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“Okay.” Annie handed the leash over. “You know, I think I want to keep the dogs at my place again tonight.”
Stephanie studied her carefully. “Why? I know they’ve got to be a handful for you.”
Annie lifted a shoulder. “I like their company. Gotta go up to the front and see if anyone needs to be checked in now!” Without giving her mother another chance to reply or argue, she flitted off toward the front of the building.
“Everything go all right?” Bennett rejoined her in the hall.
“Well enough.” There was no time to tell him about Annie’s suspicions. He came with her into the exam room and sat down, observing just as he’d promised to do even though he definitely wasn’t a journalist.
“She was an absolute doll,” Stephanie began as she shut the door behind her. “She listens wonderfully to voice commands, and you can tell she truly wants to behave well.”
Mrs. Cabrera straightened in her chair and wiggled her head slightly. “I do spend a lot of time with her.”
Which was great, but they needed less of that time to be spent eating. “The X-ray shows that her skeletal system is strong and intact. That leaves us with a few other options to explore. She could have some inflammation, and in that case, I’d recommend acupuncture and massage.” She went on, discussing all the various possibilities for Sundae while she palpated her joints and flexed her legs, checking for anything she might’ve missed, but her mind was still on Bennett and what Annie had said.
She couldn’t deny her connection to Bennett even after all this time. It shouldn’t be there. Considering how young they were when they’d been together, it seemed they'd lived an entire lifetime apart. Yet, her body, mind, and soul had other things to say about it. She was there for her clients and their pets, but Stephanie remained intrinsically aware of Bennett the entire time. Was that the whole fated thing Bennett had told her about? It’d sure worked to get her into bed before, not that it would’ve taken much in the first place. Bennett was damn hot, and the attraction was much more than a pretty face. He set her on fire with every touch. He spoke to her and looked at her as though he truly wanted her. Annie’s little analogy about lost treasure wasn’t entirely off-par. There was a lot of lost time that they could’ve been enjoying each other.
Unfortunately, even though he’d left her entire body buzzing, she couldn’t think about Bennett without acknowledging the reality of their situation. He was there not because he was writing an article, and not because he just wanted to spend time with her. His enemies were now her enemies. Did that mean they were about to become Annie’s enemies as well? It gave her a lot to think about, though it’d been much more pleasant when she could just think about how incredible Bennett looked naked.
“Well, all right,” Mrs. Cabrera agreed reluctantly. “I did come here looking for something other than just your typical vet, so I suppose I can’t turn my nose up completely at nutrition counseling.”
“I appreciate that,” Stephanie said honestly. She’d been unable to find any other issues with the dog, and her official diagnosis was that the sweet little girl simply resembled her name a bit too closely. “The truth is that any medical problem Sundae may be having will only be exacerbated by excess weight. This will be good for her no matter what. We’ll just step up front and make some appointments for you.”
“What do you think, Sundae? Well, I think I’ll have to just leave her here with you!” Mrs. Cabrera laughed as she realized while the adults were talking, Sundae had made a pillow of Bennett’s shoe and fallen fast asleep.
“Are you doing okay?” Bennett asked when they’d finished up and were alone for a moment in the office. “You seemed all perky and happy, and then it just dropped off. Did something happen?”
What any woman in America wouldn’t give for a man who picked up on her feelings like that! Stephanie wondered if this had anything to do with him being a shifter and if there was a certain animal instinct that went along with it. She’d be asking him an awful lot of questions once they’d made it through the day. “I just need to take care of something. Excuse me for a second.”
She found Annie cleaning and disinfecting the exam room that Sundae and Mrs. Cabrera had occupied just a few minutes ago. Annie was always right on top of things. It was something Stephanie appreciated as her boss, but it also made her proud as her mother. “I had an idea.”
“What’s that?” Annie spritzed down the exam table.
“You keep saying that you and your friends want to go on a shopping trip to Portland. I think you should go.” Getting out of town would likely be much safer for Annie than staying in Eugene. It was one thing for Stephanie’s life to be on the line, but it was completely different when it was her daughter’s.
Annie paused and gave her mom a keen stare. “If anything, I thought maybe you should be going out of town. You know, a romantic weekend getaway?”
Bennett’s place was so remote that it was almost like a getaway itself. Though the numerous security measures he’d taken were a bit disturbing, Stephanie rather liked the idea of being completely alone with him. This wasn’t about that, though. “No, I mean it. You work hard around here, and I think you should treat yourself a little.”
“What about the dogs?” Annie gestured with her head toward the office. “I already told you I was going to take them tonight.”
“That’s fine. I’ll just swing by and grab them on my lunch break tomorrow. It sounds like the best of both worlds to me.” Not everything in life could be so finely balanced, but Stephanie could see no reason why it wouldn’t work.
8
“I really don’t like this.”
“I know.” Stephanie put her hand on Bennett’s arm as he pulled into the parking lot behind the clinic the next morning. “You’ll watch me get inside safely, though.”
“Really, Stephanie.” He pulled to a stop and put his SUV in park. They’d left her truck at his place this time since his vehicle was equipped with all the right remotes to make getting in and out of his property easier. “Every fiber of my being is telling me I can’t just leave you here.”
“And then we’re left with the same problem we had before. I can’t just shut the whole place down, Bennett. This is the sort of job that you work rain or shine, sick or healthy, death threats or no death threats,” Stephanie reasoned, though her voice shook a little on that last part. “I was open yesterday, and nothing happened.”
“I was here with you yesterday,” he reminded her. Bennett put his hand under her chin and grazed his finger along her jawline, taking her in. If he had his way, they wouldn’t have to worry about the Bloodmoon Crew or her business. They could just hide away from the world for days, doing nothing but enjoying each other. That wasn’t realistic, though, and abandoning her practice wouldn’t make her happy. Could he make her happy?
She smiled at him sleepily. They hadn’t exactly had much time to get a good night’s rest. “I’ll do everything just like we said. I’ll keep the door locked and only let in clients I know. Everyone else will just have to go elsewhere because we’re short on staff. Which is true since Annie won’t be here today.”
He was grateful that she was trying to appease him and his worries, but Stephanie could never really know what she did to him. As a human, she would never understand the demand of his wolf to keep her safe. It all sounded like a good plan to her, but Bennett could see nothing but flaws. “You could always just come to the packhouse with me.”
