FOR AN INSTANT, Ryan wondered if he was imagining Meredith. Had his deep longing willed her to appear in the dark alley where he’d taken refuge after the altercation in the bar?
His blood still ran hot, not completely cooled after that redneck biker put a hand on Meredith. He hadn’t been close enough to see the look in her eyes, but her ramrod posture told him everything he needed to know. She hadn’t wanted the guy’s hands on her.
“I owe you another round of thanks,” she said, breaking into his thoughts and making him understand that not only was she really standing in front of him but she was as upset by the encounter as he’d guessed.
He could hear it in her voice, the thread of shame and residual panic.
“The dude shouldn’t have touched you,” he answered simply. “Or called you a name. I had half a mind to follow him out of the bar and finish what I’d started.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t have to fight my battles.”
“Because the guy who’s been hanging on to you tonight can fill that role?” He cringed at the petty jealousy in his tone. “Never mind. It’s none of my business who you spend your time with.”
She stared at him like he’d grown two heads. “What guy?” She looked genuinely confused. “Wait. Do you mean my brother?”
The truth hit Ryan like a sharp uppercut. “I thought your brothers weren’t local,” he muttered.
She took a slow, almost tentative step toward him. “My dad called Theo and told him about the accident and my arm. He’s here to help with the roof.”
“Your brother,” Ryan repeated, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck where embarrassment continued to tickle his skin. He’d been jealous over her brother. What the hell was wrong with him?
“Theo and Dylan were friends in high school. He wanted to meet my sisters. Avery and Gray had plans tonight, so Carrie and Dylan met us here.”
“You didn’t answer my calls or texts.”
She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and he could almost see her struggling with whether to reveal whatever truth she was hiding. “I didn’t want to admit how badly I wanted to talk to you about Theo,” she said as if she resented the feelings. “I figured as you spent more time doing your doctor business, you’d realize how much time you’ve been wasting with me.”
“You’re not a waste of time, Meredith.”
“I hate needing people,” she said softly, looking away from him.
“Do you need me?” The thought of it made his chest tighten.
She laughed without humor. “More than is smart for either of us.”
He reached for her, but she backed away, holding up a hand. “Tell me about Megan whispering in your ear.”
“Who is...” He thought about the group he’d been with at the bar. “The nurse? She and I worked together today.”
Meredith gave a shaky nod. “I met her at a hospital fundraiser a couple of months ago. She seemed nice and very friendly. Tonight in the bar looked very friendly. It was definitely more than working together.” She emphasized the last two words with air quotes, so adorably perturbed that it made Ryan grin. “Don’t laugh at me,” she said, wagging a finger at him. “I’m not jealous. This isn’t jealousy.”
“Good,” he answered. “Because I’m not interested in Megan. She’s a great nurse. End of story—or at least the end of my story with her.”
“Okay,” she murmured. “I guess we’re clear. You’re just friends with the cute nurse, and I’m not on a date with my brother.”
“Yeah,” he agreed with a laugh, unsure of what to do next. This was uncharted territory for Ryan, the feeling of longing and possession that gripped him every time he was near this smart, beautiful, infuriating woman. It would be wise to let tonight’s misunderstanding serve as an excuse to take a step back. His feelings for her were too much—too raw, too overwhelming, too addictive.
They were thundering along on thin emotional ice, and he knew if he fell through he was a goner. She had her sisters and this community, a full life with people who cared about her. People who would see her through anything. He had his career and a handful of colleagues who wanted him back to work because he was useful to them.
“Your day was good?” she asked, her tone gentle, and all the prudent thoughts he had about cutting and running disappeared like a puff of smoke. It didn’t matter what the future held for either of them. That simple question undid him because it reminded Ryan that she was the only person he wanted to share his day with. She was the person who mattered to him—to his heart.
“It’s better now that I know you weren’t on a date tonight.” He stepped forward and reached for her. This time she didn’t back away but let herself be drawn to him, although she remained stiff in his arms.
“With my brother,” she said, eyes rolling heavenward. “How much of a small-town hick do you think I am?”
“I think you’re a woman who sells herself too short.” He smoothed a hand along the edge of her cast. She never complained about the injury or made excuses to do less work around the rescue. Her determination to take care of herself was admirable, even though he wanted the chance to do more for her. “I wanted to kill that guy who grabbed you in the bar.”
“He’s somebody I used to know,” she said, then dropped her gaze. “I have plenty of mistakes in my past, and most of them have tattoos and drinking problems. It’s not important.”
“You’re important,” he countered, and her chin trembled ever so slightly. “That’s why I just stewed in my petty jealousy instead of coming to you earlier. You were with your sister, so I knew the guy at your side had to be okay. If you were out on a date with a decent man, I figured that was my signal to back off. To let you have your chance with someone who can give you what you need.”
“What if what I need is you?”
He sucked in a breath as he watched her let down her guard and emotion filled her stormy eyes. It humbled him and made him want her all the more because he understood that she was giving him a rare gift. Meredith was strong and sometimes standoffish. She’d built walls around her heart as tall and wide as his own, and for her to give him even a glimpse of the vulnerability behind them...the staggering power of it almost brought him to his knees.
