Animal Attraction

One

Come on, baby,” he murmured. “Give it up for me. You know you want to.”

Jade Bennett did her best to ignore the way the low, sexy voice made her shiver. Besides, it wasn’t aimed at her. Dr. Dell Connelly-dog whisperer, cat whisperer, horse whisperer, and known woman whisperer-was talking to a stray kitten.

The feline in question huddled miserably beneath the bench seat in Dell’s vet center waiting room, staring at him from narrowed eyes, clearly having none of the sweet talk. She was a scruffy, mangy grayish brown with sharp green eyes, and, like Jade, not swayed by sweet talkers.

“Huh,” Jade said from behind the reception counter. “Most females leap right into your arms at the slightest encouragement.”

Dell craned his neck and regarded her from eyes as dark as his secrets. “Not all.”

There was a beat of silence during which she did her best not to break eye contact. He was right. Not all females-otherwise she’d have made the leap.

You’re leaving in one month; it’s far too late now…

As if suddenly realizing Dell was in the room, the huge St. Bernard snoring behind Jade’s chair snorted awake and lifted her head. Seeing her beloved, Gertie lumbered up to her huge paws with a joyous bark of welcome before barreling toward Dell, skidding a little on the smooth linoleum as she scrambled around the corner of the desk and… launched herself into Dell’s arms.

It was a good thing the guy wasn’t a lightweight because Gertie moved with the velocity of a freight train. Dell braced himself, but all that delicious warm mocha skin of his-courtesy of his Native American mother-covered an impressive amount of tough testosterone and muscle. Still, even a six-foot-two, 180-pound veterinarian extraordinaire could be leveled by the freight-train force of a chunky St. Bernard, and at impact Dell landed on his ass. He merely laughed and gathered the dog in close, not appearing to mind either the floor or the sloppy kiss on the jaw.

He was wearing dark blue scrubs that looked annoyingly good on him, the bottoms of which had slipped low in the scuffle, revealing a inch or two of forest green knit boxers and a strip of smooth, slightly paler skin, not to mention the hint of prime male ass.

Unconcerned about the display, Dell gave Gertie a full body rub, then pushed her off of him.

The stray kitten, which looked to be three to four months old, old enough to have gathered plenty of wariness, did not approve of Gertie’s exuberance. Beneath the chair, she pressed herself closer to the wall and hissed.

“Aw, you’re fine,” Dell told her, rubbing his jaw as he studied her. He had a hint of stubble, like maybe he’d slept too long to spare the time to shave that morning.

It shouldn’t have been so damn sexy.

Neither should the way Gertie was sidling back up to him, trying to love him from not so far.

Animals always loved Dell. Little kids, too.

And women. Let’s not forget how many women loved him.

He was bending low to whisper to the kitten, using that low, undeniably authoritative but oh-so-mesmerizing voice, the one that could melt the panties off a female at five paces.

Good thing, then, that Jade was at least seven paces away.

“Gertie here’s just a big hunk of love,” he was assuring the kitten. “Emphasis on the big hunk. Sit, Gert,” he commanded with soft demand over his shoulder.

Gertie wriggled with barely contained joy but sat. Then grinned.

“There,” Dell said to the kitten. “See? We’re all harmless.”

Harmless? Please. Dangerously smooth, maybe. Effortlessly charming, yes. A walking orgasm… without a doubt.

But harmless? Hell no, and at just the thought, Jade snorted.

“Ignore her, too,” Dell said to the kitten. “She’s the smartest one here, but she never learned how to chill. In fact, she’s a lot like you, all tough and wary and grumpy, but I’m betting you’re both just big softies deep down inside.”

“I can hear you, you know,” Jade said.

“Way deep deep inside…”

Jade worked at ignoring his alluringly boyish smile-which she didn’t buy for a second because there was nothing boyish about him-and went back to loading the schedule for tomorrow’s patients.

You want him…

She worked at avoiding that little voice as well. Lots of things to avoid. But she was leaving, going back home to Chicago at month’s end. Plans had been made, notice had been given. It was as good as done.

The kitten went back to being pissed off at the world.

And Dell laughed softly. “So now I’ve got two women completely ignoring me. I’m going to get a complex.”

As if. Dr. Dell Connelly knew the meaning of the word. He was sure and confident, always. Steady as a rock. Never second-guessed himself.

It was really annoying.

“Come on, kitty,” Dell said. “Trust me.”

