Read Online Then Came You by Jill Shalvis - Free Book Online

morning, Wyatt was in charge. When he heard Mr. Thicket go off, he excused himself from a patient’s room and strode out to the front, standing in front of Jade’s desk, hands on hips to face Mr. Thicket. “Problem?”
    â€œYou have incompetent help.” He jabbed a finger at Jade.
    Wyatt couldn’t see Jade, but he could feel her narrow her eyes. Jade was a lot of things, and maybe impatient was one of them, but incompetent? Hell, no. In fact, she was just about the most competent woman he’d ever met.
    â€œYou need to fire her,” Mr. Thicket said.
    Wyatt had a very long fuse, but that fuse didn’t extend to a guy taking his frustration out on a woman, no matter that the woman in question had a baseball bat behind her desk and knew self-defense moves that could take down a man twice her size. “You have two choices,” he told Mr. Thicket. “Wait outside while I treat your dog, or go somewhere else to be treated.”
    Mr. Thicket glared at him, weighing his options. There weren’t many. Everyone and their brother knew that there was no comparable animal center to Belle Haven for two hundred miles.
    â€œIt’s cold out there,” Mr. Thicket said. “Effing fall arrived.”
    â€œTwo choices,” Wyatt repeated, unmoved.
    In the end, Mr. Thicket huffed and puffed, but went outside, where he proceeded to bitch to every person who walked in or out the front door until Wyatt finished seeing his dog.
    The day didn’t improve when he was assisting Emily in treating a ferret named Franko and Franko’s owner—a teenage girl—grabbed the animal incorrectly. Franko lashed out, going right for Emily’s face. Wyatt caught him in mid-air, and got his finger bit nearly to the bone for his efforts.
    Emily treated him in the staff room. He could tell she was shaken—not at the blood, she had nerves of steel—but that it was
his
finger and not hers. “You shouldn’t have done that for me,” she said.
    In all truth, it had been instinct. He’d have done it for anyone.
    â€œDoes it hurt?” she asked softly when she was done with him.
    â€œIf I say yes, you going to kiss it better?”
    She rolled her eyes and cleaned up.
    Wyatt had no idea why he baited her.
    Okay, he knew. After being near her for the past couple of weeks, and then remembering how good their long-ago night had been, seeing that they still had chemistry and knowing it would be that good again now, he wanted her. He wanted her naked beneath him, her tongue in his mouth, her legs wrapped around his back, her hips rocking up to meet his until they both came so hard they saw stars.
    And she could take or leave him. The fucking story of his life.
    A few hours later, Franko’s owner was back. The teenager had bought Wyatt a present—a tie with puppies and kittens on it. Jade made him wear the tie for the rest of the afternoon.
    Much later, he stood at the front desk after their last patient, getting his messages from Jade and giving Gertie some love. His day was topped off when Cassandra Hastings came in carrying a casserole dish.
    Cassandra was in her forties, unhappily single, and a regular at Belle Haven. She always paid on time and was polite. And warm and friendly.
    Very
warm and friendly.
    â€œHere she comes,” Jade warned him beneath her breath. “The cougar, at six o’clock.”
    â€œCougar!” Peanut the parrot yelled, and ducked dramatically.
    Wyatt turned his body away. Cassandra had a problem with roaming hands. And sure enough, she set the casserole dish down on the counter to give him a hug.
    He pretended he’d dropped something, and evaded, a maneuver he’d gotten good at.
    â€œBrought you lobster ravioli,” she said. “Your sister said it was your favorite.”
    Wyatt was going to kill Zoe. Or maybe Darcy. Hell, he’d just kill them both and be done with it.
    Jade, behind her counter, gave him