Chapter 2

After two anal gland appointments and a lethargic guinea pig rounding out his patients for the morning, Cade walked up to the front desk and eyed his aunt, who was baby talking their clinic dog, Thor. The Great Dane hid under the desk, cowering from She-rah, their evil cat. And evil she was. Charts teetered precariously from the long counter. At least the lobby was empty. It had been a damn crazy morning.

Squawk. "You spin me right round." Gossip, the cockatoo-yet another abandoned animal-bobbed his head. One of these days, Cade would have to teach him to say something other than song titles or lyrics. As it was, that's all the bird did thanks to his former owner. That, and tease the cat.

Cade scratched his jaw. "Am I good to go for lunch?"

Aunt Rosa sighed dramatically. Everything was dramatic with Rosa from her red spiky hair to her cheetah print shirt. "Will you look at this?" She narrowed her eyes at Thor. "Grow a pair and come out of there. It's just a cat."

She-rah licked her paw and meowed from the top of the printer, bored by the events. I bet I can get the dog to lose his bladder. Wanna see?

Thor didn't move.

Shaking his head, Cade picked up She-rah, much to her disdain-put me down you insolent peasant-and set her in the back room. Returning to the lobby, he called for Thor. The hundred and ten pound dog commando crawled from under the desk and hid behind Rosa's chair.

Cade lifted his brows. "Now may I go to lunch?"

Not that Rosa was their boss or anything, but he and his brothers knew not to rock the boat. For twenty years, their aunt had managed the clinic and acted as receptionist. Poorly, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Rosa was their mother's sister and one of what Cade liked to refer to as The Battleaxes. Their mother, Gayle, Aunt Rosa, and other sister, Marie-also town mayor-ruled Redwood Ridge with an iron fist and oatmeal cookies. They were crazy, meddling women who he loved and feared. Mostly feared.

"Have you found my replacement yet?"

He bit back a groan. Rosa had announced six weeks ago she wanted to retire to do...whatever it was the Battleaxes did. Eat small children, update Redwood Ridge's Twitter page with town gossip, matchmaking...

He batted his eyelashes. "How could we ever replace you, Aunt Rosa?"

"Can the cuteness. Save it for the ladies."

Right. "No, we haven't replaced you yet." He'd have to get an ad in the paper, which would bring out all the crazies or every single woman in a thirty-mile radius. Damn it. He should make Flynn handle the hiring. As the middle brother, he was the most organized. Except he was their traveling vet and wasn't in the office much. "I'll get on it right away."

She narrowed her hazel eyes and tilted her head, her unnaturally red hair not moving with all the shellac she'd sprayed on it. "You said that more than a month ago."

Well, how was he to know she was serious? It was hard to tell with her. "I mean it this time. Now can I go to lunch? Pretty please?" There were only three people on earth he'd bust out the "pretty please" for, and one of them was right in front of him.

"Brent's already at lunch. Go ahead." She smacked his ass and waved him off.

Brent being his vet tech. Why didn't Rosa smack his ass? Brent would enjoy it. "It's really pervy when you do that."

She feigned innocence. "Love tap your rear end? It's a nice one."

He bit back a sigh. "You're relation. It's pervy." He was two steps from freedom when he remembered something. "Can you get a hold of Justine from that clothing store down the way? She came in with a tourist who had the injured lab-"

"You mean Avery Stowe? She's not a tourist. She's Justine's daughter. Just moved to town with her daughter. Bad divorce. They're staying up at one of Justine's rentals until they can find a place."

Perhaps he should've been nicer to her, but she'd caught him at the tail end of a crappy day and the fact remained, she hadn't taken very good care of her pet. Even without the injury, the puppy was malnourished.

Pulling on his coat, he reached for the door. "Can you get a number for her and let her know Seraph is recuperating nicely?" Not that she seemed to care. She hadn't visited the puppy.

