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He needed someone.
“Doesn’t mean you’re going to take just anyone,” he told himself sternly as he opened the barn door and stepped inside. It was a real, functioning barn, and they did use it for real ranch things. But it was also far cleaner than most barns, as they used the area immediately inside the door for guest demos.
His office sat down the hall a little bit, right before the tack room, feed room, and then the storage room. The stables ran along the back, and the loft was usually filled with hay.
The outer room of the barn sometimes got decorated during the holidays for the guests, but today, it just looked like a regular barn.
Except for the gorgeous woman turning toward him. Todd’s feet stilled, and his heartbeat crashed like cymbals through his whole body.
The woman wore jeans that curved around her hips and hugged her legs to her ankle. She wore work boots with thick soles on her feet, and dang if that wasn’t one of the hotter things Todd had ever seen a woman wear.
Her shirt came in purple and white plaid, and it went really well with her shoulder-length hair, which shone with a bit of violet as well. She’d clipped back the front, and as she approached, a smile spread across her face and drew Todd’s attention to her mouth.
Looking there was a huge mistake, and Todd’s mind went blank. That mouth moved, but his ears didn’t register the sound.
The beauty in front of him tilted her head, her eyebrows bunching together, and that made Todd snap back to himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Can I help you?”
“Yes,” the woman said again, her voice pleasant and musical in his ears. He wondered if this was how Luke felt around Becks, or Blake around Gina. Like they’d just met the woman of their dreams and God Himself had pressed pause on life for a moment to make sure they paid attention.
“I’m Laura Woodcross,” she said. “I have an interview for the veterinary position today.”
Todd shivered at the sound of her name, wishing it was because of the wind and cold that had come on this April day.It is uncharacteristically chilly in the Hill Country right now, he reasoned. He also knew that wasn’t why the thrill had run down his spine.
“Right,” he said, his voice hardly sounding like his own. “I’m Todd Stewart, and I’m who you’re looking for.” He nearly kicked himself in the teeth with those words, but Laura didn’t think anything of them. He cleared his throat and indicated the hall behind her. “My office is this way. Do you want anything to drink? I’ve got water or coffee.”
He also already had this woman’s phone number, and as she said, “Water would be great,” and followed him down the hall to his office, he hoped he could kill two birds with one stone today: Hire a vet and get a date.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Laura Woodcross had been looking up to people for her entire life. Because she only stood at five-foot-two-inches tall, it was inevitable. She followed the tall, broad-shouldered cowboy into an office near the mouth of the hallway, and she liked that it hadn’t been intricately done into a room she might find inside a house.
The wood walls could’ve been those of a stable, but this room held two desks…and a Christmas tree. Laura did a double-take and then looked at Todd Stewart. “You have a Christmas tree in here.”
He settled at his desk and flicked his eyes over to it. If cowboy looks could set fake pines on fire, his would’ve. “Yes,” he said. “My sister shares this office with me, and she loves to set things up. Taking them down? Not her strong suit.” He indicated the only other chair in the room, and Laura took it.
She perched right on the edge of the seat, her back straight so she could appear taller than she really was. She was used to having to hold her own and not let others walk all over her. She’d been through almost a decade of veterinary school, where her classmates all stood a foot taller than her and often tried to shoulder her out of the way when dealing with some of the bigger farm animals.
“Where’d you go to school?” Todd asked, and Laura blinked to keep herself right here in the present.
She didn’t believe for a single second that Todd hadn’t looked at her application yet. She’d put it in three days ago, and he’d called within a half-hour. “Texas A&M,” she said.
Todd maintained eye contact with her, and she appreciated that. “What drew you to veterinary medicine?”
Laura smiled, her soul lighting up. “I’ve always wanted to be a vet. Always.” She blew her breath out, a small giggle going with it. “I grew up on a farm out in the Frio area. Corn. Lots and lots of corn. Corn for miles.” She gave another chuckle and tucked her hands under her thighs. “We had a small stable with horses, a couple of cows, goats, chickens. I…really liked taking care of them.”
She wasn’t going to tell him her desire to take care of the animals stemmed from how easily she could connect to them. She didn’t want this particular man to think she wouldn’t be able to carry on a conversation at dinner. Something zinged through her, and she prayed she could make it through this interview without saying something that would reveal how badly she could misread people.
He leaned forward, his eyebrows furrowing. “Laura?”
“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “Sorry, I was…I didn’t hear what you said.” She couldn’t tell him that she’d been imagining the two of them at dinner together. She should only be thinking of him as her possible boss.
“I asked why you chose large animal care.”
“Oh, well—”
“Hey,” a woman said as she entered the office, drawing Laura’s and Todd’s attention. The woman who’d entered wore jeans and a plaid shirt too, and Laura grinned at her. She’d rolled her sleeves up to her elbows, and when she saw Laura, her step hitched. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were doing an interview. I just need to change my boots.”
