Bundle of Love E-Book

Erin Wright

• Herausgeber: Erin Wright
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Enjoy this steamy cowboy series by USA Today Bestselling small-town romance author Erin Wright…
The love he needs might be the last thing he expects…
Cowboy Adam Whitaker has loved and lost more times than he can count. His father died before he was born, and then a tragic accident stole his high school sweetheart from him. But as the town’s vet and the director of an equine therapy camp, life is going great nowadays.
All right, fine – it’s plenty stressful, and at the end of the day, it’s also turning out to be plenty lonesome.
And then, in strolls Kylie VanLueven, his very new and very pretty receptionist. The first time he met Kylie, she was just a kid. Now, she’s all grown up, with curves in all the right places. She's doing a good job at the clinic, but he won’t ever let it be more than that, despite the longing she stirs in him.
Besides, he’s sure that she’s hiding a secret…
Bundle of Love is the seventh novel in the Cowboys of Long Valley Romance series, although all books in the Long Valley world can be read as standalones. A HOT romantic story with a guaranteed happily ever after, it does have some strong language and oh my, sexy times. Enjoy!

Leseprobe

Bundle of Love

An Office Contemporary Western Romance

Cowboys of Long Valley Romance

Book Seven

Erin Wright

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Epilogue

Lessons in Love - Ch 1

Lessons in Love - Ch 2

The Other Half of My Life

A FREE Story For You…

Stampede of Love Blurb

Stampede of Love Preview

The story doesn’t end…

Also by Erin Wright

About Erin Wright

Copyright © 2018 by ErinWright

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be constructed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CoverDesigned by SunsetRoseBooks

ToEmilyPennington – Thank you for your help with the cover and inspiration for the story. I hope I included enough horses.

~*~

ToGeeta – Thanks for everything, but especially your love and support. I don’t know what I’d do without you.

Chapter 1

Kylie

QuickNote: If you enjoy Bundle of Love, be sure to check out my offer of a FREELongValley novella at the end.

With that, enjoy!

* * *

May, 2018

KylieVanLueven sucked in her bottom lip. She could do this. She could totally, absolutely do this.

This was her mom, who loved her dearly. After all, it was her and her mom against the world – how many times had she heard her mom say exactly that?

So it wasn’t admitting defeat to come crawling back to her mom’s house, her tail tucked between her legs.

Well, maybe it was. A little. But her mom would still be happy to see her.

And right now, more than anything in the world, Kylie needed someone to be happy to see her. To want her.

She raised a trembling hand and knocked on the faded, wooden door of her childhood home. The one she’d busted through without a second thought a million times as a kid…when she’d lived here.

It seemed awkward as hell to knock on this door – the front door to a house that was the very embodiment of “home” to her, even though she hadn’t lived here for four years. But just busting through and yelling, “SURPRISE!” didn’t seem like a stand-up idea to her, either.

Her mom opened up the door, her hair up in curlers, peering out into the fading evening light. “Kylie?” she said, the shock almost palpable. “Kylie, what are you doing here?!” Even as she said it, she stepped back from the door to let Kylie in, her faded housedress flowing around her legs as she backed out of the doorway.

Kylie pulled her oversized suitcase in behind her, leaned it against the shoe bench, and then threw herself into her mom’s arms, sobbing. She’d kept it together until now, but like a toddler whose scraped knee was fine until she lays eyes on her mother, all of the pain and frustration and anger and confusion and hurt that’d been boiling inside of Kylie came spilling out as soon as she saw the one person in her life who she knew loved her unconditionally.

Even as her mom pulled her against her generous chest, patting her back and whispering consoling words that Kylie didn’t need to hear to understand, she was also pushing the door closed, the night sounds disappearing, leaving only Kylie’s sobs and her mom’s whispers and the ticking of the clock on the wall.

Finally, Kylie got herself under control enough to pull back and give her mom a watery smile. “Hi, Mom,” she said weakly. “I’m home.” She tried to say it in a sing-song voice, to play it off as a joke, but nothing was funny right now.

Nothing was going to be funny ever again.

Which was an exaggeration and Kylie knew it and she didn’t care. It’s how she felt, dammit.

Her mom draped her arm around Kylie’s shoulders and pulled her against her soft, welcoming side. “Come on, let’s go talk. Nothing can be as bad as all this, I promise.”