“For as long as we have,” she clarified, and her gaze became guarded again.
“I’ll do everything in my power not to screw it up.”
Her mouth quirked at the edges. “That’s romantic, Doc. Really knocking my socks off over here.”
“I have plans for knocking your socks off,” he said, pitching his voice low. He liked the smile in her eyes and welcomed the good-natured teasing. And when she rose to press her mouth to his...well, he liked that even more. It was so easy to lose himself in this woman—her taste and scent and the way her body fit perfectly against his.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss. The dim alley felt like their own private sanctuary, although his body commanded him to get her back to his house or her house or anywhere they could have more privacy.
They were so consumed with each other that neither of them noticed when the door to the alley opened. Ryan vaguely registered the muffled sounds from the bar’s interior but with Meredith clinging to him and her tongue doing wicked things to his senses as it swirled with his, it was easy to ignore anything else.
A throat cleared. “Don’t make me have to bleach my eyeballs, Pupsqueak,” a male voice said, and Meredith tore herself away from Ryan in an instant.
She whirled on the interloper. “Seriously, Theo, enough with the nickname. It’s embarrassing.”
Meredith’s older brother only shrugged before turning to Ryan. “You took care of that jackass from earlier.”
“Right before you were going to take care of me,” Ryan answered.
“Instinct. I’m Theo Ventner.” Theo stepped forward and held out a hand, which Ryan shook without hesitation.
“Ryan Sorensen.”
“I take it you and my sister are...”
“Friends,” Meredith said, and Ryan tried not to be disappointed at the classification.
Theo didn’t look like he believed her any more than Ryan did. “Carrie is worried about you,” he said instead of arguing. “I’m heading back to Dad’s house. You ready to go?”
“I’ll drive her,” Ryan offered. Actually less of an offer than a statement. No way was he letting her walk away from him tonight. Too much adrenaline still buzzed in his system, and he knew the only way to take the edge off was with Meredith.
Theo cocked a brow at his sister.
“I’ll go with Ryan,” she said and stepped closer to him.
Without thinking, Ryan laced their fingers together. He might only be in the picture temporarily, but he had a soul-deep need to make sure Theo—and anyone else who was interested—understood where he and Meredith stood for the time he was part of her life.
To his great relief, she didn’t shake off his touch but squeezed his hand. Nice to know he wasn’t alone in this. He’d spent far too much time alone.
“Will you tell Carrie I’ll call her tomorrow?” Meredith asked.
Theo glanced between the two of them as if searching for something. Ryan wasn’t sure if the man found what he wanted, but he nodded. “I’ll be over early with a few guys to start on the roof.”
“I can help,” Ryan told him.
“Your leg,” Meredith protested, and Ryan felt the back of his neck burn.
He didn’t break eye contact with Theo. “I can help,” he repeated.
“The more hands the better,” Meredith’s brother answered. “I’ll see you at seven tomorrow.”
Meredith groaned. “Seven? Good lord, Theo. Is that really necessary?”
Her brother laughed. “I’ll bring doughnuts, Pup. You make coffee.”
Then he turned and went back into the building.
“IT MUST BE hard to give shots to those babies and toddlers.” Meredith looked down at Ryan’s hand on her knee, then out at the two-lane road that stretched in front of them.
She was trying her best not to be distracted by the warmth of his touch or the way lightning bolts of sensation seemed to radiate up her body. Trying to tamp down her instinct to ask him to pull over onto the shoulder so she could climb across the console and into his lap.
It had only been fifteen minutes since they’d walked out of the alley behind The Watering Hole, hands linked together. She’d tried to tug away when she saw his work friends gathered in front of the bar’s entrance, but Ryan had held on to her.
He’d introduced her like it was the most natural thing in the world and she hadn’t just been accosted by a rude redneck in front of half the bar. If anyone was surprised to see her with him, they hid it well. Even Julie Fowler gave Meredith a friendly smile despite their history. She knew one of the nurses, Aimee Baker. Aimee had adopted a cat from Furever Friends when she first moved to town, so she gave Meredith an update on the animal.
Paul thanked Ryan for his work at the pediatric clinic that day and confirmed his next shift for the following week. To Meredith’s surprise, much of the tension Ryan had exhibited before he’d left that morning seemed to have dissipated, and he sounded like he was actually looking forward to continuing his work with the local community.
She tried and failed to stop her foolish heart from reading more into his new attitude. Just because he was willing to continue to pitch in with the mobile medical clinic didn’t mean anything would change for good. He’d still leave Magnolia and return to his real life when his leg had completely healed. Based on the way his limp had all but disappeared, the end would come sooner than later.
She shouldn’t expect anything different.
After all, he’d only told her he wanted to enjoy what was between them for his remaining time in town, not that he wanted to extend his stay or continue their relationship for longer. Her feelings for him didn’t change anything, and she’d do well to remember that.
“The nurses do most of the heavy lifting for those kinds of appointments,” he told her. “Doctors get to come in and play good cop. But I liked seeing the young patients and talking with their parents.”
