ve been a good friend, Evie, and I wanted to let you know your name is at the top of the list. And it couldn’t happen to a more deserving person. You have earned the rich rewards and lovely perks of being a dean. And quite a young one, at that.”
A very young one. Young enough to still be…trying to have a baby. Young enough to still be practicing medicine. Young enough to start a whole new life with the man she loved.
“Listen, don’t commit to me,” Joan said on a laugh, as if she sensed Evie’s hesitation. “Make them throw scads of money at you and get the big house off-campus. I know they want you, Evie. You’ve been nothing but a boon to the whole school since the day you arrived.”
“Joan…” She couldn’t think of how to respond. “That’s really kind of you to say.”
“Um, I’m not sensing a but, am I?” The other woman gave a dry laugh. “Because you’d be out of your blasted mind not to take this job, Dr. Hewitt. You were born for it.”
Was she? Or was she born for Bitter Bark and Gloriana House and