They moved into the living room and sank down into the worn, soft couch, its embrace as inviting as her mom’s had been. Kylie loved this couch. In fact, all she wanted to do in this very moment was hide in its flowery depths and never come out again.

She remembered back when she was 18 – just four short years ago – when all she had wanted was to get out of this town and never come back. Now…

Well, the world hadn’t been quite as amazing as Kylie had thought it would be, that was for damn sure.

“Okay, tell me what’s going on.” Her mom’s pale green eyes were caring and concerned…and laser focused on her.

CarolVanLueven could be horribly intimidating, even when she didn’t mean to be, something her only daughter was all too aware of.

Kylie bit her trembling lower lip, fighting back another wave of tears. Dammit all, she could cry in a minute, but right now, she needed to talk.

No matter how tempting it was to dissolve into a puddle of tears again.

She took a deep breath.

“I’m pregnant.”

Chapter 2

Adam

Dr. AdamWhitaker pulled to a stop in front of the fire station and strode inside, trying to hide his yawn behind one hand while carrying his vet bag in the other. The story of his life right there, in a nutshell. It was gonna be another long day, but before he could get to the must-do’s on his list, he had to look over a stray dog found up in the foothills just outside of town. It had been found in the aftermath of a wildfire – or during it, Adam wasn’t too clear on the details just yet – with no tags or identifying information.

MooseGarrett, one of the local volunteer firefighters, was the one who’d called Adam this morning to ask for his help. He believed that the dog had been abused, and Adam was pretty sure he had to be right. Any dog left to wander in the hills in the middle of a wildfire probably wasn’t being taken care of by its owner, whether or not it was also being kicked around.

There were levels of abuse, and from the sounds of it, this dog was definitely on one of the tiers. It remained to be seen which tier. Adam could only hope for the sake of the dog that Moose was overstating the case, although Moose’d never struck him as being someone to exaggerate.

JaxsonAnderson, the new Sawyer fire chief, was inside the station bay, along with Troy and a couple of the other volunteer firefighters. It didn’t look like Moose had made it there yet. Adam shook hands with everyone, chatting as he went. He’d known most everyone here since they were knee-high to a grasshopper; all of them except for Jaxson, of course. The new chief had just moved in from Boise and although Adam hadn’t had a chance to get to know him real well yet, he was impressed with the guy regardless. Anyone willing to go charging into a burning building to save people ranked pretty high in Adam’s estimation.

“So, did we get the fire in the foothills under control?” Adam asked, once the greetings were over. He figured it must be if the guys were all here, but he was curious anyway. It must’ve been a small fire if it was killed off that quickly.

“Yeah, late last night. ThankGod it’s early enough in the season that there are still patches of snow around, keeping the fire from spreading too quickly,” Jaxson said, rubbing his eyes wearily. “With this wind that keeps howling through, though, any spark can easily mean an inferno, especially because the more the wind blows, the more things dry out, which means the faster shit catches on fire. If we could only get the wind to stop⁠—”

Just then, the man door to the fire station opened, and in came a very dirty Moose, ash and sand and dirt streaked everywhere. He looked like the lone survivor of a dirt hurricane. He was bent awkwardly at the waist, his hand securely wrapped around the collar of a beautiful white-and-black setter, which Adam assumed was the stray he’d been called in to look at. But setters, an expensive and sought-after hunting breed, didn’t tend to be strays.

What the hell…?

Then came GeorgiaRowland trailing in behind Moose and the dog. She was the local branch manager of the GoldforkCreditUnion, and someone with a good head on her shoulders. Adam was a little surprised to see Moose and Georgia together – had they spent the night out in the wilderness? By themselves? All alone? I wonder what RockyGarrett will have to say about that…

Eh. None of that mattered right now. Even as Adam hurried towards the trio, his eyes were trained on the setter, inspecting her for injuries, watching for limping or an unwillingness to bend in a certain direction.

“There’s the woman of the hour,” he said softly, once he’d reached her side. She was skittish as hell, but didn’t appear to be limping, so that was a plus. He looked at Moose, his mind running through the possibilities of where to do his examination. “Let’s take her back into the supply closet. It’s got that table in there for organizing, and it’s nice and enclosed. She won’t be able to run too far if we corner her in there.”