Jade could have told her not to bother resisting, that she’d cave eventually. They always did. It was because Dell was the genuine deal, and animals could see that. Animals meant everything to him. While women flocked to him like bees to honey, she’d never seen him put his personal life ahead of his work. It was really a fascinating paradox. The gorgeous man could have anyone he wanted, and yet he didn’t seem to want much more than what he had. A successful animal center, a few close friends, and speed-dial to the pizza joint.

Jade knew that she tended to shut people out and keep them at a distance. Dell did, too, but he went about it differently, making himself available to everything and everyone… while keeping it all shallow.

He didn’t take anything too seriously, especially women.

But the kitten continued to stare at Dell with a heartbreaking defiance that Jade recognized from every time she looked into the mirror.

Gertie whined and wagged her tail, sweeping the floor with each pass, hopeful to make a new friend.

Wasn’t going to happen.

“Okay, how about this,” Dell said. “Come out and I’ll buy you dinner.”

The kitten didn’t blink.

“Losing your touch,” Jade murmured, sorting files.

Dell flashed her a smile that said As if, and her nipples hardened. Which meant he was right-he wasn’t losing his touch. Not even close.

Dell eyed the unhappy kitten and wished she could talk to him. He wished the same thing about his enigmatic receptionist behind him.

Jade was working her computer with her usual slightly OCD efficiency, which was in complete opposition to her eye-popping green fuzzy angora sweater that reminded him of a lollipop. A lollipop with really great breasts. Peanut the parrot was perched on the printer at her right. Both Peanut and Gertie were part of Belle Haven, and since Belle Haven was Dell’s large animal clinic, the animals and everything in the place belonged to him. Well, except Jade.

Jade belonged to no one.

“From what I can gather,” she said, eyes still on her keyboard, “the kitten was deserted at some point during the mob of the free vaccine clinic this afternoon. And,” she added in the same conversational tone, “if I figure out who did such a thing, I’m going to shoot them.”

Nothing reached Dell’s hard-shelled, softhearted receptionist faster than a neglected or abused animal.

Something they had in common.

“We’ll find her a home,” he assured her, looking the kitten in the eyes. “Promise. Now how about it, you, ready to come out yet?”

“Ready to come out!” Peanut chirped, doing her best imitation of Dell’s low-pitched voice.

Dell didn’t take his eyes from the kitten. “I know, you’ve had a majorly sucky day. Come tell me all your troubles.”

“Does that actually ever work for you?” Jade asked.

“Shh, you,” he said, and keeping his movements light and easy, he reached beneath the chair. “Come on, beautiful.”

“Mew,” said the kitten.

“Mew,” said Peanut.

“It’s all going to be okay,” Dell assured the cat. “No one’s going to hurt you.”

When the kitten just stared at him, Dell slowly slid his hand beneath her belly, which was nearly concave. Her ribs were so prominent he could have counted them, which pissed him off, but though she growled and let out one last protesting “mew,” she let him pull her from beneath the chair without slicing him raw with her claws. “Good girl,” he murmured, holding her against his chest and scratching her beneath the chin.

She watched him very carefully, but it was as if she knew that he knew. Hell, maybe abandoned souls recognized abandoned souls, he wasn’t sure, but she slowly relaxed until finally, unable to resist the gentle scratching, she even closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest.

“Yeah, there you go,” he said quietly. “Lifting his head, he flashed a grin at Jade. “If only your species were as easy.”

“We both know that for you they are.” She shook her head. “And that should be illegal.”

“What?” he asked innocently. “Sweet-talking a p-”

“If you say pussy,” she warned. “I’ll make sure that tomorrow you’ll be up to your eyeballs in vaccines and wellpuppy checkups from sunup until sundown.”

“I like puppies.”

“Scratch the puppies. Did I say puppies? I meant analgland expressing. I’ll find every large animal in Sunshine who needs it done and book them, just for you.”

Dell laughed. She did that a lot, his stalwart, snarky, razor-tongued receptionist. Made him laugh.

As well as threaten him.

He was used to it. Hell, he even liked it, which made him all kinds of sick, he knew. Maybe it was the fact that she ran the front desk of his vet clinic in those runway clothes, never so much as blinking when she got covered in dog and kitten hair. Or worse.

Maybe it was her ability to handle his patients and their owners with equal aplomb or that she never took any of his shit. Or that she had a way of uncomplicating his life for him-a miracle considering that she’d come here with virtually no references whatsoever. Dell still no had no idea what had possessed him to hire her, but he had, putting her into a position that had supposedly been only temporary while he looked for someone more qualified.

And yet he’d never looked for anyone else.

It had been eighteen months, but that ship had sailed. She was going back to her old life, whatever that was-she’d been frustratingly stingy with details-and leaving them.

Him.

