Free Kismet by Tanya Moore Page A

came over to apologize
to Riley again. She removed her hand from Garrett's arm to talk
with her and he felt like it had hollowed him out. He wanted her to
touch him again, to feel the connection between them. The owner
grabbed the dog’s collar and ushered him out the door.
    Riley turned to excuse herself from the
reception area, "I need to go check on the animals in back and make
sure everyone is alright."
    Jennifer looked up at Garrett and saw him
intently watching Riley exit the room. Yep, he definitely had it
bad for her. She had him get a weight on Dude and gave him some
initial paperwork to fill out. She noticed his poor dog was
completely freaked out and would barely stand up enough to crawl
across the floor. She'd never seen such a scared dog in her life;
she assumed it had been horribly abused at some point. She ushered
him into an exam room and went to find Riley.
    As Garrett sat down in the exam room, he let
out his breath. What a cluster. He didn't think it would be quite
so chaotic. He was praying Riley hadn't seen his wolf come forward.
If she had seen him she would have gone running the other
direction, right? Instead, she had walked towards him and touched
him. There is no way she would have approached him if she had
seen.
    Poor Dude was cowering at the end of his
leash, trying to lie as far away from the big bad wolf as he could.
He rubbed his hand through his hair and braced himself for being in
the small 8 x 8 room with her. After she laid her hand on him, he
never wanted to leave her side. His heart was racing and his palms
started sweating again. He kept taking deep breaths in and out,
trying his best to calm himself and his wolf. Before he left today,
he'd need a way to see her again. He couldn't wait for "his" dog's
next booster shot.
    The room door opened and the stunning woman
walked in. Her shining green eyes greeted him with a smile. He
sucked in a breath at her beauty and stood up to greet her. He
noticed his jacket in her hand, and he was disappointed she'd be
giving it back. Putting his hands in his back pockets again so he
wouldn't wrap his arms around her he said, "Sorry again, Dr. Riley.
I hope all of your patients in back are alright?"
    "Oh, it's not your fault Garrett. Yes,
everyone is fine and starting to settle down. I'm not sure what got
into them." Holding up his coat she said, "By the way, our server
at Rowdy's thought we knew you, so she gave us the jacket you left
on Friday night. I hope it's OK we took it so we could get it back
to you?" She walked up next to him and her cheeks turned a cute
shade of pink. He loved it when she blushed.
    He took the jacket from her, sad she was
giving it back, but instantly happy her scent was all over it. He
immediately put it on, not because he was cold, but because he
wanted to be wrapped in her scent. "Oh, thanks. I appreciate you
holding onto it for me."
    She looked over at Dude, "So, this is Dude?
He seems to be a bit shy." In fact, he was straining at the end of
his leash as if he was trying to get away from Garrett. As soon as
she cleared Garrett's space, Dude launched himself at her, hiding
his head against her legs. She looked down at him with a puzzled
face. "Dogs don't normally look for protection from the vet."
    Garrett was mortified. How was he supposed to
explain that his dog was terrified of him without looking like an
animal abuser? He felt like the worst kind of person, first for
lying to her and then for bringing this terrified animal with him.
Jason had it right, he'd have to come out and tell her he lied. It
was the best thing he could do, and hope she wouldn't be offended
or scared of him. He couldn’t base his Kismet relationship on a
farce. Yes, he had made the stupid lie two days after the full
moon, but he couldn’t very well explain his irrational behavior
because of the moon cycles.
    "Well, there's a funny story about that."
Garrett shifted back and forth and fell back into his chair,
running both hands through his hair.