Moose nodded, his face a mask of concentration as they made their way to the closet. Poor guy – it wasn’t easy to wrestle a dog of this size into submission. Life would’ve been a lot easier if Moose had slipped his belt underneath her collar to use it as a makeshift leash, but instead, the firefighter just had a death grip on the dog’s collar. IfAdam remembered right, the Garrett family had never had any pets, and to be honest, Moose’s inexperience was showing.

Well, he’d gotten the dog to the fire station in one piece, and there was definitely something to be said for that. Adam was impressed with his grit. The dog probably put up one hell of a fight.

He put his vet bag down and then together with Moose, they maneuvered the gorgeous setter onto the table in the storage room, her trembling legs almost refusing to keep her upright. The sight tore at Adam’s heart. She was completely terrified; probably a half an inch away from pissing herself.

Whoever had done this to this dog deserved to end up in a special level of hell, as far as Adam was concerned.

Moose turned to Georgia, who was hanging out in the doorway of the small closet. “She knows you better, plus I have to file some paperwork for last night’s fun. You mind helping Adam out here?”

“No, not at all,” Georgia said. Moose sidled past and out into the main area of the fire station as Georgia closed the door to the closet and turned to Adam with a smile. “What can I help with?” she asked.

“Just help keep her on the table so I can look her over. Actually, I have some small dog treats in my bag in the corner,” he jerked his head towards his beat-up vet bag, “if you could grab those for me.”

He continued to pet the beautiful dog, using his hands and voice to try to convey peace and calm, even as he used his pettings to do surreptitious inspections, searching out broken bones or lacerations or bruises. The poor thing was trembling so much, it was hard to tell if she was flinching from him touching a particular part of her body, or because she was just terrified in general.

Adam was glad in that moment that he didn’t know who’d done this kind of psychological damage to this dog. He didn’t fancy spending the rest of his life in jail for murder, although he was pretty damn sure it’d be worth it.

Georgia began feeding the small treats to the dog, her hand sliding into place over the collar so Adam could use both hands to get to work on a full-blown inspection. He was impressed that she didn’t need to be told what to do; she just got into place without needing him to say a word.

As he inspected every inch of the dog, checking out the pads of her feet, trying to find a scar for a spaying procedure on her belly, feeling for any joints or bones out of place, he wondered idly why it was that he wasn’t attracted to Georgia. Not at the moment, of course – she was covered from head to toe in ash and dirt and looked like she’d been dragged along behind a pickup truck for a couple of miles – but just in general. She was pretty in an understated way, athletic, intelligent, funny, good with animals…

And she did absolutely nothing for him.

This was probably why he was 38 and single. He’d loved his wife; he’d loved Chloe. That was it. Two women in almost 40 years. Did that mean he was going to find the next woman to love when he was 60?

That would just be his luck.

WhileGeorgia kept the dog occupied and in place on the table, Adam asked her questions about how they’d found the dog – she’d apparently named her Sparky, an on-the-nose name for a dog found in the middle of a wildfire – and what had happened up in the foothills. AsGeorgia recounted her harrowing experience of trying to escape the fire, Adam pulled his handheld chip scanner out of his bag, waving it carefully over the dog.

Nothing.

Whoever abused her and left her to die in a wildfire had also failed to chip her.

Real winners, here.

With any luck at all, they’d catch the rat bastard who did this and make him wish he’d never bought a dog. And if the justice system didn’t, maybe Adam would. A few years in jail would totally be worth it.

He finished up his examination and together, they headed out into the main bay of the fire station to give a report to the gathered men. As they were chatting about what to do with the dog, MichelleWinthrop – the Sawyer city dog catcher – showed up. Large and in charge, animals were her first (and sometimes only) priority, something Adam sure could admire about a person.

Here was another single woman, as focused and interested in animals as he was, beautiful in an understated way, someone to be admired…

And someone who did absolutely nothing for him.

He sighed to himself.

“I don’t recognize Sparky,” Jaxson said to the group, pulling Adam back into the discussion. “That doesn’t mean much, of course, since I only moved here five months ago. Does she look familiar to any of you?”

They all turned as one to search out Sparky in the corners of the station. Considering how much the setter hated people, Adam figured she’d be hiding under a fire truck or behind a pile of equipment, but was shocked to see that she was instead sprawled out on Troy’s lap, her tongue lolling out happily, a mostly empty bowl of water off to the side, as Troy quietly ran his hands over her fur rhythmically.

Troy sensed the eyeballs on him, and he looked up from his pettings of the beautiful dog to see them all staring at him. “She likes me,” he said simply.