He had no idea what he’d do without her sitting at the helm of his world, running it with cool, distant efficiency. Not to mention, she was a nice view. She kept her silky strawberry blond hair perfectly twisted on top of her head, except for the few errant strands that had slipped out and were brushing across her shoulders. Her eyes were green, shot through with streaks of amber, and saw everything. She had a mouth, too. Smart, cynical, and made for a man’s fantasy.

And since he should absolutely not be going down that road, thinking about that mouth with the vanilla gloss that he always wanted to lick off, he shook his head to clear it. He usually had more sense, but there was something about Jade and her whole don’t-touch attitude that made him want to rise to the challenge.

And he meant rise.

Her fingers were clicking on her keyboard, her screen revealing her beloved spreadsheet program, which he knew held her notes on anything and everything from which patient he was going to see tomorrow to what color her fingernails would be next.

His favorite was the bright fuck-me red.

“Adam’s checked in from Boise,” she said, referring to his brother. “His class went late, he’s staying over.” She stood. She was average height and average build, but there was nothing else average about her.

Ever.

She coaxed Peanut onto her arm, easily transferring the parrot from the printer to the bird’s night cage.

“Night-night?” Peanut asked her.

“Yes, Peanut go night-night,” Jade said with a sweetness that Dell never got directed at him. He watched her blow a kiss to the bird, receiving one in return, along with a soft mimicking “mew,” and with a low laugh, Jade covered the cage with a blanket.

Her black trousers had pleats, Dell noted, and were snug on the best ass he’d ever seen. All business in front, party in the back…

That eye-straining sweater that matched her eyes and name seemed to shimmer beneath the overhead lights. He’d once asked about her name and she’d told him it was for her grandmother, who’d ruled her family with the strength and elegance of the jade gemstone.

Clearly she took the name seriously. Dell had the feeling that when it came to the family she didn’t often talk about, she took everything seriously.

She wore tiny sparkling earrings up one earlobe, matching the myriad bracelets on her wrist, and heels that he wasn’t sure how she managed to balance on, though he enjoyed listening to them click, click, click across his floors all day. His patients enjoyed it, too, especially their owners. The male owners. How many times had he seen a guy come through here and attempt to pick her up? Exactly the same number of times he’d seen Jade politely and firmly shut them down.

There was a little part of him that enjoyed that very much. Okay, a big part, but he’d never made a move on her. Like the government, he preferred to keep his state and church separated; never the two shall meet. Not that that stopped him from wondering what secrets his sexy receptionist had that kept her celibate.

Or hell, maybe she merely left Sunshine and whooped it up on the weekends somewhere else, out of the limelight of their small Idaho ranching town.

She was moving around the room, shutting down for the night. Belle Haven was a full-service clinic. Behind this main building was also a large barn housing their horses and additional equipment, both his own and his brother’s. Adam was a local trainer, breeder and search-and-rescue specialist.

Their reception area was large and airy, with wideplanked wood floors lined with comfortable benches for waiting. At one end was a long counter-Jade’s-and behind it was the hub of the entire place.

Jade’s jurisdiction.

She ran this front room like a drill sergeant, and half the time Dell wanted to put his hands around her neck and squeeze.

The other half of the time he wanted to put his hands on her for something else entirely. Since he was fond of living, he kept both these urges to himself.

“What are we going to do with the poor thing?” Jade asked. “Take her home? Oh, wait. You never take any of your women home.”

This was true. He didn’t bring women home.

He went to their place. He gave the kitten a cursory look over. Other than being far too skinny, she seemed healthy enough. “She’ll need to be spayed and vaccinated.”

“Want me to call Lilah for tonight?” Jade asked.

Lilah ran the kennel next to Belle Haven, and she was also the Humane Society as well as one of Dell’s closest friends. Lilah would take the kitten and keep her until she could be placed in a good home. “That’d be best,” he said. “Because I have a-”

“Date,” she said, swiveling her chair to give him her back. “Shock.” She went back to closing up.

Everything had its place with her. Files were always meticulously filed; the copier, fax, and computer were carefully covered to protect from dust. Pencils, pens, and assorted other equipment placed into their spots in drawers. Dell never got tired of watching her, and never failed to smile when the last thing she did was consult her various to-do spreadsheets to make sure everything had been done, even though she knew damn well it had been.

She never forgot a thing.

“It’s not a date,” he said. Or not exactly. “I’m heading into Coeur d’Alene for a friend of a friend’s birthday party.”

