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He spotted the place he wanted to take her and pulled over to the curb. Jake killed the engine before turning toward Roni. “Giving a woman one hundred percent is the only way I operate, sweetheart.”
“Oh,” she whispered.
His eyes roamed over her possessively. “We’re here.”
“Are we?”
Jake leaned toward her and brushed her mouth with his. “Yeah, we are.”
Roni licked her lips and pulled back. She looked outside her window, then turned to him with a frown. “You wanted me to see an empty cage and a bunch of trees?”
“Smartass,” he murmured. Jake opened the car door, then jogged around to her side to help her out. “I have something better than empty cages and trees.”
He took her hand and led her down a dirt path. “I’ve never been to this park,” she said as she looked around. “Usually I go to the one closest to my office. It has great biking trails.”
“This place is a little more rustic and there aren’t any biking trails.”
She shrugged. “It’s pretty. I love the outdoors. We used to go camping a lot when I was a kid.”
Jake was surprised. The sophisticated woman with her expensive clothes and manicured nails didn’t strike him as a nature lover. “You’re a constant surprise to me, Dr. Smart.”
“You didn’t think I’d be the outdoorsy type, did you?”
He held her hand when she tried to pull away. He’d said something wrong, but he wasn’t sure what. “You sound disappointed in me.”
“I hate when people judge me simply because of my profession. It’s annoying to be slipped into the category of china doll.”
He pulled her to a stop. She wouldn’t look at him, but Jake wouldn’t be deterred. “It’s not your profession. It’s you.”
Her head whipped around, her eyes blazing with anger. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m some fragile little thing who needs to be coddled. You’ll be sorely disappointed.”
“I would never think you needed coddling, but you aren’t exactly bulging with muscles and tromping around in hiking boots either. You have a delicate way about you. It takes a man a minute or two to see past the surface.”
“And what do you see below the surface, Jake? Tell me, I’d really love to know.”
“I see a stubborn woman who’s strong enough to take charge of her own pleasure. You’re polished, but not afraid to get dirty. I see a woman I want to get to know better.”
“Then why are we in the woods when we could be in a bed, naked?”
Straight to the point, that was Roni. “Turn around,” he softly demanded. She squinted at him, as if suspicious. “You have to turn around if you want to see why I brought you here.”
“Fine,” she gritted out, then swung on her heel. She stared at the large metal cage before finally letting out a frustrated sigh. “All I see is another empty cage, Jake.”
Jake stepped up behind her, letting his body brush hers. He felt her shiver in awareness and it made his blood run hotter. “Look up, on that branch near the top of the cage.” He pointed over her shoulder.
He heard her sharp intake of breath and he knew she saw it. “Oh, Jake, it’s beautiful.”
“It’s a red-tailed hawk. She had a broken wing, that’s why she’s here. Someone found her and brought her here to recover. She would have died on her own. I don’t think she would have been able to hunt for food.”
“She looks sad, don’t you think? Caged up like that?”
“I’m sure she’s a little sad. But they take good care of her here. When she first arrived she was pretty bad off. I don’t think they expected her to survive. A hawk doesn’t just take food you give her; she hunts for her dinner. It took a lot of work to get her just to eat.”
She turned around and Jake was surprised to see a tear slipping down her cheek. “I’m glad they saved her, but shouldn’t she have been allowed to die a natural death?”
Unable to keep his hands off her even a moment longer, Jake cupped her cheeks in his palms and swiped away the tear. “I don’t know. I’m glad she has a chance to survive though.”
“Me too, but she’s better now, Jake. Maybe they could release her back into the wild.”