Wow.Adam could hardly keep his eyes in his head at the sight. Seeing how relaxed the dog was around Troy…

Stunning, to say the least.

As they discussed who would take the dog home – Troy, obviously – and how it was that Sparky was lost out in the wilderness to begin with, Adam noticed something.

A little…spark between Georgia and Moose, if he could be forgiven for using the pun in a fire station of all places.

Huh.

They were practically kids compared to him – at 12 years his junior, they’d been entering first grade when he’d been entering his senior year, a thought that made him feel ancient beyond his years – but even Adam knew that Moose’s parents had decided who Moose would marry almost before he was born.

And that person was notGeorgiaRowland. It was, in fact, her cousin, TennesseeRowland.

Tennessee was the daughter of the older brother, the one who’d inherited everything – the one who owned the biggest farm in LongValleyCounty and didn’t hesitate to use that fact whenever and wherever he could. Adam could only be grateful the man was a farmer, not a rancher; the few times a year he had to deal with him because of his horses was pushing the limit as it was. If he had to constantly be out at the Rowland place to work with a herd of cows and interacting with RobertRowland every time…Well, Adam might’ve picked a new profession by now.

Georgia was the daughter of the younger brother, on the other hand; the one who’d inherited nothing and was now the high school biology teacher. Obviously, that wasn’t good enough for RockyGarrett and therefore, wouldn’t be good enough for his oldest son, Moose.

But damn…if the sparks between Moose and Georgia were so obvious even he could see them – and Adam would be the first to admit that he tended to be blind to that sort of thing to an *ahem* extreme degree – well, things were about to get real interesting in the farming world. He could only wish the two of them luck, ‘cause they were gonna need it.

Well, it was time to get a move on. He said his goodbyes to the group and then headed out to his late-model Ford truck, pulling his miniature calendar out of his shirt pocket and looking it over as he went. He let out a huge yawn even as he tried to focus his eyes on his scribbled notes. Shit, he was already tired, and the day had just begun.

Hmmm…He had a horse with a tender leg, a cow that refused to let her calf nurse, two rabies shots to give, and a neutering to perform back at the clinic, all before 3 pm. Then the real fun would begin – absolutely no sarcasm intended – when he would hurry over to the riding arena to work with the kids in therapy camp for a couple of hours. Those kids were truly the highlight of his day, no doubt about it.

But he also needed to submit invoices for vet work, figure out when he could squeeze in some time to do vaccinations, and then there was also the vet-as-a-career presentation that MissLambert over at the elementary school really wanted him to give to her fifth grade class.

He yawned again, his jawbone cracking, and he rubbed at his burning eyes with the palms of his hands. Maybe he’d stop by Mr. Petrol and get a coffee to go, and then tackle his day. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the gas station. As he drove mostly by instinct, he tried to think of how to be more efficient with his time. Type up an invoice as he was helping a cow give birth? Return phone calls as he did vaccinations?

Yeah, not gonna work. Each scenario was more ridiculous than the last.

He tried to force his non-caffeinated brain to do something more useful than just shrug in helplessness at him.

He could hire another vet to help him; they could share the practice, like a lot of dentists and lawyers did. But there just wasn’t quite enough work to pull something like that off. Adam had too much work for one person to handle; too little work for two.

Actually…He tapped his chin, thinking. It wasn’t so much the vaccinations and birthings that were kicking his ass – it was the paperwork. He felt like he was drowning in it. If he could just hand the office work off to someone else, hell, that’d make all the difference in the world.

He did have someone right now…kinda. OliverBlank was a high school student who he had coming over after school to help with the animals staying at the clinic for one reason or another, but as much as Adam liked the kid, he wasn’t exactly prime office help. Although he was an absolute gem around animals, he was equally as awful with people. Hell, just last week, he got into an argument with a client who’d had the temerity to ask for a business card. Oliver had told the woman hotly that if they handed out business cards to everyone, well, soon they’d run out of them!

Yeah, it’d taken precious minutes to smooth that one over. He’d tried to explain to Oliver after the slightly mollified woman left the clinic (business card in hand, thankyouverymuch) that the whole point of business cards was to give them away, but…

Well, it hadn’t exactly gotten through to the kid. Adam half expected that next, he’d let loose on a client’s head that if Adam took the time to talk to the client about vaccination schedules, Adam wouldn’t have the time to actually vaccinate any animals!