“Yeah, I know. I get the messages on the machine, remember?” She clicked over to another of her spreadsheets on the computer. “Your friend of a friend left a message reminding you that he wants to introduce you to-and let me give a direct quote here”-she read from her screen-“Mandy, a stacked blonde who’s hoping to play dirty doctor with a doctor.” Jade swiveled back to arch a brow in his direction.

He shrugged. “You can’t believe all of what Kenny says.”

“What percentage?”

“What?”

Her expression was classic don’t mess with me. “What percentage of what Kenny says can we believe?”

“Half.” He lifted a shoulder. “Maybe forty percent.”

“Okay, so by sheer odds, you’re either meeting a stacked blonde, or playing dirty doctor.”

Dell laughed and came around the counter. Good Christ, had she smelled that delicious all day long? He leaned over her chair and took another whiff.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Seeing what’s left on your spreadsheet.”

“Hey.” She pushed him with her shoulder. “Personal space intrusion.” She pushed him again as she dialed Lilah. She had to leave a message, which she did while keeping a narrowed eye on him at the same time. The same sort of narrowed eye the kitten still had on him.

Two females, both suspicious. Both wary.

Both having been hurt.

Dell would have laid money down that Jade had no idea how much of herself she gave away when she looked at him like that. And to be fair, she was good at hiding.

But he was better. The skill had been hard earned from his growing-up years, further honed by the nature of his job. There were no words when it came to animals, and out of necessity he’d become the master at reading anyone and anything. He could see past Jade’s dazzling clothes and tough-girl exterior, past the uptight perfectionist to the vulnerable woman beneath.

Yeah, the woman was definitely hiding.

What he didn’t know was why. He had a few ideas, none of which he liked, but whatever the reason, it made him a little heartsick for her, it the same way he felt for the kitten, sitting quiet but not compliant in the crook of his arm. Unfortunately, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that only the kitten was going to allow him to help her. He smiled down at her as he stroked her beneath the chin, which seemed to be the magic ticket because she let out a rumbling, rusty purr. “You’re sweet,” he murmured, rubbing his jaw along the top of her little head.

“Aw thanks,” Jade said. “I try.”

Dell smiled because that was a lie and they both knew it. Then she surprised him.

“I’ll take the kitten,” she said, and in her usual efficient way stepped back from her desk and critically eyed the clean surface as she slung her purse over her shoulder. Heels clicking, she moved to the wall of storage cabinets. Without hesitation, she opened one and pulled out a kitten carrier. Then she went to another cabinet, bending low to grab a bed liner, expertly lining the kitten carrier. “Grab me some food? And a litter box, too,” she said over her shoulder.

He didn’t move. “You’re going to take the kitten overnight,” he repeated dubiously.

“Yes.” Her hand and arm brushed his chest as she relieved him of the kitten. “Why do you look so flummoxed?”

“Well, maybe because you’ve never done such a thing before. Hell, Jade, you’ve never even let any of us come to your place.”

Ignoring that, Jade carefully slid the kitten into the carrier and turned her back on him, heading to the door.

They were the last two in the building. Keith, his animal tech, and Mike, his vet nurse, had both already left. Jade hit all the lights except one interior, casting them in a soft glow. “Look,” she said. “My job is running this front reception room like a well-oiled machine, right? That includes any loose ends.”

He stepped between her and the door. “And the stray is a loose end?”

“At this point, Doctor, you’re a loose end. Everything in the back handled?”

The “back” consisted of two exam rooms, a surgical suite, an x-ray and ultrasonic suite, and his and Adam’s offices. “Closed up tighter than a drum,” he assured her.

“Hmm.” She didn’t look impressed. She liked it better when she made the last walk through. And with good reason. He’d been known to be distracted enough to forget to turn something off or to even lock himself out. He opened the front door for her, then put a hand on her arm, waiting until she met his gaze. “I owe you. Lunch tomorrow?”

“We can never agree on a place.”

“Name it, then,” he said. “Name your price.”

This appeared to interest her given how she cocked her head. “That’s a lot of power.”

She had no idea how much power she already had. “Anything.”

She considered this so seriously he smiled. Then she flashed him a rare one of her own and his heart actually stuttered. “You’re not going to like it,” she warned.

Oh, how wrong she was. “There’s not much I don’t like, Jade.”

She poked a finger in his chest. “Okay, what did I tell you about flirting with me, about using my name in that sex-on-a-stick voice?”

Now this interested him. “You think my voice is sex on a stick?”

She poked him again. He liked to think it was because she had a secret thing for touching him, but then again, he was a realist. If she’d wanted him that way, she’d have let him know by now.

“I want you to let me take care of the stack of bills on your desk,” she said. “The one that’s threatening to fall over and hit the floor.”