"No need. Avery called three times this morning to say she'd be in after lunch. Apparently, there was a problem with their moving truck getting lost. Poor woman. No good luck. Plus, the daughter, Hailey, was pretty upset over finding the stray, so it took Avery awhile to calm her down after they left here. They slept in."

Cade locked in on one word in that whole rant. "What do you mean, stray? It's their dog, isn't it?"

She offered him her classical duh look. "It is now, but not when they found it. Can you imagine that poor little girl coming across a scene like that?"

He called to mind the exhaustion edging the woman's chocolate eyes, the way the daughter never spoke, and the way he'd all but jumped down her throat. He'd assumed the worst, which wasn't like him. The woman-Avery?-had rescued Seraph from bleeding out into the snow, alone and scared.

And he'd been curt with her for doing the right thing.

Shit. He was an asshole.

---

Avery wiped her hands on a dish towel and went to answer the incessant knocking. Hoping it was the moving van, she pulled the door open to find Seraph's vet. "Oh." She took a step back and blinked. "It's you."

The Jerk, she'd begun to call him in her head.

Looking just as attractive as he had the night before, sans the irritation, his hands framed the doorway as he leaned into them, taking up the whole space. Sandy blond hair, a little on the longish side, curled around his ears and nape. Blue eyes damn near the color of the Pacific in June warily stared at her. A little gray mixed in to keep them from being too potent. His jaw had a day's worth of scruff and the man rocked a set of powder blue scrubs under an open leather coat.

God. He was an eye-gasm if she ever saw one.

When he didn't say anything, her heart started to pound. "Oh, no. Is...Seraph all right?" She turned to peek at Hailey, who was doing a numbers app game on the iPad at the kitchen table.

"He's doing fine. Recuperating very well."

His voice had her pausing, just like the night before, but today it wasn't as angry. It wasn't quite coarse or too deep, but there was a melodic rhythm when he spoke. Great. So his voice was an ear-gasm on top of his too handsome looks. Crap on a cracker.

She caught herself wrapping the towel around her hand in nervousness and stopped. "Then why are you here?"

Pushing off the frame, he towered over her five-six height to what had to be six feet. "I came to apologize. May I come in?"

"Um, sure." She held the door open wider and glanced at Hailey. If he got upset again or had a naturally loud voice, it could upset her. "Sweetie, why don't you do that in your bedroom for a few minutes? I'll be in soon."

Hailey grabbed her device and headed down the hall.

"She doesn't talk much, does she? For a girl, I mean. Thought they were all chatter boxes." He laughed uncomfortably and rubbed his neck.

The guy had adorable charm in spades.

His nervousness calmed her a bit. "She's a nonverbal autistic. Pretty high functioning in other areas, though."

He stilled and pinned her with round eyes. "I'm fu...mucking this up."

She smiled, more at ease with this version of him. Pretty sweet how he'd caught himself upright before cursing. "You didn't know. It's okay."

Gazing heavenward, he crossed his arms. His leather jacket strained against his muscles and movement. "Look, about last night, I'm sorry. I was rude. I thought you were a negligent owner. I'd had a bad day and took it out on you."

At the risk of sounding like a parrot, she said the only thing that came to mind. "It's okay. You didn't know."

The flutter in her belly hadn't happened in so long, she was unnerved. Plus, people didn't often apologize to her, and she'd spent so long in the shadow of her ex-husband that she didn't know what to do with Cade's intense stare.

One corner of his mouth quirked. Too cute to be sexy, but head-tripping just the same. "You never corrected me. You could've put me in my rightful place in the exam room. Why didn't you?"

She glanced at the hallway and back to him. He was still staring as if trying to figure her out. "Hailey gets nervous around raised voices. I figured we'd sort it out later."

He nodded slowly, a wrinkle forming between his brows. "Did I upset her?" He took a step forward and paused as if wanting to reach for her and thinking better of it. He seemed genuinely concerned about Hailey, the look in his eyes sincere.