Which, while being somewhat true, also greatly missed the point.

No, he needed to stop relying on Oliver to man the desk, no matter how desperate Adam was for an extra set of hands upfront. He needed to keep Ollie in the back, far, far away from any being that walked upright. Let him stick to the four-legged variety, where he could work his magic. Ollie understood and loved animals on a level that Adam wasn’t even sure he was at. He’d make a damn fine vet one day…as long as he never had to talk to another soul while doing it.

AsAdam walked out of Mr. Petrols, sucking at the brown, life-giving liquid, he sighed to himself. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, it was time to face the facts: He needed to hire an honest-to-God receptionist. An older woman who would be steadfast and unflinching in the face of growling dogs…and humans. Someone who could help him keep on track and get him to his appointments on time. Someone who could do his billing for him.

All of the shit Adam hated to the depths of his soul.

A part of him cringed in pain at the idea of adding someone else to the payroll of Whitaker’sVetClinic, but if they would actually bill clients on time and get both his accounts payable and accounts receivable under control, hell, they’d probably pay for themselves just through the avoidance of late fees. Oh, and by actually collecting money owed, something Adam wasn’t exactly the best at.

So instead of heading out of town towards the Cowell spread to look at their mare’s lame leg, he took a right and headed over to the local SawyerTimes office. It was time to bite the bullet and hire someone to help him shoulder the load. An even-keeled, placid, heavyset, 50-year-old woman with a touch of gray in her hair and a steely-eyed gaze that could bring even the most riled-up dog to heel with a glance.

Hells to the yes.

Now, he just needed to find this paragon of perfection and hire ‘em on the spot.

Chapter 3

Kylie

There was some part of her – very small and very distant and oh-so-very quiet – that recognized that she was spiraling into some sort of depression. She’d never been one to be depressed before. There was just too much to do and see and experience and learn. She loved life.

She just didn’t happen to love life right now. Or, more specifically, love the idea of giving birth to life.

At least, not at the moment. It just wasn’t part of the plan. She’d always believed she’d become a mother…someday. She would marry a handsome guy and they’d have 2.5 kids and a house with a white picket fence and she’d be happy and fulfilled in her UnnamedCareer doing UnnamedThings.

Just because she was 22 and hadn’t figured out what that UnnamedCareer was, let alone what those UnnamedThings would be, didn’t mean she was a failure.

But the fact that she was pregnant, single, and homeless probably did.

She snuggled back down underneath the covers. She was so tired. So very, very tired. She’d get up in a minute. Maybe eat breakfast. Hell, maybe even brush her teeth. That’d be true progress.

But…not for another minute. She needed her rest. She was carrying another human inside of her, after all. That sort of thing was exhausting. She couldn’t be expected to be Superwoman, right?

She was drifting in and out, the world a hazy blob around her, when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. She sat up slowly, blinking owlishly at the door. “Co–come in,” she croaked out. She cleared her throat. Why was it so hard to talk? She tried to remember what she’d last said to her mom, but the days had slipped by like water down a mountain stream, and she couldn’t remember what she’d said, or when she’d said it.

The world had turned into this murky, indistinct disaster zone, and Kylie couldn’t keep straight what she’d actually done versus what had happened in her dreams. Whichshould freak her out but she was too tired to freak out. She’d worry about it later. Maybe after another nap.

Her mom popped her head around the door, surprising Kylie. She’d already forgotten about the knock on the door. Her mom sent an overly bright smile at Kylie even as her eyes said, “Danger ahead!” Even through her sleepy eyes, Kylie caught the look that spelled trouble. It was the same one her mom had given her in high school, right before sitting her down and lecturing her about getting B’s in her classes, when she could be getting A’s.

Ah. Back when life was so much simpler.

Kylie tried to plaster a happy look on her face. “Hi, Mom!” she said, a touch bit too cheerfully. She cleared her throat again. It was strangely hard to talk. “What’s…what’s going on?” She ran her fingers through her hair, hoping to straighten it out, but she hit a few too many snarls and knots, and gave up on the task. Ugh.When had she last brushed her hair?

She couldn’t remember that, either.

Her mom crossed over to the bed and sat down. “I just got home from my book club meeting,” she started out. Kylie’s eyes widened with surprise. Book club? That was an evening thing. AMonday-evening-from-7-to-9-pm thing, if she remembered correctly.

But, that couldn’t be right. That’d mean that she’d been here a week, and that it was nine at night.

