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Authors: Elizabeth Sinclair
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and hurried off, her breath coming and going as fast as her feet ate up the distance to her new garage apartment. “See you tomorrow,” she called back over her shoulder.
“Yeah. Tomorrow.” Hunter watched her until she disappeared up the flight of stairs to her apartment. He might be wrong, but it appeared as if Ms. Hamilton couldn’t get away from him fast enough.
Behind him, Sadie howled plaintively, obviously still protesting the departure of the most important human in her life.
“I know just how you feel, Sadie.” What Hunter didn’t know was why he was allowing his emotions to get all tangled up with a woman, something he’d sworn would never happen. Emotional attachments meant relationships, and relationships grew into marriage, then family and a ton of responsibilities he didn’t want.
He thought back to the time when, after his parents’ accident, he’d been saddled with raising his two younger teenage siblings and what the demands on him as the oldest, the father figure, entailed. He’d had no time for himself and even had to wait until they were both in college before he could fulfill his dream of becoming a vet. Thankfully, one of them had won a scholarship, and the other had insisted on paying his own way through university, otherwise there wouldn’t have been any money left over for Hunter. As it turned out, what money they had only put him through two semesters, and he had to pay for the rest with a couple of part-time jobs, one at a local fast-food joint and the other working weekends on a garbage truck.
Not that he didn’t love his sister and brother, he did. And not that he wouldn’t have used the money to pay for their education if it had come down to that. He would have walked over hot coals for them. He was just bone-tired of being their parent. Repairing broken household appliances, cleaning out the gutters of a house, refereeing battles between them, rushing off to the ER when one of them got hurt, and then trying to figure out where the money would come from to pay for it were definitely not on his must-do-to-be-happy list. He’d been there and found nothing to be happy about.
After the chaos of raising them, he found he liked his quiet life among creatures that didn’t demand anything from him except food, water and an occasional pat on the head, and he wanted to keep it that way.
With this unprecedented attraction he felt for Rose, he could easily see himself getting involved with her and then slipping back into that smothering family lifestyle before he could blink. In the future, he’d stop playing with fire and keep a tighter rein on his emotions. He’d treat Rose as an employee, nothing more.
Several weeks later, Hunter realized that George Collins hadn’t called in days. The patient list had been full, but not overly demanding. Rose seemed to be settling into running a vet’s office with an amazing efficiency. Most of all, with his resolve to stay away from Rose except for work related times still firmly in place, things at the Paws and Claws Clinic had settled into a smooth routine.
Or so Hunter thought until he decided that a lull in appointments would give him time to do the long put off spaying of Pansy, the once-stray office cat. Though Pansy had only been around the office for the past couple of weeks, she seemed to have a sixth sense about when she was up for some medical procedure, be it her rabies shots or her flea prevention treatment, and made herself scarce.
Today proved different. Pansy, who had, until today, not been an affectionate cat, had spent the day winding in and out of Hunter’s legs to the point that he’d been afraid of stepping on her. At the moment, she sat between his feet, purring like a motorboat and seemingly without a care in the world or any indication that she was about to become an it .
Slipping his hands around her belly, he chuckled, shook his head and then hoisted her into his arms. As he carried her toward the examination
“Yeah. Tomorrow.” Hunter watched her until she disappeared up the flight of stairs to her apartment. He might be wrong, but it appeared as if Ms. Hamilton couldn’t get away from him fast enough.
Behind him, Sadie howled plaintively, obviously still protesting the departure of the most important human in her life.
“I know just how you feel, Sadie.” What Hunter didn’t know was why he was allowing his emotions to get all tangled up with a woman, something he’d sworn would never happen. Emotional attachments meant relationships, and relationships grew into marriage, then family and a ton of responsibilities he didn’t want.
He thought back to the time when, after his parents’ accident, he’d been saddled with raising his two younger teenage siblings and what the demands on him as the oldest, the father figure, entailed. He’d had no time for himself and even had to wait until they were both in college before he could fulfill his dream of becoming a vet. Thankfully, one of them had won a scholarship, and the other had insisted on paying his own way through university, otherwise there wouldn’t have been any money left over for Hunter. As it turned out, what money they had only put him through two semesters, and he had to pay for the rest with a couple of part-time jobs, one at a local fast-food joint and the other working weekends on a garbage truck.
Not that he didn’t love his sister and brother, he did. And not that he wouldn’t have used the money to pay for their education if it had come down to that. He would have walked over hot coals for them. He was just bone-tired of being their parent. Repairing broken household appliances, cleaning out the gutters of a house, refereeing battles between them, rushing off to the ER when one of them got hurt, and then trying to figure out where the money would come from to pay for it were definitely not on his must-do-to-be-happy list. He’d been there and found nothing to be happy about.
After the chaos of raising them, he found he liked his quiet life among creatures that didn’t demand anything from him except food, water and an occasional pat on the head, and he wanted to keep it that way.
With this unprecedented attraction he felt for Rose, he could easily see himself getting involved with her and then slipping back into that smothering family lifestyle before he could blink. In the future, he’d stop playing with fire and keep a tighter rein on his emotions. He’d treat Rose as an employee, nothing more.
Several weeks later, Hunter realized that George Collins hadn’t called in days. The patient list had been full, but not overly demanding. Rose seemed to be settling into running a vet’s office with an amazing efficiency. Most of all, with his resolve to stay away from Rose except for work related times still firmly in place, things at the Paws and Claws Clinic had settled into a smooth routine.
Or so Hunter thought until he decided that a lull in appointments would give him time to do the long put off spaying of Pansy, the once-stray office cat. Though Pansy had only been around the office for the past couple of weeks, she seemed to have a sixth sense about when she was up for some medical procedure, be it her rabies shots or her flea prevention treatment, and made herself scarce.
Today proved different. Pansy, who had, until today, not been an affectionate cat, had spent the day winding in and out of Hunter’s legs to the point that he’d been afraid of stepping on her. At the moment, she sat between his feet, purring like a motorboat and seemingly without a care in the world or any indication that she was about to become an it .
Slipping his hands around her belly, he chuckled, shook his head and then hoisted her into his arms. As he carried her toward the examination
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