Meredith bit down on her bottom lip. She must have it really bad if hearing him talk about his work was a turn-on. Down girl, she commanded her frenzied lady parts. No need to make a bigger fool of herself than she already had.
“That’s nice,” she said, then inwardly cringed. “I mean, it’s good that you enjoy your work. It would be a waste if all that training was for nothing.”
“My dad made it pretty clear to my sister and me that we had to choose careers that made a difference in people’s lives. He was big on service to our fellow citizens.”
“Admirable,” she murmured.
“I guess.” He sighed. “It always felt like pressure to me. Nothing I did could be for fun. Vacations were spent building houses or volunteering in far-flung countries. Major holidays at soup kitchens. I sound like a complete jerk. I appreciate that we got to help, and I understand that it’s important. But it felt like we were never really off the clock. I would have loved a weekend with just my family, even camping or going for a hike that didn’t involve trail maintenance for the park service.”
“Clearly the lesson stuck.” She picked up his hand and cradled it between both of hers. “You’re on leave from your job and still volunteering with my rescue and the mobile medical clinic. The whole reason you’re here is because you were injured helping to take down a raging gunman.”
“That’s not how it happened. You make me sound like I did something right. I allowed a friend of mine to be killed.”
He fisted his hand, and she slowly unclenched his fingers, tracing small circles on the center of his palm until she felt him relax. “You didn’t allow anything,” she said, keeping the emotion out of her voice. She knew that her getting upset wouldn’t convince him otherwise. “I’m sure that without your intervention, more people would have been shot or even killed.”
“Other people would have intervened if I hadn’t.” He pulled his car down the long gravel drive that led to her property.
“I’m not here to argue your hero status.” She moved her hand up his arm and gripped his biceps. “After all, I don’t want to give you a chance to get distracted from the task you’re about to undertake.”
The car rolled to a stop, and he shifted into Park, then turned to her. “Tell me you don’t have more poop to scoop this late at night.”
She grinned. “No, but I appreciate the thought. I was talking about you and me and the knocking-off of my socks.”
“That I can handle.” He leaned forward and kissed her, a gentle tease of his mouth against hers, but when he pulled away, Meredith had trouble catching her breath.
Would she ever become so accustomed to this man that her body didn’t react like he was her drug of choice?
She certainly hoped not.
They exited the car and started toward the house before Meredith stopped and turned toward the barn. “Something’s wrong,” she said. “The animals are too quiet.”
“They’re probably asleep. Even goats need their beauty rest.”
“I need to check.” She glanced in Ryan’s direction, expecting impatience or irritation. If he was anywhere near as turned on as her, a detour into a dusty barn was the last thing he’d want at the moment.
“Let’s go” was all he said as he pulled his phone from his pocket and flipped on the flashlight.
If she hadn’t been so preoccupied with making sure the animals were safe, she would have kissed him. Instead, they were silent as they approached the barn. In truth, there might be nothing out of the ordinary. Half the time she was already curled up in bed with a book or studying at the kitchen table at this time of night.
She pushed open the door enough that she and Ryan could enter. She didn’t want to get all her babies riled up if there was nothing wrong. Following her gut, she went immediately to the stall that housed Sugar and her pups. The little ones were snuggled against their mama’s belly, and the dog lifted her head when Ryan shined the light into the stall but looked calm. Nothing amiss with them.
“Maybe I’m imagining a problem,” Meredith whispered, frowning.
Then a low, pained whine came from across the aisle.
She and Ryan followed the sound, and the flashlight shined on Brodie and Benji, the two young Labs. Brodie was on his side, panting and fidgeting like he couldn’t get comfortable.
“Oh, no.” Meredith let herself into the stall, and Benji immediately came to her side and nudged her as if to let her know there was really a problem.
“What do you think is going on?” Ryan asked, crouching down next to her.
“I don’t know. He was fine earlier tonight. I let all the dogs out into the fenced-in pasture after dinner. They ran for a while but seemed great when I left.”
“What do we do?” he asked.
She ran a hand over the dog but found no obvious sign of injury. “If we don’t know what’s wrong—”
“Hold on.” Ryan moved from her side and shined the flashlight on a pile of vomit. “Did you feed them a different kibble tonight?”
“No.” Meredith kept one hand on Brodie’s side, feeling his labored breaths as she followed the beam of light. “I guess he could have gotten into the goat food or something out on the property.”
“The food Brodie threw up hasn’t been digested. It looks like normal kibble but not the kind you use.” Ryan shook his head and bent closer to ground. “It smells almost sweet, like antifreeze. I think someone poisoned him.”
That sentence spurred Meredith into immediate action. Cases of deliberate poisoning were rare, but she’d seen a few in her years as a vet tech and knew time was of the essence.
“Will you check the other dogs?” She had nearly a dozen at the rescue at the moment. Most of them had been out in the field earlier.
Ryan nodded, and she followed him out of the stall to get the hydrogen peroxide and a syringe. She needed to induce more vomiting in the animal as soon as possible. If Meredith couldn’t get the dog to throw up again, she’d have to take him to the emergency vet clinic in Raleigh, which was an hour away, or wake one of the vets from her local practice. Either way, she had no time to waste.