But…but…she’d only been here a day or two, and it was still morning.

Her head hurt.

She surreptitiously grabbed her phone off the nightstand and checked it.

Holy shit.

How was it May 14th? And how was it 9:34 at night?

That couldn’t be right.

Her head hurt even more.

Her mom stopped talking and Kylie looked up blankly. “Sorry, Mom, I missed that. Come again?”

With a disgruntled look, her mom snatched her cell phone out of her hands and set it down on the other side of her. “I saaiidd, the women at Between the Covers mentioned that DocWhitaker is hiring a receptionist for the clinic.” Kylie gave her a blank look. “Thevet clinic,” her mom said, trying to clarify. Kylie blinked. Why was her mom talking to her about the vet? She didn’t have a pet. Hell, she didn’t even have a goldfish.

What she did have was a human being growing inside of her, which was unfortunately much more terrifying than a goldfish. For starters, she didn’t have to push a goldfish out of her⁠—

“You should go apply for the job,” her mom said bluntly, finally giving up all pretense of dancing around the subject.

“Work at the clinic?” Kylie repeated, confused. She’d planned on getting a job someday, but right now, it just seemed overwhelming. She’d have to get out of bed and put on clothes and take a shower – hmmm…maybe, take a shower and then put on clothes – but this all sounded like a lot of movement, no matter what order the steps went in.

“Kylie, you’re in a depressed funk.” Apparently, her mom was sticking to the blunt plan. “You’ve been here a week almost to the hour, and I don’t think you get out of bed except to go pee and occasionally shuffle to the kitchen to eat a bowl of Cap’nCrunch cereal. I love you, but enough is enough. I am not here to be your source of sugary breakfast cereal for the rest of your life. I am not here to be your babysitter when you give birth to this baby. I am not here to be your refuge where you get to hide from the world. I kept thinking you just needed some time to pull your head out of your ass and get it together, but apparently, that time isn’t going to happen on its own. So, I’m going to force it. You need to get up, take a shower, brush your teeth, brush your hair for hell’s sakes, and then come into the living room. It won’t kill you to go somewhere else other than this bed. We can talk when you’re done.”

And with that edict, her mom walked out of the room and shut the door with a click behind her.

Kylie stared at the door in shock. She couldn’t believe it. Dammit all, she was pregnant and she didn’t know what she was going to do with her life! Her mom could cut her a little slack.

Hot tears of indignation trailed down her cheeks as she headed to the adjoining bathroom, stripping as she went. Her mom could try being nice. Kylie was her only child, after all, and⁠—

The smell hit her nose, stopping her thoughts in their tracks. What the hell is that smell? It was putrid. Had her mother let a dead body rot in the bathtub?

She pulled the shower curtain back cautiously, peering in. Huh. Clean and shining, like always.

Hold on…right before that smell hit, Kylie had just taken off her sweatshirt and tank top that she vaguely remembered wearing on the Greyhound bus to Sawyer.

Which meant that she hadn’t taken them off in eight days.

Could that be right? It couldn’t be right.

She took a tentative sniff of her armpit and yanked her face away in disgust.

Okay, so maybe that was right. Shit, she had no idea body odor could be so offensive.

Kylie peeled the rest of her clothes off and stepped into the shower, holding her breath as much as possible as she quickly adjusted the water to the hottest temperature her skin could bear. As the hot water pounded down on her, the fog that’d wrapped her up in its comforting embrace over the past eight days began to dissipate. She began to feel energy and thoughts and clarity return, ever-so-slowly at first. She scrubbed her scalp with shampoo twice, trying to get the layer of oil and grease out of it that she’d allowed to settle in, and then started in on shaving. The more she scrubbed and shaved and rinsed, the better she felt.

By the time the hot water was gone, her legs were shaky and she felt lightheaded, but she also felt…herself. More alive and present than she had been in weeks. Maybe months.

She brushed her teeth and then tugged on yoga pants and a tank top – a clean one – and headed to the kitchen. She needed to find something to eat, and then she could talk to her mom. She needed fortifications for this convo, she was pretty damn sure. Her mom met up with her in the kitchen as she was rummaging through the fridge. “Feeling better?” she asked, leaning against the counter.

Kylie pulled out a stack of items and piled them on the counter. Mustard, horseradish, sprouts, pepper-jack cheese, sweet pickles, and strawberry jam. Her mouth watered at the sight. This was going to be a glorious sandwich.

