Free Animal Attraction by Jill Shalvis Page B

noticing the tension in Jade’s body language. “Jade.”
    “Jade,” Peanut squawked. “Jade, Jade. Pretty Peanut. Peanut so pretty.”
    “You’re going to have to hustle this morning,” Jade told Dell, handing him a file comprising all of the faxes that had come in.
    Yes, but hustle was the usual speed around here, especially in the mornings where they always had to hit the ground running to keep up. Dell typically began his day checking on any of his patients who’d been hospitalized during the night, reading through the lab results that Jade pulled for him off the fax machine. That’s what was in the file she’d just handed him.
    The closest overnight animal hospital was in Coeur d’Alene, and sometimes he’d have to go there to see his patients in person and do rounds. Either he’d drive or Brady would fly him in their Bell 47 helicopter, but he flipped through the file and saw that wasn’t required this morning.
    Jade had turned to her printer, which was now spitting out his schedule for the day. “You’ve got your usual early morning rounds and four surgeries; a spay, two neuters, one dental cleaning, and then—”
    “Jade.”
    She went still for one telling beat, then turned to face him.
    Pushing away from the counter, he crossed her work space and pulled off her sunglasses. As always, her makeup was flawless. She wore lip gloss that smelled like vanilla mint and there was no sign of a sleepless night.
    She’d made damn sure of it.
    But as he stared at her, she drew a deep, bolstering breath and just like that, he knew. She wasn’t cool, calm, or collected. Not even close. But she had a hell of a store of bravado, probably because she was braced for him to mention last night. In fact, her eyes, those mesmerizing green eyes, were daring him to.
    He wouldn’t. Not here, not now, when she so clearly needed to keep her shield. He handed her back her glasses.
    There was a flash of surprised relief and then she slowly turned away. “I’m really swamped,” she said. “So—”
    “I need some help.” He paused, waiting until she turned back.
    “What kind of help?” she asked suspiciously.
    And with good reason. He rarely, if ever, asked for help. “Work help.” He’d made it a point to never let anyone fuck around with his files. It was a lifelong habit deeply ingrained from growing up having to watch every penny, and it had carried over. His receivables and payables were as personal to him as his patients, and he handed them directly over to his accountant quarterly.
    In between those times, he muddled through, sometimes messing everything up without trying, more often than not simply neglecting them. He knew the piles on his desk drove her nuts. And he’d always enjoyed driving her nuts. She looked so pretty steamed.
    But today felt different. She felt different. He felt her tension, her fear every bit as much as Gertie did. Whatever it came from, he wanted to assuage it. Not that she’d let him, but she needed something to distract her, then. Something more challenging then making appointments, and he could give her this. “I’m waving the white flag,” he said.
    She just looked at him. He nearly smiled at having his own trick of loaded silence played against him. “If you have time,” he said, “my billing needs help.”
    Her mouth opened, then closed. The spark that had been missing in her eyes didn’t come back, but much of her wariness vanished, and she at least finally spoke to him. “Did hell freeze over?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Did you forget your password to get into the system again?”
    “Okay, one time.”
    “Weekly.” She continued to study him, eyes narrowed. “Is this a pity offering?”
    “If I were going to make a pity offering, it wouldn’t be in my office.”
    She stared at him, then let out a low laugh. “In your dreams.”
    “You keep saying that. Makes me think you’re the one having the dreams about me.”
    She bent and scooped up Beans. “Are you