"I don't believe so. She was worried about the dog, but I think she filtered everything else out." They stood awkwardly for a beat. Now what? "Can I get you something to drink?"

"No. I have to get back to the clinic, but thanks. I wanted to catch you before you came in so I could eat crow." One shoulder lifted.

God. The female species must flock to him. He didn't have a wedding band.

She tried for upbeat to put them on even footing. "Without witnesses? It's like the apology never happened."

His face grew a little impish, which made her laugh. Been awhile since she did that, too. "You haven't met my brothers yet. Or my aunt. She runs the front desk. For now. I'd never live it down if they got to see me removing my foot from my mouth."

It was a nice mouth, too. Full lips, firm. She shook herself just before a tremble could tear through her body.

He turned for the door. "I'll see you when you come visit Seraph. He really is doing great. Nipped my stethoscope this morning trying to play."

Relief settled deep. "Okay. I'll be in soon. I had...stuff come up this morning." Like the moving van not following her directions and getting lost on the wrong side of the Klamath. They claimed it would be a few days before they arrived.

They reached for the doorknob at the same time. Their fingers brushed, and it seemed so intimate, she froze. He had big hands. Warm. Then she caught a whiff of something...gastric emanating from him.

She must've wrinkled her nose or something because he laughed nervously. "Hazard of the job. That's Eau De Anal Gland you smell."

She pressed her lips together to hide a grin.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I just keep sticking my foot..." He sighed. "I'll see you soon."

She waited until his car was gone before turning toward the hall. The muscles of her cheeks ached and she realized she was smiling. When was the last time that happened?

After getting Hailey ready, they drove to the clinic. Hailey was a bundle of excited energy bouncing in her seat. Avery had never thought about getting a pet. Her ex, Richard, wouldn't have allowed one in the pristine house anyway, but Hailey had really seemed to connect with Seraph. They'd have to stop by a store to pick up supplies on the way back. What did a puppy need?

She opened the door to Animal Instincts and found...utter chaos. Unlike the night before, people filled the waiting room with varying breeds of dogs and cats. And...a snake? Yes, a big, big...

She chanced a peek at Hailey to see if the loud ruckus bothered her. It was hard sometimes to find her triggers. Car horns and loud music upset her the most. Shouting or raised voices, too. She seemed unfazed by the barking now.

The clinic was more spacious than it looked from the outside. To the left, the waiting room walls were painted in one giant mural of animals doing human things like cooking or reading. Two large windows flanked both sides to allow light inside. Slate tile was laid throughout, creating a natural feel to the place. She remembered from the night before that the hallway leading to the patient rooms had another mural of dogs walking their owners or cats petting their humans in a cute role reversal.

"Can I help you?"

Avery turned to the front desk. The middle-aged receptionist had unusually red hair and her penciled-in eyebrows pinged to her hairline. Her short, round frame leaned over to better see them.

"Um... We're here to visit our dog. We brought him in last night."

The receptionist's demeanor changed from irritated inquisitiveness to cajoling so fast Avery got whiplash. "I'm Rosa. I'm the O'Grady boys' aunt. You must be Avery. Your mom and I are good friends. It's so nice to finally meet you." She came around the desk. "And you must be Hailey." She squatted in front of her, but Hailey's attention was elsewhere.

Avery didn't like walking around telling people why her daughter was seemingly so rude. In fact, she hated putting a label on her at all, but the only way for others to understand was to explain. Before she could open her mouth, Rosa stood.

"The rec center has a few other autistic kids, too. Miles and Anya run the place. You'll have to check it out." Glancing at Hailey, she spoke to her again. "You'll like it there, hon. Plenty to do. Make new friends."

Sadly, Hailey didn't have any old friends. After her diagnosis at age two, their lives had been a steady stream of therapists.

Rosa waved her hand and assessed Avery as if plotting. Eyes narrowed, she nodded her head in approval. "I'll get Cade to take you back to see Seraph."