“I do. I…” She paused in her slathering of the jam on the rye bread and smiled meekly at her mom. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I’m still in shock, I guess.” She went back to spreading a thick layer of sprouts, smooshing it into the jam with the back of a spoon. She ignored the strangled groan of disgust from her mom. “I didn’t realize how long I’d been here, honestly. I thought it’d only been a day or two. I can’t believe it’s been a week.”

She piled some baked ham slices on, and then squished the two sides together with a pleasing smoosh sound. She took a huge bite and let out a groan of happiness. Her mom watched her, a smile playing around the edges of her mouth. “I don’t even need to see the pee stick,” she said dryly. “No one can fake those kinds of pregnancy cravings.”

Kylie shrugged, chewing and swallowing just enough to make room to shove some more in. She hadn’t realized how hungry she’d gotten, either. She had vague memories of pouring herself some PeanutButterCrunch but she couldn’t remember when or how often. Based on her stomach rumblings, she was going to guess not often enough.

The food began to hit her bloodstream and she felt the trembling in her legs start to go away. She started to feel…human again. It was a wonderful feeling.

“Okay, so tell me about the vet job again,” Kylie said, and then took another huge bite of her sandwich.

It was time to start making some changes, and that began with getting back on her feet. She wasn’t here to be a mooch.

It was about time to act like it.

Chapter 4

Kylie

Kylie went walking up to the front door of the clinic the next afternoon, wiping her palms on the thighs of her jeans before reaching for the door handle. Today had been exhausting – all she’d managed to do was eat more sandwiches and take more naps between last night and now – but she felt like she’d been running a marathon. After a week of almost no movement whatsoever, walking between the bed and the kitchen was a bigger struggle than she really liked to admit.

And now, she’d managed to walk her happy ass all the way down to the clinic, three blocks of walking in the bright sunshine and everything. She was damn happy to be out and about, even if there was no way Dr. Whitaker would hire her as a receptionist, considering she had neither receptionist nor animal experience. This was a fool’s errand, there was no doubt about it.

But on the other hand, he was actually hiring – not a small consideration for a town the size of Sawyer – and the clinic was within walking distance of her mom’s house, also not a small consideration for someone who didn’t own a car.

So, it was worth a try. After this, she would walk over to the Shop ‘NGo and see if they were wanting cashiers or grocery cart chasers or something. No matter what, she wanted to be able to go home that evening with at least a job prospect to share with her mom.

She plastered a smile on her face as she walked into the air conditioned building, the bell overhead jingling, alerting Dr. Whitaker to her presence.

Except…

Thiscan’t be Dr. Whitaker.

Because instead of an old man coming out of the back, a pimply teenage boy not even old enough to shave came walking out. He tugged on the brim of his baseball cap nervously when he spotted her. “Yeah?” he grunted, picking up a pen from the desk and clicking the end rapidly.

“Umm…I’m here about the job opening. IsDr. Whitaker available?” She tried to keep her voice calm and in control, as if this was normal to go apply for a job. As if she wasn’t at all nervous.

The kid turned towards the back and hollered, “Adam, some chick is here for you!”

Kylie did her best to cover her startled snort of laughter with the fakest cough ever, so when the kid looked at her suspiciously, she just shot him a bright smile.

One guess as to why Dr. Whitaker wants a proper receptionist, and the first three guesses don’t count.

If this was the bar the vet would measure her performance by, she could stop being nervous now. Anything short of accidentally murdering a patient would probably be seen as an improvement.

Dr. Whitaker came walking up from the back, and Kylie had the strongest sense of déjà vu wash over her at the sight of him.

Thiscan’t be Dr. Whitaker.

She remembered the vet – she’d met him when he came to her fifth grade class and did a presentation on the animal sciences and what it was like to be a vet. He’d been old.She remembered that much. Well, that and how pretty his horse was.

But the man standing in front of her with an easy smile on his face, putting his hand out to shake hers…he wasn’t old. He was older than her, sure, but not old. Shouldn’t he have a potbelly and whiskers and ruddy cheeks and white hair? A veterinarian version of SantaClaus?

She felt a little off-balance as she put her hand out and grasped his. “I’mKylieVanLueven,” she said, trying to keep her voice even, even as electrical sparks went shooting up her arm from his warm, calloused hand. “You’re hiring?”