They both knew that the state of his desk, which looked like it had been napalmed, drove her organized, anal heart absolutely nuts. As did how he could be counted on to lose his keys, wallet, or hell, his own brain in the mess at least once a week. But though he hated paperwork with the same passion that he hated vegetables, he wasn’t going to hand over the reins of his admittedly sloppy accounting. He realized that meant that he trusted the animals in his care more than he did the humans, but hell, everyone had their faults. “If you took care of the mess on my desk,” he said, “that would be you doing me the favor.”

“Not really. I need to organize that desk, Dell. And you hate handling the bills, I heard you swearing at them just this morning.”

“I was swearing at the news. Another vet clinic was robbed last night.” There’d been a series of vet robberies between here and Spokane in the past week. The threat of it happening here, at his place, the one he’d built with his own sweat and blood, pissed him off. “Just after closing time. This time a tech was still in the building, working late, and was knocked out.”

“Oh my God,” she said, covering her mouth. “What did they take?”

“Ketamine.”

“Ketamine.” She frowned. “Horse tranq?”

“Turns out it’s a good human narcotic as well.” Not to mention an effective date rape drug but she’d gone very still, very pale. “Hey. You okay?”

“That’s why you stayed tonight,” she said. “You wanted to walk me out to make sure I was safe.”

“And the kitten. I wanted the kitten to be safe, too.” He smiled, but Jade didn’t. Instead, she looked out the window into the dark parking lot with obvious unease, making him doubly glad he’d stayed.

Belle Haven was just outside of their small town of Sunshine, five miles down a narrow, winding road. Their closest neighbor-Lilah’s kennels-was a quarter mile away. They were surrounded by the rugged, majestic Idaho Bitterroot mountain range, the peaks looming high. To say that they were isolated out here was an understatement.

Since Jade was still just standing there looking out the window, Dell took the kitten carrier and litter from her and nudged her out the door.

It was early autumn and the chill on the night air cut to the bone, reminding him that winter would be here before they knew it.

At her car, Jade took the kitten back and set the carrier on the backseat, making him smile when she carefully pulled the seat belt across it. Straightening, she faced him again. “See you and your disastrous desk tomorrow.”

The cell phone in his back pocket was vibrating. He was late and knew it, so he ignored the call. “Forget about my desk. It’s a mess, it’ll take you days.”

“My greatest fantasy,” she said.

“That’s just sad, Jade.”

Don’t distract me with your perverted mind. I was made for this.”

“What, were you born with the need to organize?”

“No, I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. The need to organize is just a freak of nature, one of life’s mysteries.”

Infamously private, Jade didn’t talk about herself often. She’d been born and raised in Chicago, he knew that much. And that she had family there, family she’d promised that she’d come back to.

Fairly private himself, Dell had never pushed her for more, but every time she doled out a little tidbit about her past and gave him a tiny glimpse inside, he found himself all the more fascinated by her.

A silver spoon… If that was true, they’d grown up just about as different as two people could get.

“So, what do you say?” she asked. “You going to let me in or what?”

Actually, the question was-would she ever let him in… “You’re a nut,” he said. “You know that, right?”

“When I clean your office, you’ll be calling me a goddess.”

“I’ll call you whatever you’d like, but forget about the-”

His phone was going off again. Reaching around him, Jade slid her hand into his scrubs back pocket. Through the thin cotton, her fingers stroked his ass cheek, and his brain clicked off. Just completely clicked off. This condition was not improved when her breast brushed his arm as she lifted his phone.

“Dr. Connelly’s phone,” she answered professionally, her face so close to his he could have turned his face and captured her lips with his.

It was her scent, he decided; it drugged him. Made him stupid. Maybe it was her skin, too, so pale compared to his, so soft and deceptively fragile-looking.

Hell. It was her. Everything about her.

The night around them was so quiet he had no problem hearing the feminine voice coming out of his phone, inquiring of his whereabouts.

“Let me check for you,” Jade said, eyes back on his. “Please hold.” She muted the phone and looked at him, affecting a sex kitten voice to match the one on the phone. “Are you… available?”

Having some problems accessing working brain cells, it took him a minute to answer. “Last I checked.”

She pushed a button on his phone, working it better than he did. “Yes, Dr. Connelly is still here. Who’s calling?” Jade listened with careful politeness, contrasted by the long look she slid his way just before she rolled her eyes.

Not at the woman.

At him.

She slapped the phone against his chest. “She says you’re late.” She slid behind the wheel and drove off into the night, leaving him in her dust.

Literally.

Still he watched until her taillights vanished before he lifted his phone to his ear.