Avery eyed the waiting room. "You guys are busy. Can we maybe just visit on our own or we can come back...?"

"Nah. We're pretty slow today."

Slow? Patients were packed like sardines. She hated to see what busy looked like. A cat hissed behind them and batted its paw at a poodle wearing a red bow and an incredulous expression. Two dogs were vying for butt-sniffing rights while two others cowered under chairs. The snake had slowly wound itself around its owner's arm and was climbing the wall near a framed picture of dogs playing poker.

She shuddered and turned back, but Rosa was already behind the desk and Cade was walking toward them. He'd changed into a darker set of blue scrubs. God. Just...he was all masculine grace as he ate up the distance. Sinewy muscle, wide shoulders, narrow waist. Avery bit her tongue so she didn't swallow it.

He grinned and, damn, there went her air. "Come on back." He glanced at the waiting room and did a double take. "George, get that reptile in a cage."

Wordlessly, they followed him down a long hall and into a back room where crates lined the wall with recovering animals. Yips and feral cries echoed off the walls.

"This is where we board."

She nodded. The twelve-by-twelve room smelled like wet fur and antiseptic. The walls had a continuation mural of grassy fields and blue sky. Several red fire hydrants were painted among the landscape. Pretty clever.

Hailey took off and knelt by one of the crates.

Before Avery could correct her, Cade strode over and squatted beside her. "Hold on, squirt. I'll get him out for you." After opening the cage, he reached in and removed Seraph, nuzzling the puppy to his broad chest. A cone had been placed around the dog's neck, but Seraph nudged Cade's hand for petting. "Who's a good boy?"

Oh. Oh, swoon.

She hadn't had so much as a flicker of attraction in so long she almost forgot the sensation. Her cheeks heated and her belly quivered. A flare of jealousy sparked when Seraph licked Cade's face. The rumble of Cade's laugh had her biting back a moan.

"Hey, squirt. Can you sit on the floor? Your little buddy might not be up to running yet."

As usual, Hailey took a few seconds to process his words, then dutifully sat on the tile floor. Even her daughter seemed smitten. She squealed and flapped her hands. Yes, cute doctor man. Whatever you say.

Cade gently set Seraph in her lap and, keeping one hand on the puppy, he lifted the other to Hailey. "I'm going to show you how to pet him." He took her hand and used it to stroke the dog's back. "Just like that," he said as if coaxing calm. "Good. Just stay away from the ouchie on his leg, yeah?"

Avery made a conscious effort to shut her mouth. Good with animals and kids. Not just kids, but disabled ones. He'd told Hailey what he was going to do before doing it and used a soothing voice for both her and Seraph.

Double swoon.

Cade grinned as Hailey giggled, and then he looked at Avery. "Best friends already."

"Yeah," she whispered. Was she drooling? She cleared her throat and stepped closer. Her heart swelled at Hailey's complete adoration of the dog. "When can we take him home?"

"Tomorrow, if he's still looking good."

"At the risk of you getting upset, I need to know what he requires. I've never had a pet before."

A flash of irritation lit his eyes before he blinked it away. He stood and dusted fur from his pants. "I'm sorry about last night. How I behaved wasn't me. Don't be afraid to ask me questions." As if in afterthought, he added, "I won't bite."

What. A. Shame. Bad, Avery!

Staring at her with intense, unwavering eyes, he sighed. "You'll need a leash until you can train him to mind commands. A couple of dog bowls for food and water. Toys, especially ones he can chew on until..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Know what? I'll take you out to the supply place and steer you in the right direction."

Her jaw dropped. Again. "You don't have to do that. If you just make a list-"

"How's seven tonight? We close at six. That'll give me time to shower." Though his tone was genial, it brooked no argument. He held her gaze, patiently waiting for an answer. When she didn't say anything-because how long had it been since someone offered to go out of their way to help?-he jerked a thumb at the door. "I've got to get back to the patients, but meet me here at seven, yeah? I'll send Rosa in to help Seraph back into the kennel when you're done."