Nervous. So damn nervous. Her heart was racing and her breath was short and she was just staring up at this monstrously tall guy and shaking his hand and…

She finally realized that they’d been shaking for longer than was probably normal and yanked her hand away. A smile played around the edges of Dr. Whitaker’s lips as he drawled, “Nice to meet you. CarolVanLueven’s daughter?”

She nodded, smiling confidently. Fake it ‘til you make it, sister. “You know my mom?”

“Everyone knows your mom,” Dr. Whitaker said with an easy chuckle. “She sure does a lot for this community. We’re lucky to have her. So, you’re interested in the receptionist job, eh?”

“Yeah.” She wiped the palms of her hands on her thighs again. She didn’t expect to be this nervous.

She didn’t expect…him. Dr. AdamWhitaker, country vet for Sawyer, Idaho, was quite possibly the cutest guy she’d ever laid eyes on.

No, she didn’t expect that at all.

Chapter 5

Adam

Adam’s eyes skimmed over Kylie, taking in her appearance. She’d come dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, and tennis shoes.

In other words, she came ready to work in a vet office.

He appreciated that. If she’d come in high heels and nylons, he would’ve sent her packing on the spot. He didn’t have time for that kind of bullshit. He dealt with enough shit – real shit – on a daily basis. A girl who spent more time primping than working wasn’t gonna cut it.

But speaking of not cutting it, she also wasn’t anywhere near 50 years old. Hell, she probably wasn’t even 25. He tried to remember when the VanLueven girl had graduated from high school, but after a while, that sort of thing just blended together. Too many teenagers and kids and infants to keep track of.

Well, she was here. He might as well see how she did around the animals in the back. “C’mon back here,” he said with a jerk of his head, heading down the hallway to the back. “You should meet our current crop of patients.”

She followed him, her tennis shoes squeaking on the worn gray tile floor. “I heard about the job opening,” she said as they walked, “from my mom, who heard about it from the book club, Between the Covers, so honestly, I’m not sure if I even have the qualifications you’re looking for.”

They got to the back, where the dogs were barking, the cats were meowing, and there was just a general sense of chaos.

So, a typical day at Whitaker’sVetClinic.

“Do you love animals, and do you want to work with them?” he asked bluntly, watching her as she began to wander around the crowded room. She stuck her fingers through the wire of Pickles’ cage, and Adam bit back his warning not to stick her hands into cages with random animals. Pickles was an older dog, though, that’d just had a growth removed and was docile as a sloth. The worst he could do was slobber someone to death.

She nodded as she laughed lightly, Pickles’ pink tongue lavishing her fingers with kisses. “Yes, very much. My mom wouldn’t let me have a pet growing up; she said one human child was quite enough for her, without my dad around to help, you know? ButI’ve always loved animals and they seem to like me.”

She moved down a couple of cages to SirGrouch, who got his name for a reason. BeforeAdam could yell out a warning, though, Kylie had unlocked the door and was pulling out the crotchety old cat, snuggling him against her chest. “Oh, aren’t you a sweetie,” she cooed as the cat’s rusty, loud purr filled the air.

Adam was pretty sure his mouth was dragging on the ground. In all of the time he’d been taking care of SirGrouch – and keep in mind, his owner had adopted the damn cat when he was being weaned from his mom – he’d never missed an opportunity to let loose with his claws at least once per visit, if not multiple times per visit. Adam tended to wear long-sleeve shirts even in the heat of summer exactly because of cats like SirGrouch.

And yet…

“So you’re at college, right?” Adam asked, tearing his eyes away from the insanity in front of him. “InOregon? OrWashington? I can’t remember.”

“I was in Bend, Oregon, attending a small community college there.” Adam could hardly hear her over the din of the dogs barking and SirGrouch purring, but what he didn’t miss was her 100-watt smile. “I’m home for a bit; I got my generals done but I didn’t want to keep going until I figured out what I wanted to do with my life.”

He moved a little closer. So he could hear her better, of course. Nothing else. “So you’re not going to school to become a vet tech or something?”

She shook her head, her straight blonde hair swishing with the movement. SirGrouch was now bathing her chin in kisses.

Adam felt faint. Kisses. The damn cat was kissingKylie. Was he dreaming? He might be dreaming.

“It never occurred to me, honestly,” Kylie said, answering his question. “I love animals well enough, so I could, but I won’t lie and say that it’s been a lifetime goal of mine.”