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Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.I gulped, trying not to drool. I stammered out, “Hmm. I mean, yes. Yes, I am.”
Lucas’ eyes ducked away from mine. He glanced at the Gordons who, thankfully, were preoccupied by their new baby. Sadly, Lydia didn’t miss a second of what had just happened. She grinned back at us.
I refocused.Maggie. Just take care of Maggie.Dropping to one knee, I took the Valentines’ old golden retriever into my arms and started a quick examination. “Hey girl, what’s the matter?”
Before I knew it, Lucas Valentine joined me, folding his more than six-foot-tall frame and crouching beside me. He raked his big hand down the side of Maggie’s coat, brushing his fingers over mine and sending a tingle down my spine. I held my breath.
“I think she just hates the cold weather now. Isn’t that right, girl?” Lucas said.
For some strange reason, all the times I heard him speak on television, I never noticed the low, sultry rumble in his deep voice. Mindlessly, I licked my lips.
“What do you think, Doc? How would you rate my diagnosis?”
Lucas turned his head and trained his gorgeous green eyes on me. My mouth went dry. Blinking, I was speechless. Although my lips moved, no sound exited them. The medical words from years of training and years of practice had vanished with just one look from him.
Chuckling, Lucas said, “Ah, sorry. I should stick to what I know best, and not try to play doctor, huh?” A low hum exuded from his bulky body. Lucas patted his chest. He dug his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out his phone. He grimaced at the screen. Sighing, he said. “Looks like I might need to step out for a moment. Would it be okay for me to leave Maggie here until I can get back? This shouldn’t take very long.”
“That’s fine,” I heard Lydia remark from behind me.
Finally, my assistant’s voice reminded me I ran a clinic for sick animals and not a viewing gallery for sexy green-eyed billionaires with amazing jawlines who sported panty-soaking dimples when they smiled.
“Thank you,” Lucas said as he walked out the door.
“How the hell could a man like that be single?” Lydia mumbled by my ear.
A breath escaped my lips, and I shook my head. “I do not know.”
Lucas
Stuffingmyfacewithmy mother’s scrambled eggs and hash had been the highlight of what was slowly starting to feel like a crucible. My day began with fielding questions about my brother’s whereabouts from my parents, then went to shit by mid-afternoon when none of us could coax Maggie to eat. Later, she vomited all over the kitchen floor which necessitated the trip to the town’s new vet.
Going to see Doctor Marshall easily became one of the most remarkable experiences I’d had in Covington Falls in a long time. We were only together for about five minutes, but the way she looked at me, with her big brown eyes, stunned me. If I had spent another five minutes around her, I would’ve probably asked her out.Or would I?
Lately, I’ve been talking myself out of dating. There’s so much riding on the expansion that needs my attention, that I’ve been telling myself that the things I wanted could wait. Things like dating or falling in love.
Not that it would have mattered anyway. More than likely, Doctor Marshall would have politely declined my invitation or informed me that she already had a boyfriend.
Be that as it may, I’d give my right arm to be back inside that waiting room, gazing at her beautiful face.
“It’s a damn shame. Chris and his guys did mighty fine work,” the foreman on my sprawling construction project said.
For the parts of the building they completed, I could see the quality. Sighing, I asked, “How much does this set the project back?”
“You mean overall? Or just this portion of it?”
Fearing the answers for either of those questions, I pinched the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes shut briefly. “You know what, forget I even asked.”
Standing on the tenth floor of the shell that was scheduled to become Covington Falls’ first corporate park, I gazed out at the broad valley and the sun creeping towards the horizon. Today, the sunset painted Main Street a fiery orange. Fitting, since it felt like all my big plans for this place were going up in flames.Was the universe trying to tell me something?
The plumbers we subcontracted came with a personal recommendation. Their abrupt “Sorry, we’re going out of business without finishing the job” email meant the drywallers and the painters would have to wait weeks before they could begin their assignments. The domino effect would push opening day out months and that change in the timeline would impact his nearly two-hundred-person staff and their families relocating from Los Angeles to Covington Falls.
And what about Grace? If I have to go back and tell her she and her team needed to stay in California until the summer, would she renege on her promise to be V-Sparks’ new Vice President?I wouldn’t blame her if she did.All I could think about now was our budget imploding and the massive ripple effect this setback posed for everything connected to the expansion.
“Okay,” I said and looked at my contractor, Carl Healey. “Go on. Go ahead and show me the rest of it. The damage and the graffiti. All of it.” I might as well swallow all of the medicine. My only comfort was knowing that I wouldn’t be suffering alone. The mayor, whose brother-in-law owned the now defunct plumbing company, would be writing a hefty check to cover these new costs one way or another.
Carl, the foreman, and I went down the elevator shaft to the ground floor. The men led me to the eastern exposure of the concrete building. Along the way, they pointed outcracks on the wall where someone had taken a sledgehammer to the stone. Further down the job site, vandals tattooed the pristine white surface with a giant artistic rendering of a middle finger.
Never let it be said that Covington Falls lacked a thriving art scene.