With that, he strode out, all alpha-male goodness.

The move and pressure he'd put on her reminded her of Richard. But Cade wasn't like her ex. Where Richard was controlling and cold, Cade was confident and warm. His mood today was a vast cry from the brash guy she'd met last night. She wondered which version was the real man, and then remembered the self-depreciating humor and the way he'd smiled with even his eyes.

Rosa opened the door and the barking started anew. "Hush," she called and went right to Hailey. "Time to put him back, but you get to take him home tomorrow. How exciting."

Hailey jerked her gaze around the room, upset.

Avery patted her arm through the coat. "They'll take good care of Seraph, sweetie. We'll see him tomorrow."

Rosa eyed Avery skeptically. She got the suspicion she was being dissected again, but had no clue why. "How are you settling in? Redwood Ridge is quite the difference from a big city."

Avery nodded. "It is, but it's very pretty. It'll just take some getting used to."

"Have you found a job yet? Your mom said you were looking."

Shifting her gaze from Hailey-who walked past the kennels-to Rosa, she shrugged. "I haven't had a chance yet." She'd been out of the workforce so long she didn't think she'd be hirable. Her savings would only stretch so far. "Do you have a medical clinic in town?"

Rosa pursed her lips. "We've got Dr. Brad Crest at the edge of town. Otherwise you'd have to travel forty miles north. Why?"

"Well, I've been a stay at home mom since Hailey was born, but before that I managed a cardiology practice." In fact, Richard had insisted she resign to remain at his beck and call for fundraisers or business dinners. He'd just used Hailey as an excuse to isolate her even more from society.

She squared her shoulders. Richard was a jerk of epic proportions, but she couldn't lay all the blame on him. She hadn't stood up to him or challenged his orders. But she'd gotten Hailey because of the sham of a marriage, and they were starting fresh. No sense dwelling on the past.

"Dr. Crest has a nurse and receptionist, so you're out of luck there." Rosa raked her gaze over Avery and nodded. "You'll do. You're hired."

"What?"

Rosa shrugged as if she hadn't just knocked Avery on her ass. "I'm retiring. Cade's been dragging his heels finding a replacement, and you have experience."

She rubbed her forehead. "I have experience in healthcare, not veterinary medicine. You haven't even checked my references."

"Don't need to. You're Justine's daughter, which is good enough for me. Besides, you're not going to be treating the animals, just running the office."

"True, but-"

"When can you start?"

Avery opened and closed her mouth several times. She did need a job and, though she hadn't been employed in a long time, it was work she could handle. It seemed a little too good to be true. She glanced at Hailey as she sat in front of Seraph's crate. Avery needed to get her enrolled at the elementary first, plus find someone for after school care.

"Um, Monday?" She looked at Rosa, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "What about my hours or salary or insurance?"

"We're open from eight to six, Monday through Friday, and eight to noon on Saturdays. The office is closed on Sundays. You'd have Saturdays off, as that's just an emergency day for on-call. We'll get you enrolled in insurance right away, but you'll have to wait sixty days for it to be active. What are your salary requirements?"

Head spinning, she tried to recall what she made at the cardiology practice and quoted that number. "Are you sure about this? It's awfully fast and you just met me."

Rosa slapped her shoulder. Avery nearly toppled with the force. "Welcome to Redwood Ridge. Small town life is different than where you came from. We look out for each other around here. Word of mouth is grail and everyone knows your business."

Right. Right, okay. Wow. She had a job.

"Come on. I'll show you around and introduce you to everybody."

Avery called for Hailey and followed Rosa to the front desk. Charts were piled on every available surface, the phone rang off the hook, the waiting room spilled with patients, and a giant dog was cowering under the desk.

A white bird with pretty yellow feathers standing straight up on its head ruffled its feathers from a stoop near the window. Squawk. "Welcome to the jungle."